Tracey Grimshaw steps out of Channel 9 after 17 years

After 17 years in the evening lime light on the Channel 9 network, Tracey Grimshaw a legend and female role model is stepping down. She's "not done", she says, but she's tired. 

Both The Australian and The Guardian have reported on Grimshaw's step back from prime time television. And it's hard to read her comments as anything but heavily gendered and guarding the network executives who have kept her on air for 17 years. 

"“I want you to know it’s been my decision alone and I’m not being shoved out the door by the boys club because I’m too old,” Grimshaw said on Monday night.

But by mentioning 'the boys' club at all, in her own way, anyone can see Grimshaw is choosing her moment to call out the culture of the media and her peers in journalism. We can only imagine as a woman at the forefront, trailblazing at the head of A Current Affair and breaking some incredible stories, that she has experienced an incredible amount bias, disparity and cynicism. 

How do we see Grimshaw now? Poised? Resilient? Making her own decisions?

She says to ignore the gossip magazines when they try to rumour that she was pushed out. The truth she says, is:

“I’ve basically been a shift worker for 26 years, driving to work before dawn for nine years on the Today Show, and the past 17 years driving home after dark here on A Current Affair and it’s time for less of that daily obligation,” she said.

“It’s been my privilege to host this show.”

A Walkley-award winning interviewer she has hosted many major shows at Nine, including Midday as co-host with David Reyne and Today with Steve Liebmann for nine years. She in the Melbourne newsroom of Nine in 1981 and was reading the daytime news by 1985.

We respect her, and we celebrate her. She's a woman of incredible dignity, of courage and ambition and we can't wait to see what's next for her. 

Photo 1 The Guardian| Photo 2 TV Week