Melissa Doyle

Melissa Doyle
Melissa Doyle in May 2013
Born	(1970-02-10) 10 February 1970 Sydney, NSW, Australia
Alma mater	Pymble Ladies' College
Occupation	Seven Network Journalist and television personality
Employer	Seven Network
Notable credit(s)	Sunrise co-host (2002–2013)
Spouse(s)	John
Children	Nicholas and Talia
Website
Sunrise profile

Melissa Jane Doyle (born 10 February 1970) is an Australian television personality.

Doyle currently presents Seven Afternoon News with Matt White and Seven News at 7. She has previously served as co-host of the Seven Network's breakfast television program Sunrise from 2002 to 2013 alongside David Koch.

Career

Doyle attended the private school Pymble Ladies' College. She studied communications at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, NSW. During her studies she was a broadcaster with on-campus community radio station 2MCE-FM. She gained a cadetship at WIN Television's Canberra bureau in 1990, then moved to Prime Television to become news anchor and general reporter. After her stint at Prime ended in 1995, Doyle joined the Seven Network in Sydney as a Canberra based political reporter as well as reading the afternoon news updates on occasion. Doyle was one of Sunrise's original hosts before it was axed in 1999, before being resurrected in 2000, and which she rejoined in 2002. She also had a stint reading the Seven Late News.

In 2000, she took over as host of Sydney's Today Tonight following the departure of Stan Grant. She stayed until March 2001 when she left for maternity leave.

In 2012, she was named as the Greater Western Sydney Giants' inaugural No. 1 Ticket Holder.

Sunrise

Doyle returned to Seven from maternity leave in a variety of news and presenting roles before being asked to front a revamped Sunrise program with Chris Reason. After about eight months, Reason left the program after a recurrence of cancer, and David Koch joined the program as a replacement.

Together, Doyle and Koch, under the guidance of Executive Producer Adam Boland, eventually surpassed their incumbent opposition and market leaders, Today on the Nine Network.

In 2003, Melissa enjoyed a very public pregnancy with her second child, who was born in December of that year and named Talia.

Doyle was nominated for the Silver Logie as Most Popular Television Presenter in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. She was the only female nominated in that category.

Melissa was embroiled in legal proceedings in which it was alleged she identified a minor who was divorcing his parents. The divorce case was being heard in the Victorian Children's Court and because the boy was only 14 years old he couldn't be named. But Sunrise, as well as a number of other news outlets, including the Sunday Herald Sun and Today Tonight, allegedly identified him and the journalists/presenters were charged with contempt of court. The journalists and presenters/hosts were all acquitted but the Seven Network, its news director, Today Tonight's executive producer and the Sunday Herald Sun and its editor-in-chief were convicted.^{[citation needed]}

On June 20, 2013, Doyle announced that she will be stepping down as Sunrise co-host in order to take on a national role within the Seven Network. Samantha Armytage has been announced as her replacement.^[1] She presented her final show on August 9 of the same year.

After Sunrise

It was revealed in August 2013 that Doyle would present a new national bulletin of Seven Afternoon News at 4pm on weekdays with former Today Tonight host Matt White, as well as a new national bulletin Seven News at 7 on Seven's digital channel 7Two.

Melissa began presenting Seven News at 7 on August 12 and Seven Afternoon News on August 19. Doyle also hosted the first debate of the 2013 Australian Federal Election between Labor leader and then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Liberal leader Tony Abbott, on 7Two on August 11.^[2] She was also a part of the 2013 Australian Federal Election with Chris Bath, Mark Riley and Matt White.

In October 2013, Doyle joined smoothfm to host a weekend breakfast show.

In December 2013, Doyle co-hosted Carols in the Domain with Matt White.

Other work

In October 2007, Doyle's first book, The Working Mothers Survival Guide (co-written with Jo Scard), was published by Allen & Unwin. It sold over 10,000 copies in its first print run.

Doyle and Koch also co-hosted another Seven Network production Where Are They Now.

In 2008, Doyle was selected to front a new documentary program on the Seven Network called The Zoo. The show had a six-week run during the first half of 2008. A second series of The Zoo commenced on air in October 2008. It generated an audience of over 1.7 million people in each of its first three weeks making it one of the Top Five Programs on Australian television for that week, and one of the highest ranking programs of the year.

Doyle previously wrote a weekly column in Australia's highest selling newspaper, the Sunday Herald Sun in Melbourne called "Balancing Act". The column talked about her experiences as a working mother.

References

1. ↑ http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/2013/06/20/08/40/mel-doyle-to-leave-seven-s-sunrise
2. ↑ http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/soapbox/article/-/18421972/melissa-doyle-sunrise-last-day-final-show-photos-video/

• Melissa Doyle Sunrise presenter, Seven Network

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melissa Doyle.

• Melissa Doyle's official site
• http://www.workingmotherssurvivalguide.com, Website for Melissa Doyle's book
• Melissa Doyle, Ninemsn Health, June 2004 issue of GoodMedicine magazine
• Interview on WHO.com with Mel and Kochie about their Cool the Globe campaign
• Melissa Doyle at the Internet Movie Database