Joel Dry assumes lofty position on Nine newsdesk
By Nick Dent
“I found my way up the hill,” jokes Joel Dry. “My former employer is down the road, so I made sure I turned left when I needed to, not right.”
The hill is Mount Coot-tha, a place Dry knows well enough, having worked in the newsrooms at both Nine, the owner of this masthead, and Seven.
But from Monday, he’ll rejoin Nine in one of its most visible positions: next to Melissa Downes on the 6pm bulletin newsdesk.
Melissa Downes and new co-anchor, Joel Dry, who are presenting Nine News Queensland’s 6pm bulletin from August 18.Credit: Nine News Queensland
“I’ve been peppering her with questions. How do you convey the message in a manner that connects with audiences? When do you eat?
“We’ve all done voice coaching, but it’s a different world sitting in that chair.”
Downes says she is already finding the new partnership comfortable.
“If you found a recording of one of my first bulletins, I think Joel is much more relaxed than I was. So, yeah, I think we’re going to be fine.”
Dry takes up the role left vacant by the shock departure of Andrew “Lofty” Lofthouse in January due to ill health.
Lofthouse anchored the bulletin for 17 years, 16 of them with Downes.
“I’m not aiming to be Lofty, because I can’t do that,” Dry says.
“If there’s an element of Lofty’s presence that I really want to emulate it’s not necessarily the stuff on camera, but [that] he was such a warm and generous and gracious presence in the newsroom.”
Joel Dry during his tenure at Seven.Credit: Lydia Lynch
Meanwhile, Downes’ eight-month tenure as a solo newsreader has coincided with a strong run for Nine in Queensland. The 6pm bulletin has won every ratings week this year, achieving a year-on-year audience increase of 19.3 per cent in Brisbane.
Some might question the need to bring in new blood at all.
“Melissa has been soldiering on, so why not let it continue?” says media commentator (and one-time Nine employee) Brett Debritz.
“You don’t really need two people to read the news, although it’s considered that it increases the appeal if you’ve got a male and female pair.”
Downes says that while she does “love reading on my own”, the job is easier with two.
“Queensland is a big state. We have a lot of different natural disasters, and it means that when you have two people, one can stay in the studio, one can go out. When there’s only one of you, you’re kind of stuck on Mount Coot-tha.
“And just to have another person in the studio is more fun.”
Dry says that when Nine news director Brendan Hockings offered him the role, “it wasn’t something I was desperately seeking to do”.
Beginning his career with the network in Adelaide in 2009, he came to Nine Queensland in 2011, and later was federal politics reporter in Canberra.
Downes said it was “a kind of renaissance for the bulletin and the newsroom” to have Dry joining the team.Credit: Nine News Queensland
He joined Seven in 2018 and was reporting for them occasionally from London, while his wife, Jessica Millward, was the Europe correspondent for Nine News.
“I was happy to put the brakes on in a career capacity for a few years to just look after our son,” he says.
While four-year old Sully will rejoin him in Brisbane by October, the plan is for Millward to remain in London until the year’s end.
“Selfishly, I would like to bring her back with me, but I’m conscious of making sure she’s able to get the absolute maximum out of her posting there. It’s a juggle.”
Dry returns to a company that has been through a rocky period in the past 24 months, with several senior figures leaving after allegations emerged of sexual harassment in the news and current affairs team.
“Since I’ve accepted the role, many people have openly told me, unprompted, how much the culture has changed,” Dry says.
Downes concurs. “I definitely think there’s a great culture in the newsroom currently, and I think that has come down from the top.”
At Nine’s commercial rivals on Mount Coot-tha, it has also been a year of high-profile departures and arrivals.
Sharyn Ghidella got an infamous tap on the shoulder in 2024 after 11 years fronting Seven’s weekday bulletins, only to find a new home reading Ten’s.
In October, the executive editor of Ten News First, Erin Edwards, left after just 15 months to return to Seven as news director.
Some have questioned Hockings’ appointment of Dry over Nine reporters already in the building.
“It came as a surprise to everybody when they offered the job to Joel Dry because he was known basically as a Channel Seven reporter who kind of disappeared,” Debritz says.
Downes believes Dry was the right choice.
“Joel has that mix of maturity, but also youth and enthusiasm. He ticks all the boxes. He’s a great journo, great presenter, great bloke.
“That’s what Queenslanders like, he’s authentic. Queenslanders can tell if you’re not who you say you are. I think that’s the really important thing.”
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