Today show: Lisa Wilkinson’s issue with Today Show announcement - NEWS.com.au

The newest members of the Today team have tweeted their excitement over their roles on the morning show, but it was former co-host Lisa Wilkinson who has caused the biggest stir.

Channel 9 announced yesterday that Deb Knight will co-host the new-look breakfast show alongside Georgie Gardner, with Tom Steinfort replacing Sylvia Jeffreys as newsreader and Tony Jones replacing Tim Gilbert as sports presenter.

While Knight tweeted how she’s “always loved working on” the show, Steinfort proposed a “high stakes mixed doubles tournament” as the show is set to launch at the Australian Open on January 14.

Pumped to be joining @TheTodayShow - and how good to be doing it with legends like @GeorgieG & @deborah_knight & @TJch9! We launch at the Aus Open on Jan 14....I propose a high stakes mixed doubles tournament between the new gang on day one 🎾
— Tom Steinfort (@tomsteinfort) January 5, 2019

Excited to say I’m joining @TheTodayShow on a permanent basis - joining @GeorgieG and @tomsteinfort on a show I’ve always loved working on. The team is terrific. #iwakeupwithtoday
— deborah knight (@deborah_knight) January 5, 2019

But it is the breakfast show’s former co-host, who famously quit the program over pay negotiations in October 2017, who has caused controversy, wishing the new Today line-up good luck in an Instagram post — before criticising the reporting of it.

Wilkinson, who quit the Today show back in 2017 and defected to Network Ten, posted a photo of a newspaper article about the announcement and took issue with a certain aspect of the coverage.

“Warmest congratulations to the fab new team just announced,” Wilkinson wrote.

“I sincerely wish them all the very best in the breakfast wars ahead.

“But as my media studies student daughter noted to me, why oh why oh why, in the reporting of the new team do the ages of the women need to be pointed out while the men’s don't? Similarly, Deb (Knight) being a mum of three is considered significant, but Tony (Jones) being a dad isn’t?

“I don’t understand,” Wilkinson wrote.

“We obviously have a long way to go when it comes to gender equity.”

Knight and Gardner’s ages have been published in several articles about Today’s new line-up, including on Nine’s own site, 9 Honey.

This is the first time Wilkinson has commented about the Today show since wishing her former co-host, Karl Stefanovic, all the best after he was sacked.

When Nine announced the controversial star would not return to the Today show in 2019, Wilkinson posted several photos of herself and Stefanovic together and wrote: “All the best. Because when it was good, it was great”.

The all-female fronted Today show is set to kick off on January 14.

Meanwhile, Jeffreys also posted to Instagram thanking the former Today team and the viewers who “welcomed me into your homes each morning”.

“Can’t wait to share my next move with you all and in the meantime, I’ll be waking up with Today... in my pj’s and beside my husband,” she wrote.

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