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Interviews
Andrew
Ettingshausen - August 2023
WWE
CEO Nick Khan on WrestleMania 39, Roman Reigns, Vince
McMahon | Colin Cowherd Podcast
Phil
Rosenthal, Producer - 2011
John
Shakespeare, Illustrator and cartoonist: The Sydney
Morning Herald - July 2017
Media
News
Stokes’
Seven takes on News Corp with nightly newspaper, supported
by Gina Rinehart -
Feb 9, 2024
Kerry
Stokes’ Seven West Media is targeting Australia’s
“mainstream middle” with its new evening
digital newspaper, backed by a major advertising deal
with Australia’s richest woman, mining billionaire
Gina Rinehart.
The
Nightly has poached a number of current and former
senior News Corp staff for its launch at the end of
this month, as it looks to challenge the Murdoch-controlled
company’s stronghold on Australia’s east
coast.
Paired
with a website, it will publish a free digital newspaper
each evening, with a spokesperson for Rinehart’s
Hancock Prospecting confirming the company’s
involvement as a major advertiser, to provide some
security for the publication’s launch in an increasingly
challenged ad market.
A
senior staffer, speaking on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorised to speak publicly,
said the new venture’s target market would be
the “mainstream middle”, in particular readers
of The Australian and The Australian Financial Review.
Led
by editor-in-chief of West Australian Newspapers Anthony
De Ceglie and headquartered from the offices of The
West Australian, The Nightly will take a different
approach to the company’s 7News website.
An
advertising pitch deck touted a focus on politics,
policy, business and culture.
Alongside
De Ceglie, The West Australian business editor Sarah-Jane
Tasker has been appointed editor, while former editor-in-chief
of The Australian Chris Dore, who left News Corp a
year ago after allegedly making lewd comments to a
woman at a company event, has joined as senior political
columnist.
The
Saturday Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph associate
editor Sarah Blake takes up the role of chief correspondent,
with Daily Telegraph associate editor Matthew Quagliotto
joining in the same position.
Investigative
journalist Kristin Shorten from The Australian, former
news.com.au culture writer Wenlei Ma and The West
Australian’s chief of staff Kate Phillips and
sports editor Ben McLellan are also on board.
Headquartered
in Perth, the launch team totals around 12 staff –
half in Sydney – while The Nightly will also
lean on content from across all of Seven’s newsrooms,
this masthead was told.
Stokes
wields unrivalled influence in Western Australia due
to his media company’s clout, and the 83-year-old
is now turning his sights to the eastern cities where
his television network, Seven, is one of the major
players.
“Kerry
supports it quite passionately,” another figure
with knowledge of the launch commented, again on condition
of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak
publicly.
A
former deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph, De Ceglie
joined The West in 2019, subsequently taking the paper
toward a tabloid model and achieving an increase in
readership. The paper has been compared to The Daily
Telegraph – Perth is the only one of Australia’s
five biggest cities without a Murdoch masthead.
The
launch will see an evening digital newspaper replica
published similar to this masthead’s Today’s
Paper edition. The Nightly sources believe the approach
can replicate sales generated from print advertising.
“Our
lives have never been busier and human behaviour has
changed as a result. Your mornings are chaotic and
your ‘me time’ is now at night,” a
pitch deck quotes De Ceglie as saying.
“But
that time is still precious and The Nightly helps
you spend it wisely.”
The
late-February launch will be into a particularly challenged
digital advertising market, with revenues and traffic
down as global platform Facebook shifts news away
from its algorithms, as highlighted by News Corp chief
executive Robert Thomson on Thursday.
Across
the 2023 calendar year, industry-wide digital news
publishing advertising fell by 8.8 per cent compared
to the year prior, while newspaper advertising dropped
a further 17.3 per cent, according to Standard Media
Index.
A
spokesman for Hancock Prospecting declined to confirm
further details on the commercial deal following speculation
the company had underwritten the launch of the project,
but did confirm it would advertise in The Nightly.
In
October, Seven West Media launched a new local sports
broadcasting platform, Streamer, with the help from
name partner BHP.
Hancock
Prospecting upped its advertising spend in the second
half of 2023 with Seven’s Perth-based publishing
division, with Roy Hill the name partner in The West’s
190th anniversary celebrations, also sponsoring an
editorial and video series.
In
June, De Ceglie wrote a two-page editorial in The
Sunday Times after Rinehart was awarded West Australian
of the Year, saying the east coast of Australia had
“always been jealous of the eventual rise-and-rise
of Mrs Rinehart”.
“How
she transformed Hancock Prospecting through astute
business decisions and deal-making is now the stuff
of legend.”
The
Nightly has also secured deals with The New York Times
and The Economist to republish content in its editions.
Seven declined to comment.
(SMH)
Media
News
Lehrmann,
the Murdochs, Ita Buttrose and media’s big hits
in 2023 - December 27, 2023
Australia’s media landscape was once again dominated
by the big names, though with landmark court rulings,
shock resignations, redundancies and succession plans
finally playing out, the industry offered a year to
remember.
The
year kicked off when The Australian appointed Michelle
Gunn as its first-ever female editor-in-chief just
six days into the year, but ultimately, Sky News Australia
boss Paul Whittaker was installed as chair of an editorial
board set up to oversee her big moves.
Most
in media still had their feet up in mid-January, including
one of Nine’s biggest stars, Karl “Karlos”
Stefanovic, yet he still found himself in the headlines
after a car park bust-up also featuring former Australian
cricket captain Michael Clarke. The brouhaha ultimately
cost “Pup” a high-paying commentary gig
in India.
The
ABC made its push to become a truly digital media
company and made a number of staff redundant –
none as high-profile as news breaker and political
editor Andrew Probyn, who Nine (owner of this masthead)
subsequently hired. Newly relocated host of Insiders
David Speers picked up the confusingly titled role
of “political lead” in the national capital.
Other
high-profile departures from Aunty included Stan Grant,
Tracey Holmes and more recently Triple J stalwart
Richard Kingsmill.
While
the bosses of the ABC (David Anderson) and SBS (James
Taylor) got new contracts, ABC chair Ita Buttrose
said she wouldn’t be seeking a second term. Her
replacement could be announced as early as January,
two months before Buttrose is due to depart. Expect
the tributes to flow in the early months of 2024.
There
was more movement on the national broadcaster’s
board: Laura Tingle was elected staff representative,
and Nicolette Maury and Louise McElvogue filled two
more spots.
The
ABC wasn’t the only one to make hard decisions,
with a weak advertising market making for a tough
year for commercial media, with subdued earnings calls
and generally downbeat outlooks. Most conversations
on 2024 budgets include an expectation Meta will fight
tooth and nail to avoid stumping up in new commercial
deals with media companies as part of the News Media
Bargaining Code.
A
win for journalism
Perhaps
the biggest story of the year (no bias) was Justice
Anthony Basenko’s ruling on Ben Roberts-Smith’s
defamation suit, vindicating reporting from Nick McKenzie
and Chris Masters in this masthead. With an appeal
by the disgraced war hero set to be heard in February,
this stays on the radar into 2024.
Seven
West Media found itself on the end of some poor PR
in 2023, with chair Kerry Stokes’ bankrolling
of Roberts-Smith continuing to raise questions about
his and the company’s involvement in the case.
At
risk of “personally embarrassing” emails
coming to light, Stokes eventually agreed to pay the
entire costs for Nine’s legal troubles.
Seven
also did its best to insert itself in the Bruce Lehrmann
fracas by securing what a Seven insider described
as a “grubby” deal to cover the former Liberal
staffer’s rental costs for a year. Such were
the murky details of the “exclusive” interview
series, the scoop was retrospectively disqualified
from its finalist status at the Walkley Awards.
Along
with Optus Sport, Seven bagged the broadcast rights
for the Matildas games at the FIFA Women’s World
Cup, which swept the nation, and shattered viewership
records as the tournament went on, delivering a halo
effect for the network’s surrounding programming,
despite chief executive James Warburton lamenting
a lack of financial benefit it could reap.
Warburton, described in this masthead as one of television’s
“last great showmen”, will leave Seven in
2024 after a shock exit announcement in December.
Chief financial officer Jeff Howard will be installed
into the top job. All eyes are on Seven’s next
moves; will they open the chequebook further after
raiding ARN Media’s share register, or will the
hunter become the hunted?
ARN
was responsible for one of the more audacious moves
of the year as it moved to swallow up rival Southern
Cross Media in October with help from Anchorage Capital
Partners. The outcome remains undecided going into
2024.
The
eldest boy gets the gig
A
sigh of relief was heard in Sydney’s inner-east
where media scion and billionaire Lachlan Murdoch
resides when his father, Rupert Murdoch, pulled the
curtains on his 70-year career, officially handing
over the keys to the empire after a two-decade succession
saga, not long after the fictionalised smash-hit HBO
show ended its four-season run.
The
“eldest boy” is now sole chair of News Corp
and Fox Corp. The plan to re-merge the two was scrapped
early in the year, though this could be back on the
cards in 2024. Locally, expect changes in the next
12 months as Lachlan Murdoch looks to put his stamp
on the Australian business. Foxtel’s mooted IPO
may also be back on the cards at some point in the
new year.
Murdoch’s
rise was good news for former prime minister Tony
Abbott, the pair formalising their relationship with
his appointment into a cushy new $500,000 director
role on the board of Fox. Former editor-in-chief of
The Australian Chris Mitchell told us: “I’m
not sure he’d bring any particular skills to
do with publishing, TV or pay TV.”
It
wasn’t all good news, though. Murdoch dropped
his defamation suit against plucky website Crikey
in April, handing a famous win to Eric Beecher’s
company just days after settling for $1.17 billion
in its case against Dominion Voting Systems.
News
Corp also parted ways with gambling start-up Betr
after punting an enormous sum for what turned out
to be little return. An inside source close to the
top at the US-owned company says its losses could
be as high as $125 million, with official filings
reported to have sunk at least $70 million into the
venture.
International
streamers continue to face off against local rivals,
and shortly after the Australian cricket team returned
home as world champions, Amazon picked up the rights
to ICC tournaments until 2027. If you’re to believe
Foxtel’s Patrick Delany though, the deal doesn’t
mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Qantas’
year from hell extended into media as Alan Joyce banned
copies of The Australian Financial Review from its
Chairman’s Lounge and in-flight Wi-Fi after sustained
scrutiny by former Rear Window columnist Joe Aston.
This was eventually overturned, but not until Joyce
was out the door.
Network
10 and its US owners, Paramount, mostly stayed out
of the headlines, though spent a decent chunk of time
in Australia’s court chambers. It sued former
political editor Peter van Onselen for breach of contract;
was sued by current employee and former host of The
Project Lisa Wilkinson; is getting sued by Lehrmann
for defamation; and is facing a legal dispute with
another employee over bullying claims. Some year.
Race
to the finish line
The
year didn’t slow down in December, with publication
of Kate McClymont’s three-year investigation
into Alan Jones, documenting allegations of indecent
assault towards young men. Jones maintains his denial
of the allegations.
At
Nine, there were some big outs. Publishing boss James
Chessell is standing down, 3AW veteran Neil Mitchell
resigned after 30 years hosting the morning shift,
and Peter Hitchener moved off the network’s weekday
news bulletins after 25 years in Melbourne.
Finally,
there was movement in the government’s media
reform agenda late in the game, with two pieces of
legislation introduced to parliament at the latest
possible moment.
Perhaps
the most important piece of work remains up in the
air – reform of gambling advertising regulation.
It’s been slated as an incredibly complex piece
of work, with wagering dollars tangled in the finances
of major sporting codes and media companies. This
explains the hold-up, yet consensus shows Australians
only want one thing: to see less of them.
All
of that in 12 months! Let’s do it all again next
year.
Media
Man
Elon
Musk stuns crowd with blunt message: ‘Go f**k
yourself’ - November 2023
Billionaire
Elon Musk stunned a live audience with his bombshell
message to advertisers who left the platform formerly
known as Twitter.
Video
Business
Conference. Elon Musk. Go F Yourself (Media Man Int
YouTube)
Dealbook
Summit. Elon Musk (Media Man Int YouTube)
Interview:
Elon Musk.Dealbook Summit. Peace (Media Man Int YouTube)
Interview:
Elon Musk. DealBook Summit. Censorship
Elon
Musk had some harsh words for advertisers fleeing
platform X.
“Go
f**k yourself,” Musk, owner of X, said during
a Wednesday afternoon appearance at The New York Times
DealBook Summit.
As
reported by Fox
Business, Musk made the comment while being interviewed
by Andrew Ross Sorkin, speaking about the current
advertiser boycott of the social platform.
“What
this advertising boycott is going to do is, it is
going to kill the company,” Musk said.
“And
the whole world will know that those advertisers killed
the company.”
Musk
also appeared to take a shot at Disney CEO Bob Iger,
who had earlier discussed Disney pulling advertising
from the platform.
“Don’t
advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail
me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f**k
yourself,” Musk said, adding: “Go f**k yourself,
is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience.
That’s how I feel, don’t advertise.”
The
CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino, appointed by Musk, observed
the interview from the front row “stone-faced”,
The Hollywood Reporter said.
And,
of course, the internet responded swiftly, with varying
opinions on Musk’s remarks, including support
for his unfiltered approach and criticism for potential
damage to his reputation and companies.
Most
notable of the responses came from English broadcaster
Piers Morgan, who tweeted: “Brilliant …”
Another
user asked, “Can you blame the guy? Never catches
a break, calls for peace and is told he’s pro-Russian.
“Wants
to save the world, get humans in space, and cement
free speech …
“Yet
he’s still pulled apart and his motives questioned,
pretty hilarious. Legend imo”
But
another suggested, “he needs to stop replying
to comments from people making racist statements and
legitimising them while making wild conspiracy-like
comments”.
And
another user asked bluntly: “he’s got to
be high, right?”
Musk
apologised for endorsing a social media post widely
seen as anti-Semitic, describing it as “literally
the worst and dumbest post that I’ve ever done”.
In
a comment on X, formerly Twitter, Musk on November
15 called a post “the actual truth” that
said Jewish communities advocated a “dialectical
hatred against whites,” which was criticised
as echoing longtime conspiracy theory among White
supremacists.
The
statement prompted a flood of departures from X of
major advertisers, including Apple, Disney, Comcast
and IBM who criticised Musk for anti-Semitism.
“I’m
sorry for that tweet or post,” Musk said Wednesday.
“It was foolish of me.”
He
told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin that his post
had been misinterpreted and that he had sought to
clarify the remark in subsequent posts to the thread.
Musk,
who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
during a visit to Israel earlier this week, insisted
in the interview that he holds no discrimination against
Jews, calling himself “philo-Semitic,” or
an admirer of Judaism.
During
the interview, Musk wore a necklace given to him by
a parent of an Israeli hostage taken in the Hamas
attack on October 7.
The
necklace reads, “Bring Them Home.” Musk
told Sorkin that the Israel trip had been planned
earlier and was not an “apology tour” related
to the controversial tweet.
—
with AFP, Fox Business
Elon
Musk’s X sues media watchdog group over ‘manipulation’
- November 22, 2023
Billionaire
Elon Musk's social media platform X has sued a media
watchdog group for allegedly attempting to destroy
the site.
The
'Media Matters for America' group accused X of allowing
anti-Semitic posts to be published alongside advertising.
X
alleges the group manipulated data with companies
including Apple and Disney pausing their adverts on
the platform since the group released its findings.
Media
Matters claimed ads on the platform had appeared next
to posts supporting Nazisim and other anti-Semitic
content.
X
Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino released a statement
claiming data “wins over manipulation”.
Rupert
Murdoch formally transitions to new role of Chairman
Emeritus of News Corp -
November 16, 2023
Rupert
Murdoch has formally transitioned to a new role of
Chairman Emeritus of News Corp.
Lachlan
Murdoch has become sole chair of the company following
its annual general meeting.
After
seven decades at the top, Rupert Murdoch has commenced
a new phase of his career.
On
Friday, Rupert Murdoch will also transition to the
role of Chairman Emeritus of Fox Corp as they hold
their annual general meeting in Los Angeles.
News
Corp wholly owns Sky News Australia..
Sydney
Morning Herald says journalists who signed Gaza petition
now ‘unable to participate in any reporting related
to the war’ - November 24, 2024
The Sydney Morning Herald has banned any staff from
reporting on the Gaza conflict if they signed a recent
petition about media coverage of the war.
Journalists
from various Australian newsrooms have signed an open
letter advocating for increased scrutiny in reporting
the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Prominent
figures like Tony Armstrong, Benjamin Law, and Jan
Fran, along with union house committees of the ABC
and Guardian Australia, and the national media section
committee from media union MEAA, endorsed the letter.
The
letter was signed by 53 journalists from various institutions
including the ABC, Guardian Australia, The Sydney
Morning Herald, The Age and Schwartz Media.
The
letter outlines eight steps for Australian newsrooms
to enhance coverage of the conflict, emphasising credible
allegations of war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid.
Among
the requests are adequate coverage of historical context,
transparency about journalists’ trips to Israel,
rejection of paid trips to the Middle East, avoidance
of “both-sidesism,” and increased scrutiny
when using Israeli government or military sources.
The
organisers clarified that the letter is not a criticism
of any specific newsroom but a call for stringent
standards in covering the important global story.
But
later on Friday, The Sydney Morning Herald executive
editor Tory Maguire posted a message to staff on behalf
of the papers’ leadership, saying that staff
who signed the petition will be “unable to participate
in any reporting or production related to the war”.
Cameron
Wilson from Crikey News first posted the screenshot
of the message to Twitter.
“The
SMH and The Age hold a very significant place in Australian
society because of the mastheads’ reputations
for independent journalism and reporting bound by
the highest standards of impartiality. It is a strong
held-tenet that our journalists’ personal agendas
do not influence our reporting on news events,”
the message read.
“We’re
very proud of our coverage, which continues to abide
by the highest standards of ethical journalism. Any
newsroom staff who signed this latest industry letter
will be unable to participate in any reporting or
production relating to the war.
“We
will continue to hold the mastheads’ social media
policy.
“This
will have no impact on our capacity to continue to
provide extensive, quality journalism on the topic.”
The
letter also stressed the importance of representing
multicultural communities in news coverage and ensuring
scrutiny doesn’t stigmatise any ethnic or religious
communities.
About
20 staff and contributors to Nine Publishing and over
200 ABC journalists expressed concerns about the coverage
of the conflict in early November.
“As
I have said several times recently, maintaining trust
and credibility as an ABC staff member means you forego
the opportunity to share your opinions about stories
on which you report or may be involved in,” ABC’s
director of news Justin Stevens sent in a message
to staff.
“You
should not sign any petition that may bring into question
your impartiality or that of the ABC’s coverage.”
A
similar letter by American journalists was inked with
1200 signatures, with some expressing fear of reprisal
from employers.
The
Age, SMH still the nation’s most-read mastheads
- November 27, 2023
The
Age has maintained its position as the most-read Victorian
masthead and the nation’s second-most-read masthead,
with a cross-platform audience of 4.9 million and
a lead of 800,000 over the News Corp-owned Herald
Sun.
New
total news readership figures from Roy Morgan on Monday
showed The Age’s Monday to Friday print issues
averaged 291,000 readers, a growth of 11 per cent
year on year, while Saturday’s print edition
grew by 6 per cent to 433,000.
In
the past four weeks, an average of 1.2 million people
read a copy of The Age.
The
Age editor Patrick Elligett said the masthead’s
“stellar” performance was heartening.
“It
shows the appetite for responsible, balanced and independent
public interest journalism remains strong in Victoria,”
he said.
Meanwhile,
The Sydney Morning Herald is once again the country’s
most-read masthead, with 7.42 million readers across
digital and print over the past 12 months.
The
figures show more than one in three Australian readers
choose the Herald, which almost doubles the readership
of News Corp’s The Daily Telegraph.
The
Herald’s Monday to Friday print issues averaged
407,000 readers, a growth of 5 per cent year on year,
while Saturday’s print edition grew by 6 per
cent.
Good
Weekend continues as the nation’s most-read Saturday
magazine insert, with an average print readership
of 752,000, up 2 per cent on the same time last year.
The
figures were produced by Roy Morgan for ThinkNewsBrands.
Flashback
Media
News From Down Under: News you won't see elsewhere,
from Australia's Media Man
(Published:
Media Channel: News Dissector)
"Media
and entertainment entity, Steve "The Crocodile
Hunter" has been verbally, and now publicly
attacked by "Crocodile" Mick Pitman,
and many other notables in the Australian crocodilian
industry.
"The
war of words, and legally inclined paperwork exchanges,
has been on for a year now, but until this time,
The Irwin's have kept it relatively quite.
"Irwin's
production company, the so-called "The Best
Picture Show" company (best PR spinners may
be more appropriate), requested than Mick stop
referring to himself as a "Crocodile Hunter"!
Mick's been a crocodile hunter for 26 years, and
there are many more Australian crocodile hunters
in Australia ready to bite back at Irwin. Perhaps
a class action crock fest could be on the way,
quicker than you can say Crikey!
A
few nights ago Queensland Police raided the property
of Crocodile Mick Pitman, after instructions from
the Irwin's.
"Furthermore,
the allegation was made from Australia Zoo that
Pitman was plotting to "blow up Australia
Zoo out of the water"! (bad taste to suggest
Pitman is a terrorist and such)."
Media
Websites
Crocodile
Mick Online
Profile
Crocodile
Mick Pitman
The
Crocodile Hunters
Articles
Why
does the media business breed jealously, by Greg Tingle
'Real'
crocodile hunter denies zoo plot
Crocodile
Hunter biting employees?
Crocodile
Tears
Interviews
Crocodile
Mick Pitman - 9th September 2004
Danny
Schechter - Media Channel - 29th July 2004
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