The ranking position of Sports & Entertainment Network chief executive officer Craig Hutchison on the Mediaweek 100 Power List has been challenged.
A very public complaint about Hutchy’s ranking at #29 (after being catapulted toward the top from #68 last year) has been lodged by his on-air colleague Damian Barrett. He lodged his objections during the Series 7, Episode 38 of the podcast The Sounding Board that Barrett co-hosts with Craig Hutchison.
Barrett also works for AFL.com.au as a columnist and broadcaster and also shares his considerable football analysis skills with Nine and Triple M.
Damian Barrett and Craig Hutchison recording an episode of The Sounding Board. Top: Barrett on air at Triple M Melbourne
Barrett filed his grievance with Australia’s #1 media trade publisher by first giving us a glowing reference before delivering his drive-by.
“I follow the handle of Mediaweek on Twitter [@mediaweekaus]. It’s a very, very good publication and you seem to get a lot of favourable treatment out of it,” Barrett said to Hutchy.
“This week the Mediaweek 100 Power List has been released and I thought I would see where our man, my man [Hutchy], is. I started at 100, then 99, 98…I got down to about 35 and thought he must not be on it.
“I was thinking he hasn’t made the top 100 which was a shame because I wanted to talk about it. I just kept clicking down and got to 29!
“Craig Hutchison is the 29th most powerful person in media, according to Mediaweek.”
When Hutchy at first indicated he had not seen that, Barrett bellowed, “Don’t give me that rubbish.”
Hutchy continued: “James Manning runs a very successful Mediaweek business and they had a lunch last Friday in Sydney to celebrate those on the list.”
To back up his claim that Hutchy was ranked way too high, Barret pulled out a couple of samples of where other people ranked. “Working Dog, one of the great media organisations over about 30 years, ranked #80. The guy who runs Channel 7 [Melbourne], Lewis Martin #56, Steve Crawley the guy who runs Foxtel [actually it’s Fox Sports] #55, Peter Zavecz, high up at News Limited #53, Kylie Watson-Wheeler who runs Disney and the Western Bulldogs #46, the iconic [News Corp editorial boss] Peter Blunden #41, Michael Healy at Channel 9 #32, and you [Hutchy] at #29.
Barrett continued: “I’m sorry Hutchy, I can’t have it.”
Hutchy admitted: “I did see that, and it is very flattering, but it’s not at all reflective of what’s real. It’s a subjective list obviously. I can’t imagine I would make that 100.”
Barrett: “James love you.”
Hutchy: “It’s very flattering. It’s a great idea to do a Power 100 and Mediaweek has done a great job of building their business with large media. Going into the events space was smart which is what they have done. All the big media agencies were there so it would have been a good event to go to.”
Listen to The Sounding Board here.
Search through the controversial 2022 Mediaweek 100 Power List here.