Wednesday March 21, 2018

APN Outdoor expands leadership team with new chief strategy and innovation officer

APN Outdoor group has appointed Jeremy Howe to the new role of chief strategy and innovation officer.

Howe will report to new CEO James Warburton.

Warburton said: “The appointment of Jeremy to this important new role is a key part of our strategy to define and accelerate the next phase of growth for APN Outdoor and continue to drive our competitive advantage.

“We have a clear strategy, focused on transformation, innovation and the evolution of APN Outdoor in the broader media eco-system.

“With a strong balance sheet, successful operations in Australia and New Zealand, and growing revenue and earnings, APN Outdoor is well positioned for the future.

“Jeremy has excellent strategic skills, a proven track record in driving innovation and a depth of product innovation experience across the telecommunications and media sectors. I am delighted that he will be part of the APN Outdoor executive management team.”

Howe joins APN Outdoor from Telstra Corporation, where he has been director product innovation Telstra Retail since 2016.

Howe said: “I am thrilled to be joining APN Outdoor during such a transformative time. I am excited by the business’ appetite for creativity and innovation and am very much looking forward to developing longer-term strategies and initiatives that will result in profitable returns for APN Outdoor.”

oOh! confirms Qantas deal for seatbacks, app, onboard Wi-Fi & news

oOh!media has this week confirmed its new Qantas advertising representation contract after it was first revealed earlier this month.

From June 1, 2018, oOh!’s offering will extend beyond offering advertising in Qantas domestic terminals, clubs and business lounges to also include international and domestic inflight entertainment consisting of video on demand on seatbacks, Qantas entertainment app, onboard free Wi-Fi as well as inflight news bulletins.

oOh!’s group director of fly, Robbie Dery, said this was the first time an out-of-home company has been contracted by an airline to provide advertising and content both at the airport and in the air.

“We can now offer advertisers the opportunity to reach Qantas flyers at every stage of their journey – from entering the airport, checking in, waiting for boarding, on the aircraft, through to baggage collection and departure,” said Dery.

“The addition of Qantas inflight entertainment combined with the company’s extensive airport portfolio, provides brands with an uninterrupted audience solution to target the premium Qantas audience.

“As a result of our multiple media touchpoints and rigorous data analysis, we are transforming passenger marketing to a more holistic and targeted approach.

“Advertisers will now be able to buy exposure and reach of Qantas passengers during their more than two-hour journey preflight, inflight and post-flight.

“More accurate targeting is now possible as our offering is underpinned by transactional data from more than 300 Quantium buyer segments.

“It makes it easier for leading brands to engage with Qantas flyers.”

oOh! is offering Qantas inflight entertainment advertising packages across all TV and movie channels that can be segmented by domestic or international routes, or by economy or business class.

Long-term partnership packages will enable advertisers to reach more than 75% of key buyers within segments such as automotive, luxury retail and travel.

oOh!’s CEO Brendon Cook said that being awarded the inflight advertising was testament to the 16-year relationship with Qantas, built on continual innovation and evolution of the customer experience.

“Since the start of our partnership with Qantas back in 2002, oOh! has consistently evolved our offerings to ensure they are audience-led,” Cook said.

“oOh!’s entry into inflight entertainment advertising is another step forward in our strategy to not just be Australia’s leading out-of-home company, but to be a progressive and agile media business.

“By bringing together the latest in innovation, data, content and technology, we continue to help advertisers build deeper engagement with audiences.”

Outdoor gallery: APN Outdoor work for Sony Pictures, ANZ, Twitter, Coopers & Australian Ethical

Here is a Mediaweek outdoor gallery showcasing the latest creative work as displayed across the APN Outdoor network.

The campaigns being showcased are:

• Australian Ethical from media agency Benedictus Media with a herb garden built into a billboard in Carlton, Victoria.

• Coopers Brewery with KWP! Media featuring a play on the words “Australian Open” during the tennis in Melbourne.

• A Twitter-powered campaign during the 2018 Mardi Gras festival.

• An ANZ campaign with PHD Network branded “Get On” using transit.

• Sony Pictures with M2M Media for the new movie Peter Rabbit using transit.

Radio preview: Counting down to arrival of Gold’s Christian O’Connell

•  Award-winning British broadcaster starting at Melbourne’s Gold 104.3 on June 4

ARN announced to staff recently that the next host of Gold breakfast in Melbourne, Christian O’Connell, will be starting work on June 4. ARN national content director Duncan Campbell last week confirmed O’Connell’s start date.

Campbell told Mediaweek that O’Connell will have a sidekick working with him on-air at Gold. Campbell referred to the Doug Mulray show and the role Andrew Denton originally played as an example. “Christian will involve newsreaders and sports reporters as he needs them. But it is a show that revolves around him.”

It has been a big few weeks for the London host of seven different Absolute Radio streams with the announcement of farewell live shows, an investigation and an award win.

The British broadcasting regulator Ofcom had a single complaint about a comment relating to race made on O’Connell’s Absolute Radio show on January 24 yet chose not to investigate further. However, after a complaint made after a comment about Anne Frank on the show on February 8 this year, Ofcom has launched an investigation.

O’Connell has since commented he regretted the comment and has apologised.

In better news, at the annual TRIC Awards (Television and Radio Industry Club) awards last week, the Melbourne-bound broadcaster was named as the host of the best radio program – The Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show. It was one of only three awards for the radio category.

O’Connell paid tribute to his on-air partner Richie Firth, noting together they have “won every single media award they have been eligible for”.

O’Connell is packing for Australia and has started shipping everything down under including his dog. Not everything is going – he has revealed his Mad magazine collection and an upright piano are not making the trip. He shared a photo of a massive container that arrived at his home last week. He joked it was mostly filled with his awards!

O’Connell is holding a farewell Absolute Show, branded Mourning Glory, in front of an audience on Wednesday May 9. To be held at a theatre in Clapham, the first show sold out quickly and Absolute added a second show that evening.

For fans who will be missing O’Connell, he has told them he will be doing a daily podcast of his Gold breakfast show plus a weekly podcast about his adventures in his new country.

Meanwhile Absolute Radio has announced Dave Berry is set to take the reins of the Absolute Radio UK breakfast show. Berry currently hosts the station’s drive show.

Richie Firth, who currently sits alongside O’Connell in breakfast, will host his own show on midmornings on Absolute 80s.

Google News Initiative: Full details of company-wide moves to help journalism

Google News Initiative (GNI) has been launched in New York with the tech giant calling it a major milestone in Google’s 15-year commitment to the news industry.

Google said GNI represents its largest company-wide effort to help journalism thrive in the digital age.

“It brings together everything we’re doing with the news industry under a single initiative to support quality independent journalism, financial sustainability, and development of new technologies that drive innovation.

“We’re investing $US300 million globally over 3.5 years to energise all of our collaborations, and to lay the foundation for new products and programs for a diverse set of news publishers, to benefit the entire ecosystem. The $300 million funding expands our long-term commitment to the news industry and will allow us to support multiple initiatives across products, partnerships and programs for a diverse set of news partners.

“This investment will fuel our efforts with the GNI around quality journalism, financial sustainability, and technological innovation. It will be based on industry and partner needs, not Google’s short-term interest. And it will be rooted in experimentation, preserving flexibility every year so we can shift allocations based on learnings.

“We will also expand our Product Working Groups globally, to provide publishers an important role in shaping Google’s product direction, commercial approach and overall strategy to meet the needs and challenges of the industry as a whole.”

Google’s Chief Business Officer, Philipp Schindler

A Google statement released these GNI details.

GNI will advance solutions in three major pillars:

• Quality Journalism – We’re elevating and strengthening quality journalism on all our platforms.

• Surfacing Quality, Authoritative Information – Improving our algorithms to more heavily weight results towards authoritative sources over relevance or freshness. These changes are being echoed at YouTube, which will also highlight its “Top News” shelf as a place to find relevant content from verified news sources.

• Disinformation Lab – To combat mis- and disinformation during political cycles, we’re supporting our partner First Draft with the launch of a Disinformation Lab. Based at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard, it will employ computational journalists who will monitor the issue during elections.

• Digital literacy campaign – Launching a US$10 million campaign funded by Google.org to support global digital information literacy. Our first project is a US$3 million project called MediaWise to give a million teens in the US the skills they need to separate fact from fiction online.

• Synthetic media – We’ll release datasets that can be used by academics working to train detection models of synthetic voice and video media (content that has been digitally altered).

• Financial viability – We’re helping publishers diversify revenue streams to drive high-growth business models with both advertising and subscriptions.

• Subscribe with Google – a comprehensive platform to help publishers convert readers into subscribers and keep them engaged across Google and the web. People can use their Google account to subscribe and stay logged-in, so they can easily access their paid content on Google.

Subscribe with Google is available now for any publisher who wants to sign on and implement this capability on their web properties or on their AMP pages. We’re launching with partners including The New York Times, the FT, Fairfax in Australia and Mainichi in Japan, who have signed on to implement Subscribe with Google in the coming weeks and months.

• News Consumer Insights – A dashboard built on top of Google Analytics that helps news organisations understand their audience through a subscriptions-oriented lens and compare their performance against a competitive benchmark populated by 1,000 global publishers.

• Propensity to Subscribe – Signal-based on AI models in DoubleClick that will help publishers predict in a privacy-safe way WHEN and WHY a reader is likely to pay for the content on their website. Testing with Hearst Newspapers, Espresso, and the Washington Post.

In addition to the GNI, Google made the following announcements:

• Australia & New Zealand Training and Partnerships

• Launch of Google News Lab in Australia & NZ

Google will begin the search for a new lead for the News Lab in Australia and New Zealand shortly.

The News Lab recently launched in APAC and, based on the strong response in Australia and NZ, Google will be expanding to add a lead here who will drive our editorial training and partnerships across both countries.

• New Technology – Google is empowering news organisations with technology for innovation in news organizations.

• Google Cloud for News – giving small and midsize news organisations around the world G Suite and Google Cloud Platform credits, training and support for free.

• Pilot of Bulletin – Trial a hyper-local/micropublishing tool in two US cities (Nashville and Oakland) for people to capture and share news on the web and/or via social media.

• Outline from Jigsaw – an open source tool that acts like a purpose-built corporate VPN to let journalists safely access the internet and keep their communications secure.

• AI tools for journalists – tools for reporters that use machine learning to help reporters in their work, from transcribing audio and video interviews easily, cleaning up data sets, and finding patterns and stories in data sets.

• AMP Stories – a new open visual storytelling format build on AMP.

Top photo: Steve Grove, Director of Google News Lab

Vice announces video series Date The World and BMW X2 partnership

BMW and Vice, in collaboration with media agency Vizeum, have announced a series of ambitious events to support the Australian launch of the first-ever BMW X2.

Partnering with conceptual artist and HTRK frontwoman Jonnine Standish, escape room experiences will take place at large-scale, unique venues across Australia – including the cavernous carpark beneath Sydney Opera House.

Rising to cult status in the last decade, escape rooms cover the globe, with thousands of professional and amateur role-players winding their way through themed rooms that challenge their smarts, humour and patience.

BMW Group Australia general manager of marketing Tony Sesto said: “The first-ever BMW X2 is a unique proposition for the BMW brand. This partnership with Vice complements the bold and daring vehicle and will generate hype and interest for the striking BMW X2.”

Vice will also release short-form video in support of the launch and event series, designed to represent the modern design of the BMW X2 and give an insight into the feeling of the X-Cape Room experience.

Myki Slonim, managing director Vice AUNZ, said, “This is the kind of wildly unique and creative collaboration that we live for at Vice. We hope to create an experience that blows minds, gets people talking and drives cosmic love for the first-ever BMW X2.”

Entry to X-Cape Room is open to the public through this RSVP page.

X-Cape Room Event Details

Sydney, Opera House Underground Carpark Cave
April 5, 6 & 7: 12pm-10pm

Brisbane, Spring Hill Reservoir
April 12 & 13: 12pm-10pm

Melbourne, 524 Flinders
April 26 & 27: 12pm-10pm

Vice announced this week that it had also partnered with language learning app Babbel and creative agency DO to deliver a globe-trotting new video series called Date The World.

Date The World will run as two short features across Vice and Babbel’s digital platforms. The first time Babbel has created work specifically for the Australian market, the series will also air on TV channel SBS Viceland.

Cain Collins, Vice media brand partnerships director, said: “We know that young people are seeking genuine, ‘local’ experiences when travelling, and meeting people is a massive part of this. That obviously includes dating. Babbel is a great tool for people to overcome the language barrier, so we’re excited to be working with the brand and DO on entertaining content that might help our audience unlock different cultures, have a better trip, and maybe even find some romance on the road.”

TV Ratings Analysis: Tuesday March 20

• Married climax as Troy & Carly and Sean & Tracey trigger 1.62m crowd
• Critics and viewers say Nine was right: Married is best TV of the year
• Nine wins its first Tuesday of the survey year against MKR + Good Doctor

By James Manning

Seven

Home and Away pushed above 700,000 for the first time for a while after starting the week on 684,000 on Monday.

My Kitchen Rules was just short of 1m metro viewers as group 1 was scoring group 2 in another restaurant takeover. Olga and Valeria got the nod for the best food while Davide and Marco were the weakest and head to Elimination House. The Tuesday audience was down slightly on last week’s 1.03m.

The Good Doctor followed with Shaun questioning the need for risky surgery on a girl who couldn’t smile. The audience slipped just below 900,000.

It was the first time the combo of MKR and The Good Doctor didn’t win the night for Seven.

Nine

Cheap big-screen TVs were one of the topics on A Current Affair with a second consecutive night over 900,000. The episode also featured reporter Alison Piotrowski interviewing Billy Ray Cyrus.

Married At First Sight set more audience records last night with its biggest audience ever – close to a half million were watching in both Sydney and Melbourne. The size of the audience also makes it the #1 non-sports program of the year. It’s worth noting the national average audience was 2.22m with 599,000 regional. Cast members Troy & Carly and Sean & Tracey were involved in a partner-swapping episode that shocked, amazed and thrilled their co-stars and the audience.

Married has also had major impacts for Nine’s supporting platforms. The program Talking Married had a record audience last night of 226,000 metro making it 9Life’s most-watched program ever.

The big audience didn’t set any records for Date Night though, which was on 417,000 after 454,000 a week ago.

TEN

The channel’s numbers recovered after two tough nights thanks in part to two episodes of Bondi Rescue, which were both over 300,000.

The Project did 479,000 with a strong second 30 minutes that featured former regular Kitty Flanagan and visiting star of UnREAL, Constance Zimmer.

Later in the night Hughesy, We Have A Problem did 338,000 after 403,000 a week ago. An encore screening later in the week is good for another 250,000+.

ABC

Tuesday night share was back in single figures, yet still narrowly ahead of TEN.

The Checkout featured a very long piece on an online travel agent while Julian Morrow investigated mobile phone cancellation fees on FU Tube. The episode did 442,000 after 304,000 last week.

SBS

Insight attracted the biggest audience for the channel with 215,000.

The Twiggy UK episode of Who Do You Think You Are? was on 185,000.

Week 12 TV: Tuesday
TUESDAY METRO
ABCSevenNineTenSBS
ABC9.7%723.6%927.9%TEN9.3%SBS One4.2%
ABC 22.0%7TWO3.1%GO!2.0%ONE2.4%VICELAND1.1%
ABC ME0.5%7mate2.8%GEM2.7%ELEVEN2.1%Food Net0.7%
ABC News1.5%7flix1.6%9Life2.5%NITV0.2%
TOTAL13.7%31.1%35.2%13.7%6.2%
TUESDAY REGIONAL
ABCSeven AffiliatesNine AffiliatesTen AffiliatesSBS
ABC8.9%725.8%922.4%WIN8.6%SBS One3.4%
ABC 22.4%7TWO4.2%GO!2.8%ONE2.0%VICELAND1.0%
ABC ME0.9%7mate4.3%GEM4.7%ELEVEN2.7%Food Net0.5%
NEWS 241.3%7flix1.7%9Life2.1%NITV0.2%
TOTAL13.5%36.0%32.0%13.3%5.1%
TUESDAY METRO ALL TV
FTASTV
87.3%12.7%
Tuesday fta
  1. Married At First Sight Nine 1,623,000
  2. My Kitchen Rules Seven 970,000
  3. Nine News Nine 950,000
  4. Seven News Seven 949,000
  5. Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 945,000
  6. Nine News 6:30 Nine 943,000
  7. A Current Affair Nine 929,000
  8. The Good Doctor Seven 893,000
  9. Home And Away Seven 724,000
  10. ABC News ABC 711,000
  11. The Chase Australia Seven 548,000
  12. 7.30 ABC 522,000
  13. Hot Seat Nine 518,000
  14. The Project 7pm Ten 479,000
  15. The Checkout ABC 442,000
  16. Date Night Nine 417,000
  17. Ten Eyewitness News First At Five Ten 415,000
  18. The Chase Australia-5pm Seven 352,000
  19. Hughesy, We Have A Problem Ten 338,000
  20. Hot Seat -5pm Nine 320,000
Demo top fives

16-39 Top 5

  1. Married At First Sight Nine 552,000
  2. My Kitchen Rules Seven 197,000
  3. A Current Affair Nine 169,000
  4. Date Night Nine 167,000
  5. Nine News 6:30 Nine 150,000

 

18-49 Top 5

  1. Married At First Sight Nine 850,000
  2. My Kitchen Rules Seven 344,000
  3. A Current Affair Nine 300,000
  4. The Good Doctor Seven 284,000
  5. Nine News 6:30 Nine 268,000

 

25-54 Top 5

  1. Married At First Sight Nine 887,000
  2. My Kitchen Rules Seven 401,000
  3. A Current Affair Nine 346,000
  4. The Good Doctor Seven 334,000
  5. Nine News 6:30 Nine 319,000
Tuesday multichannel
  1. Talking Married 9Life 226,000
  2. Peter Rabbit ABCKIDS/COMEDY 159,000
  3. Octonauts ABCKIDS/COMEDY 141,000
  4. Dot. ABCKIDS/COMEDY 134,000
  5. Neighbours ELEVEN 133,000
  6. Go Jetters ABCKIDS/COMEDY 131,000
  7. Ben And Holly’s Little Kingdom-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 129,000
  8. Pie In The Sky-PM 7TWO 128,000
  9. Peppa Pig-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 124,000
  10. Highway Patrol E2-PM 7mate 119,000
  11. Floogals-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 119,000
  12. Inspector Morse-PM 7TWO 116,000
  13. Andy’s Prehistoric Adventures ABCKIDS/COMEDY 115,000
  14. New Tricks 9Gem 114,000
  15. Full Custom Garage-PM 7mate 114,000
  16. The Hive-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 113,000
  17. Noddy Toyland Detective-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 109,000
  18. Kazoops!-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 108,000
  19. Shaun The Sheep ABCKIDS/COMEDY 107,000
  20. Hey Duggee-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 107,000
Tuesday subscription tv
  1. Live: AFL 360 FOX FOOTY 62,000
  2. Paul Murray Live SKY NEWS LIVE 50,000
  3. The Big Bang Theory COMEDY CHANNEL 43,000
  4. Jones & Co SKY NEWS LIVE 43,000
  5. Live: Back Page FOX SPORTS 501 39,000
  6. The Bolt Report SKY NEWS LIVE 38,000
  7. AFL: The Fighting Fury FOX FOOTY 37,000
  8. Britannia showcase 36,000
  9. PML Overtime SKY NEWS LIVE 36,000
  10. The Big Bang Theory COMEDY CHANNEL 35,000
  11. Murdoch Mysteries 13TH STREET 32,000
  12. Live: WWE Raw FOX8 32,000
  13. Yes, Prime Minister FOX Classics 32,000
  14. NCIS TVH!TS 31,000
  15. Marvel’s Runaways FOX8 31,000
  16. Mrs. Brown’s Boys UKTV 31,000
  17. Peppa Pig Nick Jr. 31,000
  18. Chicago P.D. UNIVERSAL 31,000
  19. Open Mike FOX FOOTY 30,000
  20. Live: NRL 360 FOX LEAGUE 29,000

Business of media

David Richards’ 4Square Media settles with ATO after court application

The deputy commissioner of taxation has applied for a windup order for North Sydney-based publisher 4Square Media in the Federal Court this week.

The Australian Tax Office noted that the company may also be known as Smart Office Media and Story Maker Marketing.

David Richards is the CEO and editorial director of 4Square Media.

The company publishes the websites smarthouse.com.au and channelnews.com.au and publishes digital magazines that are distributed via retailers including JB Hi-Fi and Good Guys.

Reached for comment this morning, Richards told Mediaweek: “4Square Media has no debt, operates from cashflow and last year delivered a profit of over $200,000. The issue with the ATO has been resolved.”

4 Square Media calls itself a content creation company with a deep understanding of technology.

The biography on its website says:

“Established in 2002, the directors previously built the largest technology media company in Australia and prior to that the third-largest public relations group, which became Ogilvy PR.

“Today, we create digital content whether it be a video, digital magazine, e-book, website or EDMs for distribution to large audiences, our clients are some of Australia’s biggest technology companies.”

Pacific appoints Stacey Hicks editor and content director of Girlfriend brand

Pacific has appointed Stacey Hicks content director and editor of its Girlfriend brand.

Stacey Hicks

Pacific’s general manager, entertainment and family, Louisa Hatfield said: “With so many current global female crusades, a brand like Girlfriend that supports and empowers young women has never been more vital.

“Stacey’s very strong journalistic credentials and leadership abilities beyond her years make her the perfect choice for the role at such an important time in Girlfriend’s history. We are thrilled to have her on board.”

After a stint at the news desk at The Sydney Morning Herald, Stacey Hicks joined Pacific and has held a number of roles including features editor and most recently deputy editor at that’s life!

The appointment follows the recent launch of Girlfriend Movement – a new portfolio of premium content and bespoke events, which champion and support young women. The schedule of content planned for 2018 includes Girl Code, supporting young women to pursue a career in STEM including coding 101 and grants to kickstart tech careers, Teen Talks with first person, inspirational panels on entrepreneurship, overcoming adversity or social achievement and Move It, a campaign to help girls get fit and healthy.

Universal Music promotes Nicole Richards to head Island Records Australia

Universal Music Australia managing directors Mike Taylor and Darren Aboud have promoted Nicole Richards to head of Island Records Australia effective immediately.

In this newly created role, Richards will direct and oversee all artist development and release strategy for Island Australia artists locally and internationally, combined with responsibility for the operation of the label.

The stand-alone Island Records Australia label has a focus on developing artists’ careers, maximising opportunities and impacting the market. Island Records Australia was launched in 2007 and is home to Australian artists Boy & Bear, Thundamentals, Broods, Matt Corby, Vera Blue and Dean Lewis.

Pinterest opens up its shopping ad program to more brands

Pinterest has expanded its shopping ad program to more advertisers and is testing new lifestyle ad formats.

The social media platform launched shopping ads last year with a small number of test partners, which included brands such as Samsung, eBay, Dorothy Perkins, Made.com and JD Williams.

Shopping ads automatically create promoted pins from a retailer’s existing product feed. Pinterest is also currently testing a design that gives users even more visual cues. This format includes lifestyle imagery so consumers can see how the product will fit into their lives.

A recent study by Pinterest found that 90% of pinners make purchase decisions on the platform and 70% said they use it to find new products.

News Brands

Geoffrey Rush has a win after court throws out part of Daily Telegraph defence

Geoffrey Rush has had a major win in his defamation case against The Daily Telegraph and allegations he behaved inappropriately towards a fellow actor, reports Kelly Fedor from Nine News.

A Federal Court Judge threw out a large part of the newspaper’s defence, which included the claim it was substantially true, ruling they had been too vague.

In a statement, The Daily Telegraph’s editor Chris Dore said: “This is one stage of complex legal proceedings. The Daily Telegraph is considering the judgment and whether it will make an application for leave to appeal.

The Daily Telegraph considers that its conduct in publishing the articles concerning a complaint made to the STC against Geoffrey Rush was reasonable.”

Nine’s political editor Chris Uhlmann to be suspended from Federal Parliament

Nine’s political editor Chris Uhlmann will be suspended from Federal Parliament next week for breaching parliamentary rules, reports The Australian’s Stephen Brook.

Uhlmann will be barred from parliament from Monday to Wednesday next week, while both the House of Representatives and the Senate are sitting.

“I accept I broke the rules and I accept the umpires’ verdict,” Uhlmann said.

The political editor broke the strict rules governing media during the height of the Michaelia Cash controversy after her contentious Senate Estimates appearance.

Nine cameras got a shot of the Jobs Minister texting staffers about media scrutiny and Uhlmann included the image in his Nine News report.

[Read the original]

Television

Sunrise calls on professionals for renewed discussion about Aboriginal adoption

Sunrise has conducted an eight-minute mea culpa after last week’s controversial discussion about Aboriginal adoption, reports Fairfax Media’s Broede Carmody.

Tuesday morning’s episode saw co-host David Koch lead a discussion about the “complex and very emotional issue” of childhood protection in indigenous communities.

“We know the conversation around Aboriginal children and their removal sparked concern and protests last week,” Kochie said. “So we’re responding to calls by the Aboriginal community to look at the issue with the experts.”

[Read the original]

Comms minister demands ABC apologises after Tonightly flaunts the C word

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield is demanding the ABC apologise and investigate a skit in which an Australian Conservatives candidate got labelled a “c—”, reports Fairfax Media’s Aja Styles.

Tonightly with Tom Ballard ran a skit last week about renaming the Melbourne electorate of Batman after concerns about the history linked to founder John Batman and his involvement in the murder of Aboriginal people.

The show’s regular comedian Greg Larsen played an Australian Electoral Commission representative and suggested that “in the interest of compromise and in the interest of democracy” that the name be changed to “Batman-was-a-c—” because “we cannot shy away from the terrible things he did”.

[Read the original]

Seven news reader and executives apologise to court after trial report

Channel 7 Melbourne newsreader Peter Mitchell has fronted court and apologised for an on-air blunder when reporting on an upcoming murder trial for Peter Dupas, reports News Corp’s Rebekah Cavanagh.

The veteran Melbourne news presenter was joined by Channel 7 executives including director of news Simon Pristel in the Supreme Court this morning as the TV network’s lawyer offered Justice Lex Lasry a “genuine and sincere apology” on their behalf.

Justice Lasry accepted Channel 7’s apology but said it was “bleedingly obvious” that the details broadcast should not have been.

He said he will make a ruling at a later date, as he needed to consider the submissions and wanted to watch the full 25-second TV report.

[Read the original]

Radio

Kyle & Jackie O Show launches regular political segment with Sam Dastyari

Failed Labor powerbroker Sam Dastyari has inked a deal to become a regular political pundit exclusively for the top-rating Kyle & Jackie O Show, threatening to reveal scandalous details about what happens in the halls of power in Canberra, reports News Corp’s Kylar Loussikian.

Dastyari will appear on the KIIS 1065 breakfast program once a fortnight in a new segment called Gutter Politics, getting the green tick after a two-show trial run.

Dastyari told The Daily Telegraph political commentary was “often dull and boring” and would dish the dirt on Canberra.

“Having had my own career burn out in spectacular fashion, I’m pretty well placed to talk about scandal and politics,” he said.

[Read the original]

Sports Media

Seven’s Talking Footy now produced in-house with no Tim Watson this year

Seven’s AFL show Talking Footy will return next week, but there’s a big change afoot on-screen and behind the scenes, reports News Corp’s Anna Brain.

Seven sports presenter and veteran commentator Tim Watson has disappeared from the show’s lineup, opting to reduce his workload.

There will be no replacement for Watson, who also hosts SEN breakfast radio, leaving Luke Darcy, Brian Taylor, Wayne Carey and Sam McClure on the panel.

Talking Footy was previously made by Eddie McGuire’s production company, JAM TV.

However, earlier this year, JAM took over production of The Footy Show on Nine, hosted by McGuire.

Seven has decided to make Talking Footy in-house.

[Read the original]

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