Business of Media
Media ownership royal commission ‘not warranted’: Rowland
New Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has confirmed the Albanese government does not believe a royal commission into media ownership in Australia is warranted, despite a Senate inquiry last year recommending the move, reports AFR’s Miranda Ward.
“Our view is that a royal commission is not warranted,” she told The Australian Financial Review.
“However, it is important to continue to monitor the status of media concentration, not for its own sake, but to identify those areas in Australia, particularly in suburban and regional areas, that unfortunately risk becoming news deserts.”
The Labor and Greens-majority Senate committee in December recommended a judicial inquiry with the powers of a royal commission be established, after finding Australia’s media laws are “weak, fragmented and inconsistent”.
Loss of trust: Behind the two months of turmoil at the Judith Neilson Institute
As winter came to an end on an overcast Saturday in August 2019, some of the country’s senior newspaper editors climbed onto a super yacht in Sydney Harbour, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
The boat, with leather seats and glossy wood-panelled interiors, was hired for a three-hour cruise to celebrate the Judith Neilson Institute of Journalism and Ideas, and its sponsorship of Sydney’s Antidote Festival. For editors who had spent the better part of the last decade battling to keep newsrooms open, the day wasn’t easy to forget: French champagne, oysters and prawns, according to multiple sources who attended.
It was also memorable for JNI’s newly appointed group of international advisors, who were flown in from offshore for the occasion and put up in Sydney’s Park Hyatt, one of the city’s most expensive hotels.
It was a cruise fit for a billionaire. But the billionaire in question wasn’t there.
Nine, Foxtel explored combined streaming service before Binge launch
Nine and Foxtel held early-stage talks about whether they could work together on a streaming service a year before the Murdoch-controlled pay TV provider launched Binge in 2020, but the two companies were too far away from each other on valuations to make a deal work, report AFR’s Miranda Ward and Max Mason.
Multiple sources have confirmed discussions took place in 2019 as Foxtel explored its streaming propositions following the launch of sports streaming service Kayo in November 2018.
They said the talks involved executives from Nine and Foxtel, including former Nine chief executive Hugh Marks, former Stan boss (and now Nine CEO) Mike Sneesby, Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany and Foxtel executive chair and News Corp group director of broadcasting Siobhan McKenna.
SBS drama about exploited delivery riders tries to hire extras without pay
It was meant to be an expose of the exploitation of lowly paid gig workers by “a multinational food delivery behemoth”. But now the makers of the upcoming SBS On Demand series Appetite have been called out for their own alleged underpayment, reports SMH’s Karl Quinn.
On June 9, a production assistant for the low-budget series being made for the streamer by independent production company Fell Swoop Pictures posted a Facebook call for “bike riders (with own bike) to ‘BE AN EXTRA for SBS on Demand series!’”
The gig would demand being available for one to two days between June 16 and July 1 in inner-city Sydney. International students were welcome. In return they would get a feed – and nothing else.
“Volunteer-basis,” the ad read. “Catered.”
Apparently it was an offer too lousy not to refuse because the ad was posted again on Friday, with only the dates altered. Now bike-owning international students were invited to work without being paid from June 27 to 30.
News Brands
ABC staying put in Ultimo as Rowland eyes broadcasting review
Communications minister Michelle Rowland has dismissed calls for the ABC to relocate from its Ultimo offices and opened the door to a sweeping review of the nation’s broadcasting sector, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Rowland ruled out any move of the public broadcaster from its inner city offices in Sydney and Melbourne and revealed she is considering a thorough review of the 30-year-old legislation that governs the broadcasting sector in a concerted effort to make federal policy apply to an era where social media and streaming is prevalent.
“The key issue here is that we still have an analog environment for the digital age,” Rowland said. “We’ve got a Broadcasting Services Act that’s dated 1992. I even said in 2017 that we hadn’t had a proper review of the media landscape since the Productivity Commission in 2000. The government at the time said all the facts were known. They were not known. There is a very strong argument for review.”
‘Level up’: The Daily Aus plots UK expansion after $1.2m capital raise
The Daily Aus co-founders Zara Seidler and Sam Koslowski are planning to hire more journalists and expand their Instagram focused news service into the UK after raising $1.2 million from former Nine boss David Gyngell and executives from tech unicorn Canva, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
Following their second capital raise, the pair will also launch a research and polling team that will aim to give insights to advertisers into the audience they speak to.
“The money will really allow us to level up pretty much everything we’re doing, and our big focus will be on this play in the research and polling space,” Koslowski said.
The Daily Aus has grown its Instagram following from 50,000 to 372,000 in 18 months. Its team of nine – which includes two full-time journalists and an editor – run two podcasts, a newsletter and more recently started polling its audience. It is edited by Billi FitzSimons – the daughter of Lisa Wilkinson and Herald columnist, Peter FitzSimons.
Radio
3AW station manager weighs in on discussion of breakfast co-host Russel Howcroft’s future
With almost two years under his belt and another year to run on his current contract, Russel Howcroft will be setting his alarm for the early hours for some time yet, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
Rumours of his demise as the co-host of Melbourne’s top rating breakfast program would seem to be wide of the mark.
Howcroft joined Melbourne radio legend Ross Stevenson as 3AW breakfast’s co-host in August 2020 following the departure of Stevenson’s longtime sidekick John Burns.
Burns on Friday claimed that Howcroft was on borrowed time on the show and would be replaced once his current contract expired.
“The pairing of Ross and Russel on AW breakfast has recorded record ratings for the station over the past two years,” 3AW station manager Stephen Beers said.
“Russ is going nowhere. These rumours are nonsense.”
Television
Abbie Chatfield lands her own show as part of Channel 10’s pilot showcase
There is no stopping Abbie Chatfield. In the last six months alone the former The Bachelor contestant landed her own radio show Hot Nights with Abbie Chatfield on the Hit Network, was announced as a judge on the upcoming season of Masked Singer Australia, and also embarked on a sellout national live show tour, reports News Corp’s Lexie Cartwright.
And now, the Instagram influencer has revealed she’s officially landed her own TV show, Abbie Chats, as part of Channel 10’s pilot showcase premiering in July.
The 27-year-old took to Instagram with the exciting news, writing, “Ya girl has a spot in (Channel 10’s) pilot showcase. This show is not just something I’m hosting, but also a concept of my own that has been a long time in the making.”
Lisa Wilkinson remains off air from The Project following Logies fallout
Lisa Wilkinson remains off air until at least next week amid the fallout from her Logies speech, which resulted in a four-month delay to the trial of a man accused of raping former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
The 62-year-old will no longer be co-hosting the program’s much-hyped Monday night show when Hollywood superstar Chris Hemsworth is due to appear, sources confirmed to The Australian.
The latest cancellation to Wilkinson’s scheduled on-air appearances will be the fourth no show from the star in just five days – she has not appeared on The Project since she gave her controversial speech at the TV awards on the Gold Coast on Sunday night.
See More: 10 responds to Lisa Wilkinson Logies speech that delayed the Higgins trial
The changes set to spice up new season of MAFS
MAFS sex therapist Alessandra Rampolla will reveal a lot more of herself as her role in the reality romance trainwreck is ramped up as part of a suite of changes being made to spice up the show, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
“Four or five” new challenges will be thrown into the mix to create tension, or passion, between the ‘newlyweds’.
Not surprisingly MAFS is a show that needs sex and if it is not happening between the sheets then the ‘marriage,’ or TV coupling, is usually not going to last long.
“We will get Alessandra a bit more involved in the sexuality part of it,” Adrian Swift, Nine’s head of content, production and development said.