Business of Media
Tennis Australia taps former Nine boss Hugh Marks to help with media strategy
Former Nine Entertainment chief executive Hugh Marks has quietly taken on his first major appointment since his resignation from the media company last year, with Tennis Australia engaging him as a consultant to assist with its media strategy, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
Marks, who was chief executive of Nine for more than five years until April, is one of several advisers working with Tennis Australia as it negotiates international broadcast deals for the Australian Open tournament and revamps its digital properties.
Val Morgan Digital considers Junkee fit
The sale flyer hasn’t been sent out yet, but already there’s at least one group with its eye firmly on oOh!Media’s Junkee Media, reports AFR’s Anthony Macdonald and Yolanda Redrup.
Sources suggest that Val Morgan Digital (VMD) is already doing early work to assess how a brand like Junkee would fit into its portfolio of titles, with a particular focus on how it could be leveraged as part of its cross-platform strategy to grow its cinema and outdoor advertising business.
While VMD is also not a pure-play publisher, over the last 18 months it has been building up its content strategy, creating so-called power-pairings across areas such as women’s lifestyle, culture, tech and gaming.
Seven owed $1 million as home-shopping channel goes into administration
A home-shopping channel supported by Seven West Media has gone into administration just two years after launch, leaving staff without pay and millions of dollars owed to its creditors, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
Documents filed to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission show the Seven is owed almost $1 million from The Australian Shopping Network, while its parent company, South Korea-based Hyundai Home Shopping Network, is owed $12 million. The channel went into administration on August 6.
The Australian Shopping Network, which operates as Openshop, officially launched on August 1, 2019. It was established by Hyundai Home Shopping Network – a pioneer of live commerce in South Korea which wanted to explore Australia’s market potential. The channel offered viewers free express delivery on beauty, jewellery, fashion, technology, home and health products.
News Brands
AAP invests in specialist reporting, expands board
The Australian Associated Press has invested in three new specialist areas of reporting thanks to support from philanthropists passionate about public interest journalism, as the newswire marks its one-year anniversary as a non-for-profit organisation, reports AFR’s Miranda Ward.
The AAP newswire, which almost closed down in 2020 following the exit of major shareholders News Corp and Nine Entertainment (the owner of this masthead), has launched an arts desk, an environment desk and an agricultural desk thanks to philanthropic donations.
Each desk will have one full-time dedicated reporter, with provision for photography and foreign wire and third-party content.
The growth for the once-struggling newswire comes as it appoints three new women to its board.
Former Fairfax Media group general counsel and company secretary Gail Hambly, inaugural chief executive of Adam Goodes-founded GO Foundation Shirley Chowdhary and media strategist Ranya Alkadamani join the AAP board as non-executive directors.
BBC inquiry dismisses Rupert Murdoch complaints about documentary series
Rupert Murdoch has largely lost a year-long dispute with the BBC after he objected to a documentary series that “implied he posed a threat to liberal democracy”, reports Jim Waterson in The Guardian.
Murdoch’s News UK business complained that a BBC Two documentary unfairly suggested the Australian-born media mogul “exercised malign political influence” through his ownership of news outlets. It said the BBC programme was biased and failed to give enough weight to more positive appraisals of Murdoch’s career.
In particular, News UK objected to the lack of coverage of Murdoch’s financial successes in the world of business, which might have led viewers to reach a different conclusion about the relative success of his career.
BBC’s Afghan-Australian Yalda Hakim ‘devastated’ by Taliban’s takeover
It’s been a bittersweet week for former Sydney journalist Yalda Hakim, reports The SMH’s Andrew Hornery.
Her compelling, live-to-air and completely impromptu 30-minute BBC interview with Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, conducted on her mobile phone’s loudspeaker as they marched on Kabul, made global headlines.
But the Afghan-Australian, who has been based in London for nearly a decade and has fearlessly scrutinised the Taliban for years, says she would give it up in a heartbeat.
“My boss said to me: ‘It’s a strange time to have your work recognised’ … and it is, but I’d give it all away in a second if it meant ending the fear and suffering so many people in Afghanistan are dealing with right now,” she told The SMH from London. “The past few days have been so overwhelming and devastating for me on so many levels.”
Why Hamish Macdonald left Q+A to return to The Project
The way Hamish Macdonald tells it, moving from the ostensibly plum job as host of Q+A back to his old stomping ground of The Project is less a case of the ABC losing a son than the son rejoining a family he’d never really left behind, reports The Age’s Karl Quinn.
“The Project is part of my DNA,” says Macdonald, who first appeared on the show in 2011. “I’ve wandered off and done a few different things over the years but I’ve kept coming back because it’s something I really believe in, it’s a show that I love, it’s an ecosystem of people that I love and get along with.”
Macdonald is far too discreet to say so, but it’s clear he didn’t find the ABC quite so welcoming. No doubt the disjointed nature of television production in the age of COVID-19 was a factor, and a show built around the concept of a live audience asking questions was going to be especially compromised (and declining ratings and a shift to Thursday nights didn’t help). But nothing quite prepared him for the way he would become a social media lightning rod for the frustrations and anger people were feeling during the 18 months he was host of Q+A.
Four Corners boss Sally Neighbour investigates Louise Milligan over social media storm
Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour investigated – and cleared – her high-profile reporter Louise Milligan of any wrongdoing in relation to a complaint that should have been handled by the ABC’s independent disputes department, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
Milligan was accused by former Liberal staffer Dhanya Mani of publicly exposing her as a source for the controversial Inside the Canberra Bubble episode of Four Corners, which screened in November last year.
Mani complained to the ABC on August 11, claiming she was misrepresented in a tweet posted by Milligan, and told The Australian she was shocked after she was later contacted via email by Neighbour – Milligan’s boss – who said she had investigated the matter.
Radio
Lauren Phillips bares all on air in new KIIS 101.1 radio gig
New KIIS FM Melbourne co-host Lauren Phillips is embracing her imperfections as she charts a new career course in breakfast radio, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
“I’m a disaster of a human,” Phillips cheerfully admits two weeks into her new gig alongside Jase Hawkins on KIIS’s Jase & Lauren show.
“I get myself in all kinds of messes and I am just doing my best.
“We are having a lot of fun and I have a massive case of foot-in-mouth syndrome, so I provide plenty of entertainment.”
And she has quickly discovered her personal life is very much a talking point on FM radio.
“The first thing I learnt in this job is basically your privacy is gone and you talk about your personal life a lot which is different to any job I have had before,” she said.
‘Too woke’: Kyle takes down The Project
Watch out, Waleed, Lisa and Carrie: “King” Kyle Sandilands has made his ruling on your show. The Project, he says, is not watchable anymore because it’s “too woke”, reports News Corp’s Nick Tabakoff.
In an epic spray, Sandilands unloaded on the 10 panel show by suggesting it is a big reason behind the entire network’s reduced ratings this year, because it has been pushing “political agendas down our throats”.
“When you’re running a TV network, and your lead in is The Project, and (the ratings have) eroded away to nothing, that’s a worry,” Sandilands said last week. “I like the people on The Project, I know some of them, nothing wrong with them. But they just push their political agendas down our throats.”
Entertainment
The Wiggles gets four new members
The Wiggles will double in numbers and take the beloved children’s entertainers into the 21st century with gender equality, ethnic diversity and new non-binary characters, reports News Corp’s Lisa Mayoh.
Joining the current Wiggles crew of Anthony, Emma, Lachy and Simon will be three more women — two of whom will wear pants with one getting around on a skateboard — as well as a former pop singer from Justice Crew.
Podcast
Jessica Rowe gets a talk show: Confesses to resenting Karl Stefanovic
15 years ago, Jessica Rowe was sensationally fired from the Today show while Karl Stefanovic’s star power continued to rise. The pair hadn’t had a proper conversation since, until today, reports News Corp’s Karlie Rutherford.
Not long ago, the 51-year-old extended an olive branch to her former colleague, and invited him on to the first episode of her new LiSTNR podcast, The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show.
“I remember seeing Karl at an airport one year. He was walking with a bunch of people and I was walking with a bunch of people, and we just said hello, but we’d never spoken about what happened between us,” says Rowe, who first worked with Stefanovic in the Network Ten newsroom in Sydney in the late ’90s.
“I thought this [reunion on the podcast] would be a really challenging conversation for both of us – but one we needed to have. Even though nearly 15 years have passed, there are some things that never leave you and feel unresolved, even though both of us have gotten on with our lives and we are both much happier people now than we were then.”
Sports
Buzz on Erin Molan’s likely replacement at Channel Nine
Danika Mason is the personality most likely to replace Erin Molan on the station’s rugby league coverage next season, reports News Corp’s Phil Rothfield.
Mason is a journalist who began her career at the network as an intern eight years ago.
She was recently promoted from sideline reporting to hosting duties on Saturday night games and has done an excellent job.
Mason is highly respected by players, coaches, clubs and fans.
The Sunday Telegraph revealed Molan recently told colleagues of her decision to step down to spend more time with her father, Senator Jim Molan, who is fighting cancer.
It is understood she told Nine’s director of sport Brett Williams of her decision two weeks ago.
Nine’s Paul Vautin says ‘old’ voices still matter in NRL commentary
Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin was shocked when long-time workmate Peter Sterling told him he was retiring – then, suddenly, he wasn’t, reports News Corp’s Robert Craddock.
Vautin revealed Sterling privately informed him three months ago that the 30-year journey they have shared as commentators and Footy Show sidekicks would end this season.
“I was shocked but then again I wasn’t,’’ said Vautin, who is contracted to Channel 9 for next year.
“Thirty years is a long time. He said the job has been great but there is more stuff to do in life and that involved his family. And I support him.
“We started together. It made you think about the great times we had. In 30 years we have never came close to a cross word.”