Business of Media
Rupert Murdoch to testify in Dominion voting machine defamation case
A defamation lawsuit claiming Fox News purposely promoted false claims that a voting tech company rigged the 2020 election is set to reach the apex of the media empire next week when the channel’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, is scheduled to sit for a deposition, reports The Guardian’s Richard Luscombe.
Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing Fox for $1.6bn, are seeking to learn what knowledge the 91-year-old billionaire might have of his company’s repeated broadcasts of the untruthful allegations.
Segments of shows hosted by the prominent rightwing Fox personalities Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, among others, all featured a post-election narrative that Dominion’s voting machines were somehow crooked, including switching ballots from Donald Trump to Joe Biden in the former’s defeat to the latter in the race for the Oval Office, Dominion says.
The lawsuit alleges the unsubstantiated claims were amplified by conspiracy theorist guests such as Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, both lawyers for Trump who have either been sanctioned, or are facing disciplinary measures, for pushing in court the former president’s big lie of a stolen election.
Top ABC presenter quits journalism for investment firm
One of the faces of the ABC’s business coverage, Elysse Morgan, will quit journalism to join Stafford Capital Partners to work with superannuation funds investing in forestry, reports Nine Publishing’s Mark Di Stefano.
The announcement was made by Stafford Capital Partners on Tuesday by the firm’s chairman Brett Himbury – the former chief executive of super giant IFM Investors.
“Elysse will work with superannuation funds in Australia, as well as other institutional investors, to help them realise their net zero aspirations and deliver great returns for their members,” Himbury said.
“Stafford is very committed to growing the business in Australia and Elysse will be central to those efforts.”
Morgan has been in journalism for 15 years, working at Sky News before being hired as a rural reporter for the ABC. Since 2017, Morgan has been hosting the public broadcaster’s business and finance program called The Business.
Facebook threatens to pull news from US platform if Congress passes bill helping publishers
Meta Platforms Inc. is threatening to remove news from Facebook in the U.S. if Congress passes legislation meant to help publishers team up to negotiate payments from tech companies, echoing similar warnings that the company has lobbed at various governments around the world, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Alexandra Bruell.
“If Congress passes an ill-considered journalism bill as part of national security legislation, we will be forced to consider removing news from our platform altogether rather than submit to government mandated negotiations that unfairly disregard any value we provide to news outlets through increased traffic and subscriptions,” Meta tweeted on Monday as part of a longer statement condemning the bill, known as the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.
Facebook’s statement followed a recent change in which the news-oriented legislation was attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, a bill focused on national security, according to people familiar with the matter.
In Australia last year, Facebook removed news from its platform for several days, as legislation that would require the company and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to negotiate paying traditional media companies for content worked its way through the country’s parliament. The company has threatened to do the same thing in Canada, where similar legislation is under review.
Agencies
Bullfrog welcomes Elle Bullen and promotes Dan Sparkes as executive creative directors
Bullfrog has strengthened its creative leadership team with the appointment of Elle Bullen as executive creative director.
This chapter in Bullfrog’s growth also sees the promotion of Dan Sparkes to executive creative director. The two leaders will steer the business’ creative offering, driving Bullfrog’s vision to be a world class creative business.
Bullen was a founding partner of Sick Dog Wolf Man (SDWM) and after an incredible stint at the helm, she left the business and the advertising industry to focus on her health.
Group M makes waves at UnLtd: Big Kahuna surfing competition
Group M have taken home the trophy at the 4th annual UnLtd: Big Kahuna surfing competition in Manly.
The event, powered by The Trade Desk, saw 15 teams across the industry catch the waves for good to support young people at risk.
The surfing competition included two rounds of surf tag and was open to all levels. The runners-up were Blobfish, with Group M taking first place.
James Bayes, general manager AU & NZ at The Trade Desk said: “Big Kahuna is one of our favourite days of the year! It’s the perfect way to start summer, connecting with the industry outdoors in the sun and all for a great cause. We’re really proud to continue our partnership and to support UnLtd make an impact on youth at risk. Kudos to everyone who got involved.”
News Brands
New Channel 4 funding talks suggest end of privatisation plan
Channel 4 is discussing new funding models with the government that could enable it to avoid privatisation, according to the culture secretary, reports The Guardian’s Jim Waterson.
Plans to sell the state-owned broadcaster are widely expected to be abandoned, although officially ministers say they are still considering all options.
Michelle Donelan, who took over as culture secretary in September, told MPs she was talking through alternative business models with the broadcaster: “I’ve been looking at other options on sustainability and discussing those with Channel 4 as to how feasible they are. If we go down one of those roads we would need them to fully sign up and agree to that.”
This could open the door to a face-saving compromise that would see changes to Channel 4’s funding model, while also avoiding the risk of a tricky parliamentary battle over a full sale of the broadcaster to a commercial rival.
BuzzFeed to cut 12% of workforce amid “audience shift to vertical video,” CEO says
BuzzFeed is laying off around 12 percent of its workforce — about 182 staffers of 1,522 staffers — as the company’s revenue has been hit by “worsening macroeconomic conditions” and the “ongoing audience shift to vertical video,” CEO Jonah Peretti told staff on Tuesday, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s J. Clara Chan.
Restructuring costs stemming from the mass layoffs will amount to upwards of $12 million, the company disclosed in an SEC filing, with most of those charges being paid by the end of the first quarter next year. The layoffs will impact the sales, tech, production and content divisions of BuzzFeed and Complex, though there are no cuts happening to BuzzFeed News, HuffPost and Tasty, a company spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.
“Our revenues are being impacted by a combination of worsening macroeconomic conditions, and the ongoing audience shift to vertical video, which is still developing from a monetization standpoint,” Peretti wrote in a memo to staff. “That requires us to lower our costs. Unfortunately, reducing our workforce is an essential part of cost cutting. Staff salaries are the single largest cost at the company.”
Moving forward, Peretti said the company will be prioritizing “areas that will drive growth, and shifting away from areas with less audience engagement.” He also pointed to creating a more “robust creator business,” though didn’t share specifics.
Television
10 Breakfast news bulletin axed, Studio 10 times adjusted
A glaring omission in Network 10’s morning line-up has spelt the end of its news breakfast program, reports News Corp’s Jack Evans.
Starting January 9, 2023, Everyday Gourmet With Justine Schofield and a re-run of Entertainment Tonight will take the place of 10 News First Breakfast.
Studio 10 has also been shortened from its 8.30am -12pm slot, instead almost halving its run time, starting at 10.00am and running until 12.00pm.
A media release from the network made no mention of 10 News First Breakfast than its omission from the line-up, which starts earlier next year, nor did it mention Studio 10’s reduced running time.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story sails past Netflix record
Streaming audiences cannot get enough of serial killers and their bloody murdering ways, reports news.com.au.
Netflix drama Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story became the third ever series on the platform to clock more than a billion hours watched.
Only Squid Game and Stranger Things season four have previously smashed that barrier, however those two titles both hit that mark in the first month and it took the Dahmer series 60 days.
Squid Game stands at 1.65 billion hours while Stranger Things season four is at 1.35 billion hours.
The ratings success of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has led Netflix to commission more seasons of the show, which was originally billed as a miniseries.
Two more instalments have been ordered, and they will follow other “monstrous figures”.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story dramatised the life and grisly crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer, one of America’s most notorious serial killers. Dahmer was convicted of 16 murders of men and boys, committed between 1978 and 1991. He was killed in prison in 1994.
Sports Media
Netflix co-CEO yet to see a path to profitability in ‘renting big sports’
Netflix Inc co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos on Tuesday said he has yet to see a path to profitability in live sports on the streaming service, reports Reuters.
Sarandos said the economics of professional sports were built around the economics of television – and buying rights is expensive.
“We’ve not seen a profit path to renting big sports today,” Sarandos told the UBS Global TMT conference.
Rival streaming services Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video have added live professional sports competitions, acquiring rights to major league soccer and the NFL’s Thursday night games, respectively. NBCUniversal simultaneously streams via Peacock the Sunday Night Football games it broadcasts on television.
“We cannot allow access to key sporting events to be limited by the subscriptions Australians can afford”
Free TV Australia has released its submission for the review of the anti-siphoning rules, which are currently due to expire in April 2023, reports TV Tonight.
It calls for a modernisation of ‘outdated rules’ to ensure that all Australians can watch live and free sport on TV.
Amongst the changes it recommends are more women’s sports on free-to-air, including matches from the Matildas football team and all games in the Women’s FIFA World Cup next year.
At the heart of its submission is a push to prevent more sport going to subscription platforms.
Free TV CEO, Bridget Fair said: “It is clear that we currently have analog rules in a digital world. As a result, there is a real risk that our iconic sporting events could disappear behind streaming paywalls.”