Business of Media
Who’s getting sued? The year ahead for defamation in Australia
2023 might have been one of the biggest years in defamation law history, and not only because of Ben Roberts-Smith’s bombshell loss against the Nine newspapers or the ongoing Bruce Lehrmann trial against Network 10. The past year brought with it a number of changes to Australia’s defamation laws, as part of a raft of reformation updates in the 2020s designed to make the law more workable in the modern age, reports Crikey’s Daanyal Saeed.
In 2024, however, there are just as many cases and changes set for the defamation courts.
The biggest change that will come into effect addresses digital intermediaries, introducing a new innocent dissemination defence for actors such as search engines, subject to a complaints process. Director of the Media and Communications Law Research Network, Associate Professor Jason Bosland, told the Law Society Journal last year that the current defence of dissemination doesn’t currently “adequately balance freedom of expression with the right to reputation”.
Court documents detail expletive-ridden call from PM’s office to Network Ten over interview with Brittany Higgins
Former prime minister Scott Morrison‘s press secretary made an angry phone call to a Network Ten news executive after it aired an interview with Brittany Higgins, court documents have revealed, reports the ABC’s Patrick Bell.
The bundle of documents released by the court included an email from Ten’s then-director of news Ross Dagan to network lawyers about half an hour after the program finished.
“Andrew Carswell from the PM’s office called the second the programme was off air and started with ‘what the f***k was that’,” Dagan wrote.
“He proceeded to inform me that the interview had ruined a woman’s life.
“It wasn’t until some minutes into the call that I realised he was referring to Fiona Brown, not Brittany Higgins.”
Back UK creative sector or gamble on AI, Getty Images boss tells Sunak
Rishi Sunak needs to decide whether he wants to back the UK’s creative industries or gamble everything on an artificial intelligence boom, the chief executive of Getty Images has said, reports The Guardian’s Alex Hern.
Craig Peters, who has led the image library since 2019, spoke out amid growing anger from the creative and media sector at the harvesting of their material for “training data” for AI companies.
News Brands
Chris Cuomo accused of sending explicit texts to former CNN colleague
The former CNN host Chris Cuomo is accused of sending explicit texts to then colleague Angela Rye about a picture she posted on social media, with Rye connecting the incident to later not having her contract renewed with the TV network, reports The Guardian’s Gloria Oladipo.
The former CNN political commentator shared her experience involving Cuomo during an episode of her new podcast Native Land Pod, describing it as “one of the most embarrassing, humiliating experiences I had”.
Radio
Date yet to be confirmed for Kyle and Jackie O’s expansion to the Melbourne airwaves
The hotly anticipated Melbourne radio debut of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O has been delayed, reports News Corp’s Jackie Epstein.
The powerhouse breakfast duo, who signed a staggering $200m 10-year contract extension with ARN in November, are due back on air on Monday in Sydney.
But a date has yet to be confirmed for their expansion to the Melbourne airwaves, with KIIS FM saying that The Kyle and Jackie O Show “is coming very soon”.
See Also: Radio ratings 2024: GfK presses start button, Kyle & Jackie in Melbourne, ABC’s early start
Alan Jones has ‘no immediate plans’ to return to Australia to resume on-air role
The future of embattled media figure Alan Jones, who has denied indecently assaulting several young men, remains uncertain, with the 82-year-old cancelling his planned return from London, reports Nine Publishing’s Kate McClymont.
A source close to Jones, who asked not to be identified, revealed that the broadcaster left for London the week before Christmas. He was due to return to his on-air role on ADH TV (Australian Digital Holdings) at the end of this month.
Jones is being supported in London by ADH’s co-founder Jake Thrupp, 26, who is studying at King’s College London with the financial assistance of his mentor.
Entertainment
Jo Koy mocks ‘soft’ celebrities at first post-Golden Globes comedy show
Less than a week after the 2024 Golden Globes, Jo Koy was back onstage doing stand-up in St. Louis, Missouri, where he called celebrities a bunch of “marshmallows” because “they’re soft,” reports News Corp’s Mikaela Wilkes.
The American comedian poked fun at the “soft” celebrities who witnessed his Globes monologue first-hand at his first stand-up show since his disastrous turn as host of the award show.
“Lot a marshmallows, man. They’re delicious, but goddamn, they’re soft,” Koy said of his awards show audience.
Television
Delayed Emmys to spotlight best of television in ‘Succession’ sendoff
The Emmy Awards, normally one of Hollywood’s September red-carpet rituals, will take the stage on Monday in a strike-delayed ceremony to honor the best of television, report Reuters’ Lisa Richwine and Danielle Broadway.
HBO’s Succession, about the wealthy but miserable Roy family, leads all nominees with 27 nods. It is widely expected to win its third best-drama trophy. Most shows on the list come from streaming services, which grabbed their highest share of nominations ever.
Where are the original Gladiators stars of the 1990s now?
Nearly 30 years ago Australian television ushered in a new style of star, ones who dressed like superheroes, had names that sounded like they had stepped from a Marvel comic and fought battles in an oversized ‘colosseum’, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
The era of the Gladiators dawned on Channel Seven in 1995 with initially 14 – seven male and seven female – and eventually 20 in total, larger than life heroes ready to take on all comers.
Sports Media
Pace yourself, stock up: Surviving the tennis from your lounge room
Ladies and gentlemen on the couch, the linespeople are ready. The players are ready. The ballkids are ready. Are you? It’s January, and that means the fortnight when the world’s eyes turn to Melbourne for that massive event we all refer to offhandedly as “the tennis”, reports Nine Publishing’s Neil McMahon.
Did you see the tennis? How about the tennis? Who won the tennis? Who’s on in the tennis? When does the tennis start? Let’s go to the tennis — if not in person, then via the couch, and that means a two-week viewing marathon for which we need to be prepared.
So grab your new balls, please. Off we go.
ESPN used fake names to secure Emmys for ‘College GameDay’ stars
In March 2023, Shelley Smith, who worked 26 years as an on-air reporter for ESPN, received a call from Stephanie Druley, then the network’s head of studio and event production. Druley said she wanted to talk about something “serious” that needed to stay between the two of them, Smith recalled. She then told Smith that Smith needed to return two sports Emmy statuettes that she had been given more than a decade earlier, reports The Athletic’s Katie Strang.
That request was one of many ESPN made of some of its biggest stars last year after the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), the organization that administers the Emmys, uncovered a scheme that the network used to acquire more than 30 of the coveted statuettes for on-air talent ineligible to receive them. Since at least 2010, ESPN inserted fake names in Emmy entries, then took the awards won by some of those imaginary individuals, had them re-engraved and gave them to on-air personalities.