Business of Media
‘A scandalous swamp’: how the Australian parliament’s toxic male culture hit global headlines
As the Australian government responds to yet more revelations about toxic male culture inside parliament, newspapers worldwide have reacted in horror, with Germany’s Der Spiegel warning that the news has put the prime minister, Scott Morrison, in “dire straits”, in a story headlined “Australia’s government is sinking into a scandalous swamp”, reports Guardian Australia‘s Helen Sullivan.
This week a whistleblower alleged that Coalition staffers were swapping videos of themselves engaging in sex acts in Parliament House, including on the desk of a female Coalition MP. The whistleblower claimed that the building’s prayer room was often used for sex and sex workers had been invited into Parliament House by a former minister.
News Brands
Signing off: How Marks turned Nine into a multimedia giant
It’s clear Hugh Marks is nervous. He’s not yet a well-rehearsed, trained, seasoned, and confident media chief executive who has done thousands of interviews, reports AFR‘s Max Mason.
It’s November 13, 2015, just more than a week since taking the reins at Nine from David Gyngell, and Marks is sitting down for his first interview with The Australian Financial Review in his new office on level three of the old Nine headquarters in the leafy Sydney north shore suburb of Willoughby.
Despite the nerves, when pushed by this reporter on M&A, specifically Fairfax Media, he, perhaps presciently with the benefit of hindsight, is laying out his target.
Peta Credlin claims historical gay ‘orgies’ took place at Parliament House
Peta Credlin has accused former Liberal staff members of holding “gay orgies” at Parliament House, reports News Corp’s Tiffany Bakker.
And Tony Abbott’s former Chief of Staff said she was labelled “a b***h” for trying to sack staff involved.
Credlin also said she knows those staffers exposed in shocking videos of men masturbating on desks in Parliament House.
After one man was sacked for what she described as “disloyalty” she revealed that evidence was found of “orgies” when MPs left the office for Question Time.
“When the MP cleaned out the staffer’s desk and the computer, that MP uncovered evidence that for many months that staffer had regularly met with other men, in the middle of the day, when the MP was in question time, for orgies in political offices,” Credlin said during her show on Sky News on Wednesday night.
Radio
Mixing mediums brings radio staple to podcasts
While previously only the most successful podcasts could afford to license commercial music, last year Spotify gave creators the ability to include songs from its vast library for free. One of the best examples of these new blended shows is the Australian hip-hop podcast, A1: The Show, reports SMH‘s Peter Wells.
Hosts Jade Le Flay and Jazmine Nikitta, two Australian hip-hop podcasters and DJs, are joined by producer and co-host 24 Karat Kev. A1 is based on a playlist of the same name that highlights the most-played hip-hop tracks in Australia and overseas but, while an algorithm chooses the music, humans craft the show around it.
Entertainment
Ed Sheeran, Kylie Minogue, Taylor Swift, Jimmy Barnes lead star tributes at Michael Gudinski’s state memorial
Kylie Minogue and Ed Sheeran have paid tribute to Michael Gudinski at the music icon’s state memorial service with an acoustic version of the pop princess’s classic 1987 debut hit The Loco-Motion, reports News Corp’s Cameron Adams.
An emotional Minogue told the Rod Laver Arena audience “there will only ever be one Gudinski”.
“The big G took this little scrawny girl from Melbourne to the world and back home again,” Minogue said.
Michael Gudinski state memorial: Ed Sheeran cries on stage, pays tribute to Australian icon
English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran cried on stage as he remembered his friend Australian music titan Michael Gudinski as “a barrel of laughs”, reports News Corp’s Emily Cosenza.
The Thinking Out Loud singer was one of a long list of superstars to pay tribute to the godfather of Australian music at a state memorial attended by thousands at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night.
Gudinski, the founder and chairman of the Mushroom Group, died peacefully in his sleep earlier this month, aged 68.
Television
“Do we keep VICELAND, yet turn off ABC ME?”
ABC and SBS might be forced to reduce multichannels if one scenario proposed in the government’s Green Paper reform proceeds, reports TV Tonight.
November’s Media Reform Green Paper: Modernising Television Regulation in Australia, a response to the 2019 Digital Platform Inquiry, envisages a scenario where ABC and SBS might share a ‘multiplex’. A multiplex allows multiple digital (or analog) signals to be combined into one signal over a shared medium. This would free up spectrum for sale.
Black Widow to have simultaneous Disney+ and cinema release, delayed to July
Disney has announced that upcoming Marvel movie Black Widow will now be released simultaneously on streaming as well as in cinemas, reports News Corp’s Wenlei Ma.
Black Widow has been moved from April to a July 9 release and will also debut on Disney+ as a Premier Access title. Details for Australia has yet to be confirmed but previous roll-outs involving Disney+ have been global.