Business of Media
Stan Grant quits Monash University media integrity role
Just six months after former ABC Q+A host Stan Grant quit the taxpayer-funded broadcaster and signed on to spearhead Monash University’s centre devoted to media integrity, he has quit, report The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth and James Madden.
When Diary made inquiries to Monash last week the front office seemed a tad confused about Grant’s status at the university, and hours later sent a formal statement spelling out that Grant had since packed his bags and was no longer at the institution.
The dean of Monash University’s Faculty of Arts, Katie Stevenson, said in a statement: “Stan Grant has made the difficult decision to step down from his role at the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific in the Faculty of Arts, which is a mission he remains passionately committed to.”
Dentsu boss warns of the dangers of Meta dumping deals with news publishers
The boss of one of the nation’s biggest advertising agencies has warned Meta’s decision to abandon financial deals with media outlets will result in a shrinking advertising market, restrict agencies’ placement options and increase clients’ costs, reports The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth.
Danny Bass, chief executive officer of media at dentsu ANZ, said the move by Meta – the owner of Facebook – to axe deals with media outlets could have significant flow-on effects on the advertising market.
“If there’s less choice and the global players – particularly in the digital space – only get bigger and stronger, then ultimately media agencies and clients could be faced with fewer options, which in turn would be higher prices,” he told The Australian.
Facebook exit would be an ‘existential moment’ for media, Costello warns
Facebook and Instagram owner Meta’s decision to opt out of commercial deals with Australian news publishers has prompted an “existential moment” for media companies, says Nine chairman Peter Costello, former head of the Future Fund, report Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan and Millie Muroi.
Making the comments at The Australian Financial Review’s business summit in Sydney on Monday, Costello said Meta’s decision to pull almost $70 million in annual revenue for news organisations would put reputable journalism at risk.
See also: Australia and Canada to have ‘important discussions’ after Meta exits news deals
First post-op photo of Princess of Wales withdrawn due to ‘manipulation’
The first official photograph of the Princess of Wales to be released after her abdominal surgery two months ago has been recalled by some of the world’s biggest picture agencies over claims it had been manipulated, reports The Guardian’s Hayden Vernon.
The image, released to mark Mother’s Day in the UK, shows Catherine sitting on a chair surrounded by her three children. It is the first authorised picture of her since Christmas.
After its release, the photo was recalled by photo agencies including Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters, which put out a “kill notice” to halt their distribution of the picture.
Reddit aiming for $6.5bn valuation from New York flotation
The social media network Reddit has revealed that it is seeking a valuation of about $6.5bn at its imminent flotation on the New York Stock Exchange, reports The Guardian’s Jane Croft and Nick Robins-Early.
The company said in a corporate filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday that it planned to raise up to $748m by selling 22m shares valued at between $31 and $34 each in the largest initial public offering of a social media network in four years.
Full winners list as Oppenheimer dominates Oscars
Oppenheimer has dominated the main awards at this year’s Oscars, taking seven statues and winning in the categories of Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director, reports 9News.
The film landed its first honour of the night when Robert Downey Jr was recognised in the Best Supporting Actor category, handing the 58-year-old actor a first-ever Oscar in an up-and-down career.
News Brands
Seven West’s The Nightly tried to recruit teen columnist
Seven West Media’s new daily newsletter, The Nightly, launched a fortnight ago to much fanfare in Western Australia, signing up a host of high-profile columnists and contributors including former editor-in-chief of The Australian Chris Dore, as well as investigative reporter Kristin Shorten and culture critic Wenlei Ma, reports Crikey’s Daanyal Saeed.
One name out of left field, however, is 16-year-old Leo Puglisi, who leads and founded online outlet 6 News. Puglisi started 6 News when he was 11 and has amassed a personal online following of over 50,000 people on X (formerly Twitter), on top of 6 News’ 30,000 followers, by employing a small team of fellow children reporting breaking news.
Lattouf says ABC management told her: ‘We’re taking you off-air’
Broadcaster Antoinette Lattouf told a Fair Work Commission hearing on Monday of the fateful meeting with ABC managers at which she was told she would be “taken off-air” for the last two of her five broadcasts, reports Nine Publishing’s Colin Kruger.
Lattouf launched legal action against the national broadcaster after claiming she was dismissed over a Human Rights Watch Instagram post in December last year, three days into a fill-in shift on ABC Radio Sydney.
She alleges that the ABC unlawfully terminated her for sharing political opinions and that race was also a factor.
Channel Seven veteran newsreader Mike Amor almost lost his sight
Channel Seven newsreader Mike Amor has revealed he almost lost his sight after a difficult battle with glaucoma. Amor was diagnosed with the eye disease in his 20s and five years ago was in the fight of his life, reports News Corp’s Jackie Epstein.
“I was in danger of stroking out, which is going blind,’’ he said.
“The doctors had never seen the condition that I had in anything other than textbooks.”
Sports Media
Despite the spin, the NRL faces a long road to win over the Yanks
The Las Vegas venture? As discussed, it seemed to go pretty well, at least in terms of the buzz it created. That ain’t the issue, writes Nine Publishing’s Peter FitzSimons.
The issue remains the overblown claims made about it by NRL officials, in many cases matched by the completely breathless reporting that turned otherwise sober-suited reporters into professional proselytisers for the NRL.
Next year they may even award an off-field MVP to the NRL official, TV or radio commentator or online/print journalist who consistently makes the most hyperbolic claims or predictions with no evidence to back them up. For the gap between claims made, and proven reality were simply staggering.
See Also: Mediaweek sideline eye Las Vegas: Delany tosses the coin, Lachlan Murdoch walks the boundary
–
Top Image: Stan Grant