Business of Media
Play hardball and make Meta pay fair share for news
The Australian government is set to go head-to-head with one of the world’s most powerful companies in one of the world’s most ubiquitous industries. Last week, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta told the federal government it will no longer pay for the news content that it and other social media like Google had once swept up from Australian news mastheads for free, reports Nine Publishing.
Under a world-first News Media Bargaining Code enforced by the federal government in 2021, Meta and Google agreed deals worth $200 million a year to compensate for copyrighted content from Nine Entertainment, News Corp, the ABC, Seven West Media and many others.
Meta’s $70 million or so share has been an important boost for Australia’s professional newsrooms and serious public journalism.
TikTok dragged into Albanese’s Facebook fight
TikTok faces being dragged into the Albanese government’s fight with Meta over payments to news organisations if it fails to do its own deals with media companies, reports Nine Publishing’s Nick Bonyhady.
The video-sharing app claims 8.5 million Australians use it every month, which equates to about one third of the country. Federal data shows an increasing percentage using it as a news site.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, his ministers and the media poured scorn on Meta last week after the $US1.28 trillion company refused to renew its agreements paying Australian journalism outlets.
Prime Video staff face layoffs in Europe as job consultations begin
Prime Video is beginning job consultations with staff in Europe, we hear, reports Deadline’s Jesse Whittock.
It’s understood a figure of less than 5% of staff face layoffs through the cuts, which were triggered earlier this year when VP of Prime Video in EMEA Barry Furlong unveiled a restructure that impacts Europe, MENA and Africa.
The consultations are understood to be happening across Prime Video’s European offices, and those impacted are expected to be contacted today. Staff impact is estimated to be in the double figures.
‘Barbie’ ruled the box office, but 2023 was tough for women in Hollywood
When Greta Gerwig did not receive an Oscar nomination last month for best director for Barbie, despite the film’s nod for best picture and its status as a global box office phenomenon, the news revived scrutiny over gender diversity among the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ membership, report The New York Times’ Nicole Sperling and Ella Koeze.
The directors’ branch, which chooses the five nominees for that Oscar category, is 25 percent female. Over all, 34 percent of the academy’s more than 10,000 members are women.
“The academy, like our industry, should reflect the world in which we live,” said David Heyman, a producer of Barbie. “The fact that it doesn’t is just wrong.”
Alan Joyce pictured back in Sydney following tumultuous Qantas fallout
Alan Joyce has been pictured back in Sydney five months after his abrupt departure from Qantas, reports News Corp’s William Tyson.
Joyce was spotted by a listener to 2GB on Monday afternoon wearing a baseball cap, navy T-shirt, blue shorts and a pair of black sneakers.
Joyce left Sydney last year after getting a $21.4 million payday for his final year at the airline.
It followed a tumultuous year for the fallen CEO with delayed and short changed customers, 1700 illegally sacked workers and angry shareholders all wanting him to front a senate aviation inquiry but Joyce was nowhere to be seen.
News Brands
Nine backs reports claiming corruption between Stuart Robert and consulting firm amid defamation suit
Alleged corrupt conduct between former federal Liberal MP Stuart Robert and Synergy 360 included a “gypsy’s warning” to encourage a contract between the consulting firm and a major IT company, Nine claims, reports The AAP.
The network is being sued for defamation in a New South Wales supreme court lawsuit filed by Synergy 360 and its CEO, David Milo, over four Sydney Morning Herald articles.
They are seeking damages and argue the reports, published from November 2022 to March 2023, have ruined their reputation.
But Nine has responded in its defence, saying the articles were public interest reports on the truth and honest opinions of journalists Nick McKenzie and David Crowe.
Kerry O’Brien: “It is the content itself on which the ABC will live and die”
Former ABC presenter and renowned journalist Kerry O’Brien has warned ABC is at risk of losing its direction by drifting closer to a commercial model, chasing younger viewers and lacking ‘clarity of thought,’ reports TV Tonight.
Speaking to ABC Radio as Ita Buttrose departs the broadcaster as ABC Chair, O’Brien said ABC management was under intense pressure.
“I don’t think the times have ever been more complex, certainly in my lifetime, than they are now. We live at a level of intensity that I think is unprecedented. We feel overwhelmed by so many of the challenges that we see governments not particularly facing. We get a sense that democracy is under threat. We have a sense of living on shifting sands. And we shouldn’t be able to look to our public broadcaster with confidence as one of the beacons of our democracy that we can rely on,” O’Brien said.
Dan Wootton leaves GB News to set up own ‘independent platform’
The television presenter Dan Wootton has announced he is leaving GB News to set up an independent platform, and in a parting shot accused the media regulator Ofcom of censorship, reports The Guardian’s Nadeem Badshah.
It comes after the watchdog ruled on Monday that a segment on Dan Wootton Tonight on GB News, in which the actor turned politician Laurence Fox made “misogynistic” comments about the female journalist Ava Evans, broke broadcasting rules.
Television
New I’m A Celeb host Robert Irwin reveals big change he’s made to the show
Incoming I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! co-host Robert Irwin has revealed the change he insisted on making ahead of his debut on the show, reports News Corp’s Christine Estera.
“The one thing that I was like, ‘Mmm, I’ve got to change this’, was eating the African wildlife…I’m a conservationist at heart,” he said this morning when dropping by The Kyle & Jackie O Show in Sydney.
“They have changed it so we’re just doing the cow, and the chicken, and the fish, and the cockroach,” he revealed of the change of challenge menu.
Sports Media
‘By any measure, we’re the No.1 sport’: AFL boss Dillon won’t concede to PVL
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon is adamant that his code is still No.1 in Australia, despite the NRL’s successful start to its season in Las Vegas, reports Nine Publishing’s Jonathan Drennan.
Asked about the well-documented aim of Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’Landy to take the top spot, Dillon was resolute.
“What we focus on, honestly, is our sport and what we do – and by any measure, we’re the No.1 sport,” he said. “What we’re focused on is just getting our game to as many people as possible.”