Arrest of Alan Jones
Ray Hadley hints at giving evidence as more charges laid against Alan Jones
Veteran radio broadcaster Ray Hadley has hinted he may provide evidence in the case against his former 2GB colleague Alan Jones, as friends rallied behind the accused broadcaster after a ninth complainant came forward with allegations, reports The Australian’s Stephen Rice.
Former prime minister John Howard and billionaire businessman James Packer were among those offering cautiously worded support for Jones following charges on Monday of multiple counts of alleged indecent assault and sexual touching offences spanning two decades.
On Tuesday, police announced that “following further legal advice”, Jones had been charged with an extra two counts of assault with act of indecency relating to a ninth alleged victim.
Speaking on 2GB on Tuesday, Hadley said he would be “playing no public role in this matter” but alluded to “some sort of other role” as the case proceeds.
“Those complaints have now led to the 24 charges against Mr Jones; the next time he is in court is on December 18 and the matter will be dealt with then and appropriately,” Hadley said.
“By that time I will have finished on air, and I’ll be playing no public role in this matter; I may play some sort of other role, but I won’t be playing a public role in this matter into the future because I retire on December 13, he goes to court on December 18.”
The silks in the running to defend Alan Jones at trial
Two of Australia’s most ferocious legal minds, Bret Walker and Margaret Cunneen, are the frontrunners being considered to represent broadcaster Alan Jones against allegations of indecent assault and groping spanning nearly two decades, reports The AFR’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Now Jones has been charged, the next question is who else will represent him. Those around Jones, speaking anonymously to be candid, say they want to ensure the octogenarian has the best possible legal advice in what will be a high-profile and likely protracted case.
Some are urging Jones to appoint Cunneen, SC, a former crown prosecutor turned defence barrister who has become a specialist in successfully representing men accused of sexual crimes.
Just last month, a jury in Newcastle took only 90 minutes to find 21-year-old Jack Milner not guilty of sexually assaulting a woman near a bar in 2022. She defended former Dubbo mayor Ben Shields against historical allegations from 2003, which prosecutors ultimately dropped.
Amid recriminations over Alan Jones, one name keeps surfacing
As recriminations and soul-searching begin among Alan Jones’s friends, foes and former employers over who suspected what, and when, one name keeps surfacing: Alex Hartman, reports The Australian’s Stephen Rice.
The 39-year-old tech guru and former Jones protege will not be one of the nine alleged victims to give evidence against the broadcaster — he died suddenly in 2019 in Switzerland at the age of 39 after a series of business failures that had culminated in allegations of abuse against Jones and counterclaims by the radio star that Hartman was “demanding money with menaces”.
Though never published at the time, partly through Hartman’s reluctance to go public and partly through fear of defamation action, word of the allegations swept through Sydney media and social circles.
Gina Rinehart deletes mentions of Alan Jones; others carefully word reactions
Alan Jones has been hit by fresh criminal charges as the number of his alleged victims grows to nine and high-profile supporters of the former broadcaster splinter over whether to continue publicly backing the accused abuser, report a team working on the story at Nine Publishing – Kate McClymont, Jessica McSweeney, Anne Hyland, Stephen Brook, Riley Walter and Jesinta Burton.
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, appears to have distanced herself from Jones since his arrest, with the mining magnate’s company websites scrubbed of any mention of the former radio star.
Jones labelled Rinehart “most probably the greatest living Australian” at the launch of her cookbook, Things We Love, in 2019. Jones’ speech from the event, where he also called the miner a “beautiful lady”, is no longer available on the S Kidman & Co site. Rinehart declined to comment on Tuesday.
Jones’ status as a member of the Australian Media Hall of Fame is also in doubt after organisers said the text of his online tribute page would be updated and his inclusion potentially reviewed after any criminal trial.
“We’ll be adding information to Alan Jones’ Media Hall of Fame entry outlining the serious allegations against him,” a spokesperson said. “We’ll allow the legal process to be completed before taking any further steps.”
High-profile conservative commentator Andrew Bolt said if the allegations that Jones indecently assaulted and sexually touched multiple men were proven, it would be “one of the greatest falls from grace” in Australian history.
The day I interviewed Alan Jones is fixed in my mind for all the wrong reasons
Some interviews never leave you. In most cases, it’s because they’re inspirational or deeply affecting. But the day I interviewed celebrated broadcaster Alan Jones remains fixed in my mind for all the wrong reasons, reports News Corp’s Angela Mollard.
It was February 2009 and I’d gone to interview Jones at his apartment in Sydney’s The Toaster building about his secret operation for a benign brain tumour a couple of months earlier.
He was as assured as ever but as the photographer and his young assistant finished taking pictures to accompany the article, something weird happened.
It was nearing dusk and Jones disappeared to his bedroom, returning in a Versace dressing gown and slippers. I felt uncomfortable.
He explained he’d been in a suit since 2am. I was keen to leave but Jones insisted the three of us stay for tea and cake, served by his butler.
Business of Media
Why Perpetual wants to maintain Murdoch control at News Corp
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s News Corp has more than its fair share of activists trying to blow up the joint – or at least the long-held dual-class capital structure, reports The AFR’s Anthony Macdonald.
Shareholders will vote on the matter in New York early on Thursday morning AEDT, although it’s highly unlikely to be the end of the matter.
So far in the headlines, it’s a stacked house against the Murdochs’ News Corp, which is telling shareholders to vote against the proposal.
Hedge fund Starboard Value is spearheading the push, arguing a separate battle for control of the Murdoch Family Trust makes it the ideal time to collapse the dual-class structure, while proxy advisers have tucked in behind the “one-share, one-vote” campaign in the name of good corporate governance.
You wouldn’t know it from the lack of investor relations engagement, but Australian investors will have a material say in the vote. About 20 per cent of News Corp’s shares are in the hands of Australians, either via the primary US-listed stock or the secondary ASX-listed CDIs.
“You want to back management teams that allocate capital well for the long term,” Perpetual head of equities Vince Pezzullo says. “The share structure doesn’t make any difference except for allowing them to think long-term.”
Pezzullo says the Murdochs and News Corp’s management team, headed by former journalist Robert Thomson, had consistently outsmarted hedge funds and other short-term investors when it came to strategic decisions in the past decade.
#Xodus: Bluesky hits 20m users as people continue to flee X
A trickle is becoming a flood for Bluesky, the social media company that has seen spectacular growth since the presidential election. On Tuesday, the microblogging platform hit 20 million users, after averaging 1 million new users per day over the past five days, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
According to a Nov. 13 post by Bluesky CEO Jay Graber, the site had 6 million users in late August, nearly 11 million in late October and hit 15 million users on Nov. 15. It added another 5 million users in just five days, with the explosive growth seen since Nov. 5, the day of the election, accelerating.
Bluesky has been one of the main beneficiaries of millions of users leaving Elon Musk’s X, as the site formerly known as Twitter descends into a mess of bots, extreme content, crypto scams, ads, pornography, racism, transphobia and misinformation.
News Brands
Brett McLeod 9 returning to 9News Melbourne, Dougal Beatty to depart 9News
Nine News Melbourne reporter Dougal Beatty has resigned from Nine to pursue corporate work, reports TV Tonight.
Beatty has been with Nine since 2013 after his career began at WIN News Bendigo and Ballarat.
He regularly presents Nine’s Afternoon News as well as Nine Local News and has hosted Weekend Today and Your Domain.
He finishes at the end of the month to commence in the Corporate Affairs team at NAB as Associate Director, specialising in digital content creation.
Meanwhile Nine’s European Correspondent Brett McLeod is returning home to Nine News Melbourne. He was posted to the London bureau in 2021, having joined Nine in the late 1990s.
Radio
Vulgar content in the Sesame Street time slot: how Kyle and Jackie O skirt decency laws
In two weeks of listening to The Kyle & Jackie O Show in October, Guardian Australia has documented segments that mock Asian people and insult women and mental health patients, as well as vulgar and aggressive sexual language. The most offensive content involves Sandilands, while Henderson often offers mild protest to his comments about women and sex, report Guardian Australia’s Sarah Martin and Kate Lyons.
Sandilands and Henderson have been presenting breakfast radio together for more than 20 years. They are billed as the “king and queen” of Australian commercial radio and their show has rated No 1 in the coveted breakfast slot in Sydney for 47 surveys in a row.
An ARN spokesperson told Guardian Australia that while The Kyle & Jackie O Show “may not appeal to everyone”, it was the country’s most successful program, with a weekly audience of more than 1.7 million people.
“ARN is committed to delivering content that meets both regulatory standards and audience expectations,” he said. “We also regularly review our content and take on audience feedback.
“We respect ACMA’s independent regulatory role and will continue to work under its guidelines.”
Industry shock as popular radio host shown the door
Popular radio identity Mitch Churi will be shown the door at KIIS FM as of the end of the year, reports Jonathon Moran.
Despite being considered a rising star at the network and the broader industry – he’s won countless awards and topped the ratings – Australian Radio Network (ARN) management is understood to have made the decision for financial reasons in an increasingly tough market. He was notified on Tuesday.
Breakfast duo Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson’s much publicised pay rises kick in at the start of 2025 and Confidential can reveal bosses have been forced to make tough decisions in order to balance the books.
The station has also faced an advertising boycott and soft ratings in Melbourne, where Kyle and Jackie O launched earlier this year.
Veteran ABC radio presenter and journalist David Bevan calls time on his radio career
Veteran radio presenter and journalist David Bevan has called time on his radio career, reports News Corp’s Dylan Hogarth.
Joining the 891 Adelaide Breakfast radio show on Tuesday morning with Sonya Feldhoff and Jules Schiller, Bevan said he was ready to retire.
After speculation mounted on Monday the senior ABC presenter would announce his retirement, Bevan told the breakfast radio audience his last day would be December 13.
“It’s Friday the 13th, so nothing could possibly go wrong,” he said.
“It’s been an absolute privilege to sit in this room every weekday for the last 24 years … but it’s time to say goodbye.”
Sports Media
Jake Paul, Mike Tyson fight card draws 108m viewers globally, Netflix says
Mike Tyson and Jake Paul’s boxing match on Netflix drew 108 million viewers worldwide, the streamer announced Tuesday, reports Variety.
According to Netflix, that makes it the “most streamed global sporting event ever.” The fight garnered an estimated average minute audience (AMA) of 108 million live viewers globally. The event peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, with 38 million concurrent streams in the US. Total viewership AMA estimates are derived from TVision data in the US and first party data in global markets.
The streaming sports event was the top title on Netflix for the week, with 46.6 million views through Sunday night.
Netflix had previously reported that the heavyweight boxing match between Paul and Tyson was viewed by 60 million households globally, while 50 million households globally tuned in live for the co-main event of Serrano vs. Taylor 2. Netflix now says that the Taylor-Serrano fight averaged an estimated 74 million live viewers globally and became the most-watched professional women’s sports event in US history with 47 million AMA in the US.