Business of Media
Bruce Gordon moves closer to 25pc stake in Nine amid CEO search
Billionaire Bruce Gordon’s regional media company WIN is close to offloading its northern NSW TV station, paving the way for him to increase his stake in Nine Entertainment to 25 per cent and potentially agitate for greater board representation, reports The AFR’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
The 95-year-old, who is worth an estimated $1 billion, is the most influential shareholder at Nine.
Gordon was a crucial voice in the decision to part ways with Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby, who announced his resignation last week after 3 ½ years in the role. He steps down at the end of this month.
The Financial Review Rich Lister is now looking to sell Northern Rivers Television, or NRN, to Network Ten. He bought NRN in 2017 for $55 million from radio and TV company Southern Cross Austereo. It will likely change hands for less than that.
Two sources with knowledge of the discussions, who do not have permission to speak publicly, said the deal is nearly done. WIN and Ten declined to comment.
Guardian parent company in talks over potential sale of Observer
The Guardian’s parent company has announced that it is in formal negotiations with Tortoise Media over the potential sale of the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper.
Guardian Media Group (GMG) told staff it was in exclusive negotiations with Tortoise after being approached with an offer that was significant enough to look at in more detail.
The company said it had chosen to be transparent about the negotiations despite the fact that much of the detail of the talks remained commercially sensitive.
Observer staff were told the offer from Tortoise represented a significant investment in the title as a standalone product that would help safeguard its future.
The Guardian Media Group chief executive, Anna Bateson, said: “This is an exciting strategic opportunity for the Guardian Media Group. It provides a chance to build the Observer’s future position with a significant investment and allow the Guardian to focus on its growth strategy to be more global, more digital and more reader-funded.”
Tortoise was launched in 2019 by James Harding, the former editor of the London Times and former director of news at the BBC; and the former US ambassador to the UK Matthew Barzun.
Tortoise said in a statement it planned to continue to publish the Observer on a Sunday and build the digital Observer, combining with Tortoise’s podcasts, newsletters and live events. It said it planned to invest more than £25m over the next five years in the title.
The Times has reported Tortoise is not expected to pay a significant upfront sum for the newspaper.
Meta gives parents power to block their teenagers from using Instagram
Parents will be able to monitor who their teenage children are messaging on Instagram and block them from using the app at certain times using new controls introduced by Facebook’s parent company Meta in response to mounting global pressure, reports The AFR’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Instagram will roll out “Teen Accounts” in the next two months, adding heavy restrictions for people under 16, who will need an adult’s permission to change the default settings.
Parents will be able to dictate the windows during which their teenage children can access Instagram – by blocking access at night, for example – and see a list of the people they are messaging, although not the content of the messages.
Snapchat boss pushes back on social media ban
Snapchat chief executive Evan Spiegel has weighed into Australia’s planned social-media age ban, declaring that parents are best placed to manage their children’s screen time, and already have the tools to do so, reports Nine Publishing’s David Swan.
Speaking exclusively to this masthead before Snap’s partner event in Los Angeles, Spiegel – who has three children with Australian model and businesswoman Miranda Kerr – said he and Kerr used options built into iPhones and iPads to control what their own children can access.
“Parents have already got these tools today,” Spiegel said. “We use the iOS-level controls and screen time to limit what our teen – we’ve got an almost 14-year-old at home – what he’s able to use. We have ‘family centre’ as well inside of Snapchat that allows parents to monitor their teens’ activity on Snapchat and put in place more stringent content controls and things like that.”
Murdoch families arrive in Nevada with court to determine family trust future
A trial is getting under way Monday to determine whether 93-year-old Rupert Murdoch can change a trust holding the family’s assets, which include roughly 40pc voting stakes in Fox News parent Fox Corp and Wall Street Journal and The Australian owner News Corp, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Murdoch wants to ensure that when he dies control of the trust passes to his oldest son, Lachlan. Three of his other children, James, Elisabeth and Prudence, oppose the change because they would stand to lose voting power. The proceedings are closed to the public and the media.
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch arrived early Monday for the start of the trial, holding hands with their wives as they climbed the courthouse steps. Lachlan’s siblings arrived earlier in a caravan of black SUVs.
Families have long placed ownership of assets into trusts, a financial tool that enables wealth to be passed to future generations outside the probate court system. A handful of states, including Nevada and South Dakota, have been competing to be the most attractive home for those trusts.
During bumper year of Netflix hit series, co-CEO Ted Sarandos shares strategy
Streaming giant Netflix is betting on original content with local authenticity and a focus on audiences rather than critics or media executives, co-CEO Ted Sarandos told a TV industry gathering in London on Tuesday, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Speaking during a keynote address at the Royal Television Society’s (RTS) London Convention 2024, for which Netflix served as the principal sponsor, he also shared his thoughts on the streamer’s British hits, including Baby Reindeer, for which star Richard Gadd won Emmys for best actor and best writer on a limited or anthology series or movie this weekend, and the importance of the UK for the streamer and the country’s creative edge.
For example, Sarandos told the event that when Netflix publishes its latest audience engagement report on Thursday, the top four shows will all be UK-produced, namely Fool Me Once, Baby Reindeer, Bridgerton, and The Gentlemen, with a combined reach of 360 million households. The UK is the streaming giant’s largest production hub outside the US.
His takeaway: “Put the audience first.” Think about the job from the perspective of a fan, not critics or media execs, Sarandos urged his industry colleagues.
News Brands
ABC news boss says altered audio in a news report ‘shouldn’t have occurred’
ABC news boss Justin Stevens will not say whether the taxpayer-funded broadcaster will apologise to former November platoon commander Heston Russell after it published doctored audio depicting an Australian soldier firing six shots at unarmed civilians in Afghanistan, reports The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth.
Speaking at a Melbourne Press Club luncheon on Tuesday, Stevens said the issue with the offending footage “shouldn’t have occurred” and an investigation was continuing to determine who was responsible and how it took place.
“I think we need to in the first instance … exhaustively get to the bottom of what’s happened,” he said.
“As I said we will be upfront and transparent at the appropriate time in coming days as to what happened.”
ABC news boss derides agenda-driven ‘bullying’ of broadcaster’s staff
ABC’s news chief has warned that agenda-driven attacks on the ABC and its journalists, disguised as scrutiny, are contributing to a crisis of trust in Australia and risk permanently eroding the reputation of journalism, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
Speaking to the Melbourne Press Club on Tuesday, Justin Stevens said while he did not shy away from legitimate scrutiny of the ABC’s news content from social media and traditional media outlets, some of the criticism often turned to bullying.
“Sometimes what’s called scrutiny is really an agenda-driven attack motivated by ideological, personal or commercial interests, often directed at specific journalists with the goal of denting their reputations,” Stevens said in the address.
“This trend across social media and from some media outlets – and let’s be honest and call it what it often is: bullying – is about more than just the ABC. Spurious attacks on some journalists can potentially erode the reputation of all journalists. And that feeds the public’s crisis of trust.”
ABC ‘manipulated’ my war crimes quotes: US DEA leader
A former US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) leader has demanded the ABC remove another war crimes story, claiming he was misrepresented and taken out of context, reports News Corp’s James Morrow and James Willis.
Bret Hamilton, who agreed to an interview with veteran journalist Mark Willacy, said he felt his comments had been portrayed by the public broadcaster to infer he was calling for a specific investigation into Australian soldiers.
He also believed Willacy initially informed him he was researching a “positive” story about the relationship between the DEA and Australian specialist troops attached to Task Force 66.
“They manipulated my sound bite. The story should absolutely be taken down. And it should be taken down with an apology” Hamilton said.
Kamala Harris faces media as debate host responds to cheating claims
Kamala Harris sat for a rare solo interview as Donald Trump’s chances in the US election took a dramatic dive in a key forecasting model, reports News Corp’s Justin Vallejo.
FiveThirtyEight, which is owned by Disney, gave Trump a paltry 39 per cent chance of winning in a new low for the former president – the first time he dropped below 40 per cent.
It comes as ABC News, which is also owned by Disney, was forced to address allegations that the network gave the Harris campaign favourable terms, including advance knowledge or question topics and assurances Trump would be fact-checked.
ABC News’ moderator David Muir, meanwhile, dismissed post-debate “noise” and defended how he and co-moderator conducted the event.
Kamala Harris sat for her third major interview, and only second solo interview, of the 2024 US presidential election campaign.
The vice president sat down with the National Association of Black Journalists, where Donald Trump earlier in the campaign made his stunning allegation that she had “turned black”.
Television
Nine’s MAFS launches review after groom cast in 2025 season following DV assault acquittal
A male contestant on Nine’s ratings juggernaut Married At First Sight has denied serious domestic violence claims, saying he was cleared by a court after producers launched a review into how he was selected to be a “groom” on the popular dating show, reports Liam Mendes in The Australian.
It can be revealed new MAFS star Adrian Araouzou defeated police claims he had assaulted his girlfriend.
Araouzou, who as one of the grooms on the show has been paired up with a female contestant and given the opportunity to go to bed with her hours after meeting, had assault occasioning actual bodily harm, domestic violence common assault and resisting police charges dismissed in a NSW court in November 2021 after a magistrate found him not guilty.
From Fisk to Taskmaster, the ‘really small’ Aaron Chen is riding high
Aaron Chen had only met Taskmaster Australia’s gold-headed honcho Tom Gleeson once, backstage at a comedy gig, before he stepped onto the set of Network Ten’s local version of the UK improvisational series, reports Nine Publishing’s Bridget McManus.
“I’d never worked with Tom in a formal context but I have a lot of admiration for him,” says Chen from New York, where he recently moved with his new wife, Sydney publicist Esther Shim.
Chen has been performing as part of the New York Comedy Festival and doing the rounds of the city’s hallowed stand-up venues. “I’m doing a lot of bar shows at the moment. I’m struggling to get a foot in the door at the clubs because these places, they’re institutions, and they don’t look kindly upon guys like me.”
By that he means “guys who are really small”.
Sports Media
Darren Lehmann steps away from Queensland to join commentary box
Darren Lehmann has ended his Queensland coaching career to become a radio commentator, report News Corp’s Daniel Cherny and Robert Craddock.
The former Australian coach had a year to run on his contract as an assistant coach with the Queensland Bulls and Brisbane Heat but will move into a major commentary role with ABC Sport this summer.
The move came after Lehmann narrowly missed out on head coaching roles in the Big Bash to Tim Paine (Adelaide Strikers) and Cameron White (Melbourne Renegades) and may represent the end of Lehmann’s head coaching career.
The ABC will have an expanded commentary team this season as it has added the Big Bash to its summer schedule.
Lehmann launched his domestic coaching career with Queensland in 2010 when he guided the Bulls in the original Big Bash.
Age football team share media honours at Australian Football Media Awards
Age football columnist Kane Cornes has won a trio of major honours and chief football writer Jake Niall has won another of the major categories at the AFL Football Media Association awards, reports The Age.
Cornes on Tuesday night won the Alf Brown Award for best overall media performer for his work with The Age, Nine, SEN and AFL Media. He also won the Lou Richards Medal, presented to a former or current league footballer working in the media, and the award for best opinion/analysis in radio, TV or digital.
Judges said of Cornes’ win in the Alf Brown Award: “No one has had a bigger presence in football this year, via television, radio and newspapers, than Kane Cornes. No one. Now or in the past.”
Herald Sun sports staff earn enormous accolades at AFL Media Awards
The Herald Sun earned enormous accolades for a strong season in the Australian Football Media Awards at Marvel Stadium last night, reports the News Corp daily.
Jay Clark won the award for best feature reporting in print and online, while Glenn McFarlane earned a commendation in the same category.
Judges praised Clark for his feature reporting that “took readers behind the headlines – adding depth and detail to some of footy’s biggest stories”.
Michael Klein swept the pool in the two photography categories – the best action shot for his picture of Jamie Elliott’s Anzac Day hanger, and best news and feature photo for his image of a teary Dustin Martin following a lap of honour in round 24.
Eliza Reilly won best AFLW reporter for her work on CODE Sports, while Lauren Wood won the best AFLW program or feature category.
The Herald Sun received several commendations, including Michael Warner (best news reporting), Mark Robinson (opinion and analysis) and Ed Bourke in the Clinton Grybas emerging talent award.
The late Sam Landsberger was commended for his news and features on Fox Footy and the Herald Sun website.