News Brands
Trump headaches to dog Fox and the Murdochs in 2025
Rupert Murdoch has sailed into the new year with more bad news in tow, even as the media mogul strives to resolve the succession struggle that threatens the future of his empire, the SMH’s Colin Kruger reports.
Just days after Christmas, Fox Corporation lost a motion in the US courts to dismiss a lawsuit from his fellow investors.
They are seeking to hold the Murdochs personally liable for Fox News pushing claims that the 2020 US election was stolen, with voting machines from Smartmatic and Dominion largely to blame, despite knowing this was false.
At the heart of the issue is what role the Murdochs, and Fox Corp board members, played as the network struggled to keep faith with right-wing viewers who were deserting it after it dithered over the issue in the days following the 2020 election result.
Fox has already settled the Dominion defamation claim in 2023 for a record $US787 million cash. Meanwhile, Smartmatic – which is also suing Fox for defamation – is still in the pre-trial information gathering stage of its case, but a trial date is expected to be set for later this year if Fox’s latest motion to dismiss the case fails.
“New beginnings”: Lisa Wilkinson off 10 books
Lisa Wilkinson has formally departed Network 10 after more than two years off air, TV Tonight’s David Knox reports.
She finished at The Project in 2022 but plans for new 10 projects never eventuated.
On Instagram she posted, “Now that my time at Channel Ten has officially drawn to a close (and the last couple of years have been pretty challenging), there were still plenty of good times. Here’s to 2025, and new beginnings.x”
Business of Media
John Wylie’s Tanarra Capital takes Nine stake after share price slide
Tanarra Capital, the activist investment firm run by former Credit Suisse boss John Wylie, has acquired shares in Nine Entertainment after a difficult year for the publishing and broadcast giant, the AFR’s Kylar Loussikian reports.
Mr Wylie established Tanarra in 2016 after leaving Lazard, another investment bank where he was managing director. Tanarra has since taken significant stakes in some of the biggest companies on the ASX including Lendlease, Telstra, Tabcorp and Ampol.
Tanarra’s stake in Nine, the publisher of The Australian Financial Review, has not been made public because it is below the ASX’s disclosure threshold. Any holding above 5 per cent must be immediately made public.
Packer, Ratner reboot Hollywood hit-making company, Trump doco on the horizon
James Packer is back.
The billionaire media mogul and entrepreneur, who sensationally retreated from the business world to focus on his health, has rebooted his Hollywood hit machine RatPac with a blockbuster documentary on Melania Trump.
It is understood the notoriously private First Lady has already been in talks with Packer and his filmmaking partner Brett Ratner and the doco will feature never before seen insights into life in the Trump White House, The Daily Telegraph’s Joe Hildebrand reports.
Of all the countless intrigues and conspiracy theories about Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as President later this month after a historic landslide comeback, his relationship with the former model has been perhaps the most tightly guarded secret.
The Daily Telegraph understands RatPac has been granted unprecedented access to Melania behind closed doors, including not just at the White House but at the Trumps’ Mar-a-Lago mansion and even Trump’s Boeing 757 dubbed “Trump Force One”.
Michael Carrington retires
Former ABC executive Michael Carrington has announced his retirement, TV Tonight’s David Knox reports.
Carrington departed ABC as Director of Entertainment & Specialist in 2022 after 6 years with the broadcaster, includng as Head of Programming and Head of Children’s. In 2023 he partnered with producer Angela Faria for SeeView Productions and subsequently founded Carrington Media.
His career began at Channel 10 Sydney, where he worked on programs such as Ridgey Didge and Double Dare, followed by roles with BBC, LEGO Media, Cartoon Network, HIT Entertainment, and Zodiak Media. Amongst shows he helped shape were Charlie & Lola, LazyTown, The Amazing World of Gumball and ABC’s commission of Bluey.
Carrington said in a statement: “I’ve had the privilege to work with incredible talented people and help create content that has brought joy, education, and wonder to countless families. As I step away, I’m filled with pride knowing that the values of creativity, diversity, and inclusion that have guided me will continue to inspire the next generation of storytellers.
“I’m excited to see what’s next for this industry and grateful for all the moments we’ve shared.”
Sports
Russell Crowe wants to sell his South Sydney shares
Hollywood superstar Russell Crowe wants to sell his multimillion-dollar share of the South Sydney Rabbitohs in a bombshell development on the eve of the NRL season, The Daily Telegraph’s Peter Rothfield reports.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Crowe has been seeking potential investors both in Australia and overseas to take up his 25 per cent ownership, estimated to be worth between $15 and $20 million.
Crowe shares the ownership of the club with billionaires James Packer, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Rabbitohs members, all with equal shareholdings.
The superstar actor, who brought glitz and glamour to an old working class club and the 2014 premiership to go with it, will be walking away with a handsome profit.
Radio
‘Trashing heritage’: Former stars question WS FM’s name change
A popular Sydney radio station is under fire from veteran presenters who believe removing references to the station’s western Sydney heritage is a ‘crazy’ decision, with one former star saying the rebranding is ‘obscene’.
Weeks after WS FM took the top spot in the Sydney radio ratings last year, executives announced that the radio station would change its name to ‘Gold’, The Daily Telegraph’s Brenden Wood reports.
The relaunch removed the ‘WS’ reference to the popular station’s Western Sydney heritage. The station began as ‘2WS’ in 1978 – the ‘WS’ stood for Western Sydney – broadcasting from Seven Hills, but now broadcasts from North Sydney.
Former current affairs director at the radio station, Steve Raymond, expressed his disbelief and disappointment over the Australian Radio Network’s (ARN) decision to rebrand their station, effectively discarding the WS callsign, that has been a staple in Sydney’s greater west for nearly 50 years.
“I just don’t want to believe it,” Raymond lamented in a social media post.
Raymond, who worked at the radio station for 19 years, said the change “will trash nearly fifty years of tradition, heritage – and a loyalty bond that united 2WS and WS FM with the people of the greater west.”
“Sure ARN, you have long moved away from our humble home in Seven Hills… but to ditch our very callsign…I find obscene”, said Raymond.
Publishing
Washington Post cartoonist resigns after cartoon satirising newspaper’s owner Jeff Bezos and Trump rejected
A cartoonist at the Washington Post has resigned after the newspaper refused to publish a sketch featuring the publication’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, satirised bowing before Donald Trump, The ABC’s Esther Linder reports.
“I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations — and some differences — about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at,” Ann Telnaes wrote on her Substack blog.
“Until now.”
Telanes had created a sketch depicting Amazon founder Mr Bezos offering bags of money and kneeling before a giant statue of US president-elect Donald Trump alongside Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, LA Times publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong and Mickey Mouse.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, who has worked for the Washington Post since 2008, said her editor killed the sketch “because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon’s commentary” and said that was dangerous for a free press.
“The cartoon that was killed criticises the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favour with incoming president-elect Trump,” Telnaes said.