Business of Media
Why Nine Entertainment’s TV empire could be split off after damning review
When the report commissioned by the board of the Nine Entertainment revealed the bad practices in television and other parts of the operation, it did not detail a management restructure to overcome the problems, reports The Australian’s Robert Gottliebsen.
Accordingly, it was tacitly inviting capital markets to look even more closely at splitting the empire into its component parts.
The share market already realises that Nine’s takeover of Fairfax has not worked, and the shares have fallen almost 60 per cent in the last two years.
The Fairfax publications have performed well in their efforts to build a digital audience and adapt to the new environment. Television management has been in denial.
Back in 2018, at the time of the takeover, it was already clear that free to air television faced major looming challenges. Those challenges have now multiplied and are set to become more serious, and over time might even force a merger between the Seven and Nine.
Around merchant banking, there is great activity looking at how the Nine should be split up. Bruce Gordon, owner of the regional broadcaster WIN corporation who owns 14.9 per cent of Nine will be important in the outcome.
Nine will sack the bullies, vows interim boss Matt Stanton
Nine’s acting chief executive, Matt Stanton, has assured angry staff the company is committed to sacking or disciplining any employee if ongoing investigations into their workplace conduct are upheld, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
The mood in Nine’s broadcast newsrooms is tense, with senior leaders nervous about the outcome of investigations into workplace conduct, well-placed sources not authorised to speak publicly told this masthead.
Stanton said Nine would consider a range of outcomes as an external investigator, Enterprise Investigations, looked into complaints filed in conjunction with the independent Intersection Review, which revealed a widespread culture of bullying, belittling and sexual harassment within Nine.
“If a complaint is upheld, the consequences will be appropriate and proportionate, ranging from counselling, formal disciplinary action, to termination of employment,” he said in an all-staff email on Monday afternoon.
The email appears an attempt to appease outraged staff, surprised by Nine’s perceived lack of action in holding people to account, and in Stanton’s words, a response to the “conjecture within and outside Nine” following publication of the 82-page report last week, with further allegations of misconduct being reported overnight.
Antony Catalano’s Byron Bay house raided by ASIC
The Byron Bay home of media entrepreneur Antony Catalano was raided by the corporate regulator last week, allegedly in relation to trading in asset manager Magellan, report The Australian’s Yoni Bashan and Nick Evans.
Margin Call can reveal that officials with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission descended on Catalano’s trophy home on Thursday in order to collect a computer at the property.
Catalano had earlier attended the office of the Australian Federal Police in Melbourne upon learning of inquiries being made into his affairs.
He was without his computer at the time and is understood to have provided officials with permission to collect it from home in Byron Bay.
Catalano – known as The Cat – is the executive chairman of Australian Community Media. He was unavailable for comment on Monday evening because he was hosting a charity event – Flying Fox – at his flagship tourism asset, Raes on Wategos, attended by members of actor Chris Hemsworth’s family.
Woolies and Coles marketing: Allegations that prices weren’t all really down, down
Woolworths and Coles fooled customers into buying everyday groceries by using fake discounts spanning almost every aisle of the supermarket, from tampons and fly spray to pet food and even infant milk formula, which lured shoppers with misleading discounts as high as 39 per cent, new court documents reveal, report Eli Greenblat and Angelica Snowden in The Australian.
Items such as pet food, a popular range of Coca-Cola, Oreo biscuits and fly spray were offered by the supermarkets on discount when in fact they were still more than 29 per cent more expensive than the “regular price” that had featured on the supermarket shelf for as much as two years before.
The true breadth of the alleged conspiracy has been laid bare in fresh court documents obtained by The Australian that were lodged with the Federal Court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which paint a picture of fake or illusory discounts across dozens of food and grocery categories at both supermarket giants.
The products were then subject to price rises of at least 15 per cent for brief periods, before being placed in Woolworths’ “Prices Dropped” promotion and Coles’ “Down Down” promotion, at prices lower than during the price spike but higher than, or the same as, the regular price which applied before the initial spike.
News Corp sues AI company Perplexity over copyright claims
Dow Jones, the parent company to The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post filed a lawsuit Monday against artificial intelligence company Perplexity, alleging that the company is illegally using copyrighted work, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
The suit alleges that Perplexity, which is an AI research and conversational search engine, draws on articles and other copyrighted content from the publishers to feed into its product and then repackages the content in its responses, or sometimes uses the content verbatim, without linking back to the articles. The engine can also be used to display several paragraphs or entire articles, when asked.
“Perplexity perpetrates an abuse of intellectual property that harms journalists, writers, publishers and News Corp. The perplexing Perplexity has wilfully copied copious amounts of copyrighted material without compensation, and shamelessly presents repurposed material as a direct substitute for the original source. Perplexity proudly states that users can “skip the links” – apparently, Perplexity wants to skip the check,” Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, said in a statement.
News Brands
Is flogging the public broadcaster the best strategy for would-be PM?
It’s been six years since Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, then a minister in Malcolm Turnbull’s government, said some reporters at the ABC didn’t “realise how completely dead they are to me”, writes Natassia Chrysanthos for Nine Publishing.
Not much seems to have changed.
On Friday, Peter Dutton lashed out at a female ABC journalist in regional Western Australia. Asked to prove there was local support for the Coalition’s proposed nuclear power plants, he accused the reporter of ideological advocacy and playing “ABC games”.
Less than three weeks earlier, he rebuked another Sydney-based female ABC reporter over questions about terrorist group Hezbollah.
Dutton’s distaste for the ABC is not new, nor is it solely aimed at more junior reporters; he clashed with 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson over claims of ABC bias this year.
But as an election campaign looms, it is unclear whether flogging the public broadcaster will be the best strategy for a man who wants to be prime minister. This month’s angry interactions could be a precursor of what’s ahead as the opposition leader faces pressure to prove himself, including to the Canberra press pack he rarely fronts.
What was on this week’s edition of Media Watch
The program spoke with Leila Molana-Allen, Special Correspondent, PBS Newshour about her reporting from Lebanon and the importance of being on the ground when covering the story.
Also on the episode:
Media fail to question convicted drug trafficker Cassandra Sainsbury over inconsistencies in her memoir, allowing new versions of her story to go untested.
NSW Racing snare a gullible media into believing King Charles III would make a ‘cameo’ appearance at the Royal Randwick races.
Tributes flow for journalist George Negus but did 10 News confuse the real Negus with Paul Hogan’s satirical character, George Fungus?
Radio
Lauren Phillips on her engagement, radio empire and THAT Jackie O rivalry
When Lauren Phillips saw Jackie “O” Henderson from across the room at an Australian Open event in January, she could feel all eyes on her, reports Siobhan Duck in the most recent edition of News Corp’s Stellar.
Just two months prior, her hit breakfast radio show had been axed to make room for Henderson and Kyle Sandilands’ Sydney-based radio show to expand into Melbourne. Now, the chance for a potentially awkward (and highly public) run-in was high.
While others might have cringed in anticipation of a confrontation, Phillips is no shrinking violet. She also wasn’t going to let her own disappointment prevent her from being a good sport.
“That’s not the way I was raised,” she tells Stellar, adding that she bounded over to Henderson for a friendly chat, pushing the proverbial elephant out of the room. “I could see everyone in the club going, ‘Oh my gosh, they’re both here,’” she adds of the perceived tension.
Television
Maggie Beer and Cathy Payne win at International Format Awards
TV presenter and chef Maggie Beer has been awarded at the C21 International Format Awards in the UK.
The host of Maggie Beer’s Big Mission won the Best Host Of A Format beating the likes of Alan Cumming, Stephen Fry and Jimmy Kimmel.
“It was such a privilege to be given this opportunity by Artemis and the ABC to actually live the experience in an aged care home brave enough to show warts and all to establish a baseline and from there to show the Australian community at large what has been acceptable and yet what clearly isn’t. And most of all how to begin the journey of change to show the difference that is made to the happiness and well-being not only of the residents but the staff as well,” said Maggie Beer.
Artemis producer Celia Tait said, “We are thrilled that Maggie is the well deserved recipient of this award. She is a trailblazer – and source of great inspiration to many across the country. With her extraordinary leadership she has put older Australians first and given them a voice.”
Banijay Rights CEO Cathy Payne also picked up this year’s Gold Award in recognition of her decades of service and contribution to the distribution business. “I am so honoured to receive this, but it’s really a team effort that includes the sales teams at Banijay Rights and the creative teams at Banijay Entertainment, in particular Lucas Green and James Townley, for creating formats that are able to travel the world,” Payne said.