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Groundbreaking Australian journalist George Negus dies, aged 82
George Negus was made for television. The pioneering journalist, one of the three original members of 60 Minutes and the inaugural host of ABC’s Foreign Correspondent, died on Tuesday, aged 82, reports The Australian’s James Madden and Sophie Elsworth.
In a statement, his family said he died “surrounded by loved ones, after a gracious decline from Alzheimer’s disease, all the while with his trademark smile”.
Negus began his professional life as a high school teacher before switching to journalism, writing for The Australian and The Australian Financial Review, but he shot to prominence as a reporter on the ABC’s This Day Tonight in the late 1960s.
By the time he was hired as one of three founding correspondents for 60 Minutes in 1979 – alongside Ray Martin and Ian Leslie – he was truly a household name.
“George was just such a strong television character,” Martin told The Australian. “In the almost 70-year history of Australian television, I think Bert Newton and George stand out as the two most memorable figures.”
Vale George Negus, a man with an opinion on everything
George was a friend and colleague – both relationships shared equally in my feelings for the man. So in a sense, George’s passing is like losing one in a family. We were mates on the same team: the original 60 Minutes family – George, Ian and Ray, writes Ian Leslie for Nine Publishing.
That is not always common in the highly competitive and ego-driven world of journalism. For a variety of reasons, journalists are a pretty selfish lot, mostly born out of professional rivalry. We guard our sources and contacts, constantly driven by the thirst for a scoop or the lead story. We have been known to turn the road sign the other way to beat a colleague to the punch. To be first with the story. George didn’t play those games.
We were a tightly bonded bunch of journalists and film crews thrown into the deep end of prime-time television. Public affairs programming at 7.30 on Sunday nights had never been attempted on Australian television.
George Negus, founding presenter of 60 Minutes, dies aged 82
Nine News’ Emily Bennett collected a number of tributes including:
60 Minutes colleague Ray Martin said George Negus was “more than a colleague, he was a mate”.
“He was probably the strongest TV character I can remember on Australian television,” Martin said.
“He was outrageous, he was charismatic, he was loud, he was heavily opinionated, he was funny but he was just a great bloke.”
Fellow journalist Liz Hayes said Negus was a “trailblazer” in Australian journalism with a “larger than life” personality.
“George always had an insatiable appetite for information, but he was a regular guy too,” Hayes said.
“This is a guy who loved the cooking segment on the Today show, this is a guy who enjoyed sport and he was a family man.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to Negus as “a giant of Australian journalism”.
“His courage, curiosity and integrity gave millions of Australians a sense of the big issues on 60 Minutes, and a window to the world through Foreign Correspondent,” he said.
“George sought and served the truth with steely determination and a twinkle in his eye, and along the way, he made even the smallest TV screen feel that much bigger.
“He was a wonderful human being and his loss will be deeply felt by so many Australians.
“We offer his family the heartfelt condolences of our nation. May he rest in peace.”
‘Sloppy journalism’, ‘weak’: music sector responds to Four Corners’ report on Live Nation
A Four Corners investigation into the live music sector has been rubbished as “sloppy journalism” by a senior executive at Live Nation Australasia, and described as “nonsensical” and “misleading” by the chief executive of the sector’s peak body, reports The Australian’s Andrew McMillen.
On Monday night, journalist Avani Dias presented a report that explored the Australian live music sector, which has undergone a tumultuous few years since the Covid pandemic of 2020.
The program, titled Music for Sale, featured interviewees including Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett and veteran concert promoter Michael Chugg, whose animus toward Live Nation framed a report that was highly critical of its business practices, which includes owning interests in concert promotion, music venues, ticketing and booking agencies.
“Without nurturing your local artists … we’re finding out that we’re not hearing our songs. We’re not hearing the things that connect us to the place that we’re in,” said Garrett, 71. “For me, that’s a healthy country, when we’re listening to our songwriters and watching our performers. I don’t think Live Nation cares at all about Australian artists.”
Tina Brown, the queen of legacy media, takes her diary to Substack
For some prominent writers, joining the newsletter platform Substack has become a declaration of independence from traditional news organizations, or an ambitious attempt to build a new model for publishing, reports The New York Times.
For Tina Brown, a Brit who became synonymous with Manhattan media in the 1980s and 1990s, it is something less grandiose. It is simply a chance to have fun.
“This is just an extra something I’ll be doing on a Monday afternoon,” she said in an interview last week.
Her newsletter, Fresh Hell, is set to debut on Tuesday. In an introductory note to readers, she said the title referred to the experience of waking “every day to a news alert from Hades.” The newsletter, she said, would be written mostly in weekly “notebook form,” rather than “Big Think columns.”
BBC announces net reduction of 130 news and current affairs jobs
The BBC has announced its latest round of job cuts, involving a net reduction of 130 roles across news and current affairs departments, as part of a wider cost-cutting drive, reports The Guardian.
The chief executive of BBC News, Deborah Turness, announced the changes in an email on Tuesday, saying the corporation sought to cut 185 roles and open 55 new ones with the aim of saving £24m, amounting to 4% of the current news budget.
The BBC’s long-running world affairs news TV program HARDtalk and the BBC Asian Network’s bespoke news service will be axed. The broadcaster also said it would synchronise the production of news bulletins used on Radio 5 Live and Radio 2 and domestic radio would take summaries from the World Service.
The cuts are part of broader efforts by the broadcaster to cut 500 jobs across the corporation by March 2026.
Television
Jamie Durie on the ‘passion project that’s more important than my privacy’
“If ever I decide to do a television show about building my own family eco-home, remind me this was a bad idea,” says Jamie Durie, reports Nine Publishing’s Bridget McManus.
Fifteen days out from the completion of a multi-level, off-grid waterfront house in Avalon on Sydney’s northern beaches, surrounded by a garden of native plants, including an 80-tonne rooftop oasis, and sporting a geothermal heated infinity pool, the landscape designer reflects on the project that has been five years in the making.
For the first time in his career, which took off in 2000 with Nine’s Backyard Blitz and has seen him conquer US television, beginning with The Oprah Winfrey Show, Durie is launching his most personal series yet, Seven’s Growing Home with Jamie Durie.
“Normally, I would never dream of doing this,” says Durie, who was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the environment in 2012. “But this is a passion project, and more important than my privacy. I’ve been in the sustainability space for almost 30 years. I did my first biodegradable washing detergent ad for Planet Ark in 1993. This is the show I’ve always wanted to make. I think my entire career has prepared me for this event.”
Critical Content has signed first-look deals with Warner Bros International Television Production Australia
Critical Content has signed first-look deals with Warner Bros International Television Production Australia and Dubai’s Blue Engine Studios, reports Deadline.
Warner Bros International Television Production Australia, part of Warner Bros Discovery’s international production network, is the maker of the down under versions of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Impractical Jokers, The Celebrity Apprentice, The Masked Singer, Dancing with the Stars, Who Do You Think You Are? and Selling Houses Australia.
“The market is dictating partnerships more than ever,” said Critical CEO Jenny Daly. “We are building a community of companies all with incredible content creators and tremendous respect and reach in their regions. We are so excited to now align our creative with WBITVP Australia and Blue Engine Studios – they’re both phenomenal producers and leaders in their countries.”
Michael Brooks, WBITVP Australia’s managing director, said: “Critical Content has some of the most innovative new formats globally, and excellent relationships with some of the world’s most engaging talent. WBITVP Australia has a proven history of creating hit international formats with a distinctly Aussie flavour, and we’re excited about the prospect of expanding on that through our partnership with Critical Content.”