News Brands
Statement by BuzzFeed and Alice Workman after mediation
This is the statement released yesterday by BuzzFeed following a settlement reached in the Husar v BuzzFeed/Alice Workman defamation case:
On 2 August 2018 BuzzFeed published an article by Alice Workman about Emma Husar, then the federal member for Lindsay. The article reported the content of a confidential letter to Ms Husar, prepared as part of an assessment that was commissioned by NSW Labor into allegations made by former employees in Ms Husar’s electorate office, which was leaked to BuzzFeed.
BuzzFeed and Alice Workman acknowledge that they should have given Ms Husar an opportunity to respond to the article before it was published, and apologise for the hurt and distress caused to Ms Husar and her family.
BuzzFeed considers reporting on the staff complaints was a matter of public interest.
Following a mediation, the matter was resolved and BuzzFeed has agreed to take down the article, without an admission of liability.
Radio
2GB host slams trolls attacking Deb Knight for being a working mum
Ben Fordham has slammed keyboard warriors attacking Deb Knight for being a working mum, reports News Corp’s Sally Coates.
Knight, who is a host on the Today show, a presenter on Nine News and sometimes radio presenter on 2GB, has found herself the target of trolls online who are calling her a bad mum for working so much.
“What we’re talking about here is anonymous keyboard bullies hounding a hardworking mum who is doing everything she can to build a future for her children,” Fordham told The Daily Telegraph.
“I’ve worked four jobs at once and nobody has ever accused me of neglecting my children.
“There’s a discriminatory double standard going on here: dads who work hard are given a pat on the back while mums seem to cop a raised eyebrow.
“There is a clear and dodgy double standard.”
Fordham made the comparison of male media figures such as Eddie Maguire and David Koch, who both wear multiple hats yet do not face disparaging public opinion, which he believed is because they are male.
Entertainment
Guilty verdict: Katy Perry’s ‘Dark Horse’ copied Christian rap song
A jury yesterday found that Katy Perry’s 2013 hit Dark Horse improperly copied a 2009 Christian rap song in a unanimous decision that represented a rare take-down of a pop superstar and her elite producer by a relatively unknown artist, reports Associated Press.
The verdict by a nine-member federal jury in a Los Angeles courtroom came five years after Marcus Gray and two co-authors first sued, alleging Dark Horse stole from Joyful Noise, a song Gray released under the stage name Flame.
The case now goes to a penalty phase, where the jury will decide how much Perry and other defendants owe for copyright infringement.
In a decision that left many in the courtroom surprised, jurors found all six songwriters and all four corporations that released and distributed the song were liable, including Perry and Sarah Hudson, who wrote only the song’s words, and Juicy J, who only wrote the rap he provided for the song. Perry was not present when the verdict was delivered.
Other defendants found liable were Capitol Records as well as Perry’s producers: Dr Luke, Max Martin and Cirkut, who came up with the song’s beat. Gray’s lawyers argued that the beat and instrumental line featured through nearly half of Dark Horse were substantially similar to those of Joyful Noise. Gray wrote the song with his co-plaintiffs Emanuel Lambert and Chike Ojukwu.
Television
The Block 2019: Scotty and Shelley on the drama at The Oslo, St Kilda
Scott Cam and Shelley Craft have been filming on the most arduous – and largest – series of The Block yet, at the old Oslo Hotel on Grey Street, St Kilda, reports Luke Dennehy for Domain.
Cam and Craft have a fantastic working relationship, and they needed it as this 15th series of The Block, confronting the five competing teams, is more challenging than ever.
The Oslo, a rundown backpackers, will be transformed into five huge, multi-level luxury houses, which is set to be a massive – and very stressful – logistical exercise. “I always bang on about every year being the biggest Block ever, but this is actually the biggest Block ever,” Cam says.
“To be honest, I think we may have gone a little bit too big for this one. It broke the contestants a bit, it’s broken me, and it’s broken everybody. We will see how it goes, because it does go a little bit pear-shaped throughout the series.”
Cam lives in Sydney with his family, and Craft is based in Byron Bay, but they both enjoy coming to Melbourne each year to film The Block. During filming, Cam stays at his house in Port Melbourne, a suburb he has grown to love, so he lives in Melbourne during the week but travels back and forth to be home with his family in Sydney, where he is renovating his house.
“I love Melbourne and I love Sydney as well, so it’s great to have a bit of both,” Cam says.
BBC First, SBS acquire new drama from maker of Poldark & Victoria
ITV Studios Global Entertainment has announced the first pre-sales of its highly anticipated, epic world war two drama World on Fire (7 x 60’) from Mammoth Screen, part of ITV Studios, the home of the hit series Poldark and Victoria.
Commissioned by BBC One, PBS Masterpiece has come on board the ambitious series which is written by multi award-winning Peter Bowker (Eric and Ernie, Blackpool) and stars Academy Award-winning Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets, Mad About You), Sean Bean (Broken, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings) and Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread, Mum) as US co-production partner, keen to repeat the resounding success it has had with flagship returning dramas Poldark and Victoria, also from Mammoth Screen and ITVS GE.
Along with the US sale, World on Fire, is set to move audiences in a further 80 territories.
It has been acquired by BBC First Australia, TVNZ for New Zealand, M-Net for Africa, SVT for Sweden, NRK for Norway, DR for Denmark, YLE for Finland and Viasat World for Central and Eastern Europe. Second window rights for World On Fire in have also been acquired by SBS Australia.
World on Fire tells the story of World War Two through the lives of ordinary people from all sides of this global conflict. Set amid the creeping horror of the outbreak of war during its first year, World on Fire follows an ensemble cast of vividly drawn characters as they traverse the ever-shifting lines between loyalty and brutality, and courage and fear, experience love and loss, and forge hopes and dreams.
World on Fire is executive produced by Peter Bowker, Damien Timmer and Helen Ziegler for Mammoth Screen, Lucy Richer for the BBC and Rebecca Eaton for Masterpiece.
British version of Love Island a hit at home and in Australia
National Nine News is not the only hit show Nine screens daily at 6pm. Season five of the British version of Love Island has been screening daily at 6pm on 9Now. The close to 60-episode season five has just wrapped in the UK with record ratings.
It is also a big hit on 9Now. In OzTAM’s VPM ratings the series has been ranking #1 most days it screens and in the ratings for BVOD viewing for the last week Love Island has taken six of the top seven spots. The only show with a bigger VPM audience in Australia is The Handmaid’s Tale screened by SBS On Demand.
The top 5 UK episodes of Love Island screened in the past week all have a VPM rating over 100,000 (average number of connected devices).
By comparison, the most popular shows on other BVOD platforms in the past week (July 23-29, 2019) are:
SBS On Demand: The Handmaid’s Take 241,000 (VPM Rating)
ABC: Mad As Hell 43,000
Seven: Home And Away 75,000
10: Australian Survivor 66,000
Foxtel: Big Little Lies 58,000
The Love Island final on ITV had a record UK audience 3.6 million viewers as Amber Gill and Greg O’Shea were crowned the surprise winners.
A further 400,000 streamed the final on mobile devices.w