Business of Media
Seb Costello: ‘You know what happens when people put a mobile phone in front of a member of my family’
The son of former Nine Chairman Peter Costello has made light of his father’s physical altercation with a journalist at Canberra Airport, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.
The ex federal treasurer resigned from Nine’s board after the ugly stoush with The Australian journalist Liam Mendes over the media company’s bullying and harassment scandal.
Speaking to comedian Dave Hughes in audio played on the Hughesy, Ed and Erin 2Day FM breakfast show, Costello’s A Current Affair reporter son, Seb, said:
“Erin Molan, how are you my friend?” Costello Jr said. “It is lovely to see your co-host. Hughesy is very brave by the way, you know what happens when people put a mobile phone in front of a member of my family. Anything can happen, so you’ve got to be careful.”
Confidential understands Hughes had been walking in St Kilda, Melbourne, on Monday when he saw Costello Jr and approached him for a chat.
See Also: Peter Costello stands down as Nine chairman
Anthony Albanese complains to Chinese embassy over treatment of Cheng Lei
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has broken his silence about the treatment of Australian journalist Cheng Lei during Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Australia this week, report The Australian’s Blair Jackson and Duncan Evans.
Speaking with ABC Perth, the Prime Minister denounced the behaviour of some of the Chinese delegation, who appeared to try and block cameras from filming Lei while Albanese signed agreements with the premier in Canberra on Monday.
“There should be no impediments to Australian journalists going about their job and we’ve made that clear to the Chinese Embassy,” Albanese said.
Lehrmann defamation case judge to headline women’s media conference
There are fewer more tiresome things in CBD’s life than a media industry talkfest, but we could make an exception for the Women in Media conference in Sydney this August, which unveiled an intriguing line-up on Monday, report Nine Publishing’s Noel Towell and Kishor Napier-Raman.
There’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant talking about her burgeoning slate, and former ABC chair Ita Buttrose, the organisation’s patron, on stage yet again after having delivered a keynote at last year’s event.
But sharing the stage with Buttrose for a panel discussion is Federal Court judge Michael Lee, famously neither a woman nor in media.
Scott Morrison could be witness in Linda Reynolds defamation trial against Brittany Higgins
The former prime minister Scott Morrison could appear as a trial witness as the Liberal senator Linda Reynolds pursues Brittany Higgins over alleged defamatory remarks, reports The AAP.
Reynolds is suing Higgins over a series of social media posts Reynolds says have damaged her reputation.
Mediation has failed to resolve the high-profile case, which returned to the supreme court of Western Australia for a directions hearing on Tuesday ahead of a trial in the coming months.
Abuse of NDAs is the biggest story in Australian media that no-one is talking about
There’s now a strange silence over Australia’s decaying commercial media landscape on the use of non-disclosure agreements to protect media executives — including some of the most powerful men in Australian journalism — from allegations of sexual harassment and bullying, report Crikey’s Bernard Keane and Daanyal Saeed.
The Australian went hard early on claims that a number of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) had been signed by female staff at Nine Entertainment over allegations of misconduct by former head of news and current affairs Darren Wick — claims Nine has dodged and weaved to evade answering. But News Corp’s dogged journalists appear to have dropped the issue since then.
Global audiences suspicious of AI-powered newsrooms, report finds
Global concerns about the use of AI in news production and misinformation are growing, a report published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found, posing fresh challenges to newsrooms already struggling to engage audiences, reports Reuters’ Sheila Dang.
The institute’s annual Digital News Report published on Monday, which this year is based on surveys of nearly 100,000 people across 47 countries, offers a picture of the hurdles news media faces in lifting revenue and sustaining business.
News Brands
Seven News “wasting no time in tearing up the rule book”
The new team heading Seven News have hit the ground running with their plans to shake up traditional news, reports TV Tonight.
Gemma Acton, appointed as Director of News Operations, has posted on Instagram:
“I was excited to accept the role of Director of News Operations last Friday… and after my first full day in the job I’m now doubly excited!” she wrote.
Jeff Bezos stresses commitment to ‘quality, ethics and standards’ in Washington Post memo
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has sent a memo to staff saying he is committed to “maintaining the quality, ethics, and standards” of the newspaper amid an internal dispute that touches on executive hires and ongoing financial losses, reports The Guardian’s Edward Helmore.
The Amazon multibillionaire, who purchased the paper for $250m in 2013 and initially saw it return to profitability before a post-Covid readership and revenue collapse, addressed the staff in a communication that shores up the position of the Post’s publisher and chief executive Will Lewis. Lewis, who joined the Post in early January, has come under pressure over his alleged involvement in Britain’s long running press telephone hacking scandal.
“Team – I know you’ve already heard this from Will, but I wanted to also weigh in directly: the journalistic standards and ethics at The Post will not change,” Bezos wrote.
Television
‘The quickest way to make a point’: Matt Smith knows Westeros is a violent world
Once upon a time in television, the gap between seasons was just three months. In the cable and streaming era that has stretched that gap, the HBO series House of the Dragon may have just extended it to breaking point, reports Nine Publishing’s Michael Idato.
The first season wrapped in October 2022, meaning the gap between the show’s first and second season is more than 1½ years. “I wish we had a way of bringing out the show every year,” executive producer Ryan Condal says.
“I always say that nobody complains when it takes two or three years for a Dune movie to come out. I am one of the biggest Dune fans in the world, and I understand why it takes that amount of time.”