Business of Media
Seven West Media loses fight against the release of executives’ emails
Thousands of emails between Seven West Media executives and disgraced former SAS corporal Ben Roberts-Smith’s legal team will be released to Nine after the Federal Court dismissed an appeal by Seven against the emails’ release, reports Nine Publishing’s Bianca Hall.
Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes’ private company, Australian Capital Equity, funded Roberts-Smith’s failed multimillion-dollar defamation case against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times through a loan agreement with the former soldier.
Last month, Federal Court judge Nye Perram described some of the emails as containing “personally embarrassing” content, while Seven lawyers warned their release could cause the company “commercial harm in giving them to its direct competitor”.
Elon Musk stuns crowd with blunt message: ‘Go f**k yourself’
Elon Musk had some harsh words for advertisers fleeing platform X. “Go f**k yourself,” Musk, owner of X, said during a Wednesday afternoon appearance at The New York Times DealBook Summit, reports News Corp’s Elliot Nash.
As reported by Fox Business, Musk made the comment while being interviewed by Andrew Ross Sorkin, speaking about the current advertiser boycott of the social platform.
“What this advertising boycott is going to do is, it is going to kill the company,” Musk said.
“And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company.”
Can Elon Musk stop X going to the wall after tirade at advertisers?
Elon Musk’s extraordinary tirade on Wednesday has once again raised questions about the survival of X. When the world’s richest person took over the social media platform then known as Twitter on 27 October last year, he acquired a historically loss-making business, reports The Guardian’s Dan Milmo.
However, it was not heavily indebted and the acquisition changed that. The deal was part-funded by $13bn (£10.3bn) of debt, which now sits on X’s balance sheet and requires quarterly payments of $300m. The next payment is due at the end of January.
This gave extra edge to Musk’s comments in November last year, having laid off half the staff, that “bankruptcy isn’t out of the question”.
Bruce Lehrmann’s landlords and the economics of chequebook journalism
The Seven Network should have disclosed the details of its 12-month rental arrangement with Bruce Lehrmann that secured its exclusive “bombshell” interview series, says Richard Ackland, a Gold Walkley-winning journalist whose reporting exposed the commercial radio “cash for comment” scandal more than two decades ago, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
The murky details of the Lehrmann deal, which included a year’s rent worth more than $100,000, add another layer to the already questionable practice of chequebook journalism – where a media organisation pays an individual for exclusive access to them.
Woman who starred on Ch 7 show faces 80 rape and child abuse charges
A woman who appeared on a Channel Seven TV show is facing almost 80 rape and child abuse charges, court documents reveal, reports News Corp’s Aisling Brennan.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons after she successfully won her bid to keep her name secret by being granted a non-publication order, was originally charged in August this year with 36 offences, including multiple counts of rape and a raft of serious child abuse allegations.
Google agrees to pay $111m for news in Canada
Canada’s six-month stand-off with technology giants Google and Meta over their use of domestic news content has eased, after the government announced on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) it had reached a deal with Google to compensate publishers in Canada, reports The New York Times’ Vjosa Isai.
The agreement comes just weeks before a national law is set to take effect that will require tech companies to pay news outlets for using their content online.
Under the deal, Google will provide $C100 million ($111 million) each year to news organisations, including independent outlets, Indigenous media and multilingual media.
Radio
Rumours swirl about Ali Clarke’s show as Mix faces uncertain future
Mix 102.3 breakfast host Ali Clarke has been given an early holiday sparking rumours that she and her show are about to get the axe, report News Corp’s Antimo Iannella and Anna Vlach.
Clarke and fellow brekkie presenter Shane Lowe have been absent from the early morning program for most of this week, while their colleagues Max Burford and Eddie Bannon hold the fort.
Their disappearance from the airwaves follows persistent rumours that The Ali Clarke Breakfast Show could be replaced by the Kyle & Jackie O Show in 2024.
Television
Can a ‘record-breaking’ $6.9m jackpot save the real-life Squid Game?
People clad in green tracksuits stand nervously in a circle. They’re participating in a “test” on Squid Game: The Challenge, Netflix’s new reality competition series based on the streamer’s hit South Korean drama Squid Game, but they’re really just playing a game of chance, reports Atlantic Online.
Each player must nominate someone to be eliminated, and then roll a die. If they roll a six, the person they chose is eliminated. And so, over the course of 10 long minutes, they roll and roll and keep on rolling. Some inevitably roll sixes. Relieved players sigh; friends of eliminated players cry. Meanwhile, sitting on my couch, I hover my thumb over my remote’s fast-forward button, wishing they’d hurry up.
Peter Hitchener becomes emotional as he bids farewell to weeknights at Nine News
Legendary newsreader Peter Hitchener became emotional while signing off on his final weeknight bulletin. Hitchener announced two weeks ago that he was stepping down as Nine News Melbourne’s chief news presenter after 25 years in the top job, reports News Corp’s Brooke Grebert-Craig.
The 77-year-old was joined by colleagues Tony Jones and Livinia Nixon as he presented his last weeknight headlines on Thursday.
The trio has worked together for more than 20 years, the longest on-air TV news partnership in Melbourne.
Nixon said Hitchener was a “father figure” to everyone in the newsroom.
Sports Media
Former Wallaby Drew Mitchell takes Stan Sport to court
Former Wallabies star Drew Mitchell is taking legal action against Stan, the streaming service where he is employed as a commentator, after he was told his contract would not be renewed for next year’s rugby season, reports Nine Publishing’s Zoe Samios.
Mitchell will not appear in Stan Sport’s rugby commentary line-up from 2024, and is taking the streaming service to the Fair Work Commission alleging contraventions of workplace law.
The details of the dispute are not publicly available, but Mitchell appeared at a mediation alongside Stan Sport boss Ben Kimber on Wednesday.