News Brands
New police probe as Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial looms
Accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has denied allegations he buried a USB containing classified material in his Queensland backyard, labelling them an attempt by Nine Entertainment to “punish” him for launching defamation proceedings against the company and its star investigative reporter Nick McKenzie, reports News Corp’s Kieran Gair.
Lawyer Mark O’Brien said in a statement on Wednesday that the allegations aired by Nine so close to the commencement of the defamation trial appeared to be “either an attempt to intimidate” the Victoria Cross recipient into discontinuing the legal proceedings or to “punish him for bringing them”.
It comes after the Australian Federal Police confirmed it had launched a fresh probe into Roberts-Smith over allegations he buried in his backyard evidence of depraved conduct by Special Air Services Regiment soldiers in Afghanistan and intimidated a witness who sought to testify to a war crimes inquiry.
‘I take full responsibility’: Ben Roberts-Smith apologises to Seven staff for audio recordings
Accused war criminal and Seven executive Ben Roberts-Smith has apologised to staff and thanked the media company for its support after his disdain for colleagues and the business was revealed in a series of audio recordings, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
Roberts-Smith told employees in an email on Wednesday that he had a lot of respect for the executives leading Seven West Media and that he was privileged to be in his role, despite comments revealed on the recordings where he described the company as dysfunctional.
“While born out of frustration, that is no excuse and I take full responsibility for my comments, which I deeply regret,” Roberts-Smith said in the email, obtained by The Age.
“Over the past few years, the [Seven West Media] staff and executive team have worked incredibly hard through extremely challenging circumstances to transform the business and enact a robust sustainable strategy,” he said. “I have the utmost respects for the executives and staff at SWM and feel privileged to be able to lead our Queensland operations.”
7 News report made Nisserine Nassif’s charity Wiping Tears appear to be a ‘scam’, court hears
A report on Channel 7 nightly news implied a Sydney developer and his wife were “shonks” and suggested they could only afford an infamous yellow Lamborghini through business scams, a court has heard, reports News Corp’s Heath Parkes-Hupton.
Nisserine “Nissy” Nassif is suing the network and journalist Bryan Seymour in the Federal Court over the February 2019 story, claiming it defamed her and the family-run charity she founded called Wiping Tears.
The report claimed the charity, set up to help disadvantaged families, spent only $5000 of $200,000 raised over three years and “did very little to help anyone”, the court heard.
The story, which also aired claims her husband Jean Nassif’s development company was behind on plans to build 700 car parks in Parramatta’s CBD, came hot on the heels of a viral video in which he presented a new Lamborghini to his wife.
Broadcast News in Flux as CBS News President Prepares Exit
The first woman to lead CBS News, Susan Zirinsky, is expected to announce that she is stepping down from the presidency of the network’s news division, possibly as soon as this week, a person with knowledge of the plan said on Tuesday, report the New York Times‘s John Koblin and Michael M. Grynbaum.
Zirinsky, 69, was appointed in January 2019 to right a battered ship. At the time, CBS was confronting several key executive departures and unsavory revelations about its news division as a wider reckoning on workplace misconduct roiled the media industry.
Several news organizations have undergone leadership changes as executives confront a drastically different news environment in the aftermath of Donald J. Trump’s presidency. Jeff Zucker announced in February that he will step down as CNN’s president by the end of the year. Rashida Jones recently replaced Phil Griffin as the head of MSNBC.
Kimberly Godwin named President of ABC News
The Walt Disney Co. has named Kimberly Godwin president of ABC News, reports The Hollywood Reporter‘s Alex Weprin.
Godwin, a longtime producer and executive at CBS News, will become the first Black woman to lead a broadcast news division. She succeeds James Goldston, who stepped down as president of ABC News earlier this year.
Godwin will start at ABC in early May and report to Peter Rice, chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content.
Radio
2GB host Ben Fordham crashes Ray Hadley’s honeymoon
2GB host Ben Fordham crashed broadcaster Ray Hadley’s honeymoon with the help of radio funnyman Michael “Wippa” Wipfli, reports News Corp’s Mibengé Nsenduluka.
Hadley was enjoying a romantic getaway with his new wife Sophie Baird at Hayman Island in Queensland this week and when Fordham discovered that Wippa was also on holiday at the same resort, he wasted no time asking the Nova radio host to interrupt the special occasion.
“Ray deserves a peaceful honeymoon with Sophie but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to stir him up when I discovered Wippa would be staying at the same resort,” Fordham told The Daily Telegraph.
“Ray has been known to describe Wippa as a ‘pest’, even though deep down, I know he likes him.
“I’ve asked Wippa to check in with Ray daily on the honeymoon and recommend they undertake activities together such as fishing and snorkelling and even yoga. Ray is now doing his best to avoid Wippa at the breakfast buffet.”
Television
Neighbours star Sharon Johal details racism she experienced on the show
Neighbours is in crisis after a third star has come forward with claims she experienced “direct, indirect and casual racism” while working on the soap opera, reports News Corp’s Andrew Bucklow.
Sharon Johal played Dipi Rebecchi on Neighbours for four years before announcing last month that she was leaving the show.
She decided to speak out about her experience on the show after fellow Neighbours stars Shareena Clanton and Meyne Wyatt last week detailed racist incidents they say they experienced on the set of the iconic show, claims which prompted the production company to launch an independent legal investigation.
“The past week for me has been a traumatising, triggering and painful experience, with the resurfacing of compounded trauma I have tried to deny, bury and ultimately, survive,” Johal wrote in a lengthy statement posted on her website.
“I feel morally compelled to support the actors who have come forward with their experiences of racism, at a huge cost to themselves, just as this statement is to me.”
Sunrise weatherman Sam Mac reveals truth behind Sam Armytage ‘feud’
Sunrise weatherman Sam Mac has made light of his alleged feud with former host of the breakfast TV juggernaut, Sam Armytage, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.
Releasing a book titled Accidental Weatherman, Mac acknowledged ongoing tabloid stories of a behind the scenes rift between the pair.
“Samantha, you were my big sister on the show,” Mac, whose real last name is McMillan, wrote in his ‘Macknowledgements’ section at the back of the book.
“We reached a point where we were so comfortably heckling one another that some audience members (and Daily Mail ‘journalists’) actually thought we hated each other. I wear that as a badge of honour. I loved discovering that you have a sense of humour as dark and twisted as mine. And I think that’s a compliment, or a desperate cry for a few sessions with a psychiatrist.”
Game Of Thrones turns 10: From near failure to game-changer and where it’s going
Ten years ago this weekend, a little TV show called Game Of Thrones hit the airwaves for the first time. You may have heard of it, writes the SMARTDaily‘s James Wigney.
But at the time, although author George R.R. Martin’s series of A Song of Fire and Ice novels on which the fantasy-drama was based were already critical and commercial successes, no one involved had any inkling of the juggernaut the HBO adaptation would become.
Indeed, the initial signs were ominous. Martin had been courted before about adapting his books for the screen, but due to the complex plots and huge number of characters that make up the shifting alliances and feuding families in the fictional land of Westerns, he had concluded they were “unfilmable”.
But the former screenwriter was impressed with a pitch from eventual Game Of Thrones show-runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who suggested HBO – the revered studio behind TV classics from The Sopranos to Sex in the City – would be the perfect home for an in-depth adaptation that would have licence to include all the sex, violence and mayhem that defined his books.
Magda Szubanski defends Jenny Morrison photo tweet
TV star Magda Szubanski has declared she wants to know “what kind of woman” Jenny Morrison is after coming under fire for comments about the Prime Minister’s wife, reports News Corp.
Szubanski was heavily criticised for a tweet posted on the weekend in which she compared a photo of Ms Morrison standing behind her husband as he signed a condolence book for Prince Philip to The Handsmaid’s Tale.
On Wednesday, the comedian defended the post saying she never meant to offend Ms Morrison and had thought the “wacko” photo was a meme.
“I think doing a media pile-on about someone’s appearance is not something that I would condone,” Szubanski told A Current Affair.