Business of Media
Cost of Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson set to be astronomically high
What happened between Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins in a ministerial suite at Parliament House on March 23 2019 has triggered at least a dozen avenues of legal action – so far, report the ABC’s Elizabeth Byrne, Jade Toomey, and Victor Petrovic.
Justice Michael Lee, who found Lehrmann raped Higgins on the balance of probabilities, labelled the fallout an “omnishambles”.
But the legal costs of all this litigation are set to be astronomical.
Positively manifesting post-Bruce Lehrmann
Doesn’t the universe work in mysterious ways? Not 24 hours after this column dropped a (quite obvious) gag that Rebekah Giles should head to Seven’s HQ to negotiate the easiest defamation payout on offer, well, knock us down with a feather, it came true, reports Nine Publishing’s Mark Di Stefano.
We’re informed the country’s foremost defo warrior’s newest client is Ben Cohen, the university student dreadfully misidentified as the Bondi Junction mass murderer by a legion of bad faith sewer rats, but also, unbelievably, Seven West Media’s news apparatus.
The Lehrmann judgment’s best line wears many hats
If the nation’s courts are lions’ dens, then the lawyers are the big cats, eternally fighting over carcasses. That includes the court’s best one-liners, as well as its more substantive findings, reports Nine Publishing’s Myriam Robin.
Speaking on ABC radio the morning after his client Ten Network secured a considerable victory on the facts (if not on the reasonableness or basic competence of its journalism), media lawyer Justin Quill was asked a question that referenced Justice Michael Lee’s quip that Bruce Lehrmann had, “having escaped the lion’s den … made the mistake of going back for his hat”.
Lisa Wilkinson and Ten trumpet the calling they failed: journalism
Senior executives at Network Ten should be buying lottery tickets, because they just got very lucky, reports The Australian’s Claire Harvey.
Justice Michael Lee has found their journalism entirely lacking in rigour, fairness, and reasonableness – but you wouldn’t know it from Ten’s reaction.
In a statement, Ten called their win in the defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann “a triumph for truth”.
News Brands
Newshub: parts of axed New Zealand media outlet to continue in new deal
New Zealand news outlet Newshub, which is set to shut down due to economic woes, has been thrown a lifeline by local media organisation Stuff that will save its bulletins and website, in new formats, reports The Guardian’s Eva Corlett.
Last week, Warner Bros Discovery confirmed it would close down its New Zealand newsroom, Newshub, including its website, the morning television show and the 6pm news bulletin, resulting in the loss of roughly 300 jobs and prompting alarm over the state of New Zealand’s media industry. The same day, state-owned television network TVNZ announced its own set of programme cuts and job losses.
NPR suspends editor whose essay criticized the broadcaster
NPR has suspended Uri Berliner, the senior business editor who broke ranks and published an essay arguing that the nonprofit radio network had allowed liberal bias to affect its coverage, reports The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin.
Berliner was suspended by the network for five days, starting Friday, for violating the network’s policy against doing work outside the organization without first getting permission.
Television
“Just because a project is filmed on location in Australia, with some Australian cast & crew, does not make it an Australian story”
Streaming platforms have been accused of “muddying the waters” around what is what is genuine Australian content and what is actually International content filmed in Australia, reports TV Tonight.
Screen Producers Australia today fronted a National Cultural Policy Inquiry Hearing to advocate for a 20% revenue investment obligation by the steaming services on new Australian content.
Their call comes ahead of the Government promise for regulation to commence from 1 July this year -but one which is yet to be tabled in Parliament.
Trump’s social media empire to launch streaming platform even as shares fall
Donald Trump’s social media empire has announced plans to launch a streaming platform. Its shares continued to fall, reports The Guardian’s Callum Jones.
Its latest decline came despite news of an ambitious expansion plan. Truth Social, Trump’s small social network, plans to branch out beyond microblogging into livestreaming.
News networks, religious channels, “family-friendly” films and “other content that has been cancelled, is at risk of cancellation, or is being suppressed on other platforms and services” will be on offer, according to TMTG.