Business of Media
Inside Chemist Warehouse’s $600m money spinner
It’s the secret weapon that will help buoy Chemist Warehouse’s earnings if the competition regulator gives the pharmacy giant the green light for an $8.8 billion reverse takeover of Sigma Healthcare, report Nine Publishing’s Carrie LaFrenz and Sam Buckingham-Jones.
And it has nothing to do with medicine. The private pharmacy group has quietly created one of the largest advertising businesses in the country, with the division – known as retail media – making up 20 per cent of sales.
Like many other major retailers, Chemist Warehouse uses its stores to advertise its suppliers’ products to shoppers near the point of sale – while clipping the ticket itself.
Bruce Lehrmann’s former landlord claims he caused $13,250 damage to home Seven Network paid for
Bruce Lehrmann caused more than $13,000 worth of damage to a multimillion-dollar property he rented as part of an exclusive TV interview deal, a tribunal has been told, reports the AAP.
Lady Gaenor Meakes, the owner of the home on Sydney’s northern beaches, rented the property to Lehrmann with the Seven Network picking up the $100,000 bill.
She has since lodged proceedings against Lehrmann on the grounds of property damage and loss of rent.
Channel 7 stars accused of rape, torture offences to face committal hearing
A major twist has emerged in the case against two Channel 7 identities facing a raft of abuse-related charges, including rape and torture, after a complainant admitted to lying in her statement, reports News Corp’s Blake Antrobus.
The bombshell development in the case against the man and woman – who cannot be identified – emerged during a directions hearing at Richlands Magistrates Court in Brisbane on Wednesday.
The pair – who appeared together on a prominent Channel 7 show – were charged in August 2023.
Jarryd Hayne and Peter Costello brought back my PTSD as a photographer
When people find out I’m a news photographer, they say it must be an interesting job. And it sure is, but “interesting” is an adjective whose meaning varies greatly, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Mooy.
The day I turned up at Newcastle District Court in May 2021 for Jarryd Hayne’s sentencing was way too “interesting”. Accustomed to scrums, the NRL star — surrounded by a posse of supporters after being found guilty of sexual assault — was arriving to hear how long he would spend in a more formal sin bin. On behalf of Getty Images, it was my job to document his arrival and departure, along with that of his family members.
News Brands
What Kim Williams learnt about persuasion from Paul Keating
In the corner of Kim Williams’ ABC office, in the sunlit crow’s nest of the public broadcaster’s Ultimo headquarters in Sydney, is a poster of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. It has two signatures – Star Wars creator George Lucas (“May the Force be with you,” he writes), and producer Rick McCallum (“You are my Yoda!”). It serves as a reminder to Williams that, with considerable persistence, the seemingly impossible can happen, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Few thought it possible Hollywood would make a Star Wars film in Australia, but Williams, then head of the new Fox Studios, made it happen.
Fifty years on, it’s time to share the secret origin story of Chanticleer
The full story of how Chanticleer was launched in 1973-74 has never been told. Fifty years have passed, so now is the time to fill in the details particularly as those details have lessons for those in partnerships and who are developing knowledge-based careers, reports Nine Publishing’s Robert Gottliebsen.
The story actually starts in July 1969. After over a decade in journalism covering five titles, including heading the business news desk of The Sydney Morning Herald at aged 21, and heading the Melbourne office of The Australian Financial Review, I left the profession and my position at the Financial Review for stockbroking. Many other finance journalists followed the same path because back then journalistic salaries were very low.
Television
ABC banks on Catherine Murphy and Tony Armstrong to rescue Monday nights
ABC sports broadcaster Catherine Murphy jokes that she’s a “girl addicted to sport” and sometimes wonders “if I have any personality left, I watch so much sport”, reports Nine Publishing’s Louise Rugendyke.
Case in point: she just spent Sunday night watching the men’s four-hour French Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev and was backing up with Monday’s long-weekend AFL matches. Then, on Tuesday morning, she was on News Breakfast presenting the sport. If that wasn’t enough, she also hosts a daily AFL podcast with former coach Paul Roos.
Now Murphy has another sporting commitment to add to her weekly schedule: the ABC’s new sports entertainment show Monday’s Experts, which she will co-host with her sometime News Breakfast colleague and former radio partner Tony Armstrong.