News Brands
Former solicitor-general Justin Gleeson leads ABC team in Christian Porter case
Former commonwealth solicitor-general Justin Gleeson SC will lead a team of barristers to defend the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan in its defamation battle against Attorney-General Christian Porter, reports News Corp’s Nicola Berkovic.
Gleeson has already waded into public debate about whether Porter was fit to continue in his role — recently calling on Scott Morrison to enlist the current Solicitor-General, Stephen Donaghue QC, to assess whether the allegations against Porter justified an inquiry.
He also said the Prime Minister should have read the 31-page dossier sent to him anonymously by the friends of the woman who accused Porter of raping her in 1988.
A formidable advocate, Gleeson will be pitted against Porter’s legal team of Bret Walker SC, Sue Chrysanthou SC and reputational risk lawyer Rebekah Giles.
Journalists’ union considers pulling out of press watchdog over ineffectiveness
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance is considering withdrawing from the Australian Press Council which it says has become ineffective, lacking in transparency and too slow to rule on unethical journalism, reports Guardian Australia‘s Amanda Meade.
The warning from the MEAA that it may dump the Australian Press Council comes after some of the self-regulatory body’s adjudications were openly mocked by journalists and publications which were found to have breached standards.
If found in breach of the council’s standards on fairness, a newspaper is expected to publish the adjudication in full, in print or online, but there is no other sanction.
Next month the union will vote on whether to withdraw funding and membership of the council.
Teen Vogue Editor Resigns After Fury Over Racist Tweets
Alexi McCammond, who made her name as a politics reporter at the Washington news site Axios, had planned to start as the editor in chief of Teen Vogue next Wednesday. Now, after Teen Vogue staff members publicly condemned racist and homophobic tweets McCammond had posted a decade ago, she has resigned from the job, reports The New York Times’ Katie Robertson.
Condé Nast, Teen Vogue’s publisher, announced the abrupt turn on Thursday in an internal email that was sent amid pressure from the publication’s staff, readers and at least two advertisers, just two weeks after the company had appointed her to the position.
Television
Casting a net for Bachelor Stars
Covid has certainly changed the way producers cast for dating shows, reports News Corp’s Karlie Rutherford.
Confidential sources say the team at Warner Bros. television are on the hunt for single young men to appear in the upcoming season of The Bachelorette and they are sliding into DM’s to do it.
It’s understood producers have been messaging potential gentlemen on social media, asking them to be a part of the show.
While they used to hit up night clubs, music festivals and the racetrack to scout potential TV stars, Covid has forced them to go online.
Sport
Cricket Australia restarted talks with Nine, 10 amid court stoush
Cricket Australia restarted talks with Nine Entertainment Co and Network 10 about an alternative free-to-air broadcast rights arrangement for the Big Bash League and Test matches amid a fierce legal battle against Kerry Stokes-controlled Seven West Media, reports SMH‘s Zoe Samios and Andrew Wu.
The depth of ill feeling between CA and its free-to-air broadcaster was laid bare this week when the governing body accused the network of an “abuse of process” by leaking an explosive affidavit to the media containing private conversations between senior figures from both organisations.
Industry sources familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity said CA has held informal talks with Seven’s rivals to shore up an alternative if the existing rights agreement falls apart. If they progress, it could see the Ashes and Big Bash League games return to Nine and 10 respectively, instead of Seven.
The talks, according to the sources, restarted as early as January. Nine and 10 declined to comment.
NFL Inks Rich New TV Deals With Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS and Amazon
The National Football League has reached broad new agreements with its television partners, including The Walt Disney Co., NBCUniversal, Fox Corp., ViacomCBS and Amazon. The new deals will begin with the 2023 NFL season, and run through the 2033 season, reports The Hollywood Reporter‘s Alex Weprin.
There are a few big changes to the new rights agreement: ABC will be added to the Super Bowl rotation, and Thursday Night Football rights will be exclusive to Amazon. The Thursday games had previously also been airing on Fox.
Otherwise, CBS and Fox will keep their flagship Sunday afternoon football games, and NBC will remain the home of Sunday Night Football, with ESPN holding on to Monday Night Football.
Under the new deal, ABC will get two Super Bowls: 2026 and 2030. In addition, ESPN+ will get exclusive U.S. rights to one international series game per season.