Business of Media
Twitter launches $uper Follows subscription model to share content
Twitter this week introduced Super Follows, a new way for people to earn monthly revenue by sharing subscriber-only content with their followers on Twitter. With Super Follows, people can create an extra level of conversation on Twitter (sharing bonus Tweets and more) to interact with their most engaged followers – all while earning money.
Creating Super Follows content can be used by activists, journalists, musicians, content curators, writers, gamers, astrology enthusiasts, skincare and beauty experts, comedians, fantasy sports experts, and more. Everyday their Tweets, Spaces, Direct Messages, photos and videos resonate with their audience and create vibrant conversations on Twitter.
Through Super Follows, people can set a monthly subscription of $2.99, $4.99 or $9.99 (US dollars) a month to monetise bonus, “behind-the-scenes” content for their most engaged followers on Twitter.
Followers get extra special access to their unfiltered thoughts, early previews and subscriber-only conversations from their favourite accounts.
Initially the new Twitter service will be offered to a small group within the US who applied to set up a Super Follows subscription. People can continue to apply to join the waitlist to set up a Super Follows subscription by swiping open the sidebar on their Home timeline, tapping on Monetisation, then selecting Super Follows.
To be eligible for the waitlist right now, users need to have 10k or more followers, be at least 18 years old, have tweeted 25 times within the last 30 days, be in the US, and follow Twitter’s Super Follows Policy.
Right now, people in the US and Canada using iOS can Super Follow select accounts and Twitter will be rolling it out to people using iOS globally in the next few weeks. Creators can share Super Follows Tweets on iOS only and Super Follows Tweets can be viewed on iOS, with Android and twitter.com coming soon.
Read more about Super Follows here.
News Brands
2021 Citi Journalism Awards for Excellence Winners Announced
Citi has announced Michael Roddan as the winner of the 2021 Citi Journalism Award for Excellence for his series on AMP Capital boss Boe Pahari, published in The Australian Financial Review.
The winner of the Australia & New Zealand Citi Journalism Awards for Excellence would normally join media colleagues from around the world for a study tour hosted by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in New York, however, in light of current circumstances, the winner will be updated as soon as possible regarding whether the tour can go ahead.
A panel of independent judges determined the winners based on criteria that included analysis and understanding of the issue, introduction of new ideas, use of research and interviews, originality in thinking and impact.
The Citi Journalism Awards for Excellence programme encourages and recognises outstanding business and finance reporting across Australia and New Zealand.
This year 87 entries were received from Australian and New Zealand journalists representing 25 publications across four categories; General Business, Markets and Investment, The Economy and Broadcast Media. The awards have now been running globally for 38 years.
The 2021 category winners are:
• Joe Aston, winner of General Business 1 category for his series on ‘Rio Tinto’, published in The Australian Financial Review.
• Michael Roddan, winner of General Business 2 for his series on ‘AMP Capital boss Boe Pahari’, published in The Australian Financial Review.
• John Kehoe, winner of The Economy category for his series ‘Job Keeper wage subsidy for big business’ published in The Australian Financial Review.
• Sarah Danckert, winner of the Markets and Investment category for her series ‘Bigger than the Wolf of Wall Street’ published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
• Chris Gillett & Adele Ferguson, winners of the Broadcast Media category for their investigation ‘Alinta Energy accused of putting customer data at risk’, aired on the ABC.
• Charlotte Grieve, winner of the Citi Young Business Journalist of the Year Award for her broadcast ‘Operation Atlantis’ aired on Nine’s 60 Minutes.
• Calida Stuart-Menteath, winner of the New Zealand Journalist of the Year Award for her series on ‘FE Investments’, published in the National Business Review.
Erin Molan points to Chris Lilley’s show Jonah From Tonga to show ‘times have changed’
Erin Molan has pointed to comedian Chris Lilley’s show Jonah from Tonga as an example of how “times have changed” as she defends herself in court against allegations of racism, reports News Corp’s Lane Sainty.
The Nine sports broadcaster said on Wednesday the Daily Mail, who she is suing for defamation over a June 2020 story, described the 2014 ABC show as “hilarious” in an article in 2018.
Molan made the comment towards the end of an hours-long cross-examination in which she repeatedly rejected claims she peddled “ugly racial stereotypes” across her five years on the 2GB radio program Continuous Call Team.
The Daily Mail claims numerous clips from the show’s archive prove Molan is racist, among them a recording in which the 39-year-old journalist says “I love you very long time, very handsome man” in a Chinese accent.
Erin Molan announces split from fiance Sean Ogilvy
TV presenter Erin Molan has split with her longtime fiance and father of her daughter, Sean Ogilvy, reports News Corp’s Campbell Gellie.
The rugby league commentator and 2Day FM breakfast radio host posted the news on Instagram that she and the police Detective were breaking up.
“Sean and I have separated,” she wrote. “We are entirely committed to co-parenting our three-year-old daughter, who is the most important person in the world to both of us.
“Any breakdown of the family unit is incredibly difficult and we ask for our privacy at this time – especially given the private approach that we have taken to our relationship. We won’t be making any further comment.”
Diggers and families of dead soldiers slam 9News for Taliban interview criticising ADF
Afghanistan veterans and the parents of soldiers who gave their lives in the war have lashed out at 9News for broadcasting a report that treated the Taliban as a legitimate government with human rights grievances against Australia, ignoring the wave of terror that the Islamic fundamentalist regime is unleashing against the Afghan people, reports News Corp’s James Morrow.
On Wednesday, 9News broadcast an interview with Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen rehashing accusations of war crimes by Australian soldiers serving in Afghanistan, with space also being given to the report in Nine-owned newspapers.
“Australia was part of (the) occupation, but they committed some of the worst and the brutal kind of human rights violations, by hacking fingers off dead bodies and killing farmers in Uruzgan and other provinces (where) they were based,” Shaheen told the network.
“They should be prosecuted as per the law, humanitarian law. So we do not have good memories of them, rather bad memories.”
In the wide-ranging discussion, which was reported in a number of Nine publications, including The Sydney Morning Herald, Shaheen also claimed the 41 Australian soldiers who died in Afghanistan lost their lives “in vain”.
Television
Fisk wins Best Comedy at Europe’s largest TV Festival Series Mania
The Australian hit comedy Fisk has won a major prize at Europe’s largest TV festival, Series Mania 2021 in Lille, France, taking out the Best Series Award in the Comedies Competition.
Produced by Porchlight Films (The Kettering Incident, Animal Kingdom), Fisk is written, co-directed and stars Kitty Flanagan.
Previously a high-end contracts solicitor, Helen Tudor-Fisk (Flanagan) finds herself in the low rent world of wills and probate when she takes the job at Gruber & Gruber, following a humiliating marriage breakdown and professional fall from grace.
Co-starring alongside Flannagan are Julia Zemiro and Marty Sheargold.
Fisk was one of only of only seven series chosen for the competition screening, which also included Bloods (US), Brigade Mobile (France), Frank of Ireland (Ireland & UK), Hacks (USA), Georges and Ferdinand Tribulations (France) and Starstruck (UK).
Flanagan said: “I’m absolutely thrilled, especially when you look at the competition, we were certainly the scrappy underdog in the fight. It’s incredibly satisfying to learn that our Australian comedy proved to be relevant (and, more importantly, funny) to an international audience. Fist bumps all round to the entire cast and crew.”
Producer Vincent Sheehan said: “Having attended Series Mania in the past I know first-hand how passionate and committed their audience are so to receive this award, and in the company of such strong competition, is rather special and great timing as we embark on developing Season 2.”
Fisk is available in neutral Spanish and French from ABC Commercial who holds all international distribution rights.
Eureka seals major format deal with Talpa
Talpa Concepts and Eureka Productions have joined forces to give Eureka Productions exclusive rights to sell and produce all Talpa formats, such as Marble Mania, Avastars, Hunting Season, A Quiz for You, Hit the Road and Kids Buy a House in Australia, reports TV Tonight.
The deal, for both linear and OTT, was highly sought after by local production companies and follows recent Talpa partnerships with Dok1 Media in Belgium, Satisfaction Group in France and Seven.One Entertainment Group in Germany.
Are Bachelor Jimmy Nicholson and Holly still together?
Jimmy Nicholson has decided on a winner after much back and forth on The Bachelor, reports News Corp’s Bianca Mastroianni.
After contemplating who would be the better match for him, Jimmy said a very heartbreaking farewell to Brooke, and gave Holly the news she had been dying to hear during Thursday night’s season finale.
As is always the case with a show that is filmed months before it airs, viewers were left wondering: are the couple still together?
Well, with both Jimmy and Holly taking to Instagram shortly after the finale wrapped to post gushing tributes to each other, it’s safe to assume they’re still going strong.