Business of Media
Buyers line up for Junkee, but price a big factor
The deadline’s fast approaching for first round bids for Ooh!Media’s Junkee, and it looks like there’s a few hats to be thrown into the ring, reports AFR’s Anthony Macdonald, Yolanda Redrup and Kanika Sood.
Rolling Stone and Variety publisher The Brag Media confirmed to Street Talk that it was doing due diligence on the business and all indications point to it being a likely bidder.
Val Morgan Digital is also understood to have been assessing the youth publisher, as well as radio network Here, There and Everywhere. NOVA Entertainment could well be in the running, while Jason Lavigne’s Mamamia is also understood to have taken a look.
Australian journalist Jonathan Swan wins Emmy for viral Trump interview
The baffled expression on his face as he listened to Donald Trump launched a thousand memes; now Australian journalist Jonathan Swan has won an Emmy for his interview with the then-president of the United States, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
In the News and Documentary Emmys announced on Wednesday morning AEST, the Axios news site and channel HBO won Outstanding Edited Interview for Swan’s quick-draw fact checking of Trump’s claims that the American Covid death rate in August last year was not that bad.
Swan, who was a federal political reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age before moving to the US in 2015, challenged the President to speak factually to the American people about the coronavirus.
At one point, armed with a series of charts, Trump claimed the US was doing “better than the world” in “numerous categories” – only to be left exposed when he refused to account for the per-capita death rate in favour of selected statistics that he couldn’t quite explain.
YouTube to remove videos containing vaccine misinformation
YouTube said it would remove content that falsely alleges approved vaccines are dangerous and cause severe health effects, expanding the video platform’s efforts to curb Covid-19 misinformation to other vaccines, reports News Corp’s Dave Sebasitan.
Examples of content that would be taken down include false claims that approved vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility or that they don’t reduce transmission or contraction of diseases, the Alphabet division said.
The policies cover general statements about vaccines — not only those for Covid-19 — and about specific routine immunisation such as those for measles and hepatitis B. YouTube said it has removed more than 130,000 videos for violating its Covid-19 vaccine policies since last year.
‘Inflection point’: Watchdog’s acknowledgment of Google dominance
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s report into Australia’s advertising technology sector is an an inflection point for the industry, says Australian ad tech start-up WINR, reports AFR’s Miranda Ward.
WINR chief executive Marcelo Ulvert said the report, which found 90 per cent of ad impressions traded via the ad tech supply chain passed through at least one Google service in 2020, is “singularly the best, most comprehensive explanation of what Google is laid out in layman’s terms”.
See More: ACCC tackles Google’s dominance in Digital Advertising Services Inquiry report
“It is the easiest to understand that anyone’s ever produced,” Mr Ulvert said. “That in itself is huge. Is there a problem? Yes, there is. It acknowledges the problem and puts forward a bunch of proposals. That’s a huge step.
“I think it is an inflection point … How much can change? I don’t know. However, as publishers, advertisers and consumers, we take a level of responsibility for finding ourselves in this position.”
Nine’s Footy Show telethon raises $3.3m to fight childhood cancer
A total of $3,301,334 was raised for The Footy Show Grand Final Eve: My Room Telethon on Friday night – another giant step closer to the aim of achieving a 100 per cent cure for childhood cancer.
With further donations coming in over the weekend, the final tally broke the record for the most money raised on the Telethon which the Footy Show has staged for My Room every year since 2016.
Sunday Footy Show host Tony Jones, along with Billy Brownless, Nathan Brown, Matthew Lloyd, Damian Barrett and Kane Cornes, were joined by Rebecca Maddern and Shane Crawford in The Lott Hub for a television special that smashed the previous fundraising results for the My Room Children’s Cancer Charity.
Footy Show Grand Final Eve MyRoom Telethon
The My Room Telethon has now raised the grand total of $10,588,621 over six years.
The managing director of Nine Melbourne, Matt James, said: “Our Melbourne team are very proud to be part of this year’s record-breaking result for The Footy Show Grand Final Eve: My Room Telethon.
“I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of My Room’s supporters and volunteers, corporate partners, and the public who have donated to help fight childhood cancer.”
News Brands
CNN disables its Australian Facebook page in response to High Court ruling
Earlier this month, The High Court threw out an appeal by media outlets including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian, ruling that media outlets are legally responsible for comments published on their Facebook pages. As a result of the ruling, US news outlet CNN has disabled its Facebook pages in Australia.
See More: High Court rules media outlets could be liable for Facebook comments
In a statement, CNN said that they asked if Facebook would disable the ability to leave comments on their Australian pages, but the request was denied. CNN says it is “disappointed” by the decision, but will not go so far as to pull its content from Australia entirely.
“We are disappointed that Facebook, once again, has failed to ensure its platform is a place for credible journalism and productive dialogue around current events among its users,” the statement said. “CNN will, of course, continue to publish content on our own platforms in Australia and to deliver quality journalism to our audiences around the world.”
In a separate statement, Facebook said that “we continue to provide Australians with quality journalism destinations, including through Facebook News launched in August.”
The screen Australians are taken to when attempting to access CNN’s Facebook page
In the time since the ruling was made, Facebook has allowed the hosts of public pages to pre-emptively turn off the ability to leave comments on their posts as a way to protect themselves.
The original appeal was launched after last year’s ruling that media outlets were liable for comments made on their pages about former Don Dale Youth Detention Centre detainee, Dylan Voller.
The ruling means that Voller can continue with his intention to take the media outlets to the New South Wales Supreme Court because of alleged defamatory comments that were left on their public Facebook pages. Voller will also have his legal costs reimbursed by the media outlets.
In 2016, images of Voller hooded and strapped into a mechanical restraint chair were broadcast by Four Corners. The episode was the catalyst for a royal commission into the Northern Territory’s youth detention system.
Roaring Foxtel to address IPO talk
The powerful momentum of the Foxtel Group’s multiple streaming services will underpin the company’s inaugural strategy day on Thursday, when chief executive Patrick Delany is expected to address rumours of a possible IPO in the first half of next year, reports News Corp’s James Madden.
Now boasting more than four million subscribers, Foxtel – which is part-owned with Telstra by News Corp, publisher of The Australian – has undergone a dramatic transformation in the past three years, with the development of sports streaming service Kayo, entertainment platform Binge, and the soon-to-be-launched Flash, which will feature more than 20 local and global live news sources.
A sharp increase in subscribers to Kayo and Binge in the past year contributed to News Corp’s most profitable financial result in eight years, News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson said last month.
Podcasting
Jessica Rowe under fire for Pauline Hanson podcast
Broadcaster Jessica Rowe has issued a statement, saying she understands the backlash to her interview with Pauline Hanson, reports News Corp Australia.
Rowe came under fire after she chose to interview the controversial politician not about her politics but about “love … and why she keeps going”.
Ms Hanson has long been known for her divisive and incendiary views on a range of marginalised communities including Asian-Australians, Muslim-Australians and transgender children.
“Pauline’s political views are the opposite of mine. I have never agreed with her on those issues. Never will. Kindness is at the heart of who I am,” Rowe wrote. “Amongst the comments today I heard from some who I admire enormously including Nakkiah Liu and Grace Tame and I want to thank them especially for their candour.”
“This will be start of a bigger conversation for me and with those who this topic directly affects,” she said. “I have asked LiSTNR to remove the episode ASAP.”
Radio
Racing Victoria outbids Hutchison to buy radio station RSN
Racing Victoria has successfully outbid Craig Hutchison’s SEN, buying out the thoroughbred shareholders of RSN with plans to consolidate their media assets, reports SMH’s Damien Ractliffe.
Employees at the embattled station were informed this week that Racing Victoria (RV) will take part-ownership of the station, with the previous thoroughbred shareholders – the three metropolitan racing clubs and Country Racing Victoria – looking past a white knight offer from SEN to accept terms with RV.
The Melbourne Racing Club and Victoria Racing Club had both valued the station at about $7.55 million in their most recent annual reports, and a number of shareholders told The Age the offer they accepted was at about the same value. The deal, which has been made in principle, is expected to go through in coming weeks.
Racing Victoria will co-own the station with Harness Racing Victoria and Greyhound Racing Victoria, with expectations the radio assets will now be condensed into Racing Victoria’s new integrated media business.
Television
Is the boom in Australian production now beginning to subside?
There are fears the boom in production which was triggered by Australia’s early handling of the pandemic may be subsiding, reports TV Tonight.
While NSW and Victoria have been hard hit in 2021, vaccines have helped production to resume in the USA and international territories.
Lockdowns and tight border restrictions have been blamed for cancellations, postponements and even some major projects, such as Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction 2 that was supposed to be shot in New South Wales, heading back overseas.
Producer Georgina Marquis, shooting Netflix film True Spirit, argued it was getting harder to lure big name cast and crew away from the United States.
Koby Abberton reveals what really went down on SAS Australia
It seemed as though Koby Abberton could have made it to the end of SAS Australia, but the Bra Boy officially bowed out on Wednesday night, reports News Corp’s Lexie Cartwright.
The 42-year-old cited excruciating back problems for his surprising decision to leave the course, as he gave news.com.au a wide-ranging interview about returning to the public eye, his childhood and why he won’t be returning to Australia.
“I’m not gonna be the guy to say I could’ve won the show. I gave up,” he says from his home in Bali.
“I’ve had two back surgeries. When I was told to jump on my neck, I knew it wouldn’t go well. I threw my back and my hips out and from that point on I was f***ed.”
The Bachelorette Brooke Blurton about to make history as first bisexual star
The countdown is on to Australia’s history-making season of The Bachelorette, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.
Channel 10 has launched its first TV ad promoting youth social worker Brooke Blurton as the star of the series, which is a global first in the format with both men and women vying for the reality star’s love.
Proud indigenous Australian Blurton, 26, shot the advert in Western Australia, on Yamatji country, where she grew up.
Wearing a red gown with the terracotta earth at her feet, Blurton says: “I would love to share my life with someone special. For me, true love is all about making a soul connection, no matter who they are. I have so much love to give and I am so ready to find that special someone to give it to.”