Business of Media
ABC prepares for redundancies as wage deal looms
Australia’s national broadcaster is preparing to slash jobs for the second time in three years as it progresses with a company-wide restructure and tries to offset the costs of a new wage agreement that will increase salaries by 11 per cent, reports Nine Publishing’s Zoe Samios.
Senior media sources who are not authorised to speak publicly about the matter said ABC executives were told in recent weeks to look at headcounts across their divisions with a view to cutting jobs before the end of this financial year.
It is unclear how many roles will be affected, but it is unlikely to be at the scale of the previous redundancy round, which resulted in more than 200 job losses. The ABC declined to comment.
ABC managing director David Anderson is restructuring the organisation in an effort to improve how content is commissioned and delivered to audiences. The company hired a chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, and is also reducing the amount it invests in traditional television and radio broadcasters as it tries to resonate with younger audiences.
Laura Tingle to join ABC board after winning staff vote
High-profile journalist Laura Tingle has been voted in as the staff-elected director of the public broadcaster’s board, report Nine Publishing’s Zoe Samios and Angus Dalton.
Tingle beat ABC business journalist Daniel Ziffer by 30 final votes out of the 2073 ballots cast by staff. The 7.30 chief political correspondent will be appointed to the board on May 1.
Tingle nominated herself for a staff-elected seat on the board in January, aiming to provide staff with a more independent voice.
“The job of the board is to scrutinise decisions management are taking which affect both the corporation as a whole but also, obviously, the staff,” Tingle said when she decided to run for the position.
“The staff-elected director brings the experience and perspective of staff to that scrutiny. It’s about a lot more than pay and conditions,” she said.
“The recent cuts to ABC archives is a classic case in point which has profound implications for the way we do our job, and for the ABC’s obligations to preserve our national memory.”
Misinformation to thrive as more regional newspapers close, former editor warns
Having grown up in Mandurah, an hour south of Perth, Kate Hedley is devastated by the likely closure of the town’s paper, reports the ABC’s Eliza Borrello.
She used to edit the Mandurah Mail, which is one of four West Australian mastheads Australian Community Media plans to shut down because they’re not profitable.
“The closure of these papers, I believe, will lead to a news void that will allow misinformation, speculation, to run rife on social media,” she said.
“TikTok is not a reputable news source and it’s looking like that’s the way people are going to be getting their news.
“It’s terribly, terribly sad.”
Hedley said the Mandurah Mail has done important public interest journalism, including a 2019 podcast into the death of local teenager Annette Deverell.
“So that was to do with the 1981 disappearance of a Mandurah teenager, which ultimately prompted the state government to offer a $250,000 reward for information on this,” she said.
“It just shows local newspapers can and they do make a difference.”
See Also: Provincial Press Group buys seven NSW Central West newspaper titles off of ACM
Exit of Netflix’s Lisa Nishimura marks end of an era for the streamer
With the exit of long-tenured film executive Lisa Nishimura on Thursday, Netflix has officially entered its austerity age — whatever that may mean for the streaming powerhouse, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Mia Galuppo.
Nishimura’s 15 years at the company have spanned the streaming boom, Oscar wins and multiple restructuring efforts. Noted one industry veteran that has long worked with Nishimura, “It’s a signal that the most thoughtful, taste-driven era is being driven out.”
Under film head Scott Stuber, the film division was long bifurcated according to budgets: tentpoles and indies, with the former sitting around the $30 million to $40 million and way upwards, and the latter sitting below that. Former exec Tendo Nagenda, who joined the streamer from the four-quadrant heavy hitter Disney, oversaw films like the Russo brothers’ The Gray Man and the Extraction films, as well as the Knives Out franchise and The Old Guard. Nishimura’s team oversaw, well, most everything else.
Nishimura long oversaw docs and docuseries, which earned the streamer its early awards success. Netflix’s first Oscar win came in 2017 with The White Helmets for doc short, and it was followed by Icarus in 2018 for best doc feature. Nishimura’s purview also included nonfiction series hits like Chef’s Table and Making a Murderer, and later, the phenom Tiger King. (Dan Silver will oversee documentary efforts, taking on projects previously overseen by Nishimura.)
News Brands
Sophie Black returns to Crikey as editor-in-chief
Private Media has appointed Sophie Black as editor-in-chief of Crikey, four months after her predecessor went on leave following an alcohol-fuelled outburst at the Walkley journalism awards, reports Nine Publishing’s Mark Di Stefano.
Black, a former senior editor at the company, returns to Private Media as it prepares to defend itself against defamation claims brought against Crikey by News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch. The website’s current news editor, Gina Rushton, will become Crikey’s editor.
Black will replace Peter Fray, a former Sydney Morning Herald editor-in-chief. He had been at Private Media since January 2020 and was also the managing editor of The Mandarin and SmartCompany. Fray went on leave after questioning the appropriateness of three ABC reporters being given a Walkley award. He later apologised for his conduct.
The leadership change comes amid the legal stoush with Murdoch. The high-profile matter is expected in court later this year and will be heavily scrutinised as a key test of Australia’s new defamation laws.
Fray’s exit is awkward for the company, because the former editor-in-chief is among the named individuals that Mr Murdoch is suing over a publication linking him to the January 6 Capitol riots.
See Also: Peter Fray made redundant from Crikey ahead of Murdoch defamation trial
Rupert Murdoch took direct role in Fox News 2020 election call, filings reveal
Rupert Murdoch took a direct role in how Fox News finally called the 2020 US election for Joe Biden over Donald Trump, newly unredacted messages in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6bn defamation case showed on Friday, reports The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly.
“It would be great if we call it for Biden as soon as he gets over, say, 35,000 ahead in Pennsylvania,” Murdoch, the now 92-year-old Fox News owner, wrote to the network’s chief executive, Suzanne Scott, on 6 November 2020, three days after election day but a day before Pennsylvania put Biden over the top.
“Whenever we do it, it will all be over. Regardless of Arizona.”
Fox News’ election night call of Arizona for Biden took most observers by surprise and enraged Trump and his followers.
Trump’s attempts to have the call rescinded are well documented. The author Michael Wolff, for one, reported that when told of the outgoing president’s fury over Arizona, Murdoch responded with a “signature grunt” and said: “Fuck him.”
Fox News denies that. But Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, wrote in his memoir that Murdoch told him on election night that “the numbers are ironclad – it’s not even close”.
Radio
Radio industry calls for action on Google and Amazon smart speaker streaming
Australia’s commercial radio industry boss has called for the urgent implementation of safeguards to prevent international tech giants from interfering with local broadcasts on its smart speakers, reports The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth.
Commercial Radio Australia chief executive Ford Ennals said local licensed radio stations’ revenue streams could be compromised if the federal government failed to limit the powers of global giants – including Amazon and Google – with regards to streaming on smart speakers.
The federal government told The Australian it was “closely monitoring” how the issue was playing out in the UK, where the government has tabled legislation to ensure licensed radio stations can stream content on smart speakers – including Amazon’s Alexa and Google Nest – without any interference from the tech companies.
The UK bill proposes that all programs on licensed radio stations are available on smart speakers for free, and, if passed, the laws will prevent tech giants from advertising their own services on the stations’ programs.
Ennals said Australia should adopt similar measures to the ones proposed under the UK’s “groundbreaking” media bill.
Television
Warner Bros Discovery’s new streaming platform coming to Asia-Pacific
US media giant Warner Bros Discovery will launch its own streaming service in the Asia-Pacific in 2024, one of the company’s leading executives has confirmed, reports The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth.
Speaking exclusively to The Australian on Sunday, Warner Bros Discovery’s western Pacific president and managing director James Gibbons said the company was pushing ahead with its plans to the regions’ streaming market, following the rollout of its digital subscription platform in the US later this year.
The new service will be the result of the merger of its subscription video on demand services, HBO Max and Discovery Plus.
“We are going to be launching our new streaming service in the US this year,” Mr Gibbons said.
“The first order of business is to really combine those services (HBO Max and Discovery Plus) and make one ‘uber’ service that can target a wide audience.
“After that we’re going to be rolling that service out in the Asia-Pacific region from the second half of 2024.”
A potential rollout date in Australia is yet to be confirmed.
I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here: Full cast revealed
Twelve eager celebrities entered the jungle on Sunday night for the season premiere of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here, the first season to be filmed back in the South African bush for three years, reports News Corp’s Nick Bond.
International reality stars, sporting legends, and genuine Australian TV royalty are among the celebs competing on the show this season.
I met with many of them in their pre-show isolation in South Africa the day before filming started, and found a group of very nervous celebrities, eager for their adventure to start.
Sports Media
$300m in ads on the line as AFL, NRL, wagering bosses face grilling
Live odds and multi-bet sports advertising are in the firing line of the government’s gambling crackdown, putting at risk more than $300 million in ad dollars for the major media companies, report Nine Publishing’s Mark Di Stefano and Sam Buckingham-Jones.
The stage is set for the sports and wagering industries to face a grilling by the government’s online gambling inquiry in Canberra on Tuesday, with Gillon McLachlan, the chief executive of the AFL, and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo to appear side-by-side.
Tabcorp CEO Adam Rytenskild, Sportsbet CEO Barni Evans, Entain director Steven Lang and Responsible Wagering Australia chairman Nick Minchin will also give evidence at the review, which is looking at consumer protections around gambling and whether current rules limiting betting ads shown to children across social media, sponsorship and branding are working.
Wholesale changes to gambling advertising laws would hit Australia’s major broadcasters hardest, as ad spend data shows they bank more than half of reported revenue in the category.
Senior media sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, expect the inquiry, chaired by Labor MP Peta Murphy, to look closely at the frequency of gambling ads allowed to be shown. All eyes will be on the appearance of the AFL and NRL CEOs, with McLachlan already breaking cover to concede there were too many gambling ads associated with sports like the AFL.