Business of Media
‘Price sensitive tweet’ by journalist should never have been sent
A tweet by an ABC journalist suggesting a major international investment bank, taken to be Credit Suisse, was “on the brink” set off a social media frenzy partly because readers assume business reporters will vet sensitive information about a company before sharing it with the public, reports Nine Publishing’s Edmund Tadros.
That’s the view of Angel Zhong, an associate professor at RMIT University who studies how media coverage affects the markets, who added that the extra weight given to a business journalist’s comments on social media meant the “price-sensitive tweet” should never have been sent.
Dr Zhong said the difference between finance influencers – known as finfluencers – and business reporters is the expectation reporters will fact-check their information with multiple sources before publishing or broadcasting.
“My response is most [reporters] do fact-checking before they report and journalists typically tend to feature multiple facts and voices in every article. So there’s typically rigorous fact checking,” she said.
“However, that’s referring to news articles or broadcasts, not tweets. This tweet is a little bit different from what we normally see in business and finance news.”
Elon Musk to proceed with $44bn buyout of Twitter after U-turn
Elon Musk has filed to complete his US$44bn acquisition of Twitter after months of legal drama, report The Guardian’s Dan Milmo and Kari Paul.
Lawyers for Musk confirmed in a court filing Tuesday that the billionaire will push ahead with the deal after performing another dramatic U-turn on his decision to walk away from the agreement.
The filing confirmed reports from Bloomberg on Tuesday that the Tesla chief executive had written to Twitter offering to close the deal at the original price of $54.20 a share, which sent shares in the social media site climbing more than 12% to $47.93 in New York before trading was halted.
Musk had been set for a courtroom showdown with Twitter on 17 October, with multiple legal commentators warning he had a slim chance of succeeding in his attempt to scrap the deal.
Facebook to end Bulletin, the subscription newsletter service it launched last year
Facebook is shutting down Bulletin, the newsletter platform it launched last year to let writers create and monetize subscription newsletters, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Joseph Pisani.
The social-media company, which is owned by Meta Platforms Inc. said publishing on Bulletin will stop in January.
Facebook launched the service in June 2021 as a competitor to Substack and other newsletter platforms. The company signed deals with high-profile writers, including author Malcolm Gladwell, sports broadcaster Erin Andrews, former CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin and cookbook writer Dorie Greenspan.
Trump sues CNN for defamation and seeks $475m in punitive damages
Donald Trump has sued cable TV network CNN, claiming defamation and seeking punitive damages of $475m, according to a Florida court filing on Monday, reports The Guardian.
The US cable news station has attempted to smear the former US president “with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ ‘insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler’,” Trump’s lawyers claimed. The lawsuit has been filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale.
“Beyond simply highlighting any negative information about the plaintiff and ignoring all positive information about him, CNN has sought to use its massive influence, purportedly as a ‘trusted’ news source, to defame the plaintiff in the minds of its viewers and readers for the purpose of defeating him politically,” the filing states.
Trump claimed that CNN had used its considerable influence as a leading news organization to defeat him politically. CNN declined to comment on the case.
Former Today show producer to face jury trial over rape charge he denies
A former Today show producer, who has denied raping a woman, will be tried before a jury, a court heard on Tuesday, reports News Corp’s Anton Nilsson.
Tom Nicol appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre court, wearing a navy suit, a pink necktie and glasses.
He sat silent during the day’s proceedings, apart from rising to respond when he was arraigned on a charge of sexual intercourse without consent.
“Not guilty, your honour,” Nicol said.
The alleged incident happened in January, 2021 in Mr Nicol’s Bondi home.
Area Man is arrested for parody. The Onion files a Supreme Court brief.
A man who was arrested over a Facebook parody aimed at his local police department is trying to take his case to the Supreme Court. He has sought help from an unlikely source, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief on Monday, reports The New York Times’ Eduardo Medina.
“Americans can be put in jail for poking fun at the government?” the brief asked. “This was a surprise to America’s Finest News Source and an uncomfortable learning experience for its editorial team.”
The source is, of course, The Onion.
Or, as the satirical website described itself in the brief, “the single most powerful and influential organization in human history.”
The Parma, Ohio, area man in question, Anthony Novak, spent four days in jail over a Facebook page he created in 2016 that mocked his local police department. He was charged with using a computer to disrupt police functions, but a jury found him not guilty.
Agencies
Dentsu’s Reading the Room survey reveals how Australians respond to economy concerns
Dentsu has released its inaugural Reading the Room survey, which has uncovered key consumer segments that demonstrate how Australians are responding to concerns around the economy.
The survey also shows how Australians are responding to the cost of living and identify the different ways in which consumers behave.
These segments – the Rich & Ready, the Bet Hedgers, the Wealthy & Unwise, the Suffering & Scared, and those Living for Today – are all responding to announcements like the Reserve Bank of Australia cash rate decision which lands on the first Tuesday of the month in different ways and dentsu’s Reading the Room survey is a tool designed to read between the doom and gloom of news headlines.
Radio
Kyle and Jackie O dumped off air following technical error on live morning show
KIIS FM listeners were left scratching their heads yesterday morning after the oft-controversial Kyle and Jackie O were momentarily pulled from air amid puzzling circumstances, reports news.com.au.
While it certainly wouldn’t have been the first time fans have heard the audio declaring that the duo (read: Kyle) had been censored for inappropriate content, nor is it likely to be the last, this time there was a much simpler explanation.
Someone had merely pressed the wrong button.
As the show returned from a song break, a prerecorded alarm message stated: “The station you’ve been listening to has been dumped. This means someone has said something inappropriate, and is currently getting in trouble. The broadcast will return in seconds.”
Given the alarm went off outside of a talk break, Jackie “O” Henderson was left equally baffled.
Podcasts
Meghan Markle’s Archetypes podcast returns after Queen’s death
Meghan Markle has taken aim at Mike Myers’ Austin Powers and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill for portraying “over sexualised or aggressive … caricatures” of Asian women in the decades-old films, reports New Corp’s Megan Palin.
Spotify dropped the latest edition of the Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes podcast on Tuesday following a hiatus in releasing new episodes during the official mourning period for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth who died on September 8.
Markle was joined by American comedian Margaret Cho and journalist Lisa Ling to discuss how many women of Asian descent, like them, are stereotyped in everyday life and on the silver screen.
Television
How Farmer Will and Jess Cova are getting on six months after Farmer Wants A Wife
Farmer Will Simpson and Jess Cova are very much in love, and following the finale of Farmer Wants A Wife, have revealed they’ve been living together for months, reports News Corp’s Mikaela Wilkes.
“It feels like a massive weight’s been lifted this morning,” Cova told Confidential in the wake of Monday’s finale. “It’s so good to feel like I’m not hiding.”
The 26-year-old nursing student from Queensland was one of eight suitors who applied to meet Simpson this season, which finished filming six months ago.
“We watched most of the show together,” Simpson said.
“It was really weird. Because that was six months ago, and we’ve developed such an amazing relationship since then, on top of what we’d done on the show.”