Business of Media
Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case: Soldiers ‘planted items on dead farmer’s body’
A distant cousin of alleged Afghan murder victim Ali Jan has told Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial that he hated “infidel” foreign soldiers, whom he claimed planted a radio and a “white bag” on the dead farmer’s body following a 2012 raid on the Taliban stronghold of Darwan, reports News Corp’s Kieran Gair.
Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial is this week hearing evidence from four witnesses in Kabul about Nine newspapers’ “centrepiece” allegation — the execution of Ali Jan — and the circumstances surrounding the interrogation of villagers in Darwan suspected of sheltering rogue Afghan soldier Hekmatullah.
On Thursday, Man Gul, who gave evidence via an interpreter in Canada, was accused by Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Bruce McClintock SC, of lying about the day foreign soldiers swept through Darwan on September 11, 2012, searching for Hekmatullah, who had killed three Australians the previous month.
ARIA chief: Further support needed for return of live music
ARIA, PPCA and APRA AMCOS have welcomed the NSW and Victorian business support package expansion announced by the Federal, New South Wales and Victorian Governments on Wednesday, 28 July 2021.
However ARIA PPCA chief executive officer Annabelle Herd noted more needs to be done: “These announcements are very welcome to music industry workers, but focus must now turn to further support to help bring confidence back to live music as we come out of lockdowns. This COVID uncertainty and instability is going to continue for many months post-lockdowns and without a government backed insurance scheme to underwrite some of the risk in putting on live music events it is going to be a very quiet summer.”
APRA AMCOS chief executive Dean Ormston said: “The expansion of eligibility for JobSaver, in addition to an increase in the cap accessible to businesses, is something the Australian music industry has desperately needed. Many of our hard working members and colleagues across the industry have been left ineligible for support on the basis of employment technicalities, leaving them to face a very scary reality.”
The industry bodies explained expanded payments, which offer support for both employing businesses and non-employing businesses including sole-traders, will ensure financial aid is provided to many additional workers within the Australian music industry who were previously excluded from accessing support due to ineligibility.
The increased payments to workers and the supplement payments to those receiving Centrelink payments are also much welcome and will help to ensure more artists and music industry workers can get through this lockdown.
They urge all governments to continue coordinating with industry so that individuals do not fall through gaps in support.
Media companies among those requiring vaccines for their employees
After months of encouraging employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19, US companies are beginning to take a harder line and roll out mandates — a dramatic escalation of Corporate America’s approach to halting the spread of the virus, reports CNN’s Alexis Benveniste.
Momentum for vaccine mandates has been building, and President Joe Biden was expected on Thursday to announce a requirement that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated or be required to submit to regular testing and mitigation requirements. On Wednesday, Google and Facebook became the first two Silicon Valley giants to issue mandates of their own.
Netflix is requiring Covid-19 vaccines for the casts of all its US productions, as well as the people who come in contact with them.
All new hires and current employees of The Washington Post will be required to demonstrate proof of full Covid-19 vaccinations.
Google’s profits soar as revenue rises 62%, YouTube ad revenue up 84%
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, this week revealed it just made in three months what it took until recently an entire year to earn. That is a level of growth that companies of its size rarely if ever achieve, but the pandemic has erased all the limits for tech firms, reports The New York Times’ David Streitfeld.
Alphabet, like the other big tech companies that offer tools to communicate, shop, be entertained and work remotely, initially was seen as vulnerable to the pandemic. In the second quarter of 2020, the first full quarter in which the virus was rampant, Alphabet’s revenue was off a bit as advertisers recalibrated. But it wasn’t down by much and it didn’t last.
As advertisers realised the world would not end, they returned in force. This helped not only Google’s main search engine but also the YouTube video division. YouTube’s ad revenue was up 84 percent in the second quarter from the same period in 2020. In a conference call on Tuesday, Google executives talked about how the pandemic had pushed YouTube into becoming more of an e-commerce site.
State of Social ’21: Go Virtual or, if you can get there, go in person!
The annual WA digital media conference State of Social is proceeding with in person and virtual tickets on sale. The current price is only available until Sunday.
Save the date: 24 and 25 August, when the brightest minds in digital marketing converge on Perth’s Optus Stadium for State of Social ’21.
Your ticket gives you:
Chaos-taming superpowers. Learn how to plan, create and convert, whatever our topsy-turvy world throws at you.
Killer keynotes. From international marketing icons like Aviation Gin’s Adrian Molina and Australian legends like Rae Johnston.
Breakout blitzes. Quick and oh-so-cool crash courses on need-to-know topics, like legal eagle Dave Stewart’s dive into deepfakes.
Real-world workshops. You have lots to choose from, like Ear Candy with audio visionary Garry Dean and Podcasting 101 with Ranieri & Co’s Zach Kangelaris.
Gourmet eats. State of Social isn’t a conference. It’s an event. Just like the gastronomic delights the team at Optus Stadium serve up.
Caffeinated treats. Bottom-less barista-crafted brews, courtesy of My Media.
An experiential extravaganza. An augmented reality art exhibition. Beer tasting with Feral Brewing Co. A live Willie Creek pearl harvest. A farmers’ market. The list goes on.
Surprises and prizes. Courtesy of the irrepressible Gettin Hectic and the NOVA Casanovas.
PLUS, a smug smile 🙂 Grab your ticket before prices go up on Sunday.
State of Social was founded by Perth-based social media and digital marketing strategist Meg Coffey – a trainer, lecturer, media commentator, award-winning entrepreneur and regular on Australia’s business speaking circuit. Coffey is Texan by birth and Australian by choice!
Get your tickets and further information here.
News Brands
The Daily Telegraph to pull Alan Jones’ column after Covid-19 comments
The Daily Telegraph will stop publishing regular columns from Sky News host Alan Jones after his Covid-19 coverage drew criticism. Jones has been vocally anti-lockdown and skeptical of the dangers of Covid-19.
Ben English, editor of The Daily Telegraph, has reportedly already told Jones that his column is going to be pulled because the column no longer resonates with readers.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Jones says that claims he isn’t resonating with people aren’t true.
“If the argument has been [that] it’s not resonating, I don’t have to defend myself,” Jones said.
“Have a look at Sky News YouTube, Sky News Facebook and Alan Jones Facebook and you can see. The same column that I write for the Tele goes up on my Facebook page.
“The public can check it for themselves. Thirty-five years at top of the radio and I don’t resonate with the public? Honestly.”
Notably, Jones has also faced criticism this week from 2GB Mornings host, Ray Hadley – particularly about comments Jones made arguing that 38-year-old Adriana Midori Takara’s death was not due to Covid-19 but rather a stroke or heart attack.
“I can’t believe he said that,” Hadley said on his radio show. “The woman has just died and you’ve determined she had a stroke or a heart attack. So we are suggesting that medical specialists at RPA conspired to suggest she died of Covid, that she had some other problem and they’ve conspired with NSW Health and the Federal and State Governments. If it wasn’t so affected by lunacy, it would be a concern.”
Jones’ final column in The Daily Telegraph was posted last week and makes the argument that Covid-19 is no worse than the seasonal flu in healthy people.
“In 2017, there were 1255 deaths from influenza in Australia, not an eyelid was batted. In 18 months, we have had 914 deaths from coronavirus,” Jones wrote.
Overseas, where the virus has been less contained, death rates due to Covid-19 are estimated to be as much as three times higher than that of both flu and pneumonia.
BuzzFeed Is Going Public. What Now for Vice and Vox as old media flourishes
Not so long ago, when newspapers and magazines were going out of business all across the country, BuzzFeed and a few other fast-growing web publications seemed like the future of the news business, reports The New York Times’ Edmund Lee and Lauren Hirsch.
Now things have turned upside down.
The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have flourished, thanks to an emphasis on digital journalism and a strategy of charging readers for online access. A number of leading web journalists have decamped for these century-old institutions, while investors are demanding returns on the money they plowed into the digital companies when they were all the rage.
In an effort to regain their stature and compete against the much larger Facebook and Google, which take huge chunks of online ad revenue, BuzzFeed, Vox Media, Vice Media and Group Nine have gotten bigger in recent years through mergers and acquisitions.
Journalist loses defamation case against media over ‘slit your throat’ misquote
A former rugby league journalist has lost his defamation case against media outlets for misquoting him as saying he would slit a junior colleague’s throat when he had in fact threatened to rip the 18-year-old’s head off and shit down his throat, reports News Corp’ Lane Sainty.
Joshua Massoud was dismissed from Channel 7 after he placed an abusive phone call to the young social media producer on May 1, 2018.
The long-time sports reporter made a series of increasingly angry calls after realising his exclusive story about NRL star Todd Carney’s comeback plans had been tweeted out by 7 News Queensland ahead of time.
After tracking down the number of the employee who posted the tweet, he called and told him: “If you weren’t so young, I’d come up there and rip your head off and shit down your throat.”
The young man – the son of a Channel 7 executive and in his first paid job – apologised “at least four times” on the phone and broke down crying after the call. He now works at a bank.
Josh Bornstein slams ABC over John Dawkins MsRepresentation
Labor lawyer Josh Bornstein has issued an apology to former federal minister John Dawkins after falsely accusing him of “hip and shouldering” a woman on the floor of the parliament, reports News Corp’s John Ferguson.
Bornstein savaged Dawkins, a former federal education minister and treasurer, after the ABC showed footage of Dawkins accidentally bumping into then Liberal MP Kathy Sullivan in October 1989 during a division. “Damn near dislocated my shoulder,” Sullivan told host Annabel Crabb in the Ms Represented episode.
Dawkins and his family have stridently rejected the attack on him, stating clearer vision of the incident on the floor of the parliament countered Sullivan’s claims.
Bornstein, a prominent workplace lawyer, has now agreed with the Dawkins family, accusing the ABC of misrepresenting what had happened more than 30 years ago.
Television
Farmer Wants a Wife star Hayley Love pregnant with Farmer Will’s child
A contestant on this year’s season of Farmer Wants a Wife has come forward to set the record straight about bombshell pregnancy rumours surrounding the hit Channel 7 show, report News Corp’s Bella Fowler and Nick Bond.
Contestant Hayley Love has provided a statement to news.com.au, alleging she is pregnant with Farmer Will Dwyer’s child. Hayley, 25, had appeared on the show as one of the pool of contestants vying for Farmer Matt Trewin’s affections.
Hayley says she and 39-year-old sheep and cattle farmer Will struck up a relationship shortly after the show’s finale was filmed in December, but before the reunion — which will air on Seven on August 11 — was filmed in January. It is understood the pair ended their romance in April after Hayley told Will she was pregnant.
Radio
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek: Can podcasting eventually overtake radio?
Spotify on Wednesday reported significant ad revenue growth from its podcast business, as part of its quarterly earnings disclosure, reports Axios.
Company founder and CEO Daniel Ek appeared on the Axios Re:Cap podcast to discuss how the podcast business model is changing, why he’s spending big on exclusive shows and his personal favourites in both podcasting and music.
Ek told Axios that podcast listeners are stickier than music listeners, even though there had been industry concerns that increased podcast content would cannibalise music attention share.
He doesn’t believe that podcast audience will ever overtake music audience, pointing out that music continues to dominate terrestrial radio.
He does not believe Spotify has editorial responsibility for what is said on its podcasts, including “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“We have a lot of really well-paid rappers on Spotify too, that make tens of millions of dollars, if not more, each year from Spotify. And we don’t dictate what they’re putting in their songs, either.”
Spotify last year signed an exclusive deal with Kim Kardashian to launch a podcast on criminal justice, and Ek said he hopes it will begin airing “later in the year.”