Business of Media
Federal Court changes rules to restrict journalist access to documents
The Federal Court has quietly updated its internal rules, restricting who can access certain court documents – including journalists – until the case has appeared in court, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
In a meeting between court’s 51 judges in December, they agreed to add a sentence to the Rules of Court that “prevents a person who is not a party from inspecting certain documents in a proceeding until after the first directions hearing or hearing (whichever is earlier)” . The changes came into effect on Friday, January 13.
Until now, journalists have been able to access unrestricted documents like the originating application, the statement of claim, or concise statements, which provide some limited detail about the case. Now those documents will be restricted until the case first appears in court.
The added wording means the court will publish the names of parties involved in a court case, but there will be no detail except the category of law it relates to. Court cases can often settle quickly, meaning there may be no publicly available information available about a case at all.
The court notified media organisations of the unilateral changes late on Friday afternoon without attaching the relevant amendments to the circulated email, and without prior consultation.
Twitter’s laid-off workers cannot pursue claims via class-action lawsuit
Twitter Inc has secured a ruling allowing the social media company to force several laid-off workers suing over their termination to pursue their claims via individual arbitration than a class-action lawsuit, reports Reuters.
U.S. District Judge James Donato on Friday ruled that five former Twitter employees pursuing a proposed class action accusing the company of failing to give adequate notice before laying them off after its acquisition by Elon Musk must pursue their claims in private arbitration.
Donato granted Twitter’s request to force the five ex-employees to pursue their claims individually, citing agreements they signed with the company.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
News Brands
Some Australian staff personal data exposed in Guardian cyberattack
Some Australian staff at The Guardian may have had their personal data exposed in a ransomware cyberattack that has crippled IT systems, closed offices in Australia, the UK and the US, and prompted an apology from top executives, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Guardian Australia managing director Dan Stinton and editor Lenore Taylor wrote to employees on Friday afternoon to say they had new information that meant “in some isolated cases the personal data of a very small number of Guardian Australia staff could have been accessed as part of the attack”.
“We realise this is concerning for everyone,” they wrote. Stinton and Taylor said they were working to line up credit and identity protection services for staff, and would talk to any affected individuals.
On Thursday, the chief executive and editor-in-chief of The Guardian apologised to staff after revealing the cyberattack included the personal information – such as bank accounts, identity documents and addresses – of UK employees.
Sunday Mirror and Sunday People to merge further with only three change pages remaining
The Sunday Mirror and Sunday People newspapers look set to begin sharing most of their content under new cost-saving plans at Reach, reports Press Gazette’s Charlotte Tobitt.
Staff were told on Wednesday that the two Sunday tabloids would begin to share everything except the splash and pages four and five, Press Gazette understands.
Some redundancies on the titles are likely under Reach’s proposal to cut 200 roles across the business.
Press Gazette understands part of the reason for the plan is to make savings on freelance and agency copy to fill the papers.
The Sunday Mirror and Sunday People have been under the same editor since 2014, when their newsrooms, along with the Daily Mirror, initially merged. All three titles are online at mirror.co.uk.
Radio
Triple M Brisbane breakfast show renamed for 2023
Dan Anstey has started 2023 with naming rights, reports News Corp’s Amy Price.
When breakfast radio returns on Monday following the summer ratings hiatus, Triple M’s breakfast show will be renamed Marto, Margaux and Dan.
Anstey joined the Brisbane program alongside Greg Martin and Margaux Parker in May, entering a competitive Brisbane radio market filled with veteran teams, but the show continued as The Big Breakfast with Marto and Margaux for the remainder of 2022.
“I was always going to stay but I just wanted to ease in and get the approval of the audience because they’ve been rusted onto Marto for 21 years now, you don’t want to come barging in – ‘look at me the new guy’ throw your name up on a billboard,” Anstey said.
“I got to know Marto and Margaux and I kind of came in on air for a couple of shows beforehand and we all liked each other. So I joined the show and I thought, take your ego out of it and ease in and hopefully that’s copacetic with the audience.
“I wanted to earn the right to be part of the show.”
Televison
The Last of Us, an adaption of a 2013 videogame, is shaping up to be HBO’s next big hit
With the sun-drenched (and body-filled) beaches of Sicily and the White Lotus hotel in the rear vision mirror, HBO drops its newest offering — The Last of Us, reports the ABC’s Peter Marsh.
And while TV fans might be in the dark about exactly what to expect, gamers have been waiting and watching to see what the prestige TV giant will do with one of the most critically and commercially successful video games of the past decade.
If you have no idea what the difference is between a Firefly and a Clicker, here’s your quick, spoiler-free guide before diving in.
‘It’s the best show on TV’: How Bluey became a worldwide success story
If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere, the saying goes. And Bluey, the most Australian of stories, has certainly made it, reports News Corp’s Tom Minear.
Each year, New York City is brought to a standstill by the Thanksgiving Day parade, a tradition almost a century in the making.
Three million people line the streets – almost double the number who live in Manhattan – to kick off the November public holiday by watching a cavalcade of giant balloons, dancers, marching bands, floats and musical acts.
It is the most American of celebrations, which is what made the appearance at the last parade of an inflatable cartoon blue heeler pup all the more remarkable.