Business of Media
Ex-ABC news director Gaven Morris wins lucrative contract to advise the ABC
The ABC has awarded a lucrative contract – without a tender process – to a consultancy firm that recently hired the public broadcaster’s former news director Gaven Morris, reports News Corp’s James Madden.
Bastion Transform, which is headed by Morris, was given the contract to advise the ABC on how best to undertake the process of relocating up to 75 per cent of its newsroom staff from the national broadcaster’s inner-Sydney headquarters to Parramatta, in the city’s west, by 2025.
A spokesman for the ABC would not answer questions about the value or timing of the Bastion contract, nor explain why the contract was not put out to tender.
Ben Roberts-Smith’s accuser risked his life in Taliban battle but ‘politics’ robbed him of top medal, court hears
The SAS soldier, who accused Ben Roberts-Smith of kicking an unarmed Afghan off a cliff, has testified he risked his life in the ferocious moments that earned the decorated soldier a Victoria Cross, but never received the same award, reports News Corp’s Perry Duffin.
The unnamed SAS soldier said he was passed over for the military’s top accolade because Roberts-Smith’s role in the battle had been “politicised”.
Person 4, an anonymised SAS soldier, told the court this week that he saw Roberts-Smith kick Jan in the chest, catapulting him down the slope into a rock which “exploded” the teeth from the farmer’s head.
The unnamed SAS soldier told the court he and a third soldier dragged the injured farmer across a dry creek bed before the third soldier shot Jan dead in front of Roberts-Smith.
Netflix Robbed: Thieves Heist $500K From ‘Lupin,’ ‘The Crown’ Sets
Netflix is experiencing its own real-life money heists. The streamer’s productions for The Crown and Lupin have been dramatically robbed within the past week, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd.
First, as previously reported, the Northern England-based production for The Crown was taken for roughly $200,000 worth of props on Feb. 24.
A number of the production’s vehicles were broken into and more than 350 items were reportedly taken. Many of the items were lavish props used to decorate the popular British royal family period drama, such as a replica Fabergé egg and gold and silver candelabras. “We can confirm the antiques have been stolen and we hope that they are found and returned safely,” a Netflix spokesman said in a statement. “Replacements will be sourced, there is no expectation that filming will be held up.”
This morning, a Netflix representative confirmed an AFP report that its Paris-based set for Lupin had been held up as well. The news agency reported about 20 thieves with covered faces broke onto the set on Feb. 25, threw fireworks and stole roughly $330,000 worth of equipment. The hit series is, ironically enough, a heist drama that stars Omar Sy as master thief Assane Diop. Sy was reportedly on set at the time of the robbery.
Seven West Media announces inaugural recipient of the David Leckie Scholarship Program
Seven West Media has announced Madeline McKeown as the recipient of the inaugural David Leckie Seven Scholarship Program.
The annual program was established back in September 2021 to honour the memory of former Seven West Media CEO, David Leckie.
The program offers a 12-month scholarship at Seven West Media for a junior graduate with a passion for sales, programming or news.
Applications were judged by David’s wife Skye, and their sons Harry and Ben, along with Seven West Media executives.
The family said in a statement: “Harry, Ben and I were thrilled to be involved in the selection of the recipient of David’s inaugural scholarship.
News Brands
NSW flood-affected towns turn to Facebook and WhatsApp after local news sources disappear
The closure of local newspapers in many of the flood-hit towns in northern New South Wales has left some victims invisible and made residents increasingly reliant on local Facebook groups for information, reports Guardian Australia’s Amanda Meade and Conal Hanna.
Rupert Murdoch’s media empire stopped printing the 160-year-old Northern Star newspaper in Lismore last April, ten months before the worst flooding in history hit the northern NSW town.
The Star was one of at least 20 News Corp Australia mastheads that were absorbed by capital city mastheads. The Star also lost its own website, becoming a page on the Daily Telegraph website as well as going behind a paywall.
The Tweed Daily News in Tweed Heads was to suffer the same fate, merging with the Tele in May 2020, as did the Byron Shire News and the Ballina Shire Advocate.
From Russia with hate: Inside the weird world of RT
In a way, it was bound to end this way. Russia Today – the Kremlin’s own 24/7 English-language news channel – was conceived almost two decades ago not by journalists or businessmen, but by Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
Since then, it has recruited hundreds of journalists (many from the US and even Australia), waged a pro-Moscow information war, been blocked in a string of countries and been registered as a foreign agent.
Now known as RT, the broadcaster’s role in spreading Putin’s version of events in Ukraine has brought a greater level of scrutiny on it and its reporters than ever before.
Watch the channel – which claims to have a weekly audience of more than 100 million viewers globally – and you’ll get a very different version of events to most other major international news outlets televising around-the-clock updates of the Russian invasion. Is there even a war on?
Nine News presenter Peter Overton turned down Today show hosting gig
Channel Nine News presenter Peter Overton has revealed he once turned down an offer to co-host the Today show with his wife Jessica Rowe, reports News Corp’s Mibengé Nsenduluka.
In 2007, Rowe left her co-hosting gig alongside Karl Stefanovic over a pay dispute with Channel 9 and Overton contemplated resigning from the network.
“I was ready to quit Channel Nine because I was so upset at the way you were treated,” Overton told LiSTNR’s The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show.
“I remember them saying ‘maybe you and Jessica could host the show together?’ and I said ‘you’re kidding me’. So you’re going to ruin two careers, ruin a marriage and ruin a program in one hit. No thank you.”
Television
BBC drama boss to depart
BBC Director of Drama, Piers Wenger will leave the broadcaster in May after a decade as a drama commissioner, reports TV Tonight.
Wenger said: “After a decade as a drama commissioner it is high time I gave someone else a go. The last six years working for Charlotte and the BBC have been more creatively challenging, more emboldening and more fun than anyone has the right to in the name of work. I am indebted to the BBC and the extraordinary range of writers, producers and directors it has been my privilege to work alongside. There are mountains to climb everywhere but I predict a magical time ahead for BBC Drama as the next generation of thinkers and taste-makers step up to shape its future. I want to pay tribute to the colossal talents of the team in place and I will be watching with pride and awe as they start the process of carving out a fresh vision.”
Ben Irving will take on the role of Acting Director of BBC Drama until an appointment is made.
Director of Film, Rose Garnett is also departing. Her commissions include The Souvenir 1 & 2, Blue Story, Small Axe, The Nest, The Power of The Dog, Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always, Can’t Get You Out of My Head, Judy, After Love, Ali & Ava Cow, and People Just Do Nothing – Big in Japan.
Both will join A24, the company behind Uncut Gems, Midsommar, Lady Bird, Moonlight, Ramy, Euphoria & more.