Business of Media
France fines Google $593 million for not negotiating ‘in good faith’ with news publishers.
Google was fined 500 million euros, or $593 million, by French antitrust authorities on Tuesday for failing to negotiate a deal in “good faith” with publishers to carry news on its platform, a victory for media companies that have been fighting to make up for a drop in advertising revenue that they attribute to the Silicon Valley giant, reports The New York Times‘s Adam Satariano.
French officials said Google ignored a 2020 order from French regulators to negotiate a licensing deal with publishers to use short blurbs from articles in search results. The case has been closely watched because it represents one of the first attempts to apply a new copyright directive adopted by the European Union intended to force internet platforms like Google and Facebook to compensate news organizations for their content.
Seven boss James Warburton apologises for racial post on 7 News Facebook page
Channel 7 boss James Warburton said a social media post which described three English players in the Euro final as “black” was a “terrible mistake”, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
The station came under fire after putting a post on social media site Facebook about the English football stars Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford that read: “Three Black players failed in the penalty shootout which England lost 3-2 against Italy”.
The post pointed out the ethnicity of the three players and linked to a story on the racial abuse they had suffered after the missed penalties in their team’s final loss.
Publicist Roxy Jacenko investigated for alleged lockdown breaches
Celebrity publicist Roxy Jacenko is being investigated for allegedly breaching lockdown rules but she maintains she is innocent, reports News Corp’s Mibengé Nsenduluka.
Jacenko vented her frustration on social media, telling her followers: “I have had enough”.
“I have had enough. Running a small business is hard enough, due to lockdown I have an empty office with over 20 working remotely, I am doing the work of at least 4 myself, my online team (for 3 online stores) are working in the office on shorter hours as products don’t send themselves with Auspost,” she wrote.
“I have had 2 visits from the Police and now this letter — enough now. I wonder if I stopped paying the wages of these imbeciles who are making these reports of me apparently flouting the rules they might change their tune.”
News Brands
Andrew Bolt hits back at ‘coward’ Ray Hadley after his serve at Alan Jones over Covid-19
A brawl between two of Australia’s biggest conservative media personalities has burst into the public domain, with Andrew Bolt calling Ray Hadley a “weak and ignorant man who panders to an ugly pack”, reports News Corp’s Max Maddison and Sophie Elsworth.
The war of words erupted after Hadley used his regular 2GB morning show on Tuesday to deliver a ferocious serve against former stablemate Alan Jones, accusing him of doing himself and the Australian public a “great disservice”, before he took aim at Bolt. “His disciple and lapdog, Andrew Bolt, will no doubt disagree,” Hadley said.
“But Andrew, I couldn’t care less what you think.”
But the Sky News presenter fired back, labelling Hadley a “coward” who hadn’t forgiven him for “calling out his despicable behaviour”.
Niki Savva joins The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald
Award-winning political commentator and author Niki Savva will join The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald as a columnist from August, reports SMH‘s Zoe Samios.
Savva, a regular on ABC’s political program Insiders, was most recently a columnist for News Corp’s national newspaper The Australian. She has also worked as a political correspondent for The Australian and led the Canberra bureaux of The Herald Sun and The Age. During her career in journalism, she has covered ten prime ministers.
Television
Punters’ favourite wins MasterChef after ‘suspicious’ odds swing
An amateur chef who became a sudden betting favourite to win MasterChef hours after filming finished in May has been crowned the winner, reports News Corp’s Rhiannon Down.
The outcome of Tuesday night’s finale, in which youth pastor Justin Narayan beat out the competition, has been overshadowed by suspicion around the dramatic betting turnaround within hours of the conclusion of filming in the early hours of May 13.
Narayan was suddenly backed into a short-priced $1.08 favourite with Tabcorp, and a $1.50 favourite with Sportsbet, replacing the former favourite, tattoo artist Pete Campbell, who was pushed out to $6.
The Australian reported this week that production sources had revealed that just one ending had been filmed this season, unlike in previous years when multiple outcomes were filmed to stop the result from being leaked.
Sport Media
Cricket Australia set to schedule Big Bash matches against Ashes Test
Cricket’s new and old worlds will collide next summer with Australia pitting its two jewels – the Ashes and the Big Bash – against each other for the first time, reports News Corp’s Robert Craddock.
Cricket Australia will reveal its Big Bash schedule on Wednesday and it is believed the T20 competition will feature matches on all five nights of the fifth Ashes Test in Perth from January 14-18.
The Perth Test will be a daytime affair but runs into prime time night viewing on the eastern seaboard because of a three-hour time difference.
This means the Big Bash games will overlap the last Test match session each day, requiring broadcasters Fox Sports and Channel 7 to pit the white and red ball games against each other on different channels.
It is also understood the last two nights of the day-night Test in Adelaide will also go up against Big Bash games in other states.