Business of Media
Spotlight on Karl Stefanovic over alleged assault
Today show host Karl Stefanovic is being investigated by police following a claim he assaulted a man at a fundraiser in Brisbane last month, reports News Corp’s Mackenzie Scott.
The Nine Network’s breakfast show presenter was on hosting duties at the inaugural “A Night For Melanoma” fundraiser on August 20 at the Mercedes-Benz centre in Brisbane’s Newstead when the alleged incident occurred.
Stefanovic’s wife, Jasmine, was also in attendance on the night, with the pair sharing happy snaps from the event on their social media profiles.
Police confirmed an investigation was under way, but would not comment further on what the allegations entailed.
Nine declined to comment when contacted on Thursday, while Stefanovic did not respond to messages from The Australian.
John Hamblin, beloved host of Play School, dies aged 87
Veteran television presenter and actor John Hamblin, best known for his role on Play School, has died aged 87, reports News Corp’s Chloe Whelan.
Hamblin was a presenter on Play School for more than 30 years, adored by generations of Australian children and their families. He began on the iconic children’s show in 1970 and appeared in more than 350 episodes, known affectionately as “Naughty John”.
“John was an unforgettable presenter whose comedic timing and wit helped cement Play School as one of Australia’s most cherished children’s programs,” ABC entertainment and specialist director Jennifer Collins said.
“John had a wicked sense of humour and was not afraid of a double-entendre. His presence always managed to keep both our toddler target audience and their parents equally engaged with the show. I would like to extend my condolences to John’s family at this time.”
Though best known for children’s television, Hamblin was a regular in 1970s dramas including Number 96, Class of ‘74 and The Young Doctors.
TikTok bans political fund-raising ahead of midterms
Less than two months before the midterm elections, TikTok is blocking politicians and political parties from fund-raising on its platform, reports The New York Times’ Tiffany Hsu.
In a blog post on Wednesday, the social media platform said it would prohibit solicitations for money by political campaigns. The company said political accounts would immediately lose access to advertising features and monetization services, such as gift giving, tipping and e-commerce capabilities.
Over the next few weeks, TikTok will clamp down on politicians’ posting videos asking for donations, or political parties’ directing users to online donation pages, the company said.
Accounts run by government offices will be slightly less restricted. TikTok said such accounts would be allowed to advertise in limited circumstances, such as when running educational campaigns about Covid-19 booster shots. But the people operating those accounts must work with someone from the company to run that kind of campaign.
Data shows broad trust gap between news in general and news on social media
People are much less likely to trust news they see on social media, search engines, and messaging apps than news in general, according to a new study. The trust gap is however, smaller for news seen on Google, reports Press Gazette’s Aisha Majid.
The findings, published on Thursday in the report “The trust gap: how and why news on digital platforms is viewed more sceptically versus news in general”, are the latest in a long-running project from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism looking at trust in news.
A survey of 2,000 people each in the UK, the US, Brazil and India asked a series of questions designed to examine the relationship between trust in news and how people think about news on digital platforms.
In the UK there was little difference in the level of trust in news overall and the level of trust in news on Google with 52% of people saying they trusted news they saw on the Alphabet-owned platform, versus 53% who said they trusted news overall. After Google there is a dip – the next most-trusted platform for news is Youtube on 33%.
By contrast Facebook was among the least-trusted platforms in the UK with just 27% of respondents saying they had faith in the news they saw on there, with the same percentage for Twitter. Tiktok (20%) and Instagram (24%) were at the bottom of the ranking.
Agencies
F-List 2022 unmasks the advertising, media, and PR agencies working with climate polluters
The F-List 2022 has unmasked the advertising, media, and PR agencies working with and promoting climate-polluting companies and the fossil fuel industries.
The report, by campaign groups Clean Creatives and Comms Declare, named 239 agencies around the world who have done recent work for such organisations.
Key findings from the F-List analysis found:
• 239 agencies have done recent work with fossil fuel companies. The vast majority of this work is not shared via agency channels, or with clients whose work may be affected by greenwashing claims.
• At least 17 agencies are working for Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest polluter, including a previously undisclosed Interpublic Mediabrands agency, Well7. Interpublic agencies McCann, UM, and Jack Morton have also led substantial work for Aramco, but all holding companies have some connection to the world’s largest oil company, and funder of human rights abuses.
• The world’s biggest coal exporter, Glencore is being referred to Australian regulators over a brand campaign ad that features EVs, solar panels and wind turbines – but doesn’t mention coal. Comms Declare understands Bastion Creative is behind the campaign. This complaint follows the barring of two employees of Anacta Strategies from lobbying the Queensland government. Glencore secured a lucrative bailout while employing Anacta.
• Edelman retains its role as the independent agency doing the most work for fossil fuel companies, despite a pledge in early 2022 to review its client policy. Some small signs of progress at the PR giant can be seen, but the company remains committed to working with polluters.
Endeavour Group introduces new omni-channel marketing function
Endeavour Group has announced a new omni-channel marketing function, designed to grow engaged customers and brands across the many social occasions its products, services and teams help to create.
Additionally, the retail drinks and hospitality business has announced a number of new roles across brand marketing, digital marketing, media, planning and marketing analytics; and at a mixture of different levels.
Endeavour Group CMO, Jo Rose said the new function, known as Endeavour Marketing, includes a new centralised marketing team to work alongside existing brand teams, while also bringing together the company’s internal digital media, creative studios and customer insights capabilities.
Television
Standing ovation for Mad as Hell finale, message from PM
Cast and crew of Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell were given a standing ovation by a studio audience this week at ABC’s Southbank studio, reports TV Tonight.
The ITV Studios / Giant Baby comedy had just wrapped a decade of satire aimed at tall poppies in politics, news, the media and more and enjoying solid ratings across its run.
The final episode played out like most episodes, with final appearances by Brion Pegmatite (Tosh Greenslade), Mary-Brett Punish (Emily Taheny), Donald McEngadine (Stephen Hall), Walbin Hecht – Official Coin Phraser from the Royal Mint (Francis Greenslade) and Star Casino PR Officer, Complimentary Voucher (Christie Whelan Browne).
But it wrapped with another season finale musical number, You, Me and World War Three by Gavin Friday.
Royal family given veto on use of footage of Queen’s funeral
British television channels gave Buckingham Palace a veto on the use of footage from Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, indicating the complicated relationship around the media’s coverage of the monarchy, reports The Guardian’s Jim Waterson.
As part of an agreement with news broadcasters, the royal household was given the right to request that particular pieces of footage from the funeral services at Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle were not used again.
Royal staff sent messages to the BBC, ITV News and Sky News during the event with the timestamps of footage they wished to exclude from future news broadcasts and social media clips. As a result, five short pieces of video featuring members of the royal family were removed from circulation.
Although the sections were relatively brief, the decision to give the palace a veto on what footage could be used has caused unease among some journalists who worked on the coverage, in ongoing tension at British media outlets between marking the death of a major national figure and allowing news coverage to be shaped by the royal family.
Zan Rowe reveals how Guy Pearce, Keith Urban, Missy Higgins bared souls on Take 5
Zan Rowe says she just doesn’t believe it when people tell her they don’t like music, reports News Corp’s James Wigney.
The versatile TV, radio and podcast presenter has been so enamoured of the art form for so many years that she simply can’t fathom that others don’t share her passion, at least to some degree.
“Wow, that’s a big question,” she says when asked what music means to her.
“It’s my memory bank. It’s the thing that gets me going physically and mentally. It’s the thing that triggers me to have a big old weep when I need to. It’s the way that I formed my identity and the way that I continue to form my identity.”
Although music has been Rowe’s job for more than two decades thanks to stints on Triple J, Double J and as a regular contributor to ABC News Breakfast, she’s never forgotten what it’s like to be a music fan. And where some people find themselves hearkening back to the bands and artists they loved in their formative late teen and early 20s years, Rowe says she’s as curious and hungry as ever to seek out new music.
Footy Show raises $3.29m for My Room charity
Nine’s annual My Room Telethon was held last night in Melbourne, again raising funds for the children’s cancer charity, reports TV Tonight.
Over $3.29m was raised.
The Sunday Footy Show team of Tony Jones, Nathan Brown, Matthew Lloyd, Damian Barrett, and Kane Cornes encouraged viewers to dig deep, joined by Lauren Phillips and Clint Stanaway.
Kane Cornes ran live into the studio after finishing a 725-kilometre run from Adelaide to Melbourne.
‘Becoming a meme totally helps a show’: is TV being written with epic gifs in mind?
‘Inever jest about cake,” quips princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in the first episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon. It’s a seemingly charming line, delivered while her head lolls on her best friend’s lap, helping to build Rhaenyra’s character as someone who doesn’t take herself too seriously. It is also so instantly quotable, and therefore T-shirtable, that the line is already plastered on fan-made merch, reports The Guardian’s Jess Thomson.
But to some viewers, it rang false. They had seen this pattern before: show writes meme-able scene; scene becomes meme; instant marketing; profit.
“Ugh someone in the Game of Thrones prequel just said ‘I never jest about cake’ so this is gonna be part of the ‘primarily written with the epic gifs in mind’ genre of shows,” tweeted Zack Budryk, a reporter at The Hill.
TV programmes and the lines that make us laugh have always been shared and discussed afterwards. So, with the universality of Twitter and other social media, it’s only natural that programmes’ “relatable” lines, moments or scenarios are increasingly meme-ified among their fanbase, being shared widely and eventually permuted into other established jokes on the internet. But sometimes, it can feel as though shows are being written with the online reaction in mind, particularly given that in our internet-saturated age, the online temperature can make or break a piece of media.