Business of Media
Australian journalist Cheng Lei faces longer stay in Beijing jail as verdict is delayed
Australian journalist and former TV anchor Cheng Lei, who has been detained in China for nearly two years after allegedly providing state secrets to foreign organisations, is facing an agonising wait to learn her fate after the final stage of her trial was delayed for the second time this year, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
The mother-of-two, who has been held in a Beijing jail since August 2020, had her case heard in a secretive closed-court trial in China in March. The handing down of her verdict was initially postponed until July, and now it has been delayed a second time.
It’s understood that Chinese authorities last week decided that the verdict in the Cheng Lei case wouldn’t be announced before late October at the earliest, meaning the 47-year-old journalist will remain incarcerated in a Beijing prison at least until then.
Cheng was an anchor for the Chinese government’s English TV channel, CGTN, when she was detained by the Chinese Ministry of State Security and accused of leaking state secrets overseas.
TikTok is not the enemy of journalism. It’s just a new way of reaching people
Twenty-three million people in the UK use TikTok every month. Enhanced by the pandemic and its impact on remote work, apps like TikTok and Instagram have become the digital equivalent of the watercooler. It’s where we talk about Love Island, the latest soaps, the dysfunction in our government and what’s going on in the world, reports The Observer.
So why are we so surprised that it’s a place people turn to for news?
Ofcom’s latest report on news consumption in the UK, showing that TikTok is the fastest-growing source of news for adults, has been met with incredulity and worries about the death of “traditional journalism”. It’s the second such warning shot across the bows of old media in as many months: TikTok was also identified as the fastest-growing source of news in the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s Digital News Report in June.
Publicis Groupe reports an ‘all-time high’ in its second quarter 2022 results
Publicis Groupe has reported strong growth and revenue figures in its second quarter, first half of 2022 results.
The Paris-based advertising and public relations company reported growth of +21% and net revenue was $AUD 4.53 billion (€3.073 billion).
Publicis Groupe reported organic growth of +10.3%, this comes after the +17.1% reported in Q2 of 2021.
The company had a solid performance across regions, with the U.S. at +10.1%, Europe at +10.1%, and Asia at +6.5%. Further acceleration was reported for Publicis Sapient at +19.1% and Epsilon at +13.7%.
IPG reports 7.9% organic revenue rise in 2022 Q2 results
Interpublic Group (IPG) has released its Q2 and H1 2022 results, reporting a second-quarter net revenue increase of 4.7% to $USD2.38 billion ($AUD3.44 billion).
The New York-based advertising company, which owns Australian agencies UM, Initiative and Magna, reported an organic net revenue increase of 7.9%, which was comprised of an organic net revenue increase of 8.3% in the U.S. and an increase of 7.1% internationally.
Q2 2022 total revenue (including billable expenses of $USD2.74 billion) increased by 9.0% compared to $USD2.51 billion in 2021.
News Brands
Murdoch’s US newspapers turn against Trump
Fox, Donald Trump’s favourite news network, may have dismissed as a partisan witch hunt the Congressional hearings into the January 6 Capitol riots, but two other outlets from Rupert Murdoch’s media empire are taking it seriously, reports Nine Publishing’s Mark Mulligan.
Both the tabloid New York Post and business masthead The Wall Street Journal at the weekend condemned the former president’s behaviour on the day in question, with the former saying Trump was “unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again”.
According to CNN, the editorial amounts to “the tabloid’s strongest critique of Trump yet”.
It was went online on Friday evening (Saturday AEST), around the same time The Wall Street Journal also published an editorial harshly criticising the former president.
ABC managing director David Anderson refutes claims of ‘vigilante journalism’
ABC managing director David Anderson has rejected accusations that the public broadcaster engages in “vigilante journalism”, and has denied the organisation — which celebrated its 90th anniversary earlier this month — is driven by an anti-conservative bias, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
Speaking to Sky News presenter and columnist at The Australian, Chris Kenny, as part of a documentary, Your ABC Exposed, which will air on Tuesday, Anderson praised his reporters’ work, and said editorial fairness was at the heart of the publicly funded media giant.
“I would disagree with the characterisation that it is vigilante journalism, I don’t think it is,” Anderson said in the new documentary.
“I think what we do is we hold people to account and in doing so, people will sometimes try to string together stories that it is vigilante journalism, when I don’t believe that it is.”
Television
Disney shows first R-rated movies on Disney+
Walt Disney Co on Friday began streaming R-rated movies on its flagship Disney+ streaming service for the first time, as the company pushes ever further into adult-focused entertainment to pursue new streaming subscribers, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Robbie Whelan.
Disney+ will now carry Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and Logan—three R-rated superhero movies with stories that originated as comic books published by Marvel Comics and that were acquired as part of Disney’s 2019 $72 billion purchase of most of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets.
Deadpool follows the adventure of a foul-mouthed mercenary who cracks jokes during assassinations, and features scenes with nudity and sexual themes. Logan, the story of X-Men superhero Wolverine, was rated R for language, brief nudity and “brutal violence.”
Disney is making a major push into adult-oriented general entertainment content. In recent earnings calls, it highlighted increased spending on shows like The Dropout and The Kardashians, both streaming on Hulu, the Disney-owned service that has emerged as Disney’s fastest-growing streaming platform. The company says that about half of Disney+ subscribers are adults without children.
Lisa Wilkinson returns to The Project for hosting duties
Lisa Wilkinson has retuned to her hosting duties on The Project tonight, and she’s never looked happier, reports News Corp’s Kate Schneider.
The high profile and often controversial host hadn’t appeared as a host on the show since mid-June.
Wilkinson, who had been in the United States, said she was happy to be back and then beamed throughout the entire show.
A segment from her time overseas was also aired on the show, showing her at singer and songwriter Ryan Tedder’s house.
Margot Robbie to return to Neighbours for show’s finale
Margot Robbie is set to return to Neighbours, with the Hollywood star making an appearance during August’s long-awaited finale, reports news.com.au.
Robbie played the role of Donna Freedman from 2008 and 2011.
It is understood the 32-year-old filmed the scene via Zoom while in LA sometime after the show finished shooting on June 10.
While Robbie couldn’t make it back to Australia to film, she made sure everyone knew she wished she could be there by sending champagne to the cast and crew.
Sports Media
AFL kicks own goal in TV broadcasting rights bid
The AFL’s hopes of securing a record-breaking sum for its television broadcast rights are looking increasingly shaky, with the sinking advertising market, coupled with provincial attitudes to free-to-air coverage of the sport in Western Australia, likely to diminish the value of the final contract, reports News Corp’s James Madden.
It’s understood that outgoing AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan is committed to inking the next broadcast rights deal – which would come into effect from the beginning of the 2025 season – before the end of August.
But the lengthy delay in awarding the television rights, which are currently shared by Seven and Foxtel, may have cost the AFL dearly.
The AFL has been courting Seven, Nine, Ten, Foxtel and Amazon Prime since the beginning of the season, but the broadcasting landscape has shifted over the past few months in line with the softening economic conditions, and as a result it is increasingly likely that the league will be forced to sell the rights for less than they would have initially hoped.
How Rishabh’s genius helped secure $360 million rights deal
Australian cricket followers may not have appreciated it at the time, but in many ways they can thank Rishabh Pant for helping bring about the biggest-ever Cricket Australia deal for rights into the Indian market, formally announced on Sunday, reports Nine Publishing’s Daniel Brettig.
See More: Disney Star to broadcast Australian cricket again in India in deal worth $350m
Pant’s phenomenal innings to deliver India the Gabba Test and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in January 2021 remained fresh in plenty of executive memories.
This ensured that even in a time when the IPL and Twenty20 franchise competitions threaten to devour the global game, India versus Australia Test matches still attracted huge interest from the moment that the multibillion-dollar auction for the IPL rights concluded last month.
At more than $360 million ($US250 million) in cash and cash equivalents (such as the windfall from virtual signage on broadcasts), the seven-year agreement between Disney Star and CA is larger than the fee Nine was paying, as recently as a decade ago, for all cricket in Australia – $275 million between 2006 and 2013.