Business of Media
Sky News Australia staffer sacked amid fallout from controversial NSW Police hiring
The controversial appointment of veteran Seven News journalist Steve Jackson to run media affairs for NSW Police has taken an unexpected turn, with his former colleague Taylor Auerbach being sacked from Sky News Australia, report Nine Publishing’s Kate McClymont and Jordan Baker.
Auerbach had only been appointed to the role of investigations producer at the News Corp-owned news channel in January after an earlier exit from Seven’s Spotlight current affairs program.
While not named in recent stories, it is widely known that Auerbach was the unnamed Spotlight producer who put almost $3000 on a Seven corporate card for the services of two Thai masseuses.
Australians could turn backs on Facebook over Meta behaviour
Australians are likely to turn their backs on Facebook in response to the reckless and unethical corporate behaviour of the online platform’s parent company Meta, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has warned, reports The Australian’s James Madden.
Rowland told The Australian that Meta had shown “zero regard” for the importance of public-interest journalism, and had wilfully ignored the fact that any potential news void that arises from the dumping of properly researched news from Facebook would invariably lead to the online spread of misinformation and disinformation.
Disarm Meta’s nuclear option for news, indie publishers say
Meta should be legally forced to host news on Facebook and Instagram, a coalition of diverse news publishers say, taking away its key trump card in an escalating war with the Albanese government and Australia’s big media companies, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
The $2 trillion tech giant has declared it will not sign new deals paying upwards of $70 million a year to media companies to host their content on its platforms. It agreed to at least 13 deals under the threat of the then-Coalition government’s news media bargaining code laws three years ago.
Aussie leaders reach out to Evan Gershkovich, stuck in Russian prison
An unwitting pawn in Vladimir Putin’s new cold war against the west, journalist Evan Gershkovich will this week mark one year in detention in Russia, locked up on a bogus spying charge, reports The Australian’s David Mills.
His case is generating increasing alarm about the safety of foreign nationals visiting and working in Russia, as well as deteriorating press freedom there.
Today, a group of prominent Australian leaders from the worlds of journalism, politics, business and the community is coming together to show their support for the Wall Street Journal reporter, who many believe is being detained as a human bargaining chip in Vladimir Putin’s dealings with the west.
For once, the British tabloids held back. It didn’t make a difference.
Days before Catherine, Princess of Wales, ended the wild speculation over her absence from public life by revealing that she is battling cancer, a top royal journalist appeared on British national television and delivered a stark message to the media: Knock it off, reports The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum.
“I think everyone just needs to give her a little bit of space,” Roya Nikkhah, royal editor of The Sunday Times of London, said on Good Morning Britain. “This is a woman who’s been in the public eye since she was in her early 20s, and she’s barely put her foot wrong. I think we should all lay off a little bit.”
Elon Musk’s X needs creators, but they don’t need X
Two months after Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the billionaire hopped on a video call with a handful of creators, seeking advice about how to make his platform better for them and asking how YouTube attracts creators, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Alexa Corse.
Podcaster Samir Chaudry told Musk that YouTube had a well-established system for creators to make money through advertising revenue.
More than a year after meeting with Musk, Chaudry says X’s strategy for creators still isn’t clear. “They have to start showing us the path to building a business on the platform,” he said in an interview.
Television
Jodie Speers quits Seven News
Seven News presenter Jodie Speers is leaving the network after 15 years, reports TV Tonight.
Speers, who presents the early morning news bulletin is pursuing her legal studies, whilst juggling family.
“The end of an era! I didn’t expect to feel so emotional today!” she wrote on Instagram.
Australian Idol host Marcia Hines taken to hospital after collapsing in dressing room
Australian Idol host Marcia Hines has been taken to hospital, after collapsing in her dressing room prior to the show’s grand final episode on Channel 7 on Sunday, reports News Corp.
It is understood Hines — who is a judge on the hit reality TV show — collapsed in a dressing room at the Sydney Coliseum Theatre in Rooty Hill on Sunday afternoon.
A source told East Coast media that Hines “won’t be on Idol tonight” with Guy Sebastian instead filling in as judge.
‘I don’t think the lack of comfort will be the hardest thing’: Weird reason behind Brittany Hockley’s next big move
It’s no easy task for Brittany Hockley to appear effortlessly cool. On the set with Stellar, the podcast and radio host may have been at ease in front of the camera, but the extreme heat of the day was doing its best to make things difficult, reports News Corp’s Siobhan Duck.
“It was a wintry vibe, which wasn’t great for me given it was 40 degrees when we were shooting. It was like being in a sauna all day.”
Nonetheless, Hockley was trying to stay in the moment, especially as it was one of her last opportunities to be in glam mode for some time. That’s because the former Bachelor star is now in South Africa filming Network 10’s jungle-set reality TV series I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!.