Business of Media
Bruce McWilliam, the man you never want in the other corner, retires
Bruce McWilliam’s portrait in Sydney power diner Machiavelli is hung between billionaire Kerry Stokes, his son Ryan Stokes, former Sunrise presenter David “Kochie” Koch and Kerry Packer, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Other powerful people who leave their jobs – former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, for example – have their portrait taken down and replaced. Not McWilliam. “He’s one of our best customers,” one of the staff says. “Always polite, always friendly, always coming in after doing a big deal.”
McWilliam formally stepped down from his putative role as commercial director at Seven West Media on Thursday morning, having been part of the furniture for more than two decades.
Liberal Party press releases make a splash on Google News
Liberal Party press releases and its website are showing up on the Google News tab as a source of information alongside queries about prominent current affairs searches, calling into question the technology giant’s verification of news material, according to one of Australia’s senior-most media and data experts, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
Links to different media releases from the Liberal Party website show first in response to search with keywords “Labor position nuclear”, “Labor and nuclear” or “Labor renewables” in Google News at a time when federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is pushing for Australia to adopt nuclear power.
Associate professor of news and political communication at Monash University Emma Briant said it “looks like a clear strategy by the Liberals to get political content listed as news to increase its credibility and visibility in the search engine”.
Reddit opens up 38%, as shares begin trading
Reddit shares opened up about 38 percent on Thursday in their first day of trading, in a sign of investor eagerness that set the stage for more tech companies to reach the stock market this year, reports The New York Times’ Mike Isaac and Lauren Hirsch.
Shares of the social media company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange at $47 after pricing at $34 on Wednesday in its initial public offering and continued to rise. The pop put Reddit’s market capitalization around $9.2 billion, less than the $10 billion it was valued at in the private markets three years ago.
News out, memes in: what to expect from Meta’s cull after Canadian decision
Millions of Australians will lose access to news entirely, witness a surge in online memes, and small publishers dependent on social media will suffer if Facebook blocks Australian news, based on Canada’s experience after Meta blocked local news last year, reports The Australian’s Adam Creighton.
Canadian experts say Meta’s decision in August to pull all news from its Facebook platform, to avoid paying a contribution to news publishers, slashed Canadians’ exposure to news links by 5 million posts a day.
Murdoch’s journalists unlawfully targeted Meghan and Diana, court told
Journalists at Murdoch-owned newspapers “unlawfully targeted” the Duchess of Sussex more than two decades after accessing the private pager messages of Diana, Princess of Wales, the legal team for Prince Harry has told the high court in London, reports The Guardian’s Alexandra Topping.
In the latest development in Harry’s war against the tabloid press, his lawyers argued he had experienced a lifetime of “overwhelming intrusion” from Murdoch-owned newspapers – with one example cited relating to an article written when he was nine.
Sports Media
Garry Lyon rated Australia’s most popular breakfast sports broadcaster
One big footy name on a highly regarded industry list caught our eye this week. Fifi Box was the top ranking radio personality on The Australian Talent Index’s results of most likeable — breakfast broadcast (TV and radio), reports News Corp’s Jackie Epstein.
But trailing behind Sarah Abo, Matt Shirvington, Richard Wilkins, Box, Natalie Barr and Ben Fordham, was SEN host Garry Lyon in seventh position with 67 per cent likability.
Lyon came in as the top sports presenter in the list.
See Also: Robert Irwin crowned Australia’s most popular broadcast personality