Business of Media
Rupert Murdoch calls off engagement with Ann Lesley Smith: report
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Ann Lesley Smith have called off their engagement, Vanity Fair has reported, writes Nine Publishing.
Murdoch announced plans to marry 66-year-old Smith, a dental hygienist turned conservative radio host, last month.
The 92-year-old Australia-born mogul told the New York Post, one of his own newspapers, that he had proposed to Smith with an Asscher cut diamond solitaire ring that he personally selected.
However, Vanity Fair, citing “sources close to Murdoch”, reported the businessman put the plans for a wedding on ice.
“One source close to Murdoch said he had become increasingly uncomfortable with Smith’s outspoken evangelical views,” the outlet reported.
‘Ego, hubris and ideology’: Judge blasts Crikey v Murdoch motives
The judge in the blockbuster defamation case between Lachlan Murdoch and Crikey publisher Private Media says he is considering sending both sides back to mediation, describing the case as being “driven more by ego and hubris and ideology”, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Private Media’s lawyers want to include hundreds of pages of evidence from the $US1.6 billion ($2.4 billion) Dominion defamation case against Fox Corporation as part of a new defence against the claim from Murdoch.
Justice Michael Wigney said he was considering sending the case to mediation – again. “I say this with the greatest respect. There does seem to be a hint that this case is being driven more by ego and hubris and ideology than anything else,” he said. “I’m seriously giving consideration to referring it to mediation again. It seems to me to be a useful course.”
Twitter makes unexplained logo change to Dogecoin cryptocurrency image
Almost 24 hours after Twitter changed its blue bird logo to a badly cut-out image of a dog meme made famous by cryptocurrencies, the company’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk, has still offered no explanation or justification for the change, report The Guardian’s Josh Taylor and Alex Hern.
On Monday, US time, users noted that the blue bird logo on Twitter’s homepage and loading screen had been replaced with the shiba inu image associated with the Dogecoin memecoin cryptocurrency. For hours, neither Twitter nor Musk even acknowledged the change.
Adding to the confusion was an apparently unrelated bug that surfaced at the same time, one of an increasing number in Twitter’s user interface, which removed the ability to tell which tweets had been retweeted on to your timeline.
In typical Musk fashion, he eventually tweeted a meme noting the change, and followed up with the closest to an explanation he has proffered: a callback to a joke a follower made in March 2022 suggesting that he should buy Twitter and replace the logo with Doge.
TikTok is fined US$15.9 million over misusing kids’ data in Britain
Britain’s data protection authority on Tuesday issued a $15.9 million fine to TikTok, the popular video-sharing app, saying the platform had failed to abide by data protection rules intended to safeguard children online, reports The New York Times’ Natasha Singer.
The Information Commissioner’s Office said TikTok had inappropriately allowed up to 1.4 million children under the age of 13 to use the service in 2020, violating British data protection rules that require parental consent for organizations to use children’s personal information. TikTok failed to obtain that consent, regulators said, even though it should have been aware that younger children were using the service.
The British investigation found that the video-sharing app did not do enough to identify underage users or remove them from the platform, even though TikTok had rules barring children under 13 from creating accounts. TikTok failed to take adequate action, regulators said, even after some senior employees at the video-sharing platform raised concerns internally about underage children using the app.
TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese internet giant ByteDance, has also faced scrutiny in the United States. Last month, members of Congress questioned its chief executive, Shou Chew, about possible national security risks posed by the platform.
See Also: Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus confirms TikTok ban on government devices
Podcasts
The Obamas’ Higher Ground inks podcast advertising deal with Acast
Higher Ground, the production company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama, has struck its latest audio deal with the podcasting platform Acast, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s J. Clara Chan.
Acast will handle ad sales and distribution for Higher Ground’s library of podcasts, which includes The Big Hit Show with Alex Pappademas, Renegades: Born in the USA with President Obama and Bruce Springsteen, and The Sum of Us with Heather McGhee. The pact with Acast is separate from Higher Ground’s multiyear first-look deal with Audible, which began last June after the production company parted ways with Spotify. The first project from the Higher Ground–Audible partnership, Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast, was released in March; new episodes of The Light Podcast will have an exclusive two-week window on Audible before being released widely on all major platforms by Acast.
On the advertising and sponsorship side, marketers will be able to use Acast’s ad placement technology on select shows like Renegades, The Sum of Us, and The Big Hit Show, as well as upcoming programming from Higher Ground. Acast’s in-house ad creative team will also be able to work with sponsors to create specific sponsorships, such as branded miniseries, for Higher Ground’s podcasts.
“We’ve been deeply impressed by the creativity and innovation of the Acast team,” Dan Fierman, the head of audio at Higher Ground, said in a statement. “We are excited to work with their team to bring our growing slate of audio content to existing fans and new audiences.”
Acast is also behind podcasts like WTF With Marc Maron and Anna Faris Is Unqualified.
Television
Kerri-Anne Kennerley reveals bombshell in I’m A Celebrity: ‘My boss unzipped my dress’
TV veteran Kerri-Anne Kennerley has detailed a shocking moment in which a boss unzipped the back of her dress, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.
Speaking in a segment to air-on reality show I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!, the 69-year-old explained: “It was a Christmas party for our show, and as I was standing there, the back of my dress the zip was being unzipped.
“So as I swung around to basically say stop it and deck said person, I realised it was the station owner. And I did say, zip it up or I will deck you.”
Kennerley, who has worked at numerous stations since beginning her TV career in the late 1960s, did not identify the station owner.
She spoke of the incident in a segment where she and fellow jungle campmate Pete Helliar were discussing the dynamic of the industry.
ABC apologises over Four Corners report
ABC has issued an apology to Len Roberts, and a former Councillor of the MidCoast Council, and a member and former CEO of the Karuah Local Aboriginal Land Council following a Four Corners report in November 2021, reports TV Tonight.
‘Obeid Inc.’ by reporter Angus Griggs exposed alleged secret deals making the family of Labor kingmaker Eddie Obeid millions.
Obeid was sentenced to jail for a second time, after being found guilty alongside one of his sons of conspiring to rig a lucrative mining tender to benefit the family.
But yesterday it issued an apology to First Nations person Len Roberts for the broadcast and transcript published online.
“The publications contained allegations concerning the Obeid family’s role in property developments on the north coast of NSW. The ABC did not intend to suggest that Mr Roberts was working or co-operating with the Obeids or that Mr Roberts behaved in any way inappropriately in his roles as a former councillor and former CEO of the KLALC.
“If the program did inadvertently make those allegations about Mr Roberts the ABC unreservedly withdraws them.
“The ABC apologises to Mr Roberts for any hurt or embarrassment caused by the publications.”