Business of Media
Rupert Murdoch urged to end Fox’s ‘Great Replacement’ rhetoric
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Fox News of promoting White nationalist “Great Replacement” rhetoric and urged Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch to end it, reports Bloomberg’s Steven T. Dennis and Ella Ceron.
Schumer, in a letter to Murdoch and other Fox executives, cited the racially motivated mass shooting in a Black neighbourhood of Buffalo by an accused gunman who cited the idea of so-called ethnic replacement, as well as other mass shootings targeting minorities in recent years.
“I implore you to immediately cease all dissemination of false white nationalist, far-right conspiracy theories on your network,” Schumer, of New York, wrote.
“Proponents of this white nationalist, far-right conspiracy theory believe that a complicit or cooperative class of elites are advancing a plot designed to undermine the political power and culture of white Americans.”
He said the idea has no basis in fact but has been “injected into the mainstream” in large part by Fox News and its hosts, including on hundreds of shows by Tucker Carlson, the network’s top-rated host. He cited an Associated Press poll showing Fox viewers nearly three times as likely as other Americans to believe in the theory.
Musk pushes to cut Twitter price
Elon Musk suggested that a lower price for Twitter may be appropriate as he and CEO Parag Agrawal quarrelled over the company’s estimates of spam accounts on Monday, according to an attendee at a private conference where Musk was speaking, reports Reuters Katie Paul and Krystal Hu.
Twitter shares extended losses in late-afternoon trading after Musk’s comments, which came at a conference in Miami that was closed to the media.
Shares dropped more than 8 per cent to close at $US37.39, lower than their level the day before Musk revealed his Twitter stake in early April, sowing doubts that the billionaire entrepreneur would proceed with his $US44 billion ($63 billion) acquisition of the company at the agreed price.
Dutton loses ‘rape apologist’ libel battle
A refugee advocate has won his defamation battle with Peter Dutton after an appeal court found that a tweet calling the Defence Minister a “rape apologist” should not have been taken literally, reports AFR‘s Michael Pelly.
Shane Bazzi was ordered to pay damages of $35,000 at trial after Justice Richard White agreed the words conveyed the imputation that he “excuses rape”, but the Full Federal Court overturned the verdict on Tuesday.
Bazzi’s tweet, at 11.51pm on February 25, 2021, was linked to a story on The Guardian website in 2019, that quoted Dutton as saying women were using rape and abortion claims as a ploy to get to Australia from refugee centres on Nauru.
Bazzi also pointed to Mr Dutton’s response to rape allegations made by Coalition staffer Brittany Higgins, in which he said he was not provided with the “he said, she said” details of the Higgins investigation. Dutton was Home Affairs minister at the time.
Justice Steven Rares, Justice Darryl Rangiah and Justice Michael Wigney all said the trial judge had gone too far in dissecting the tweet.
Federal election spending spree ramps up on social media, and will evade ad blackout rules
Election advertising on social media is reaching its peak, with Labor splashing more than $100,000 a day on Facebook ads while United Australia Party breaks the $18 million spending barrier on YouTube, reports News Corp’s Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson.
And the political ad spending spree is likely to continue until polling day as Australia’s old-fashioned election advertising blackout, which comes into play at midnight on Thursday, does not affect online platforms.
Political experts have slammed the regulations as outdated and “not fit for purpose,” and say they should be overhauled by the next parliament.
An analysis of social media election ads shows the Australian Labor Party spent almost $700,000 with Facebook in the past week alone over 709 advertisements.
Agencies
Dentsu Group reports 9.1% organic growth in first-quarter report
Dentsu Group has had a strong start to 2022, with a record-high performance in its first-quarter report.
The global advertising group reported 9.1% organic growth, Dentsu Japan Network 10.0% and Dentsu International 8.4%
After a better than expected start 2022, the Q1 report has updated its projected organic growth for FY2022 from 4% to 5% from 4% previously. Dentsu Japan Network still expects 2% to 3% organic growth and Dentsu International increases guidance to 5% to 6% from 4% to 5% previously.
The report also noted the operating margin guidance of 17.7% remains as costs are expected to rise in Japan through the year as highlighted in February.
Dentsu Group Q1 noted that the company retains confidence in the medium-term targets of 4 to 5% Group organic growth, 18% Group margins with a pay-out ratio reaching 35.0% by 2024.
Elsewhere, the report noted that in the APAC region – excluding Japan – organic growth was 5.2%. CXM – its customer experience management business – reported almost 20% growth in the first quarter driven by client demand for analytics and marketing technology implementation.
Australia was also given a special mention in the report with a 12.0% organic growth showing continued recovery with new client wins across Media, CXM and Creative.
News Brands
ABC’s Buttrose responds to criticism broadcaster ‘marks its own homework’
ABC chair Ita Buttrose has confirmed plans to appoint an independent ombudsman to assess complaints about its editorial content after a review found it needed to remove the perception the national broadcaster “marked its own homework”, reports SMH‘s Zoe Samios.
The ABC will also introduce a procedure to handle complaints about the alleged misconduct of staff on social media, give the public three months to raise their concerns about content and create a system that allows dissatisfied people to appeal decisions made by the division.
The measures were outlined in a review by former SBS, Seven and Ten news boss Jim Carroll and former Commonwealth and NSW Ombudsman, Professor John McMillan.
“This is a board that’s very determined to make sure we satisfy everybody about our compliance system,” Buttrose told ABC Radio National. “We want it to be the best in the world and that’s why we called for the review … that’s why we accepted the recommendations.”
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Free TV Australia adds further improvements to News Media Bargaining Code
Free TV Australia’s submission to a review of the News Media Bargaining Code, introduced just over 12 months ago, has noted that further improvements could be made.
While it has been broadly successful in driving commercial negotiations, Bridget Fair, CEO of Free TV, said: “While digital platforms have not yet been designated under the Code, these valuable commercial arrangements would not have been possible without the incentives of the framework.
“For a long time, digital platforms have been refusing to pay a fair price for news content, despite the value it creates on their services. It is critical that the bargaining code legislation be maintained, to support the sustainability of Australian media.
“The digital platforms – Google, Facebook, and their subsidiaries, continue to hold a dominant position in search and social media markets.
“The News Media Bargaining Code, with its final offer arbitration framework, has become an international model for addressing the competitive imbalance in countries including Canada and the United Kingdom.”
Sport Media
Reborn XFL Strikes TV Rights Deal With Disney
The third iteration of the XFL has found a TV home.
The league and Disney have struck a global rights deal that will see all XFL regular season and playoff games running on ESPN, ABC and — in its first sports rights deal since becoming part of Disney — FX. The spring football league is set to begin play in 202, reports the Hollywood Reporter’s Rick Potter.
Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson, who are part of the league’s ownership group along with Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital, announced the deal Tuesday during Disney’s upfront presentation.
“Without question, we have long admired Disney’s distinct ability to engage an expansive consumer fanbase across verticals, while also maintaining a deeply authentic, nuanced and heartfelt approach to storytelling much like our own,” said Garcia, who is chairwoman of the XFL. “To find a partner that honors our foundation and to be able to root our vision of unwavering passion, accessibility and the future of football with Disney as our home, is a dream come true. We are extraordinarily excited to explore the endless possibilities of this partnership — today is surely just the beginning.”