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News.com.au
25 minutes ago
- News.com.au
ACA boss Amy McCarthy steps down after Logies controversy
OPINION The resignation of the executive producer of Nine's A Current Affair Amy McCarthy over a few largely inoffensive social media posts has exposed simmering tensions within Nine's self-professed culturally enlightened news division. According to insiders, McCarthy, whose star rose at A Current Affair in tandem with her boss Fiona Dear's who McCarthy replaced as executive producer of the program in June 2024 after Dear was appointed Nine's news and current affairs director, has been in the sights of a handful of detractors for some time. McCarthy stepped down as the program's executive producer on Thursday confirming she will move immediately into a lower-ranking news production role at Nine. The decision to stand down followed an internal investigation, which sought to evaluate the extent of the internal outrage provoked by a series of Facebook posts McCarthy published from this month's Logie Awards ceremony. In the posts McCarthy stated her intention to get drunk at the awards night – something that would usually stand her in excellent company with her TV colleagues and did wonders for Nine star Karl Stefanovic's career in 2009 when he turned up drunk the morning after the Logies and co-anchored Nine's national breakfast show Today. McCarthy's misdemeanour was to optimistically post 'I can get drunk now,' from the event at Sydney's Star City on August 3. 'You thought you'd been spammed before!! Standby!!' she quipped. By Stefanovic's standards, it was very tame. In a follow-up post McCarthy explained why she hadn't posted evidence of her actually getting drunk. 'Luckily my phone died before any evidence could be recorded.' Then came the post that apparently proved too risque for sensitive colleagues to ignore. Accompanying an image of rocker Jimmy Barnes, who performed at the Logies, was McCarthy's frank admission: 'Deserves a spot on the grid! #wouldstilldohim.' Enraged Nine staff apparently were quick to point out that had a man posted similarly, they'd have been out on their ear. I'd suggest that had a man done so at any point in Nine's almost 70-year history prior to last year they've have been considered executive material and handed a corner office. The program's star Ally Langdon, who has been asserting herself more and more at Nine since beating Stefanovic to the coveted A Current Affair gig in 2023 following Tracy Grimshaw's retirement is said to have previously voiced her concerns about McCarthy's perceived lack of experience to Nine's top brass. Those concerns seem to have gone largely dismissed until the night of the Logies when the executive producer's posts presented her critics with a golden opportunity. Nine sources insist that despite evidence to the contrary, Nine news boss Dear continued to support McCarthy after her social media posts found their way into a media column the morning after the Logies. Dear did, after all, laud McCarthy as a 'natural leader' upon her appointment to Nine's executive ranks at ACA 14 months ago. However last year's damning Intersection culture report – which found Nine had a tradition of systemic abuse of power and authority, of bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment – and a subsequent review – established standards which would see McCarthy's posts deemed offensive and a matter for Nine's HR department. McCarthy has informed colleagues she is 'really looking forward' to returning to the Nine newsroom – a transfer which will create some distance between her and Langdon. 'I made a stupid mistake – one that was not meant to be hurtful or harmful in any way but it has brought unwanted and negative attention to a show I love and a team I adore. For that, I'm very sorry,' McCarthy said in her humbling email to colleagues on Thursday. 'With the support of my family, I've had time to reflect on this and after talking with Fiona (Dear) about what's appropriate for me and the show going forward, I am stepping down as EP of A Current Affair, effective immediately.' In a separate statement Dear added: 'It's been a difficult time for Amy and the ACA team but it's important our senior people lead by example. I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone about Nine's policies, including our social media guidelines and expectations of behaviour at Nine. 'Amy will be staying on in the Nine News current affairs team and will be taking up a role as a senior producer in the Sydney Newsroom. After a decade of experience Amy will be an asset to the team.' Reporter Steve Marshall will fill in until a permanent replacement is appointed. CUTS AT NINE NEWS FROM NEXT WEEK McCarthy's timely resignation comes a week before Nine is expected to announce details of its much anticipated 'News Transformation' project. As insiders see it, the project is less about modernisation and transformation, as is claimed, and more about cost cutting. Despite Nine crowing about a $1.4 billion payday following the recent sale of its interest in Domain real estate platform, none of that coin is expected to flow into its broadcast news and current affairs division. About half will go to shareholders while another chunk is being spent acquiring content for struggling streaming platform Stan for which Nine has picked up the English Premier League rights from Optus. Media pundits have spent recent months speculating on what Nine will do with the leftover estimated $700 million windfall. When approached by this column one predicted Nine may bid for outdoor company oOh! media which this month signed SBS managing director James Taylor as CEO. If it does, that purchase, given oOh! media's current $960 million valuation, would burn through the remainder of Nine's profits from the Domain sale and then some. Regardless, Nine's free-to-air broadcast division is expected to have to make do, which, in the declining free-to-air market, means cuts under CEO Matt Stanton. About $10 million is tipped to be shaved from Fiona Dear's news and current affairs budget which is increasingly focused on producing short YouTube-able minutes-long news packages at the expense of longform prestige journalism. That leaves Nine's news division with a budget of $150 million – $160 million by our estimate. That sum covers salaries of the network's highly paid on-air talent and production crews, it also covers resources, news tech and some occasionally dodgy chequebook journalism. We make the sum out to be about $20 million more than Nine currently forks out annually for its NRL broadcast rights, which are also up for renegotiation. CAN WIPPA PRESERVE NOVA RADIO PARTNERSHIP? Kate Ritchie's return to the radio airwaves this month, following a six-month absence, was seen by many as a sign Nova Radio's Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald & Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli breakfast show – with Kate Ritchie – was finally back on track. Yet the drums have been beating for the trio for the past year and since June radio industry insiders have been tipping the program will be axed at year's end with the trio to be replaced by a version of Nova's drive show featuring Tim Blackwell, Joel Creasey and Ricki-Lee Coulter. However this column has been told the decision on whether the curtain will fall on Fitzy and Wippa's partnership is far from set in stone with Wipfli lobbying executives to push the longtime radio pairing's retirement date out to the end of 2026. After 14 years of breakfast shifts Wipfli holds some influence at Nova and despite Ritchie periodically falling over, the breakfast duo haven't been completely outclassed by Nova's ascendant drive line-up. In the second radio survey of the year, Blackwell, Creasey and Coulter captured a slim 0.3 marginal lead Fitzy and Wippa, 8.9 market share points to 8.6. By survey three Nova's drive line-up had lifted to a 9.2 per cent market share while Fitzy & Wippa had slipped to 7.9. Still it was four points ahead of 2DAYFM's Sydney breakfast show hosted by Jimmy Smith and Nathan Roye, aka Jimmy & Nath, and 3.5 points ahead of Triple M's breakfast team of Beau Ryan, Aaron Woods and Cat Lynch, which by radio standards is a significant margin. By survey four, released last month, Fitzy & Wippa had shed another 0.8 points to 7.1 – queue Ritchie's return. Blackwell and Co were down 1.1 points in the same survey. A Nova spokeswoman declined to be drawn on claims the sun will set on the Fitzy and Wippa partnership at the end of the year. Wippa's management failed to return calls. S U RVIVING BEE GEE PAYS TRIBUTE TO JOYE As races go, the race to the grave, or to heaven, or to another greater or lesser beyond, would in the end prove too close to call in the competition between musical legend Col Joye and his great friend, one time host of Australian Bandstand and television newsreader Brian Henderson. Joye's death on August 5 coincided with the four-year anniversary of Henderson's, who died on August 5, 2021. Both men were 89 at the time of their death. Joye's private funeral was held last week in the locale of his Hunter's Hill home on Sydney's North Shore. Among mourners were his wife Dalys and children Clayton and Amber who both flew in from their adopted homes overseas. Three of the nation's greatest sixties pop stars also turned out to pay their respects with Sandy Scott, Judy Stone and Little Pattie Amphlett all in attendance as too did Joye's younger sister Carol, who is married to Scott. Joye, who was born Colin Jacobsen, and is credited with discovering The Bee Gees, would have been delighted with Barry Gibb's performance, via video, at the funeral. Gibb sang The Bee Gee's second international hit, To Love Somebody, released in 1967, just six years after Joye drove to Surfers Paradise to sign the young brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin to his fledgling label.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
From Figaro to Phantom Giveaway
From Figaro to Phantom showcases highlights from Broadway, opera, and global hits with Pot-Pourri, one of Australia's premier musical ensembles. Pot-Pourri features Tania de Jong AM, Rebecca Bode, Jon Bode, Jonathan Morton, and pianist Anthony Barnhill, artists who blend opera, Broadway, ballads, and even didgeridoo into a spectacular show. Tune in to ABC Central West for your chance to see the show. Giveaway details Tune in to ABC Central West from Monday 25 August 2025 to find out how you can win. Prize details Double pass to see From Figaro to Phantom at the Orange Civic Theatre on Sunday 31 August Visit the Orange Civic Theatre's website to find out more. Competition terms and conditions apply.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
BOY SODA covers Panic! At The Disco's ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies' for Like A Version
Eora's RnB wunderkind BOY SODA has transformed a 2000s emo classic into a smooth, sleek and funk-flecked number with his take on Panic! At The Disco's 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies'. When the 2005 original is a maximalist rush of baroque pop complete with cello and singer Brendon Urie's vocal gymnastics, BOY SODA slows things down a little and brings in some gentle drums, velvety, warm bass lines and jazz-y horn trio. The result is still dramatic, especially with BOY SODA's gorgeous falsettos, but much more relaxed. "I hope it finds [people] in the middle of some decompression," he says. How did BOY SODA, real name Brae Luafalealo, land on the Panic! track? He says he heard it in the car shortly after signing up for his first-ever Like A Version, and remembered how much he loved the track as a kid. "It's just one of those childhood songs that I would always sing in the car, and is imprinted in your memory as one of those songs that bring up a lot of nostalgia when you listen to it," he says. "It's nice to bring an RnB spin to a song that everybody knows and that i was screaming at the top of my lungs for my entire childhood." He says matching Brendon's high-pitched falsetto as a kid "plagued him", and he'd spend hours trying to match him. Looks like all those hours paid off. Arriving a few weeks ahead of BOY SODA's debut album Soulstar , this Like A Version marks about five years of the singer's time in the spotlight, including popping up on triple j's Bars of Steel a few years back. Since then, he says he's leaned "less rap and more soul, which feels more me". If this is a sign of what to expect, we can't wait. Catch him chatting about the cover below in a behind-the-scenes video and his rendition of 'Lil Obsession', a track he dropped back in January. Behind BOY SODA's cover of Panic! At The Disco's 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies' for Like A Version Boy Soda - 'Lil Obsession' (like for Like A Version) Posted 15m ago 15 minutes ago Thu 21 Aug 2025 at 10:30pm
