Latest news with #Walkley
The Age
7 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Butting out: Parliament House crackdown on political puffers
And practically no pollie will even admit to being partial to a dart any more. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he's never smoked. Ever. Notable exception – firebrand independent senator Lidia Thorpe. Ex-NSW premier Dom Perrottet used to admit to a sneaky vape. Others known to have indulged include Labor's Karen Grogan and Jo Ryan. CBD would often get a heady aroma outside the Nationals party room. And the party's former Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, was certainly partial, although the big fella is now on a health kick, quitting booze after being found sprawled on a Canberra pavement, and having recently undergone surgery for prostate cancer. Dorinda's digital detox The nuked Instagram page was a dead giveaway. Greens senator Dorinda Cox's profile went dark on Monday afternoon, before news of her defection to Labor had even made it onto the homepages. Cox's Twitter (sorry, X) account also went private, and the Greens quickly moved to scrub her from their own website. But the Instagram deletion was telling, probably because some of the senator's most recent posts were bagging the Labor government's decision to approve the extension of energy giant Woodside's North West Shelf gas project until 2070, which she described as 'catastrophic for many reasons' in the now-deleted pic. Clearly all water under the bridge for Cox and her new party. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose distaste for the Greens Political Party is well-documented, gleefully accepted her change of colours. Last year, this masthead reported that Cox had been the subject of several bullying complaints among staff, none of which appeared to trouble Labor, who welcomed her with open arms. Wigging out The standard career downgrade for journalists looking to leave the game behind is to switch to PR or communications. Indeed, most of the political media flacks that dodge CBD's calls every week tend to be retired media types. But Paul Farrell, until very recently an investigative reporter with the ABC, has traded the small screen for the courtroom, and is off to become a barrister. Farrell, who won a Walkley award for longform audio last year, joined 153 Phillip Barristers as a reader (that's jargon for a baby barrister). 'I'm thrilled to be joining 153 Phillip to learn from the brilliant barristers on the floor,' Farrell told CBD. 'I've been very fortunate to have a great career in journalism, most recently at the ABC. I felt like it was time for a change though, and going to the bar is something I've always hoped to do.' But it's a chambers that isn't exactly a safe space for journalists these days – Farrell's star colleague is defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC, known for her all-star cast of plaintiff clients including Geoffrey Rush, Lachlan Murdoch, Gina Rinehart and more. Loading Coincidentally, Chrysanthou was this week in Tropical North Queensland speaking at Cairns Crocodiles, which describes itself as Australia's premier creative festival, where she offered up a passionate defence of defamation laws, and accused big media outlets of successfully lobbying to shift the balance of power in the legal landscape back in favour of publishers. Given Australia's reputation as being the defamation capital of the world, we'd say it's all long overdue. Lawyer X sells Relief for gangland barrister turned police informant Nicola Gobbo, who sold her Melbourne penthouse apartment for $1.25 million last week, ahead of the planned auction.
Sydney Morning Herald
7 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Butting out: Parliament House crackdown on political puffers
And practically no pollie will even admit to being partial to a dart any more. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he's never smoked. Ever. Notable exception – firebrand independent senator Lidia Thorpe. Ex-NSW premier Dom Perrottet used to admit to a sneaky vape. Others known to have indulged include Labor's Karen Grogan and Jo Ryan. CBD would often get a heady aroma outside the Nationals party room. And the party's former Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, was certainly partial, although the big fella is now on a health kick, quitting booze after being found sprawled on a Canberra pavement, and having recently undergone surgery for prostate cancer. Dorinda's digital detox The nuked Instagram page was a dead giveaway. Greens senator Dorinda Cox's profile went dark on Monday afternoon, before news of her defection to Labor had even made it onto the homepages. Cox's Twitter (sorry, X) account also went private, and the Greens quickly moved to scrub her from their own website. But the Instagram deletion was telling, probably because some of the senator's most recent posts were bagging the Labor government's decision to approve the extension of energy giant Woodside's North West Shelf gas project until 2070, which she described as 'catastrophic for many reasons' in the now-deleted pic. Clearly all water under the bridge for Cox and her new party. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose distaste for the Greens Political Party is well-documented, gleefully accepted her change of colours. Last year, this masthead reported that Cox had been the subject of several bullying complaints among staff, none of which appeared to trouble Labor, who welcomed her with open arms. Wigging out The standard career downgrade for journalists looking to leave the game behind is to switch to PR or communications. Indeed, most of the political media flacks that dodge CBD's calls every week tend to be retired media types. But Paul Farrell, until very recently an investigative reporter with the ABC, has traded the small screen for the courtroom, and is off to become a barrister. Farrell, who won a Walkley award for longform audio last year, joined 153 Phillip Barristers as a reader (that's jargon for a baby barrister). 'I'm thrilled to be joining 153 Phillip to learn from the brilliant barristers on the floor,' Farrell told CBD. 'I've been very fortunate to have a great career in journalism, most recently at the ABC. I felt like it was time for a change though, and going to the bar is something I've always hoped to do.' But it's a chambers that isn't exactly a safe space for journalists these days – Farrell's star colleague is defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC, known for her all-star cast of plaintiff clients including Geoffrey Rush, Lachlan Murdoch, Gina Rinehart and more. Loading Coincidentally, Chrysanthou was this week in Tropical North Queensland speaking at Cairns Crocodiles, which describes itself as Australia's premier creative festival, where she offered up a passionate defence of defamation laws, and accused big media outlets of successfully lobbying to shift the balance of power in the legal landscape back in favour of publishers. Given Australia's reputation as being the defamation capital of the world, we'd say it's all long overdue. Lawyer X sells Relief for gangland barrister turned police informant Nicola Gobbo, who sold her Melbourne penthouse apartment for $1.25 million last week, ahead of the planned auction.
7NEWS
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
INSIDE MEDIA: The show set to replace The Project
A video version of this article is available in the player above with vision of the interviews quoted. THE SHOW SET TO REPLACE THE PROJECT This morning, TV Blackbox posted quotes from an email sent by News Director Martin White confirming the appointments. INSIDE MEDIA understands Hitchcock had not revealed to Seven where he was going. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today 'Denham is a vastly experienced, internationally recognised story-breaker, and Amelia is a Walkley winner who has worked in Canberra and the United States,' the email by White stated. 'They will both be developing ideas for 10 News with Dan Sutton.' Respected reporter Dan Sutton is the executive producer of the unit, although INSIDE MEDIA believes this is not an investigation unit, but a new unnamed show. And while many are assuming that show will be weekly, something along the lines of 7NEWS Spotlight and 60 Minutes, I have reason to believe the show will be nightly. In fact, even though I have not been able to confirm it yet, I believe this will be the show to replace The Project when the contract with Roving Enterprises expires in a few months. The number of people already associated with this 'unit' already exceeds what would be needed for a once-a-week show. And it makes perfect sense for 10 to go down this path. Let's assume the deal between Channel 10 and Roving Enterprises is a $20 million a year. Network 10 could replace the low rating The Project with a new show for $15 million per year, easily saving a cool $5 million. And there certainly seems to be no love for The Project. Even on my personal TikTok account, a video I made about the future of the show has been viewed more than 26,000 times, with most comments saying the show should be cancelled. A Current Affair on Channel 9 is still one of the biggest shows on TV and Today Tonight was still rating strongly when it was replaced by the 1-hour format of 7NEWS. So, imagine if 10 decided to run a current affairs program at 6.30pm in the old slot formally occupied by ACA and TT. In that timeslot, those two shows were untouchable and were at the top of the ratings every night. That would mean 10 could solve its big issue surrounding The Project's ratings and the fact (as I mentioned last week) that 10 has to hand over all of its news vision to Roving Enterprises, but that company owns all The Project vision. It's a lopsided deal that doesn't make sense in 2025 when owning content is the key to financial success. This new show would allow 10 to once again own its content and might just be the kind of show audiences want at 6.30pm, after they've watched the first 30 minutes of news on Nine and Seven. As long as they don't make it 'worthy' like they did with the George Negus program during the 'news revolution' days and as long as they don't put it on at 6pm, this new show could actually be a gamechanger for the network. The big question then is, would it be 30 minutes or an hour? A 30-minute show would get them to 7pm, which would allow them to try something completely different and move their reality shows into that slot, getting a head start on Nine and Seven. Or they might elect to extend Deal Or No Deal by 30 minutes, but starting reality TV shows at 7pm could be the breaker the network needs. But would they take the risk? Only by taking a big risk do you get big rewards. Either way, here's my prediction: The Project will be off our screens before the end of the year and Channel 10 will launch a new nightly current affairs show. Remember you heard it first. THE FUTURE OF RADIO REVEALED On Saturday night I spoke to Brisbane radio legend Spencer Howson on my McKnight Tonight streaming show. Spencer has had a lot of success, including presenting Brisbane's number one breakfast show on the ABC for many years. Spencer is currently working on a PhD studying the value of local radio and, so far, his findings are quite unexpected. 'Already I'm, I'm seeing this research showing that people are just not as connected to their local town or their local region as they once were,' he told me. You can see my interview with Spencer in the video player above. His point is verified by the fact the number one breakfast show in Mount Isa isn't the local radio show but one beamed in from the Gold Coast – a 20-hour drive away. That same show from the HIT Network is also top of the charts in Toowoomba – a shorter 2-hour drive away. Traditional thinking has always been that 'local is king' but Spencer's research seems to show the opposite. 'People are getting their local information now from the WhatsApp chat of their street, the Facebook community group of their suburb' explains Spencer. But does the same rule apply in big cities? Kyle and Jackie O top the charts in their hometown of Sydney, but have failed to make their mark in Melbourne since their expansion on KIIS FM. Dave Hughes and Ed Kavalee were two popular Melbourne identities who failed to resonate with Sydney audiences on 2DAY FM. So, is localism more important in big cities than in regional areas, even though it would be fair to assume the opposite was true? Having just completed 10 months of his 8-year PhD, there are certainly a lot of questions still to be answered by Spencer. SKY NEWS EDITING FAIL You have to feel sorry for Jack Houghton at Sky News. As the host of The Media Show, he holds the media to account, just like we do here at INSIDE MEDIA. So, imagine how embarrassed he must have been when a blooper that was meant to be edited out aired on his show on Friday night. Houghton was blasting the ABC after a clip was played of Sarah Hanson-Young appearing on the national broadcaster, but he fluffed his lines. 'Ah, sorry, can I redo this? It's two, two stumbles' he asked the control room. Thankfully, there were no expletives and Houghton kept his composure. The editor of the program didn't notice the fluff and kept it in. You can see what happened in the video player above. Here's an old trick for the folks at SKY: When you have a stuff-up, but black to line for a few seconds so that an editor quickly scrolling through can see something has gone wrong. It's obvious that whoever was editing this show was just skipping through and didn't pick up on the mistake. A little trick like this can save humiliation.
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- The Guardian
Alan Jones lawyer asks judge to stop SMH journalist reporting on broadcaster's sexual assault charges
Alan Jones's lawyer has told the court he is concerned about an 'anti-Jones crusade' arising from Sydney Morning Herald journalist Kate McClymont's dual role as a reporter of his client's case and as a witness. Jones has been charged with 35 historical sexual assault offences allegedly committed in various places in New South Wales, including Newtown, Sydney city, Fitzroy Falls, Alexandria and Tamworth. Jones was excused from Tuesday's committal hearing, but his lawyer Bryan Wrench told the court that he had now received the brief of evidence and was aware that 'the journalist who broke this story' had given a witness statement. 'As of today, she has published an article in the Sydney Morning Herald talking about the case when she's a witness called in the proceedings,' Wrench told Sydney's Downing Centre local court. 'I'm worried it will be part of the anti-Jones crusade.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email A winner of 10 Walkley awards for excellence in journalism, McClymont's contribution to the industry has been recognised by an appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and induction into the Australian Media Hall of Fame. She has won many other awards. The Herald and Guardian Australia reported the details of a 35th charge Jones is facing after an 11th victim came forward. According to a court document made available to media, Jones allegedly assaulted his 11th victim by grabbing and squeezing his bottom in Tamworth in June 2013. Historical allegations of indecent assault against Jones were first raised in December 2023 by McClymont, who was in the Downing Centre court as a member of the media on Tuesday for Jones's matter. Wrench raised more concerns about the media, telling the magistrate that the media knew about the additional charge within an hour of his client being charged last week. We're 'concerned about disclosure', Wrench said. 'We seek disclosure of all contact between all NSW police and the media.' Magistrate Daniel Covington said: 'What can I do with all that?' when Wrench raised his concerns, adding that he should take it up with the Office of the Department of Public Prosecutions. Wrench said Jones formally entered a plea of not guilty but the magistrate said he could not yet formally enter pleas and adjourned the matter to 13 May . Bevan Shields, the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, said the newspaper is 'proud of Kate McClymont's exemplary work on this matter'. 'We stand by our reporting,' he said in a statement. According to the NSW police brief of evidence for the latest charge, Jones allegedly 'did assault Complainant 'K' and at the time of the assault committed an act of indecency on Complainant 'K', to wit, grab and squeeze left bottom,' according to detectives. Jones, who turns 84 in April, is a former 2GB and Sky News Australia broadcaster. He was arrested at his unit in Sydney's Circular Quay on 18 November last year after a 'long, thorough, protracted' investigation. In November, when the first charges were laid against Jones, the NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, told reporters police were anticipating more people coming forward. Since then police have twice announced new charges. According to the charge sheets, there were allegedly 11 offences against one man, Complainant C, between 2008 and 2009, including touching his inner thigh, rubbing his penis and kissing him on the mouth. Outside court after his first appearance Jones told reporters he was not guilty. 'I will not be engaging in a running commentary in the media but I want you to understand this,' he said. 'These allegations are all either baseless or they distort the truth. 'I have never indecently assaulted these people. The law assumes that I'm not guilty. 'And I am not guilty.'
