Sharri Markson has been named one of Sydney’s most influential players for her “extraordinary advocacy on behalf of the Jewish community”.
“The Sky News host felt there was a leadership vacuum when it came to Jews being targeted in the wake of the 7 October attacks on Israel, particularly on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne,” the Daily Telegraph said on Wednesday, revealing her place at No 91 in its Sydney’s Power 100 list, which generated a 52-page magazine supplement.
Speaking to the Sky After Dark host on her eponymous program earlier, the Tele’s editor, Ben English, said: “I don’t want to cause any blushes, Sharri, but you’re one of the new entrants; so congratulations to you.”
Markson: “That is going to make me blush.”
Being part of the News Corp family certainly helps when it comes to making the list, now in its seventh year.
News Corp Australasia’s executive chair, Michael Miller (fifth), was lauded for launching the company’s “Back Australia” campaign.
The Sky News Australia chief executive, Paul Whittaker (22nd), the Tele commentator Ray Hadley (42nd) and Foxtel’s chief executive, Patrick Delany (23rd), were also honoured, despite Foxtel being sold by the Murdochs to Dazn earlier this year.
Big advertisers Gerry Harvey and Katie Page (of Harvey Norman) and sporting administrator Peter V’landys were not forgotten.
But the lord mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, who has been in power for more than 20 years, is apparently less influential in the emerald city than Markson. Moore was ranked 92nd.
List comes to life
Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch held their annual Christmas party at their Le Manoir estate in Sydney’s affluent Bellevue Hill on Thursday night and many of the luminaries from the Power 100 list were honoured with an invitation. It’s the first party since Lachlan took full control of his father’s global media empire after a legal settlement with his siblings in September, a company which Rupert says is the “protector of the conservative voice in the English-speaking world”.
The Murdoch lieutenants from the power list – Markson, Miller, Whittaker and Delany – were photographed arriving at the lavish estate, as were English, V’Landys, Harvey and Page.
The new Liberal leader for New South Wales, Kellie Sloane, also made it to both lists, as did Seven West’s chief executive, Ryan Stokes. Notable for her absence from the party was Moore, a frequent target of the Daily Telegraph.
Troubled table times
The Australian Education Union published an open letter on Friday in Nine newspapers condemning News Corp tabloids for running “crude and harmful league tables ranking schools based on average Naplan scores”. The letter was co-signed by Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, national, state and territory principal and parent bodies, and education experts.
Publishing league tables ranking “best and worst schools” without the added context of socioeconomic status is harmful to student progress, education experts say.
The open letter was booked to run in News Corp titles but was rejected with the following explanation, according to an email seen by Weekly Beast: “It is an open letter directed against News Corp and our brand.”
A News Corp Australia spokesperson told us: “Our mastheads do not shy away from sharing important information to help parents and families make informed choices about their childrens’ [sic] education. Naplan is publicly available information and a clear public interest exists in us publishing many different views about Naplan, which our coverage has highlighted.”
Overdue recognition
It’s a rare media executive who has a legacy as rich and lasting as Peter Manning, the former head of news and current affairs at the ABC and Seven, and a media academic and author. In the ABC role between 1989 and 1993, Manning created Lateline (which was axed after 27 years in 2017), Foreign Correspondent (now 33 years old) and Landline (now 34). As head of Radio National, Manning launched RN Breakfast 30 years ago and the ABC’s multimedia unit in 1995.
At the Walkleys last week the former Four Corners reporter Chris Masters took to the stage with the Sydney Morning Herald’s chief investigative reporter, Kate McClymont, to honour Manning for his outstanding contribution to journalism.
With Manning at the helm of Four Corners from 1985 to 1989 the program won the Gold Walkley for Masters’ report about the sinking of the Greenpeace protest ship Rainbow Warrior.
Manning, 80, also gave some of the biggest names in television their first break, including Stan Grant, Marian Wilkinson, Sue Spencer, Tony Jones, Deb Whitmont and Paul Barry.
This week his son, Paddy Manning, a Lachlan Murdoch biographer and ABC investigative reporter based in Hobart, told Weekly Beast the recognition had lifted his dad’s mood.
“He is over the moon and he treasured the photos,” he said.
“Dad didn’t win a Walkley in his career and he was involved in some pretty significant stories so the outstanding contribution award is the perfect one for him. He is a journo’s journo.”
Holding back the AI tide
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has hailed its new enterprise agreement with the publisher of Crikey, Private Media, as an industry first for explicitly stating that AI would not replace human workers.
The chief executive of Private Media, Will Hayward, said: “AI will be part of [a sustainable] future, but using it without human signoff, or simply as a way to cut costs, is the opposite of what media companies should be doing.”
Marks defuses sparks
Hugh Marks had his second outing as ABC managing director at Senate estimates this week, where he faced a hostile tag team in the Coalition senators Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Sarah Henderson. They insisted that some political analysis of the Coalition by ABC journalists was not impartial.
Defending an article by the Afternoon Briefing host, Patricia Karvelas, that called the former opposition leader Peter Dutton’s style “authoritarian”, Marks sharply pointed out that the line of questioning was very similar to an article on the Sky News site more than three weeks ago.
“I would encourage people to read the raw article rather than going off the commentary that sat around it from Sky [News] and others,” Marks said. The comment sparked an angry rebuke from the inquisitors.
At his first appearance Marks estimated the cost of the Antoinette Lattouf unlawful dismissal case at “more than $2.5m”. Questions on notice released this week show Marks was spot on. The total external cost of defending the unlawful termination claim was $2.6m. (The ABC’s own internal legal team is not included.) The corporation spent $555,924 on lawyers in the Fair Work Commission; $1.9m on the federal court case; and paid Lattouf $70,000 in compensation and a further $150,000 in pecuniary penalties for the breach of the ABC enterprise agreement and the unlawful termination.
