Peta Credlin and Kristina Keneally are locked in for a new show on Sky News Australia to start early in November. We believe Wednesday 2 November, the day after the Melbourne Cup, may be its first outing. But Sky News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos is not confirming the news yet, saying only “that sounds like a good idea”. We also hear the hunt is on for a producer for the talk show which will see the former chief of staff to Tony Abbott spar with the former NSW Labor premier as they talk all things politics. Credlin’s plate is filling up fast. Last month she accepted a job with Consolidated Press Holdings as an adviser, reporting directly to James Packer. Keneally, a columnist with Guardian Australia, already has a show with Peter van Onselen on Sky, which may or may not continue when her new gig starts up.
ABC radio: ‘difficult but necessary decisions’ ahead
ABC Radio is facing a big shake up if the latest missive “Eyes and Ears on 2020” from the ABC’s director of radio, Michael Mason, is any indication. Mason is the chap responsible for the “preposterously named executives” brought in with a restructure of the radio division earlier this year. “Capital Local Lead”, “Head, Spoken” and “Classical Lead” even sparked a popular Guardian Australia quiz ABC job title or some random words: can you tell the difference?.
Now Mason has told staff transmitting “linear programming” (which means regular scheduled radio programs) may be too expensive. “Transmission is a major challenge,” Mason says. “Every week we spend a significant amount of money on distributing our content and it does not properly align with our services and our audience demands.” So what is the alternative to putting radio programs on the air? Putting programs online and allowing the audience to download them as podcasts.
Radio staffers tell Weekly Beast this is what appears to be on the agenda, in particular for Radio National. When managers say things like “difficult but necessary decisions to ensure our content offer and delivery are aligned to audience needs and expectations” you can be sure bad news will follow in the way of job cuts, program losses and changes to the schedule.
Apparently radio staples like traffic, sport, news and weather are also old-hat in the digital age. Mason suggests local radio should become involved in “high-quality, 4Corners-type investigations” to share the “complex, long-term stories of our cities in a way that no one else can”.
In order to achieve new MD Michelle Guthrie’s goal of reaching all Australians – including an “all audio” reach of 50% by 2020 – radio must evolve, Mason says. He warns staff that “a defensive mindset and a belief that the ABC will flourish regardless of the industry and competition will not work”.
Management is also calling for the ABC to be more enterprising, that is, more commercial. “Like our colleagues across the ABC, we want to take advantage of reasonable opportunities to monetise and offset the cost of our activities and to extend the offering to the widest audience possible,” Mason says. “We want to explore business-to-business opportunities, including production partnerships, and how we might use our genre expertise to tap into the growing events market.”
‘Chris of the Australian’ is here to help
The former editor-in-chief of the Australian Chris Mitchell is not active on social media, but in his bid to steer the debate around his new book, Making Headlines, he has been making a rare appearance online. He is keen to defend himself after he admitted to breaking with journalistic convention and revealing off-the-record conversations with five former prime ministers.
Under “Chris of the Australian” he has been popping up in The Australian’s comments section, clearing up misapprehensions readers may have about his book.
Accused by one of backing Kevin Rudd because he was a mate from Queensland, Chris says: “The book makes it crystal clear I did no such thing at all.” He also makes some interesting statements like: “Chris Kenny wrote all my editorials on Abbott” and he agrees with a reader who says freedom of speech is in deep trouble “due to 18C and the star chamber”.
News Corp should have “appealed the Bolt decision to the high court” Mitchell declares. Finally, he does a bit of his own PR: “Just did a lengthy interview with Steve Price which will be on radio tonight. Steve has read the whole book so I suggest people who are worried listen in so they can get a better idea of what the other 83,000 words actually contain. It is hard for two extracts to capture the balance of the entire book.”
Plebiscite harm broader than previously thought
It’s good to know that the commercial TV stations are involved with the big issues, such as the same-sex marriage plebiscite. Free TV Chairman Harold Mitchell put out a strong statement about the plebiscite recently but it had nothing to do with the rights of LGBTI people. It was all about a push for more revenue for the networks.
“Introducing another blackout period for the plebiscite that singles out commercial broadcasters is no longer appropriate in a converged media environment,” Mitchell said. “We are calling on parliament once again to get rid of this outdated provision which only serves to put commercial broadcasters at a disadvantage to all other digital media.” Nothing about the outdated marriage laws then chaps.
Driving force behind Countdown remembered
Molly Meldrum has paid tribute to Michael Shrimpton, the ABC executive behind the 1970s television hit show Countdown. Shrimpton, along with Robbie Weekes and Molly, created the show to showcase local talent and it became an influential part of the music scene. Shrimpton passed away last week aged 77.
“There wouldn’t have been a Countdown without Michael Shrimpton,” Meldrum said. “He was the driving force behind Countdown.” Fans of Channel Seven’s Molly miniseries starring Samuel Johnston will remember the Shrimpton character was played by Tom O’Sullivan.
Very sad to hear of the death of Michael Shrimpton, founder and longtime Executive Producer of the ABC’s Countdown. Very talented man.
— Mark Colvin (@Colvinius) September 16, 2016
Putting it out there
When a man’s private parts are inadvertently displayed in a photograph in a newspaper, who is to blame? The man or the newspaper? This hairy question was answered on Monday when the Border Mail published a picture of the Albury Tigers celebrating their AFL premiership win and one of the happy chaps had his genitals exposed.
Police said the 22-year-old flasher was issued a $500 criminal infringement notice for behaving in offensive manner in or near a public place but made no mention of the newspaper which failed to spot the offensive detail before publishing.
