The young woman who was suspended from her producing job at Sky News on Sunday after an offensive strap line appeared saying Sarah Hanson-Young was “known for liking men” has been reinstated.
The hosts of Outsiders, Rowan Dean and Ross Cameron, who failed to rebuke David Leyonhjelm for making the remarks at the time, were never suspended or publicly reprimanded and appeared on air the next day.
After three days the woman, whom Beast has chosen not to name, quietly returned to work. A spokeswoman for Sky told Weekly Beast: “Following an internal review we provided additional training to the producer of Sunday’s Outsiders program and she has resumed her duties.”
Training? We can only imagine what that might entail. Lesson one: make sure not to repeat what is actually said on the show in any on-air super. Lesson two: don’t rely on the presenters for guidance on what is appropriate content.
25 year old woman gets suspended not the misogynists what a joke https://t.co/277DDj7T9f
— Laura Tingle (@latingle) July 1, 2018
Many high-profile journalists were appalled at the way the blame was laid at the feet of a 20-something producer, and some even started a petition to get her reinstated.
Sources say it was the chief executive of Sky News, Angelos Frangopoulos, who made the call to suspend the producer, despite being on holiday in Europe when Leyonhjelm was invited on Outsiders.
Agree completely. Seems the producer was doing her job exactly as required - highlighting what the guest was saying. The guest says something dreadful, the co-hosts don’t immediately pull him up, and the 25-year-old producer gets thrown under the bus. Courageous stuff, Sky News. https://t.co/W0Hr8DCqct
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) July 2, 2018
After an outcry from viewers following Leyonhjelm’s interview, the company issued an apology via Twitter, and the channel’s on-air talent – David Speers, Janine Perrett, Ash Gillon, Kieran Gilbert and Laura Jayes – all lined up to condemn the remarks.
“Sky News wishes to apologise to Senator @sarahinthesen8 for broadcasting appalling comments by Senator @DavidLeyonhjelm earlier today, and for highlighting them in an on-screen strap. A producer has been suspended pending an internal investigation,” Sky tweeted.
Dean and Cameron apologised at the top of their show the next day. But Frangopoulos, whose Twitter account is locked, remains silent.
Order of Australia winner Angelos Frangopoulos’s got his start in radio at 14 on #communityradio station @2ser: https://t.co/lTbwqlb8MD
— CBAA (@CBAA_) January 30, 2018
Made a member of the Order of Australia for services to broadcasting this year, Frangopoulos is the chair of the Walkley advisory board, which determines the winners of the annual Walkley awards.
Although Dean’s four-year tenure on the board of the publishers of the Medical Journal of Australia ended last month, the MJA distanced itself from him in a tweet after the recent Leyonhjelm episode. He remains the editor of the Spectator Australia.
Rowan Dean’s comments do not reflect the values of AMPCo, @theMJA or the AMA . Rowan Dean is no longer a director on the AMPCo Board
— MJA (@theMJA) July 3, 2018
The Australian Financial Review, where Dean is a regular columnist, published an astute letter this week.
“I’ve long wondered why Rowan Dean’s unfunny and often misogynist column sits alongside the smart, enlightening opinion pieces that surround it,” wrote a reader, Dominic Grounds. “For example, why would you devote two pages to gender equality in today’s Financial Review, then undermine it with Dean’s sexism a few days later?
“Perhaps it’s a dog whistle to my ageing male demographic, sending a message, ‘Don’t worry, we’re with you on this’? Whatever your logic, it’s wrong.”
Credit to the editor-in-chief, Michael Stutchbury, for publishing the letter. Although he may have been a bit distracted this week as he celebrated his impending wedding to the Sky presenter Ticky Fullerton. He was presented with a David Rowe cartoon and a chocolate cake in the office by staff at the Fin. Stutch flew off to the UK to marry his long-term partner, a business journalist and former ABC broadcaster, in her home county of Oxfordshire.
All the best @MStutch @BizTicky 💍🥂 from everyone at the @FinancialReview pic.twitter.com/VKk4vBAzm4
— Alex (@alex4sugars) July 4, 2018
- This entry was amended on 6 July 2018 to correct the statement that Rowan Dean had his position at the MJA rescinded. His four-year term at the MJA ended on 30 June. The Guardian withdraws any suggestion that he left involuntarily.
Karl has the right idea
Rebel Wilson took on the celebrity magazines in court for what they said about her, but the Today show host Karl Stefanovic has chosen to challenge their content on social media. The Channel Nine star appeared to enjoy making fun of yet another unflattering cover story in New Idea, also known as No Idea, which claimed he was “at breaking point”.
Another season of farewells
Weekly Beast heard a whisper that as many as one in five jobs at News Corp Australia were to go before the end of the financial year, but even then we were shocked by the number of people who left the Advertiser, Sunday Mail and Messenger this week. News Corp said this round of redundancies was announced two months ago but staff were only just finishing up. Staff told us as many as 26 giant farewell cards with caricatures and mock newspaper pages were laid out for them to sign last week.
After first walking through the front door of The Advertiser almost 30 years ago, this is my final day with the company. It’s been a really rewarding and interesting journey but looking forward to new opportunities. 🏇🏾
— Ben Scadden (@benscadden) June 27, 2018
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance has confirmed that four subeditors and an artist left the NT News, and 16 subeditors, six artists, four photographers and two reporters left the Advertiser. This follows last year’s bloodbath in the South Australian newsroom, which left two artists, 10 reporters, 17 subeditors and 12 photographers out of a job. The ABC’s Adelaide newsroom also lost three journalists in its restructure.
Weekly Beast understands at least two senior journalists have left the Australian, and the crime and court reporter Wayne Flower has left the Herald Sun.
Herald Sun’s Wayne Flower has written his last court yarn. Shame to lose him. No one wrote ‘em quite like he did. From laughing at fat dimwitted gangsters, to picking on the dress sense of “bullet-magnet” Toby Mitchell - it’s a miracle he leaves unscathed. Some of his finest: pic.twitter.com/7LmlfkkH40
— Shannon Deery (@s_deery) June 28, 2018
Fitting legacy for Colvin
A little over a year after the death of ABC broadcaster Mark Colvin, the ABC has launched a scholarship in his name in partnership with Kidney Health Australia.
Colvin was passionate about the work of Kidney Health, as he spent three years on dialysis while waiting for a kidney transplant, and worked closely with researchers, doctors and fundraisers on raising the profile of the disease. The scholarship will be open to entry-level journalists, or those from non-traditional journalism backgrounds, for a 12-month placement commemorating the life and work of the longtime PM host.
ABC’s director of news, Gaven Morris, said: “Mark was one of Australia’s finest journalists and a mentor and teacher to young reporters at the ABC and beyond …
“The Mark Colvin scholarship is a fitting legacy for such a giant of Australian journalism, ensuring that his commitment to accuracy, honesty and generosity of spirit will be passed on to future generations.”
News not budging on Nauru
Not even a plea by the press freedom hero Peter Greste will be enough to change News Corp’s mind about sending a crew to cover the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru. It might make it a little awkward in the corridors of the press gallery though, with most of the journos, including David Speers, the Sky News political editor, supporting a boycott. The Daily Telegraph political editor, Sharri Markson, called the decision to boycott ludicrous, which put her out of step with most of her peers.
I urge News Corp to join the boycott. This is not about the ABC being banned. It is about a government limiting media freedom, and we all need to fight to protect that. If we don't, I know where it leads.
— Peter Greste (@PeterGreste) July 4, 2018
Rupert Murdoch’s mastheads rejected a boycott of the forum by the Australian federal press gallery, which was sparked by a Nauru government ban on the ABC for alleged “bias and false reporting”
“We believe silence is not the way to fight a ban on press freedom,” a spokeswoman for News Corp said. “The Australian media has accompanied prime ministers to countless countries with questionable press freedom in the past and will continue to do so.
“Our attendance is a clear demonstration that we live in a democracy where the value of a free press is paramount. That is a strong message we can send on the issue of press freedom.”
The Republic of Nauru’s Twitter account kept up a sassy running commentary on the furore, not even attempting to disguise its disdain for the ABC. When an ABC journalist commented on a legal case in Nauru, it shot back with: “And the ABC isn’t biased? Journalists are supposed to report news not make snide and false comments about issues they are ‘reporting’ on. Reporters should stick to facts not innuendo. ABC is blind to what they’ve become.”
It’s a shame the ABC wasn’t as vocal & passionate about press responsibility and bias when they hid this apology on an obscure section of their website. Also took them years to make it. Where’s their news director’s heartfelt statement on this? https://t.co/fl5MaHr4Tz
— Republic of Nauru (@Republic_Nauru) July 3, 2018
News Corp can go to the forum but the rest of the media won’t be using its copy, as the pool arrangement has been disbanded.
On Friday the Australian gave the Nauruan government plenty of space to air its grievances about the ABC in a story which said the island nation would not change its mind about the ABC ban “in any circumstances”.
“Nauru believes the ABC gives too much credence to refugee advocates who it sees as ‘manipulating the very people they claim to protect … to serve their own political agendas’, that it portrays the Pacific island nation as a violent ‘hellhole’ where police fail to protect refugees,” the Oz said.
ABC again
ABC staff can attend upcoming Hands Off Our ABC rallies and talk publicly about their love for public broadcasting, but political comment should be avoided.
That’s the message from ABC management before ABC Friends rallies in Sydney this weekend and in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth next weekend.
The facts speak for themselves. #HandsOffOurABC
— MEAA (@withMEAA) July 4, 2018
Sydneysiders get down to the rally this Sunday, 2pm NSW Teacher's Federation: https://t.co/8YUDCIC7Fe pic.twitter.com/bdqE6b2RgB
In a memo from the news director, Gaven Morris, and the editorial director, Alan Sunderland, staff have been given permission to attend and to comment on social media but warned to not “cross the line into campaigning for or against any political party or politician, or taking sides in a controversial public debate about funding, charter, privatisation or any other aspect of the debate”.
“Whether we like it or not, the ABC has recently become a political football in a highly contested and politically charged public debate,” they say. “That means we need to take great care to ensure we don’t get sucked into that debate in ways that undermine our reputation.”
The rallies will hear from current ABC broadcasters Jon Faine and Phillip Adams, who will have to play by the rules, as well as the ABC legend Kerry O’Brien, the author Tom Keneally and the comedian Magda Szubanski – who can say what they like.
