With Channel Ten in voluntary administration and a new lease of life largely dependent on changes to media laws, the network’s morning show Studio 10 took matters into its own hands. Looking down the barrel of the camera, the show co-host Sarah Harris asked the opposition parties to support the government’s media reform package. “These laws need to change,” she said, asking them to change their votes, with not a hint of self-interest.
Relaxing rules that prevent a company controlling more than two of three radio, television and newspapers in an area could make it easier for Ten to find a buyer. “Today we call on Bill Shorten, Pauline Hanson and the Greens to reconsider their positions and support local jobs,” Harris said. “Politicians have been warned of the dire consequences if media laws aren’t changed and yesterday those predictions were proven correct. It’s now more important than ever that you make these changes before it’s too late. And for all of our viewers who’ve been in contact, thanks for your lovely messages. But don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere.”
Short and curly
Harris shares the hosting duties with Joe Hildebrand, editor-at-large at news.com.au and former Daily Telegraph columnist. While Jessica Rowe applauded Mia Freedman for apologising for her treatment of Roxane Gay, Hildebrand piped up to say he was infuriated by the response to the podcast and appalled at the criticism of Freedman for wondering whether Gay would “fit in the office lift”.
For him, Freedman was just trying to help, although he did say he wouldn’t have revealed the behind-the-scenes information. “Clearly her intent was good; far from not intending any offence she was actually going out of her way to say this is what it’s like,” he said. “She said she was only talking about stuff that was already in this woman’s book. Obviously the preparations for the meeting were pretty onerous and obviously quite frustrating from Mamamia’s point of view. I don’t understand when people deliberately ignore or misinterpret the intent of something.”
Rightwing broadcaster and The Project regular Steve Price also thought it was a lot of fuss about nothing and made his own short gag. “I can reveal something,” Steve said on Studio 10. “I am sitting on a cushion and I am short, and you asked me if I wanted one. Did I have a problem with that? No.”
Ten out of ten for weird
One of the more bizarre outcomes from Ten’s financial collapse is the response of the rightwingers who have blamed it all on The Project and more specifically co-host Waleed Aly. Searching the Ten hashtag on Twitter, Weekly Beast discovered that Cory Bernardi and Fred Nile were not the only ones who were blaming the channel’s woes on the supposed leftwing bias of The Project, the program’s support for same-sex marriage or Aly’s interview with tennis legend Margaret Court. There were others who welcomed the voluntary administration because it would be the “last we see of the terrorist sympathiser” Waleed Aly.
Perhaps the lesson to be learned from Channel Ten is that the more a network leans left, the faster viewers desert it 2/
— Eileen Toomey-Wright (@ToomeyWright) June 14, 2017
Margaret Court's church alive and well.
— Fred Nile (@frednile) June 14, 2017
Channel 10 & @theprojecttv dying.
Maybe try listening?#FixNetworkTen#teamnile
If Ten is hard up for money I am happy to serialise my Weekly Dose of Common Sense as a TV show #LookOutWaleed #FixNetworkTen
— Cory Bernardi (@corybernardi) June 14, 2017
Fairfax great hailed
Many great journalists will leave Fairfax this month but not many are as widely admired as the Age’s political editor, Michael Gordon. On Thursday Gordon left the paper’s bureau in Canberra for the last time but not before he was lauded by both sides of politics for his contribution to journalism which began when he got a cadetship aged 17. Fairfax’s Canberra bureau had a farewell for Gordon at China Plate in Kingston earlier in the week, and politicians present and past sent farewell messages to be read out to him.
Former prime minister Paul Keating said Gordon “has left a mountain behind”, referring to his life’s work. “Michael’s journalism is characterised by perhaps journalism’s most fundamental tenets: to dispassionately assemble facts, to present them in a digestible and intelligent way, to give the reader the credit of understanding their import and to allow the reader the opportunity to come to a conclusion – without the story needing artificial colouring.”
Malcolm Turnbull said it was a sad day for the Age and for the Canberra press gallery: “Michael, you’ve always struck me as a writer with an elegant pen and a big heart; someone who saw journalism as a means for making a difference, not merely a living. We will miss you – and I say that even after reacquainting myself with some of your most recent columns!”
Bill Shorten said Gordon leaves the Age “rightly recognised as someone who always sought and spoke the big truths ... Mick’s work as a political correspondent was peerless and timeless and I’ve always found him honest and fair”.
Fellow Age veteran Tony Wright, who is thankfully not taking a redundancy, gave a heartfelt speech which brought tears to many eyes. At the next table were Liberals Marise Payne, Simon Birmingham and George Brandis who may or may not have enjoyed listening to all of this.
Telegraph blasts ‘living and breathing satire’ of Bondi
The Daily Telegraph once had the slogan “We’re for Sydney” but maybe it should more accurately be “We’re for Sydney except for Bondi and Blacktown”. This week Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid insulted both the eastern suburbs and the western suburbs of Bondi and Blacktown, as well as Auburn, Orange, Dubbo and Liverpool. “Bondi has morphed into the dickhead capital of the world,” the Tele reported this week. “Home to the last remaining demographic that can afford Bondi’s rent and housing prices — trust-fund twentysomethings and investment bankers — Bondi has become a living and breathing satire.”
Then the paper revealed the top 10 suburbs for “bludgers” based on government figures handed to them exclusively. “Blacktown is NSW’s top bludger hotspot and, nationally, comes second only to the Queensland town of Caboolture,” the Tele “exclusive” said. “With 333 people consistently failing to turn up to work-for-the-dole appointments or jobseeker interviews in the last year, Blacktown has the highest rate of welfare noncompliance in the state.
“It is followed by Dubbo, Auburn, Orange and Liverpool, according to a list of shame released by the Turnbull government as it moves to crack down on welfare recipients taking taxpayers for a ride.
ABC beggars Bernardi’s belief
Cory Bernardi and Andrew Bolt are very upset that the ABC is broadcasting Al Jazeera for two hours a day. Bernardi, now the leader of the Australian Conservatives, said the channel is Islamic propaganda. “Al Jazeera have been long-term propagandists for the Islamic world and the Qatari government have been linked to state sponsoring of extremist behaviour,” Bernardi told the Australian. “Why our national broadcaster would feel it necessary to engage with those two bodies beggars belief.”
Sky News host Bolt is also unhappy that the national broadcaster programs two hours a day of AJ English, which is funded by Qatar. He asked rather subtly on his blog why the ABC was broadcasting news from “terrorist backers”.
Well Andrew, we hate to break it to you but Foxtel, the platform your Sky News program appears on, is the official broadcaster of Al Jazeera English in Australia and runs the channel 24 hours a day.
