The Australian Press Council says it has received a complaint after the Sunday Herald Sun tracked down Senator Jacqui Lambie’s ice-addicted son Dylan and flew to Tasmania last week to interview him.
Journalist Stephen Drill got a scoop: “Dylan Milverton says mum Jacqui Lambie let him down by revealing battle with ice addiction” and an awkward video interview for his trouble.
Dylan told Drill his mother had gone public for political gain: “I wouldn’t mind finding out her side as to why she done that,” he said. “I do believe it was probably for her own political pull.”
The next day in parliament Lambie made a personal statement, which flew under the radar because it was the same day as the Liberal leadership spill. Lambie wasn’t so much upset about the substance of what Dylan had said but that a vulnerable young man had been interviewed at all, and worse, that he had backed out of rehab since the article was published.
“Unlike Mr Drill, my purpose in publicly disclosing controversial personal information about my son was to protect and persuade him to voluntarily accept ice detox and drug rehabilitation … It worked. Early last week, my son contacted me and agreed to treatment, which I immediately organised with the help of a barrister and the staff of Teen Challenge, a national organisation that specialises in drug rehabilitation.
“Everything was going smoothly until Mr Drill contacted my son and interviewed him last Friday. When Mr Drill conducted his interview, my son was vulnerable, drug affected, with diminished capacity and part of an official drug rehab program, having signed a Teen Challenge document two days earlier.”
Lambie added: “The bottom line is that my son would have been in rehab today if Mr Drill had not contacted him.”
Southern Cross skips the rose ceremony on the Bachelor
As the tension builds towards Thursday’s final of reality dating show The Bachelor we do hope Ten subsidiary Southern Cross doesn’t spoil the outcome again.
The station – which broadcasts the network’s programs in Tasmania, Newcastle and Canberra – aired a promo during Wednesday’s program that showed one of the three finalists (Sarah Mackay) had been eliminated.
A Ten spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that Southern Cross made a technical error tonight which they are looking into.”
Thursday night will see The Bachelor Australia’s Sam Wood choose between the last two women standing: Lana Jeavons-Fellows and Snezana Markoski. The show has been doing good business for Ten, attracting about a million viewers per episode and sizzling on social media. But to add to the fun for fans Ten has released an awesome Bachelor Finale Party Pack (pdf). You can download and print out glossy Bachelor bunting, draw your own shirtless Bachelor, and cupcake toppers.
The world according to Stutchbury
Michael Stutchbury, editor-in-chief of the Australian Financial Review, takes what seems to us to be a peculiar approach to his weekly newsletter to subscribers who pay about $900 a year for the paper and website access: he doesn’t showcase the exclusive content he publishes so much as reveal his own views.
In a recent newsletter Stutch says the China free trade agreement is under threat from “the law-breaking Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union” and then helpfully adds CFMEU’s Michael O’Connor “is a former boyfriend of Julia Gillard and the brother of Shorten’s workplace shadow minister Brendan O’Connor: that’s how institutionalised the law-breaking union is within Labor”. He then goes on to accuse unions of racism: “Australian labour movement’s unsavoury history of opposition to Asian workers”.
But our favourite bit is when the newspaper chief wonders aloud about how to cope with the digital revolution, after he has taken part in discussions about the transition from print to digital at the Financial Times’ London headquarters.
“Editors like me wrestle with issues such as how to run our newsrooms when 80% of our stories traditionally have been filed in the early evening when the digital audience peaks before lunch. Hey, I try to get to work by 8.30am these days. I feel like a civilian.” Used to traditional late evening print deadlines, Stutch believes 8.30am is early to get in to work. We doubt the business people who read the paper agree.
“Should the masthead hold back scoops for the morning paper?” he wonders. He is is amazed the FT even has such a beast as a social media editor. “Even a venerable publication such as the FT is seriously into social media to spread its stories widely, employing social media and ‘engagement editors’ in its newsroom,” he says. He finishes his 2,000 word opus by saying he hopes his newsletter helps readers “efficiently cut through the confusion of the internet”.
Scott defends Australian content
The day after he confirmed he would step down as ABC MD in June next year, Mark Scott delivered a strong speech about the threat to Australian content in the global marketplace. Buried in the 5,000 words was a slap aimed at media bosses who had stymied media reform by wining and dining politicians.
“I have heard politicians say they are ready to legislate once media executives have agreed on a course of action,” Scott said in his inaugural Brian Johns AO Lecture. Given the animosity and competitive egos that linger in this sector, this is an unlikely prospect, this millennium at least.
“When policy reform can be stymied by lunches in New York and dinners in Broome then you know that the cycle of inaction will most likely continue. When it comes to media reforms, it has ever been thus.”
Now would the ABC chief be referring to Tony Abbott’s lunch in New York with Rupert Murdoch last year? And is Scott saying Abbott’s private dinner with Seven West chairman Kerry Stokes was more than a cosy get together between friends? Two months before the Broome dinner Abbott had put on hold reforms opposed by Seven West and News Corp which had the support of regional TV networks, the Nine Network and Fairfax Media.
Looking to Turnbull for reforms
With Malcolm Turnbull now installed as prime minister, media chiefs are hopeful some of his proposed reforms as communications minister may start to gain traction again.
The peak body for the commercial networks, Free TV, welcomed Turnbull’s elevation. Free TV chairman Harold Mitchell was even using a familiar tone with the new PM. “Malcolm has a very deep understanding of the industry and the challenges and opportunities it faces,” Mitchell said.
“As Minister for Communications he has focused on getting rid of outdated regulations that are weighing down the industry at a time when there has never been more competition and more services for viewers. We’re sure Malcolm will bring a similar approach to his consideration of these issues in his new role as prime minister and we wish him well.”
