The mystery of how Chris Kenny, associate editor of the Australian and supporter of border protection policies, was granted a visa to Nauru when others have been refused remains. The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has not been very helpful, saying only: “I’m not sure what assistance, if any, was provided”.
But Weekly Beast has managed to get an answer of sorts from Nauru’s justice minister, David Adeang, who admitted that visas were handed out at his “discretion”. We asked Adeang if Kenny and the Australian’s photographer Kelly Barnes had paid the standard $8,000 fee each or if it had been waived.
Adeang replied: “The government does not publicly discuss the details of individual visa applicants or what fees were paid, however, like any government, [Nauru] has the discretion to allow or disallow any person entry to our country on any terms that are appropriate.”
He did confirm the government had helped to organise interviews with officials and a tour of the island, but after that Kenny was free to explore on his own. Kenny and Barnes also dined with the Australian high commissioner, Martin Quinn, and his wife at the Bay restaurant in Anibare, and met Adeang himself, Beast has confirmed.
Chris Kenny’s herogram arrives amid News Corp’s corporate shuffle
Kenny was rewarded for his Nauru journalism by a bouquet from the top of News Corp Australia, in the form of a herogram from group editorial director Campbell Reid. In the internal memo obtained by Weekly Beast, Reid said Kenny’s story was “the best thing I have read this week”.
“One of the basic rules of journalism is that reporters should talk to the actual subject of a story,” Reid said. “It’s called getting to the truth of the matter yet it’s extraordinary how many commentators and critics dislike it because the truth so often gets in the way of their chosen narratives.”
Sadly for Reid it was to be one of his last pronouncements as editorial leader at Holt Street headquarters, with a direct line to Rupert Murdoch in New York. This week Reid was shuffled sideways to the position of director of corporate affairs and content innovation.
It is the first restructure since Peter Tonagh and Michael Miller were installed as chief executive and chairman respectively by News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson in June.
With a remarkable ability to speak with one voice, Tonagh and Miller said in a statement: “This role brings together the joined themes of telling the story of News Corp’s enduring contribution to Australia while also ensuring that contribution is secured for the future through creative use of our content and a reinforced position in the Australian community.”
Satirical Onion eclipsed by real onion
In our rush to tell you about all the political books coming out soon about Tony Abbott, we failed to mention the one which will probably fly off the shelves first – as a Christmas stocking filler at least.
The three serious tomes – from Niki Savva, Aaron Patrick, and Peter van Onselen and academic Wayne Errington – are joined by a slim volume titled Australian Leader Eats Raw Onion Whole: Headlines From the Government That Broke Satire.
Published by Black Inc and compiled by comedy writer Evan Williams, the book is inspired by the Onion. But the headlines are real. Evans says as a comedy writer the headlines left him “paralysed” because he was “unable to see a way to make things funnier than they already were”. Some examples:
- Barnaby Joyce threatens to euthanise Johnny Depp’s dogs
- Abbott says Turnbull ‘invented internet’
- Senator Glenn Lazarus will be good for federal parliament, says his mum
- Labor frontbencher Gary Gray eats his own hair in parliament
- Prime minister eats another raw onion, choosing it over caramelised onion quiche
- People have a right to be bigots, says Brandis
- Remote communities are ‘lifestyle choices’, says Tony Abbott
Pash-off at the MEAA
Voting in the Copyright Agency board elections closes on 23 November, and members of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance have been strongly encouraged to support one candidate.
“MEAA’s national media section committee has nominated long-standing MEAA member Adele Ferguson – book author, Gold Walkley winner and senior Fairfax journalist – for the position of author director on the Copyright Agency board,” the union said in a special notice to members. “We urge all MEAA members who are also members of the Copyright Agency board elections to vote for Adele in this important role.”
But there are two other candidates: David Day, endorsed by the Australian Society of Authors (ASA), and ASA board member and Business Insider business editor Chris Pash. Pash, as a member of the MEAA, is furious the journalists’ union has used its resources to promote Ferguson but has not afforded him the same courtesy.
In correspondence seen by Weekly Beast, union leader Paul Murphy rejected any suggestion of discrimination but has refused to send out Pash’s pitch for the job to members.
“As an organisation we are entitled to endorse a candidate and to advise members of that decision,” Murphy said. “We are under no obligation to communicate in the way you have suggested and will not be doing so.” He admitted he was “unaware” Pash had nominated “until it was mentioned to me in conversation with someone from the ASA some weeks ago”.
For the record, here is Pash’s pitch: “The Copyright Agency is on a slide, its revenue base under threat and its performance unsatisfactory. Revenue has been deteriorating for the past five years, not even keeping up with inflation. And costs have been steadily rising, spending more and more to not even stand still. It needs a shake-up. The organisation has to refocus, support creators and learn to thrive in a digital world. It can be done but hard decisions have to be made.”
A family affair on the Mitchell highway
Finally, a couple of interesting hires. Fairfax Media has hired journalism academic Julie Posetti for the new role of digital editorial capability manager, “responsible for designing learning strategies and delivering capability building solutions to strengthen digital editorial and foundation editorial skills across primarily the SMH, AFR and Age”.
We’re not sure what that means, but we do know Posetti was famously threatened with legal action by the Australian’s editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, for tweeting about his newspaper at a conference. He never did sue.
Meanwhile, the Oz has hired another media writer after losing many of its team members in recent years. Jake Mitchell comes from the Australian Financial Review where he was hired as a trainee in 2012 and where he has built a reputation as a tenacious media reporter and editor of Street Talk. We do wish him luck, though it won’t be easy covering the media beat for the Australian when your father is Chris Mitchell.
