TravelGuides – The winner is … John B Fairfax as the Walkley donor’s Nine quip leads to nervous laughs | Amanda Meade
When you’re handing out $1 million you may say what you want, was the riposte of Nine’s 60 Minutes reporter Sarah Abo to feedback made by former media proprietor John B Fairfax when saying the winner of the Young Australian Journalist of the Year.
“Thank you John, it’s a bit cheeky, but I suppose when you’re giving away a million dollar cheque you could probably get away with sledges like that right?,” Abo, who was internet hosting the mid-yr Walkleys stated. “I won’t tell you I’m a Nine journalist.”
So what did John B say about Abo’s employer Nine Entertainment, which in 2018 merged with Fairfax Media, writer of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age.
“I was happy and delighted for many years to operate quietly under the umbrella of Rural Press,” the direct descendant of John Fairfax stated whereas reminiscing about his well-known title and the years he spent operating the regional journalism empire which didn’t carry his title.
“The Fairfax name was retained for almost 180 years as publishers of quality journalism. That changed with the Nine takeover.”
After some nervous laughter in the room, Fairfax paused for comedian impact and added: “That’s all I said” with a mischievous smile.
John and Libby Fairfax created the Jibb Foundation (which carries a few of the letters of their names) by way of which they donated $1m over 10 years to fund the Young Journalist of the Year Walkley award, together with an abroad journey for the winner and different skilled improvement. The winner of the prime gong this yr was Mridula Amin Amin, who is a part of the ABC’s NSW State information staff and based mostly in the western Sydney bureau. She was awarded for her Radio National Background Briefing story “The hidden park of last resort”.
Also securing a win at the mid-yr Walkleys was Guardian Australia journalist Kelly Burke who obtained the arts journalism award for revealing alleged racism on the set of the lengthy-operating Australian cleaning soap Neighbours.
Standard behaviour
The promoting business couldn’t ban Clive Palmer’s dangerously deceptive anti-vaccination radio adverts final week however they’ve dominated TV commercials that present public urination are a breach of their code of ethics.
A TV marketing campaign by Crazy Domains which confirmed a person relieving himself in public was deemed “illegal, unhygienic behaviour” which breached the Australian Association of National Advertisers code of ethics.
Follow the cash
The Morrison authorities handed out greater than $50m in public curiosity newsgathering grants (Ping) final yr to greater than 100 regional newspapers and broadcasters hit by declines in promoting income due to Covid-19.
In a surprising visible on his media consultancy blog former editor-in-chief and writer at ninemsn, Hal Crawford, revealed the funding distribution is stark: the overwhelming majority of the cash (87%) went to the 10 greatest recipients, beginning with Rural Press at $10.4m, now buying and selling as Antony Catalano’s Australian Community Media.
Meanwhile, we reported this week that the federal authorities refuses to say whether or not certainly one of the greatest grants of $4.5m may have to be paid again partly after the Win Network shed up to 20 workers and axed native TV information bulletins months after receiving the handout.
Connaughton out
Three years after she joined Schwartz Media as editor of The Saturday Paper, Maddison Connaughton is leaving the job and received’t get replaced.
Connaughton provides no clue as to what she is planning to do, saying solely that “it’s the right time to move on”.
Schwartz Media’s editor-in-chief, Erik Jensen, who launched the paper in 2014, will now edit the paper alone.
“Maddison is a skilled editor and it has been a pleasure working with her on The Saturday Paper,” Jensen stated. “I look forward to seeing what she does next.”
ABC’s new prime lawyer
The ABC has lastly discovered a substitute for ABC normal counsel Connie Carnabuci, the prime lawyer who has steered the broadcaster by way of a few of its hardest authorized battles for the previous 4 years.
Weekly Beast can reveal a London-based lawyer, Ingrid Silver, has been recruited from prime 25 international regulation agency Reed Smith’s Film and TV Group, the place she is co-head, and can be part of Aunty in September.
Carnabuci will go away the ABC on Friday, seven months after she gave discover of her resignation. She stayed on to handle the Christian Porter defamation go well with, which is now over as far as the ABC is involved after the former legal professional normal dropped his motion final month.
“This is a key role for the ABC and in many ways a unique role in the Australian media landscape,” ABC managing director David Anderson stated. “Ingrid will bring great depth to the work we do here and is perfectly placed to continue the work done by Connie.”
An excellent trigger
In April we advised you about Crikey’s unprecedented two entrance-web page apologies to Lachlan Murdoch and Christine Holgate for an article by Stephen Mayne which “made certain claims about Mr Lachlan Murdoch’s tenure as a board member of Ten Network Holdings”.
Crikey’s editor-in-chief, Peter Fray, advised Weekly Beast the publication made a collection of errors in the article and he had agreed to “keep the current apology on the homepage for 14 days” and compensate Murdoch and Holgate for his or her authorized prices to the tune of $14,000.
Weekly Beast can reveal that Lachlan donated the $10,000 in prices he acquired from Crikey to Women’s Community Shelters in Sydney underneath he and his spouse Sarah’s names.
“A huge thank you to Sarah and Lachlan Murdoch who have donated $10,000 to WCS,” the shelter’s e-newsletter stated. “Such an amount will provide immediate crisis assistance to 100 women in their first 24 hours in a WCS shelter and we are incredibly grateful for their support.”
Journalism or promoting?
Sometimes the line between editorial and promoting is a high quality one: a narrative on information.com.au a few new grocery store in Sydney was so gushing it might have been written by the firm itself.
“A new Coles store in Sydney’s inner west has left shoppers marvelling over its array of ‘amazing’ features,” way of life editor Rebekah Scanlan wrote.
“The supermarket giant opened doors in Marrickville Metro on Thursday as part of a $142 million expansion to the 40-year-old shopping centre.
“Alongside staple groceries, shoppers have access to a range of new Coles features, including a squeeze-your-own orange juice station, a pet food Scoop & Weigh bar, complete with doggie ice cream, and a self-service coffee station.
“There’s also a mochi, mini gelato and macaron bar as well as a fresh sushi bar that serves hand rolls and sashimi.”
News.com.au editor Lisa Muxworthy tells us the piece was not sponsored content material.
While information.com.au has attracted consideration in the previous for its optimistic protection of chain shops like Kmart and Coles, the News Corp web site has additionally delivered some glorious journalism.
The Our Watch award was picked up at the mid-yr Walkleys this week by information.com.au’s political editor Samantha Maiden. Maiden received for her sport-altering protection of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation. The win by Maiden was significantly satisfying given the extraordinary “hit piece” revealed by the Australian Financial Review which delved into the reporter’s character, childhood and household circumstances and accused her of “angry coverage that often strayed into unapologetic activism”.
Partnership pays dividends
On the identical theme, a brand new program on Sky News Australia, The People Who Built Australia, is an entire new stage of advert.
Each thirty-minute episode explores a distinct business together with mining, banking and constructing. The first episode options Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest speaking about how he turned certainly one of the “most successful businessmen”.
The collection additionally showcases Meriton’s founder and managing director Harry Triguboff and the Commonwealth Bank’s chief govt officer Matt Comyn.
“Modern Australia has been built by some inspirational individuals and companies whose stories of risk-taking and perseverance have rarely been told with such candour,” host Ross Greenwood stated. “Hopefully, their stories will inspire the next generation of Australian entrepreneurs and wealth-creators.”
No guesses who paid for this collection. It’s a “partnership” with Fortescue Metals Group, CBA and Meriton.
TravelGuides – The winner is … John B Fairfax as the Walkley donor’s Nine quip leads to nervous laughs | Amanda Meade