Category Archives: Australian media

Veteran Australian political journalist David Barnett dies aged 90

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Barnett spearheaded the first official Canberra bureau of Australian Associated Press more than 50 years ago

Veteran federal political journalist David Barnett, who spearheaded the first official Canberra bureau of Australian Associated Press more than 50 years ago, has died aged 90.

Barnett became the national newswire’s first bureau chief in 1971 overseeing two journalists in what is now called Old Parliament House.

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John Tingle, journalist and founder of NSW Shooters party, dies at 90

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Daughter and ABC presenter Laura Tingle pays tribute to her father who she says was her ‘greatest urger-on, fan and critic’

John Tingle, a journalist, broadcaster and founder of the Shooters party, has died aged 90.

Tingle’s daughter and ABC journalist Laura Tingle posted the news of his death on Saturday morning and paid tribute to her father.

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Only ‘ideology or fear’ would push a government to attack ABC, Anthony Albanese says

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PM marks public broadcaster’s 90th birthday with a defence of its importance and thinly veiled attack on former government

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Only a government ruled by ideology or fear would attack the ABC, Anthony Albanese has said at the 90th birthday celebration of the public broadcaster in Sydney.

In a thinly veiled attack on the former Coalition government’s fraught relationship with the ABC, the prime minister on Friday evening said a strong independent broadcaster was vital to democracy and brought Australia together as a nation.

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Rupert Murdoch’s flagship Australian newspaper deletes story on sex life of British royal

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The Australian’s online youth section, The Oz, published salacious gossip about a royal based on an unverified online rumour site

It is known as the most conservative newspaper in Australia but on Friday Rupert Murdoch’s national masthead ventured into the surprising territory of highly salacious and unsubstantiated gossip about the British royal family.

Minutes after the Guardian asked the editor-in-chief of the Australian, Christopher Dore, to comment on why the unusual article purportedly about a royal’s sex life had been published, it was taken down.

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Health department defends Australian Covid vaccine ads criticised as ‘very hard to find’

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Health expert says health videos contain key messages but it’s difficult to find and share them

The Department of Health has defended its $11m advertising campaign for Covid vaccine boosters in response to concerns the communication began too late and is not prominent enough.

The health minister, Mark Butler, last month launched a six-week winter advertising campaign to encourage Australians to get vaccinated for Covid and influenza, and to raise awareness of antiviral medication for those who contract Covid.

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Judith Neilson’s daughter and lawyer join institute’s board after directors quit in protest

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Billionaire’s plans to change direction of the media-focused organisation she funded sparked board unrest

The Judith Neilson Institute has appointed the billionaire philanthropist’s lawyer and daughter to the board as Neilson cements her control of the $100m in journalism support she pledged in 2018.

The two new directors – daughter Beau Neilson, the creative director of Phoenix Central Park, and lawyer Daniel Appleby, a director on the Judith Neilson Head Trust – were appointed at a JNI board meeting on Thursday.

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Justin Stevens apologises to ABC staff after report finds workplace racism

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ABC’s news director emailed staff on Thursday following internal allegations over experiences of racism at the broadcaster

The ABC news director, Justin Stevens, has apologised to staff after a “disturbing” report found some Indigenous and culturally diverse staff have experienced racism at the national broadcaster.

“These things should never happen,” Stevens said in an email to all news staff on Thursday.

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Encrypted messaging apps should be regulated to tackle extremism, Victorian inquiry hears

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Experts say spread of misinformation and use of encrypted services drives far-right extremists and racism

The federal government needs to take action against encrypted messaging apps like Telegram to curb the rise of far-right extremism, a Victorian inquiry has been told.

Dr Belinda Barnet, a media lecturer at Swinburne University, told a hearing that far-right extremists had initially been sharing hateful content on mainstream sites such as Facebook and Twitter but were increasingly being deplatformed.

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Whoopi Goldberg joins international backlash over Sydney Morning Herald’s treatment of Rebel Wilson

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Editor Bevan Shields has now accepted full responsibility for the paper’s coverage and apologised for the delay in acknowledging mistakes were made

The international backlash against the Sydney Morning Herald over its reporting of Rebel Wilson’s new relationship with fashion designer Ramona Agruma has intensified, with celebrities including Whoopi Goldberg now criticising the masthead.

Columnist Andrew Hornery and Herald editor Bevan Shields have this week apologised after Wilson was given a two-day deadline to respond to plans to write about the relationship.

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Columnist apologises after being accused of trying to out Rebel Wilson

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Andrew Hornery, gossip columnist for Sydney Morning Herald, says he regrets how he handled the story

An Australian newspaper columnist has apologised after being accused of trying to out the actor Rebel Wilson.

Andrew Hornery, who writes a gossip column for the Sydney Morning Herald, said he regretted how he handled the story – which has been characterised as an attempt to expose the sexuality of the Pitch Perfect star.

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‘Our reputation is trashed’: anonymous staffer criticises SMH management over Rebel Wilson coverage

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Email sent to all reporters states ‘our newsroom has become the story’ but editor Bevan Shields insists ‘we are a great masthead’

Anger about the Sydney Morning Herald’s reporting of Rebel Wilson’s new relationship has boiled over into the newsroom, with an anonymous staffer sending an email to colleagues claiming the paper’s reputation was being “trashed”.

“Here we are again – our newsroom has become the story,” the email sent on Monday afternoon stated. It referenced a February controversy when the editor, Bevan Shields, wrongly insisted a train network shutdown ordered by the state government was a strike.

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Radio host set up meeting with Teacher’s Pet reporter and NSW police commissioner, court told

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Police ‘stonewalled’ questions from podcast host Hedley Thomas on Lynette Dawson case until Ben Fordham intervened, judgement reveals

Talkback radio host Ben Fordham brokered a meeting between an investigative reporter and then New South Wales police commissioner, Mick Fuller, to discuss a podcast series on a missing Sydney mother, according to a 2020 court judgement which can now be reported.

Fuller then directed other officers, including the detective investigating the alleged murder of the woman, Lynette Dawson, to attend the meeting with The Australian’s Hedley Thomas, after NSW police had “stonewalled” earlier inquiries by Thomas, according to the decision.

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Rebel Wilson: Sydney Morning Herald removes column and apologises over reporting of actor’s new relationship

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SMH columnist admits mistakes after complaining about being gazumped on story about Wilson’s new girlfriend Ramona Agruma

Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery has admitted he made mistakes in his approach to Australian actor Rebel Wilson’s new relationship, her first with a woman.

After complaining on Saturday about being gazumped on a story about Wilson’s new partner, Ramona Agruma, Hornery has written a new column apologising for his reaction and saying he will take a different approach from now on. Saturday’s column has been removed and replaced with the new one.

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Nine airs 60 minutes investigation that Sydney cosmetic surgeon tried to block in court

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NSW supreme court dismisses Dr Joseph Ajaka’s application to force Nine Entertainment to hand over draft story by journalist Adele Ferguson

Nine has broadcast its 60 Minutes investigation into a prominent cosmetic surgeon on Thursday night after Dr Joseph Ajaka lost his second legal attempt to have the program hand over draft copies before it aired.

The New South Wales supreme court dismissed a second application from Ajaka for Nine Entertainment to hand over copies of its investigation by the award-winning journalist Adele Ferguson.

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Channel Ten reporter Tegan George expands bullying claim against network and Peter van Onselen

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George cites social media posts by network’s political editor in updated claim, which Ten and Van Onselen have strenuously denied

The Channel Ten political reporter Tegan George has expanded her bullying claim against the network, alleging it has failed to stop Peter van Onselen from “tormenting” her in social media posts.

In February George accused the Ten political editor of undermining and humiliating her, including by backgrounding other journalists against her, according to the statement of claim filed against the network in the federal court.

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Liberal-led Senate inquiry into ABC and SBS abandoned

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Ita Buttrose previously branded investigation of complaints handling ‘an act of political interference’

A Liberal-led parliamentary inquiry into the complaints handling processes of the ABC and SBS will not go ahead.

The environment and communications Senate committee officially dropped its inquiry on Thursday after the completion of an independent review of the procedures.

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Australian federal election 2022 live: Plibersek says Albanese has a ‘tough job’ as polls tighten

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AEC concedes some Covid-positive Australians ‘may not be able to vote’: prime minister responds after Labor announces policy costings; Covid and illness lead to drop in working hours; nation records at least 52 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s developments live

Scott and Jenny Morrison are visiting Whitemore in the Labor-held electorate of Lyons in Tasmania this morning.

Brian Mitchell holds Lyons on a margin of 5.2%, although his buffer was inflated by the disendorsement of his Liberal opponent mid-campaign in 2019 for anti-Islamic social media posts. Morrison is still on the offence, seeking gains to offset expected losses elsewhere.

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Craig McLachlan allegedly threw tantrums and threatened Rocky Horror Show cast members, court told

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Defence barrister tells defamation trial McLachlan had ‘tendency to get angry easily’

Craig McLachlan has been portrayed in court as an allegedly powerful and angry lead actor who threw tantrums, threatened cast members and physically abused actresses.

Defence barrister Michael Hodge QC on Friday took a defamation trial jury through several incidents in which McLachlan, 56, was alleged to have been furious at supervisor directions, musicians missing cues and fellow actors changing their performances without notice.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: witness expected to deny wrongdoing in killing of Afghan villager

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Person 11 to give evidence on allegation by newspapers that Roberts-Smith kicked handcuffed man off cliff before ordering him shot

An Australian soldier alleged by three newspapers to have participated with Ben Roberts-Smith in the “joint criminal enterprise” of murdering an Afghan villager named Ali Jan is set to appear in the federal court this week as a witness for Roberts-Smith in his defamation action against the newspapers.

Anonymised before the court as Person 11, the SAS’s soldier evidence will be critical to Roberts-Smith’s case over the events in the village of Darwan on 11 September 2012, when Roberts-Smith is alleged, by the newspapers in their defence, to have kicked a handcuffed Ali Jan off a cliff before ordering him shot.

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Witness agrees with Ben Roberts-Smith that no fighting-aged men were inside tunnel, court hears

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Absence of people in tunnel key to Roberts-Smith’s claim in defamation action that alleged war crimes couldn’t have taken place

The soldier who discovered the infamous tunnel in Whiskey 108 says there were no fighting-aged males hiding inside, backing Ben Roberts-Smith’s version of events of a fiercely contested mission in Afghanistan, the federal court has heard.

Roberts-Smith’s fourth soldier witness, a still-serving warrant officer anonymised as Person 29, gave evidence on Wednesday about a 2009 SAS raid on a compound known as Whiskey 108 in the village of Kakarak – an insurgent redoubt in Afghanistan’s southern Uruzgan province.

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