Category Archives: Australian media

Former Channel Seven reporter Robert Ovadia drops legal case against network

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Sacked journalist steps away from high-profile legal proceedings for ‘personal reasons’, lawyer tells media

The Seven Network has confirmed its former reporter Robert Ovadia has dropped an unfair dismissal case, only days after it claimed in court that more than 13 women had come forward with complaints about his conduct.

Ovadia had dismissed the claims, saying Seven’s “propaganda unit” was seeking to destroy his reputation, but walked away from the case on Friday afternoon without receiving any payment from the network, it said.

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Bridget Archer and Fatima Payman sign letter pushing for total ban on gambling ads as independent MPs urge free vote

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More than 20 parliamentarians – including Jacqui Lambie and Lidia Thorpe – sign letter calling for blanket ban

Some 21 parliamentarians including Liberal MP Bridget Archer and former Labor senator Fatima Payman have joined a push for the government to ban all gambling ads, as independent MPs push for a free vote on a total ban.

The first letter is signed by a group of Greens, the teal MPs and other lower house independents, senators Jacqui Lambie, David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe. It calls for a “blanket ban on advertisements for online gambling”.

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Zionist Federation leader says Australia-based NYT journalist should be sacked over doxed list

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It was an ‘egregious breach of trust’ that Natasha Frost shared logs of Jewish WhatsApp chat with 600 members, Jeremy Leibler says

The Zionist Federation of Australia president, Jeremy Leibler, says the New York Times should sack a Melbourne-based reporter who downloaded and shared from a private WhatsApp group of Jewish creatives.

The subsequent leaking of the WhatsApp group chat, including members’ contact details, photographs and social media accounts, led to death threats, forced one family into hiding and had a profound effect on the 600-odd members, the partner in law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler alleged.

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Gambling levy proposed to help wean Australian media companies off betting ad addiction

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Australia Institute says 2% levy on gambling companies’ revenue would compensate for the loss of $240m in advertising spend

A 2% levy on gambling companies’ revenue would help compensate for the $240m in advertising income that media companies would lose if the Albanese government adopted a total ban.

That is the conclusion of the progressive thinktank the Australia Institute, which will lobby along with the Greens for the levy as part of a broader push for a total ad ban, as recommended by the bipartisan Murphy inquiry, instead of Labor’s proposal for caps during general TV programming.

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Logie awards 2024: ‘television’s most axed man’ Larry Emdur takes gold

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Netflix’s Boy Swallows Universe wins big at Australian television’s biggest night, as ceremony broadcaster Seven takes a battering from host Sam Pang

The Morning Show presenter Larry Emdur has reflected on once being “television’s most axed man” after winning the Gold Logie at the Logie awards on Sunday night.

“I’ve never done anything else, and I’ve never wanted to do anything else,” said Emdur, after winning his first Logie in a 40-year career in which he has fronted everything from The Price Is Right to Celebrity Dog School.

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Guardian Australia wins award for series exposing economic abuse at Centrepay

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Reporters Christopher Knaus and Lorena Allam win outstanding consumer affairs category at Kennedy Foundation awards for excellence in journalism

Guardian Australia reporters Christopher Knaus and Lorena Allam have won an award for a series of stories that revealed the government-run controversial debit pay system was being used as a vehicle for economic abuse.

The reporters won the outstanding consumer affairs category at this year’s Kennedy Foundation awards for excellence in journalism.

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Free-to-air TV in ‘diabolical trouble’ and needs gambling ads to stay afloat, Bill Shorten says

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Labor minister tells ABC’s Q+A that he is ‘not convinced that complete prohibition works’

Free-to-air TV broadcasters are in “diabolical trouble” and many need gambling ad revenue to stay afloat, Bill Shorten has said while arguing against a total prohibition of gambling advertising on television.

On Monday evening, the government services minister laid bare the rationale for Labor proposing to cap gambling ads during general TV broadcasting, a position short of a total ban that has angered health advocates, the cross-bench and its own backbench MPs.

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‘Three or four’ countries involved in foreign interference in Australia including ‘friends’, Mike Burgess says

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Asio director general says some of the countries trying to intimidate diaspora communities ‘would surprise you’

Australia’s spy boss, Mike Burgess, has confirmed that Iran is one of “at least three or four” countries involved in foreign interference in Australia’s diaspora communities.

Speaking on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday, the director general of security in charge of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation said he could think of “at least three or four [countries] that are we’ve actually actively found involved in foreign interference in Australia and diaspora communities”.

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New chair Kim Williams says ABC should be ‘last broadcaster standing’ and News Corp’s criticism is ‘unbalanced’

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Exclusive: Former News Corp CEO says Murdoch company’s obsession with the public broadcaster is ‘fairly unhinged’ and should largely be ignored

Kim Williams, the current chair of the ABC, wants the organisation to be “the last broadcaster standing” and one of his first acts has been to reverse the board’s decision to start reducing the corporation’s radio networks.

“It is not available to the ABC to simply withdraw a variety of broadcast services, like for example Radio National or ABC Classic or Triple J,” Williams told Guardian Australia. “They are part of our responsibility.”

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Labor criticised for meetings with betting companies ahead of decision on gambling ads

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Crossbenchers are furious at reports the government will propose a cap on television ads instead of a total ban

The government has come under fire for consulting betting, sport and media companies ahead of gambling harm advocates, as it prepares to respond to a plan that would ban all gambling ads.

Crossbenchers are furious over reports Labor will propose a cap on television ads instead of a total ban, with the Greens and independents warning anything short of a blanket ban could be amended by a hostile Senate.

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Ceasefire ‘needed desperately’, PM says in joint statement – as it happened

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Q: Will Malarndirri McCarthy, the assistant minister for Indigenous Australians, replace you?

Linda Burney said that was “way above [her] pay grade” but that McCarthy was a dear friend:

The most important thing is for me to support whoever it is in the role and to give them the space to be able to chart their own path … Aboriginal affairs is every minister’s responsibility, not just the minister for Indigenous Australians.

My job is to support that person as much as I can.

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Nine newspapers staff vote for five-day strike on eve of Paris Olympics

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Editorial staff from the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review, the Brisbane Times and WAtoday reject improved pay offer

Journalists employed by Nine Entertainment’s publishing division have voted overwhelmingly to strike over pay from Friday for five days, hampering the company’s coverage of the Paris Olympic Games.

Nine is the official broadcaster of the 2024 games, paying $100m for the broadcast rights for this year alone.

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Man dies after trying to drive truck on to NSW ferry; global sea ice levels hit record low – as it happened

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Q: Why target the individuals when it’s state policy?

Penny Wong said the Australian government has been “clear in terms of state-to-state relations about our view on settlements”.

They are unlawful under international law. We’ve been clear about that … We have also said that we want to continue to take steps towards a two-state solution.

That may not be the view of some people in the Israeli government, but that is the view of the Australian government.

These individuals have been involved in violent attacks on Palestinians, including things such as beating, sexual assault and torture, resulting in serious injury and in some cases death.

We have imposed these after careful consideration and we would expect that all Australians would recognise the weight of these.

Settlements are unlawful under international law. We are continuing to act in ways that we can to look to how we protect a pathway to a two-state solution, and part of that is to ensure we also impose penalties who perpetrate violence against Palestinians.

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‘Significant assault’: two staff from Nine’s Olympic broadcast team attacked in Paris in suspected robbery

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The incident follows the alleged sexual assault of an Australian tourist in Paris last weekend

Two Nine Entertainment staff members in Paris to cover the Olympic Games have been attacked in what colleagues have described as a suspected robbery of a “serious physical nature”.

Nine reporter Christine Ahern said the two staff members were working in the international broadcast centre in the northeastern suburbs of Paris and were walking back to their accomodation on Monday afternoon when they were attacked by a group.

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Michael Stutchbury resigns as editor-in-chief of the Australian Financial Review

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Publication’s longest-serving editor calls time amid unrest at Nine Entertainment over job cuts and and latest pay offer

The editor-in-chief of the Australian Financial Review, Michael Stutchbury, will step down after 13 years in the role, amid a shake-up at Nine Entertainment that will see 200 jobs cut across the media company.

Stutchbury, 67, will be replaced next month by James Chessell, the former executive editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age.

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Beer advertisements shown to kids during streamed TV programs like Lego Masters

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David Pocock urges government to fix gap in the law after 28 complaints, but Labor says it will not support amendment

Independent senator David Pocock is urging the government to fix a gap in the law that allows alcohol to be advertised during children’s television programs when streamed rather than using a traditional TV aerial.

Pocock has identified 28 complaints about alcohol being advertised during programs including Lego Masters, Australian Idol and The Voice and during the broadcast of Carols in the Domain around segments featuring Disney characters and The Wiggles.

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Nine Entertainment staff pass no-confidence motion over chief executive after announcement 200 jobs will be cut

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Chief executive Mike Sneesby says ‘economic headwinds’ and end of Meta deal are to blame for lost jobs

Staff at Nine Entertainment passed a motion of no-confidence in chief executive Mike Sneesby on Friday afternoon and are preparing to take industrial action, after Sneesby announced that 200 jobs would be cut from the company.

Sneesby told staff he is cutting 200 jobs due to the “economic headwinds” facing the media, with up to 90 positions to go on legacy mastheads the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and the Australian Financial Review.

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Shorten says NDIS ‘too important for political games’ after bill blocked – as it happened

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Wong rejects Birmingham’s criticism, says US alliance ‘deep and strong’

Asked about her Liberal counterpart Simon Birmingham’s criticism of Anthony Albanese’s phone call with Julian Assange and his claims that the deal to release Assange has “damaged” the US-Australian alliance, Penny Wong says:

That’s not not correct and disappointing that Simon would go to the alliance. He would know that our relationship with the United States is deep and strong.

And that is why we were able to advocate in the way we did. And ultimately, the pathway to resolving this, … had to be through the resolution of the legal process.

Dr Yang remains a priority for our government. We continue to raise his case with the Chinese authorities at all appropriate levels and we will continue to do so. It was obviously raised, as you know, when Premier Li was here.

What I would say is today I am very pleased to see Mr Assange reunited with his family in Australia.

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Network Ten requests Bruce Lehrmann pay $200,000 security against cost of appeal

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Network asks court to dismiss appeal if Lehrmann fails to comply if such an order is made

Network Ten is asking a court to dismiss Bruce Lehrmann’s appeal against his defamation defeat if he cannot pay the broadcaster $200,000 in security.

In April, Justice Michael Lee found the former Liberal staffer was not defamed by Lisa Wilkinson and Network Ten when The Project broadcast an interview with Brittany Higgins on 15 February 2021 in which she alleged she was raped by a staffer. Lee found on the balance of probabilities Lehrmann raped Higgins on a minister’s couch in Parliament House in 2019.

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Shadow energy minister says system in ‘dire trouble’ – as it happened

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Australia needs more gas supply on east coast, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese is speaking to the ABC from Devonport.

We’ll work those issues through with Aemo.

We need more gas supply. We announced our future gas strategy a short while ago because we understand that we need more supply. Gas has an important role to play in manufacturing in particular. But also in providing firming capacity for the renewables rollout.

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