Category Archives: Australian media

News Corp comparing ABC to Netflix subscription ‘unbalanced and agenda-driven’, broadcaster chair says

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In strongly worded statement, Kim Williams says allegations in Murdoch-owned tabloids ‘do not stand up to scrutiny’

A claim in News Corp publications across the country that the public broadcaster costs taxpayers more than a Netflix subscription is an “inaccurate, unbalanced and agenda-driven attack on the ABC”, the ABC chair, Kim Williams, says.

On The Daily Telegraph’s front page, an inside page and an editorial on Friday, the Murdoch tabloid alleged the ABC “costs Australia’s 11.5m households $105 each a year, compared to $96 for an annual Netflix subscription” and “failed to reach 10.6m Australians”.

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Pressure from ‘higher up’ at ABC to sack Antoinette Lattouf from very first day on air, court hears

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ABC manager who had approached Lattouf for temporary hosting role told the court she had ‘tried to stop them’ from firing journalist

There was pressure from “higher up” in the ABC to sack Antoinette Lattouf from the very first day she was on air, Lattouf’s line manager has told the federal court.

Elizabeth Green, the ABC manager who had approached Lattouf for the temporary hosting role, told the court she had “tried to stop them” from firing Lattouf but that “there was pressure coming from higher up”.

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Streaming giant broadcast ads for offshore gambling company during A-League match

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Exclusive: Paramount+ blames an international feed for the 8Xbet ad’s broadcast, while the regulator is considering action

Streaming giant Paramount+ broadcast ads for an offshore gambling company known for its bikini-clad croupiers during an A-League match last week in a potential breach of advertising rules.

Ads for the gambling company 8Xbet were digitally imposed on the sidelines of a match between Wellington Phoenix and Brisbane Roar in New Zealand on Thursday.

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‘I will find you and end you’: vicious death threat against Antoinette Lattouf revealed in court documents

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Journalist details abusive messages in affidavit to court hearing unfair dismissal claim

After being taken off air by the ABC over a social media post, Antoinette Lattouf was phoned by an anonymous man who threatened “I will find you and end you and shut your antisemitic mouth once and for all”, the federal court has been told.

In an affidavit released by the court on Wednesday, Lattouf detailed dozens of death threats and abusive and threatening messages she had received since December 2023 when she hosted ABC radio’s Sydney Mornings program.

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The ‘speedo’ beats the Worm as commercial TV catches federal election fever | The Weekly Beast

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Seven reveals its latest psephological device as the network makes an early start on election coverage. Plus: Daily Telegraph’s tiny correction for big maths fail

The date for the federal election has not been set but that hasn’t stopped the Seven network from unveiling its Election Needle, a gimmick resembling a car’s speedometer which they say will predict whether Anthony Albanese or Peter Dutton is winning the election.

The network that brought you the “Screen of Dreams” and “The Panic Station” during the 2022 race between Scott Morrison and Albanese rolled out the Election Needle’s first prediction this week.

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Australians who get most of their news from social media more likely to believe in climate conspiracy, study finds

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Exclusive: Monash University study suggests those who rely more on newspapers and public broadcasters more likely to score highly on ‘civic values’

Those who believe global heating is a conspiracy get most of their information about news and current events from commercial and social media, according to a study by researchers at Monash University.

The study, led by Prof Mark Andrejevic and Assoc Prof Zala Volcic, found that those who relied on social media as the main source of news scored lower on a measure of “civic values” than people who relied on newspapers and non-commercial media.

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ABC executive who sacked Antoinette Lattouf departs broadcaster

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Exclusive: Chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor’s role was substantially downgraded by Kim Williams

The ABC’s chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, will leave the ABC after his role was substantially downgraded by the new ABC chair, Kim Williams.

Oliver-Taylor’s tenure was marred by the fallout from his decision to sack the casual Sydney radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf.

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Kyle & Jackie O Show drew nearly half of all decency complaints on Australian radio in last financial year

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Exclusive: Kiis FM show promises to ‘behave’ in 2025 as regulator reveals 146 complaints made to broadcaster about material in 2023-24

Almost half of all complaints made in the last financial year about decency standards on Australian radio were about The Kyle & Jackie O Show, the Guardian can reveal.

In the 2023-2024 financial year, 321 complaints were made to radio stations across Australia about “material not suitable for broadcast”. Of these, 146 complaints (45%) were about The Kyle & Jackie O Show.

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ABC names Hamish Macdonald as new Sydney Mornings radio host after dumping Sarah Macdonald

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Decision not to renew former presenter’s contract triggered angry backlash from listeners and colleagues

Hamish Macdonald will replace Sarah Macdonald as host of ABC Radio Sydney’s Mornings program, two months after listeners and staff reacted angrily to the axing of the popular female presenter.

In November Sarah Macdonald revealed on air that her contract would not be renewed after two years in the slot, sparking a backlash and delaying the announcement of a replacement.

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Michael Rowland to leave ABC News Breakfast after ‘15 years of 3am starts’

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The 55-year-old is the program’s longest serving male co-host, and hinted in September that he was ‘looking forward to something less intense’

After 15 years of waking up at 3am to host ABC News Breakfast, Michael Rowland is calling it quits.

The co-host of the public broadcaster’s breakfast offering has told viewers his final show will be on 13 December, followed by a long break.

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Laughter and tears as fans farewell ABC radio host Richard Glover after 28 years on air

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Host of ABC Sydney Drive wanted to highlight ‘joy in the everyday’ rather than report on ‘terrible things’

In the competitive world of talk radio Richard Glover is the great survivor who stayed on top and chose the manner of his exit after almost three decades on ABC radio.

The former Sydney Morning Herald journalist has owned the Drive slot in Sydney for 26 of his 28 years on the ABC, offering listeners a mix of hard news, insightful interviews and what he says is the “silly and stupid” that makes up the life of a city.

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Meta is ‘reckless’ in ‘need-to-know situations’, Canada warns Australia as it braces for early bushfire season

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Heritage minister says Facebook made ‘room for misinformation’ after turning news off in 2023 as Australia mulls actions that could lead to Meta doing the same

Twelve months on from Canada’s worst-ever wildfire season unfolding during a news blackout on Facebook, the nation has warned Australia about Meta’s “reckless” behaviour during “need-to-know situations”.

An early start to Australia’s bushfire season is looming for swaths of the country, with large parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory, the south-west of Victoria and south-east corner of South Australia facing higher risk, according to an official assessment in September.

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Alan Jones charged with 24 indecent assault and sexual touching offences against eight victims

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Former Sydney radio host – who has previously denied all allegations against him – charged over incidents that allegedly occurred between 2001 and 2019

The former Sydney radio host Alan Jones has been charged over alleged historic indecent assault and sexual touching offences spanning two decades.

Jones was arrested by New South Wales police after a “long, thorough, protracted” investigation at about 7.45am on Monday morning at a unit in Sydney’s Circular Quay.

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Fears for local news diversity if rightwing startup buys Southern Cross regional TV network

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Fringe news streaming channel ADH TV, which launched with Alan Jones at the helm, confirms offer for 93 regional free-to-air stations

Diversity of local news may be at risk if a rightwing startup, ADH TV, is given the green light to purchase Southern Cross Austereo’s regional television network, an expert has warned.

Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has confirmed it has received an offer from the fringe streaming news channel to buy its 93 regional free-to-air TV stations. The digital broadcaster, which is chaired by the former ABC chair Maurice Newman, was launched in December 2021 with the former 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones at the helm.

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2GB’s Ben Fordham pulls out of Liberal event, saying he didn’t realise it was fundraiser for party

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Nine radio star says he speaks to political organisations, Scouts, charities and preschools but draws the line at political promotion

Nine’s 2GB radio host Ben Fordham has pulled out of a Liberal party fundraiser in Kirribilli, saying he did not realise the event was raising money for the political party when he accepted the invitation to speak.

“Kirribilli Branch is honoured to be joined by Ben Fordham, Sydney’s No.1 radio presenter,” the invitation said. “Ben will provide a review of the major stories he has uncovered and covered this year and the very important election year on the horizon.”

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Media hysteria around Sofronoff report fuelled ‘mob mentality’, Bruce Lehrmann prosecutor Drumgold says

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Exclusive: Former ACT director of public prosecutions plans to return to NSW bar after painful experience of losing his ‘dream job’

The ACT’s former director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold believes “something went terribly wrong” with the Sofronoff report on Bruce Lehrmann’s prosecution, which resulted in Drumgold losing his “dream job”, a court battle over its findings and a subsequent integrity commission investigation.

Drumgold says media “hysteria” into the report’s findings fuelled a mob mentality against him, in what he described as a “terribly painful process”.

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ABC to review editorial policies after investigation finds gunshots ‘inadvertently’ added to Afghanistan footage

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Director of news Justin Stevens apologises for ‘editing errors’ in the video clips

The ABC will review its editorial policies after an independent review found five additional sounds of gunshots were “inadvertently but inaccurately” introduced into footage showing a commando firing from a helicopter.

But the review by the former ABC editorial executive Alan Sunderland said there was no evidence that anyone at Australia’s national broadcaster “deliberately doctored, falsified, manipulated or distorted information, material or evidence in order to mislead audiences”.

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Respawned: Queensland magazine the Cane Toad Times takes aim at a post-truth world

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It emerged from the slime of the sunshine state during Bjelke-Petersen’s oppressive regime. Now it’s back – but can it survive more sensitive times?

A man whose pseudonym is Johnny La Rue is holding a yellowed magazine with two toad-headed lovers embracing on the front. He reads aloud a headline that would likely trigger a firestorm on social media were it written today.

“Who wrote that?!” he exclaims.

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Australia news live: PwC reveals it sacked eight staff over data breaches; Perth man dies after being taken to police watch house

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Court to rule in Pauline Hanson-Mehreen Faruqi case

A federal court judge is ready to rule on whether Pauline Hanson made a racial slur when she told Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to go back to Pakistan.

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ABC chair says pressing ‘digital titans’ for revenue is a ‘mainstream democratic imperative’

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Kim Williams says funding local news and public interest journalism is crucial in a world where ‘the distortion of culture poses such a grave threat to democracy’

The tech giants must be pursued for a cut of their substantial revenue to fund journalism in order to fight disinformation and “navigate the dangerous world”, ABC chair Kim Williams has said.

Last week a parliamentary committee recommended the government impose a tech tax on companies like Meta and Google as well as establish a fund to help traditional news media organisations.

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