Ah the Tasmanian Media Cartel … isn’t it gorgeous and so wondrously incestuous …
They swap controllers … former Examiner Editor Fiona Reynolds becomes State Manager ABC. Regular movement of journalism staff between ABC and Mercury (ABC State News Editor Andrew Fisher was years ago Mercury Chief Political Writer); seamless movement of Merc Editor Garry Bailey into Morning Presenter Tim Cox’s slot for a week ( Mercury Ed’s Breath Fresh Air … ).
Then again Tasmania is a pretty small pool in which to swim, so I suppose it is inevitable. Doesn’t give you a lot of faith in revelatory independent fearlessness though, does it?
And they don’t all stay in the media pool … remember former Rod Scott’s seamless move from Examiner editorship to Paul Lennon Chief of Staff …
Hag, recuperating as she has been these past several months in a drying out clinic, was reminded of the shallow pool while reading this online comment from one, Greg Standish ( HERE ):
Did you notice on ABC TV’s 11 Oct Australian Story episode “Animal Farm” when Jan Cameron made the comment “Typical Mercury sensationalism” in relation to Mercury newspaper’s coverage of her reward for farm workers to report their bosses in the event of animal cruelty, the ABC omitted Jan’s words from their transcript of the episode? Sound like incestuous ABC Hobart and Mercury inter-vested interests at work there, eh? They’re exchanging reporters all the time. So if the Mercury needs to be brought into line, can one rely on the ABC to correct Mercury’s smear tactics? Sounds instead like ABC Hobart is watching out for Mercury’s interests. http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/animalfarm/default.htm
And, although her memory is severely addled by so much Green Fairy Absinthe over so many years, it also took her back to that noted stoush, which went national all those years ago, at the announcement of former Premier Jim Bacon’s cancer, ( on Jurassic Tasmanian Times, HERE ).
But, Hag, for the first time in years with time on her hands on a Friday and only Dandelion Detox tea to drink whilst normally she would be into the Friday slurp of Green Fairy, has become rather a fan of Airlee Ward’s Stateline. Some bloody good stuff on lately … particularly that Lucy Shannon report on Karen Donnet Jones ( Ed: on TT, HERE ). I’m an old has-been I know Lucy, but it’s worth an award, whack it in the Media Awards my young friend …
Meanwhile, Hag, still with close contacts in that incestuous world, got this internal mail, just recently:
To: DBL-DL-All Staff
Subject: Melbourne Cup Event
We’ve had some staff feedback that plans for the Melbourne Cup Fancy Hat competition next Tuesday are contrary to equal opportunity policy.
As a consequence I have regretfully decided that we should cancel the competition and Melbourne Cup function, rather than cause any divisions. My apologies to those who were looking forward to the event.
Kind regards, Rex
Rex Gardner | Chief Executive | Davies Brothers Pty Limited.
Oh Rex, you should have more courage. Your namesake (Inspector Rex, SBS) would be appalled …
But wait, there’s more …
I have just stumbled upon this outbreak of sycophantic hysteria courtesy of the Australian’s Caroline Overington, and have asked Mr Ed to post: Seriously, I kid you not Sweet Caroline uses the endearing term, The News Family …:
News makes it a family affair
* MEDIA DIARY: Caroline Overington
* From: The Australian
* November 01, 2010 12:00AM
ANY parent of adult children will tell you this, but it’s difficult to get all the kids in the same room once they’ve fled the nest.
That said, it was a beaming Rupert Murdoch who sat down for a black-tie dinner at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney last Friday. All four of his adult children – Prudence, Lachlan, Elisabeth and James – sat with him, sharing the table with his “adored sister” Janet Calvert-Jones, and others from the Murdoch clan, including Lachlan’s wife, Sarah.
The occasion was the News Awards, an event that journalists from other media companies like to mock, to which News Limited reporters respond: “And when was the last time your proprietor threw $100,000 at good journalism?”
It isn’t just the prize money. The awards are the social highlight of the News Limited calendar as the coffers spill open for finalists for one night every October.
It’s a black-tie, champagne-fuelled do, as posh as posh gets. Guests from interstate, whatever their status in the company, stay in suites in five-star hotels, with soft white robes and slippers at their disposal, and breakfast thrown in.
The guest list is restricted to the News family (no politicians, no celebrity guests) and the mood is unashamedly News Limited: it’s buoyant; it’s big-hearted. There are prizes for newspapers big and small; and there’s a two-month secondment in either New York or London for a hard-working young cadet. Also, without fail, there’s at least one speech that is just a touch bizarre.
Actually, make that two.
Mr Murdoch has never missed the News Awards; nor has News Limited chief John Hartigan, and that means the world to employees who go through the wringer for the company (like Andrew Bolt, Cameron Stewart and Paddy Murphy). This year’s guest list also included Mr Murdoch’s son-in-law, Alasdair MacLeod; The Australian’s editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell; and the editor-at-large, Paul Kelly; columnist Miranda Devine (“It’s so good to be home,” she said) and Rod Eddington.
Mostly, though, the party is for the wives and girlfriends, boyfriends and husbands of the company’s staff, who are encouraged to put on their party shoes and come along and enjoy the fun, as a small token of the company’s appreciation of the sacrifices they make while the other half works crazy hours at News.
There were a couple of cracker moments – a big cheer went up when The Australian won Newspaper of the Year (at which point Chris Mitchell quit the black-tie party and made his way back to the newsroom with a crate of beer for staff who were still sweating over the weekend edition); and again when the memoir of a certain “disaffected and bitter former News Limited editor” was raised for mocking. Mr Murdoch presented the big prize, $15,000 for The Australian’s Anthony Klan – who was flown in from New York, where he’s on secondment with the Wall Street Journal – for his dogged pursuit of the waste in Building the Education Revolution, including stories about quarter-million-dollar canteens too small to accommodate a pie oven. Mr Murdoch also gave a short speech, which he started by saying that 2010 had been a tough year for News Limited. For a minute there, it looked like he was going to say something about the global financial crisis, but no, what pained him was more primal than that: this year, Mr Murdoch, who loves newspapers, had to give one up. “We had to give up The Fiji Times,” he said, shaking his head, the sorrow apparent. “We lost a lot of good staff.”
The corrupt government of Fiji made it impossible for News to stay, he said, but hopefully, one day, they’ll be back.
There’s more, if you can cope, HERE
Sorry Caroline, I may be an old Lush, an embittered old Hack … but really … this is enough to turn a girl back to drink …
The Hag
