Channel Seven’s Spotlight won scoop of the year for an interview with the husband of Melissa Caddick without disclosing to the Kennedy Awards that Anthony Koletti was paid $150,000 to speak to journalist Michael Usher.
Thank you. And grateful. https://t.co/8cEvo0SZDl
— Michael Usher (@michaelusher) August 12, 2022
Anna Magnus, the general manager of the Kennedy Awards which handed Usher and Seven producers Mark Llewellyn and Taylor Auerbach the Rebecca Wilson award for scoop of the year for Melissa Caddick: The Vanishing last month, said the Kennedys’ board would review its policy on asking entrants if they had engaged in chequebook journalism.
“To date, entrants have not been asked to disclose whether they have paid for an interview or information,” Magnus told Weekly Beast after the inquest into the death of Caddick heard Koletti was paid $150,000 for the interview.
“Each year, the board conducts a review of the award categories and judging criteria. The Kennedys are reviewing the position about disclosures.”
Australia has a rich history of chequebook journalism. Nine paid disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson $75,000 in 2015 – also revealed in court – and more recently forked out $2m for exclusive access to the family of abduction survivor Chloe Smith. Networks are always coy about confirming payment, but sometimes it’s out of their control – which is what happened to Seven this week.
According to the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s code of ethics, which also applies to the Walkley Awards, “you must do your utmost to ensure disclosure of any direct or indirect payment made for interviews, pictures, information or stories”.
A condition of the Walkleys is that: “Entrants must declare if the creation of the work involved payment for information or an interview”.
The Kennedys have been known as the Bogan Walkleys since a quip at last year’s awards by the Australian Financial Review’s Michael Roddan, who was thrown out of the venue for making “the affectionate joke”. It was the same night Sky After Dark’s Peta Credlin won an award for current affairs reporting.
You can watch @7NewsSpotlight’s major exclusive Melissa Caddick: The Vanishing in full here: https://t.co/H3w8rdSxds https://t.co/4xCnI51IRb
— Taylor Auerbach (@tauerbach) September 27, 2022
After Sydney Morning Herald reporter Kate McClymont tweeted from the inquest the disclosure that Koletti had been paid, Auerbach responded with a link to the program, a move McClymont said was “shameless”.
A Seven spokesperson told Weekly Beast: “The story complied with all conditions of entry.”
Beer fridge gets hop-along
Some of the grumpier members of the ABC’s Canberra parliamentary bureau have not taken kindly to a decision by their new manager to end the tradition of running a beer fridge in the parliament house office.
While parliament’s non-members’ bar was closed years ago, beer fridges in the various bureaux in the press gallery have persisted and some reporters like to crack open a beer occasionally at the end of a big day.
“At the risk of being the beer fridge grinch I am retiring the bureau beer fridge when the current stock runs out,” the manager told ABC staff on Thursday.
“Last year’s Jenkins review into the toxic culture in Parliament House called out significant alcohol use and a work hard, play hard culture.”
The reference was to Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, who recommended a significant overhaul of federal parliament’s toxic workplace culture after finding sexual harassment was widespread.
“I am certainly not implying that’s the case here but I do think it does compromise our reporting of the culture in this building if we are still running a beer fridge and encouraging people to drink in our workplace. It’s no longer acceptable to drink alcohol in the office these days.
“Happy to keep the use of alcohol in the bureau to special occasions but not as a daily event.”
The gallery is awash with chatter about the terrible imposition of not being able to drink at work.
Q+A’s puzzling choice
The ABC may want to reconsider inviting veteran broadcaster Alan Jones on Q+A after host Stan Grant had to interrupt him mid-sentence and apologise to an Indigenous woman in the audience who had asked a question about hostility towards First Nations.
After likening the voice to parliament to apartheid, Jones said “I’ve coached Aboriginal people, I’ve put my hand in my pocket for Aboriginal people.”
Since Anthony Albanese's Garma speech, Alan Jones has suggested the Voice would constitute a third chamber. Constitutional law experts have rejected the claim. Submit your question via the #QandA website. | @abcnews @ABCFactCheck https://t.co/rDqBWHRkHA pic.twitter.com/rtRysEFFF0
— QandA (@QandA) September 26, 2022
But it was when Jones questioned the policy of self-management for Indigenous communities, saying “what do you do about the violence, the appalling violence towards women, in the Northern Territory?” that he was stopped.
Grant jumped in to interrupt Jones and say “we are having this conversation in front of an Indigenous woman” and to note that he heard “the distress in [her] voice in asking the question”.
Fascist or not?
News Corp can’t seem to decide whether the new Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni is fascist or not.
"(Meloni's) politics are not fascist but rather a rebuke to an establishment liberalism that has lost its way since the end of the Cold War and now demands high migration, low emissions, and fealty to woke 'men can have babies' gender ideology."https://t.co/Zi0NqsZIkO
— James Morrow (@pwafork) September 27, 2022
After several pieces which argued the Brothers of Italy candidate was not a fascist, including one from Daily Telegraph political editor James Morrow, came one from news.com.au which listed all the reasons she is a fascist.
The website, which, it has to be said, often breaks the mould, listed her remarks about immigration, race and gender which have made people worried. “There’s a reason one woman is being described as ‘a danger to Europe’,” Rohan Smith wrote. “Her fascist roots and radical far-right beliefs have many worried.”
It’s a far cry from the Australian’s foreign editor, Greg Sheridan, who wrote a piece with the blunt headline: Relax, Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy aren’t fascist.
Home truths
You’ve got to hand it to the Australian Financial Review for never letting the circumstances of a house sale stand in the way of a good property story. “The house of missing fraudster Melissa Caddick could fetch well above $10 million, amid scarce supply of luxury homes and strong demand from ultra-high net worth buyers, experts say,” the AFR reported.
“‘Given it sold for $6.4 million in 2014, I would say it is likely it will sell for over $10 million given how fast Sydney property has moved since then,’ said Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee.”
The house of missing fraudster Melissa Caddick could fetch well above $10 million, reports @nilasweeney. https://t.co/ZCM5yV55xf
— AFR Property (@AFRproperty) September 27, 2022
There was no other mention of the disappearance of Caddick or the impact the circumstances may have on potential buyers.
All change for ABC 7pm news
There are a few changes coming to ABC News. The extended Sunday night 7pm bulletin is being cut back from 40 to 30 minutes.
“The Sunday night edition of the 7pm news will be 30 minutes from 23 October, aligning with the duration of the other six nightly news editions,” a spokesperson said.
In 2014, state and territory current affairs was supposed to be covered in the 10-minute slot when the local editions of 7.30 were axed after major cuts by the Coalition government.
ABC sources say the additional 10 minutes was not needed as most local news and audiences are on digital platforms now, and many people switched off at 7.30pm anyway.
It is good news for ABC TV programming, however, as entertainment shows can now start at 7.30pm, beginning with the documentary Inside the Sydney Opera House on 23 October.
Incoming milestone alert! For 20 years I’ve had the honour of presenting the 7pm @abcnews for NSW. I’m taking some extended leave to celebrate, and the wonderful Jez Fernandez will step in. You’ll also be seeing some talented new faces at 7pm - please make them welcome. pic.twitter.com/GeB9N2YQbv
— Juanita Phillips (@Juanita_Phillip) September 29, 2022
And for NSW audiences, Sydney newsreader Juanita Phillips has announced she is taking a break after clocking up 20 years fronting the bulletin; Jeremy Fernandez and “some talented new faces” will be stepping up.
