All eyes are on Mumbrella, again. The publication, once a must-read of sorts for media and marketing professionals across Australia, has spent the past week self-cannibalising.
It all started last week with the abrupt departure of editor Shannon Molloy, a former news editor at News Corp’s REA Group, who Media Briefs understands left amid charges of corporate overreach from Mumbrella’s parent company, Diversified Communications.
Since taking the helm just three months ago, Molloy tried to restore Mumbrella’s news-breaking bona fides, and in that short period, the publication was showing signs of returning to just that. But management, it seems, wasn’t having it. Come Monday, Mumbrella announced Molloy’s departure on the site as it would any other appointment, declaring the divergence a mutual parting of ways couched in language that could have read as though Molloy had been sacked.
On Tuesday, Molloy wrote in a LinkedIn post: “I resigned. It was my decision. It’s as simple as that. I won’t go into detail about the reasons why, except to say that at this point in my career (and life) I’m clearer than ever about the values and core principles that really matter.” Molloy declined to comment.
Sources familiar with Diversified Communications — an events company that bought Mumbrella from its founders in 2017 — told Media Briefs that the clash of values between the two parties was unsurprising. During his time as editor, Molloy had overseen stories that broke news on the Victorian government’s plans to scratch its newspaper advertising spending, and others that were more judicious in their coverage of the industry, which sources said the publication under Molloy’s predecessor had covered with growing obsequiousness.
One example that could offer unique insight into the relationship breakdown, sources speculated, was a report on the departure of chief creative officer Ben Coulson from the ad agency HERO, which was framed in the context of a company brain drain. Both Coulson and the agency’s founder, Ben Lilley, jumped in the comments to hit back at the story.
“Hey Lauren, didn’t expect this to be news today. No shocks or headwinds; we planned it far in advance. The agency is well set up, clients and staff were all properly informed, with time to adjust. Ben Lilley is at the helm, and HERO is in great shape,” Coulson commented.
That kind of thing, for a company with a narrow focus on its events portfolio, was strictly out of bounds, Media Briefs understands.
As much was made clear in recent months by Diversified Communications’ head of commercial strategy, Mike Morris, who became known to issue editorial directives to Mumbrella staff by email, even when Morris conceded there was limited news value in following them. These directives, sources say, signify the parent company’s broader interest in pumping up the tires of larger industry players — along with its fundamental disregard for how a newsroom ought to operate.
Morris did not respond to a request for comment.
On Wednesday, Mumbrella announced a “new editorial strategy”, ahead of the departure of its editorial director Damian Francis, who will leave the company later this month to take on “a significant role” away from the business. Until the company can find a long-term replacement, the hosts of the FEAR & GREED podcast will lead Mumbrella’s editorial team. We wish them well.
ABC ditches X
The ABC has decided to dispense with a number of its X — the platform formerly known as Twitter — accounts. The ones that survived, though, don’t include ABC Indigenous or the ABC Emergency accounts.
The broadcaster said on Wednesday there are “multiple reasons” for the decision, most notable among them that it had moved ahead with the closure of three program accounts back in February, with “negligible reduction in referral traffic” from the platform to the ABC’s website. The accounts closed earlier in the year included Insiders, News Breakfast and ABC Politics.
“The vast majority of the ABC’s social media audience is located on official sites on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, with TikTok forecast to have the strongest growth over the next four years,” ABC managing director David Anderson told staff in an email. “We want to focus our effort and resources on where our audiences are.”
The X accounts that will stay include @abcnews, the account responsible for driving the most traffic from X to the ABC’s various platforms, along with @abcsport, @abcchinese and @abcaustralia.
“X is introducing charges which are making the platform increasingly costly to use. Also, we have found that closing individual program accounts helps limit the exposure of team members to the sometimes toxic interactions that unfortunately are becoming more prevalent,” the ABC said in a statement.
“Concerningly, X has reduced its trust and safety teams.”
X-owner Elon Musk responded to the news in a post to the platform: “Well of course they prefer censorship-friendly social media. The Australian public does not.”
The news
News Corp staff blindsided by company’s use of AI to produce articles for ‘years’ (Crikey)
ABC has spent more than $700k settling defamation battles since 2020 (Crikey)
Disney trims streaming losses, but broader business challenges persist (Axios)
Matildas’ win over Denmark was the most-watched TV show of 2023 (AFR)
Smart TV showdown on cards as networks fine-tune pitch to Canberra (SMH)
Aussie film sector doubles to $4.5b, but Hollywood strike impact looms (AFR)
SBS adds five new language services as migration delivers new audience (SMH)
News Corp kills major Accenture-advised advertising platform project (AFR)
Fox Remains Committed to Cable-TV Bundle (WSJ)
ESPN Signs Sports-Betting Deal With Penn Entertainment (Bloomberg)
Paramount to sell Simon & Schuster to KKR for $1.62 billion (Reuters)
The moves
- The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have swooped for The Australian’s David Swan, who Media Briefs understands has just signed on as the new tech editor for both papers. He replaces Nick Bonyhady, who left for the Australian Financial Review in June.
- The ABC’s chief people officer, Dharma Chandran, has handed in his notice and will step down from his post at the end of January 2024.
