There’s one thing guaranteed at the annual “prestigious” News awards for journalism. A News Corp Australia journalist will win every category. Judged by News Corp editors, and usually attended by Rupert and/or Lachlan Murdoch, the in-house awards will be handed out across company mastheads at a gala ceremony on 8 November.
Among the nominees announced this week were Kristin Shorten, Matt Cunningham and Claire Harvey for the Australian’s coverage of the acquittal of Northern Territory policeman Zachary Rolfe over the 2019 shooting of Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu.
“The Australian has picked up a slew of nominations for the prestigious News awards, which showcase the best work published this year by News Corp journalists serving and advocating for Australian communities,” the Australian reported.
Back in March the Indigenous affairs officer at Media Diversity Australia, Gomeroi woman Madeline Hayman-Reber, said the Australian’s reporting, which included multiple negative stories about Walker and body camera footage from the night he was killed, was “a national disgrace”.
“The coverage has breached and ignored cultural protocols that were clearly set out by Kumanjayi Walker’s family prior to the commencement of Zachary Rolfe’s murder trial,” Hayman-Reber said.
The 10 News First presenter Narelda Jacobs, a Whadjuk Noongar woman, and the ABC’s Indigenous affairs editor, Bridget Brennan, also criticised the coverage.
Looking like it could be a News sweep at the News awards this year. pic.twitter.com/3apSqRbdas
— Dominic Kelly (@dominickelly_) October 7, 2022
In an editorial the editor-in-chief, Christopher Dore, justified the reporting as the “unvarnished truth”.
“Romanticising life on remote communities does not make it less bad for those who are experiencing neglect or terror,” the editorial says. “The unvarnished truth is what is needed to protect the innocent and bring about change.”
In the category for best scoop the Australian’s Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers earned a joint nomination for “their revelation that former prime minister took on five portfolios during the pandemic”, the newspaper reported.
But the authors of Plagued initially only revealed two portfolios in the book, with the Australia burying the story and framing the extraordinary move by Morrison as “an elegant solution to the problem they were trying to solve”. They didn’t seek to ask other former ministers if they knew or approved of the power grab.
That was left to the political editor of news.com.au, Samantha Maiden, who churned out a series of scoops over the following days which elevated the move to a major political scandal.
All credit due
Which brings us to the more inclusive awards, the Walkleys, which also revealed its list of nominees this week, including two interesting nominations in the category of Scoop of the Year.
“Simon Benson, Geoff Chambers and Samantha Maiden, the Australian, ‘Ministry of Secrets’,” was one finalist, which had us wondering if the Gold Walkley-winning Maiden had jumped ship to the Australian.
The finalists for All Media: Scoop of the Year, supported by @9NewsAUS, are: Simon Benson, Geoff Chambers (@Chambersgc) and @samanthamaiden, @australian; @KirstyLNeedham, @Reuters; @BevanShields, @smh. #walkleys pic.twitter.com/kvq3IDgYtp
— Walkley Foundation (@walkleys) October 13, 2022
It was Maiden, you will remember, who revealed that the portfolios Morrison appointed himself to included the resources portfolio.
Weekly Beast understands the Australian invited Maiden to include her follow-up scoops in a joint entry, although it was the Australian and not news.com.au that was credited as the publisher. However, after we contacted the Walkleys to ask about the entry, we were told it was a typo and news.com.au has been added to the entry.
Another nominee in the scoop category is Bevan Shields, the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald who was at the time the Europe correspondent. Shields is a finalist for his piece “I don’t think, I know” where the French president, Emmanuel Macron, accused Scott Morrison of lying to him.
Shields’ question “Did he lie to you?” at a doorstop elicited the now infamous quote. Which just goes to show a scoop can come from anything – from investigative journalism to asking a question at a doorstop. Which reminds us of the time John Lyons garnered a Walkley nomination for a series of tweets.
Can you win a Walkley merely by tweeting? Best coverage of a live event? Asking for a friend. https://t.co/kJivJnZVG5
— Barrie Cassidy (@barriecassidy) June 5, 2019
The chief executive of the Walkley Foundation, Shona Martyn, said the finalists were impressive across “hotly-contested categories in a big year for news and current affairs”.
The investigative journalism category has a strong line up of stories including Adele Ferguson, Joel Tozer, Klaus Toft and Lauren Day’s for their coverage of cosmetic surgery (Nine and Four Corners) and Nine’s Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer and Amelia Ballinger’s “The downfall of the gaming industry”. Hedley Thomas, David Murray, Isaac Irons, and Slade Gibson from the Australian have been nominated for their podcast “Shandee’s Story”. The winners will be announced at a gala dinner at the ICC in Sydney on Thursday November 17. Best of luck to all the finalists.
Ready for take-off
The former ABC broadcaster Quentin Dempster has picked up a few gongs in his long career, including the Order of Australia for services to the media and a Walkley for the “most outstanding contribution to journalism”. But now the dark horse has been been named the winner of Airbnb’s “best unique stay” for his property The Winged House on the Tasmanian coast. Dempster’s property, which goes for more than $500 a night, was designed by Richard Goodwin to look like a plane taking off from the edge of a cliff. He told traveller.com.au it was a passion project he started after he downsized his Sydney property.
Chain reaction
Australian reporter Anna Coren and Daniel Hodge, a British cameraman, apologised to the families of victims and to the people of Thailand on Monday for their CNN report on the nursery killings in north-east Thailand, which included footage of bloodstains from the crime scene they had entered without permission from police.
But Australian viewers would remember another infamous Coren apology, back in 2007, when she was the host of Seven’s tabloid TV show Today Tonight.
Coren had introduced a story about an elderly woman who was chained to her cupboard in an aged care facility: “As we go to air tonight this 84-year-old grandmother remains locked up in her nursing home room chained to a cupboard. So what has she done to deserve this?”
As it turned out the woman was not chained up but was the victim of a Today Tonight stunt, as Coren revealed the next day in her apology.
“Now we need to set the record straight,” Coren said.
“Last night we featured a report on 84-year-old Shirley Frey, a nursing home resident locked in a battle with the operators of the home. That battle continues. Today Tonight reporter Nicholas Boot took a chain with him to illustrate the fact Shirley felt like a prisoner in her room,” Coren said. “We regret the action of this journalist and are investigating this matter internally. We apologise to our viewers if you felt misled.”
While Boot lost his job over the incident Coren survived, leaving for CNN the following year.
Exceptional circumstance
The media is usually barred from identifying parties in custody disputes under the Family Law Act, which is designed to protect children from press scrutiny. But the family court made a rare exception in the case of a missing boy, Hoang Vinh Le, and allowed the police to talk to Nine’s A Current Affair, enabling the program to report extensively on the missing child. The two-year-old was located safe and well in Sydney late last month and has been reunited with his grandmother, the Australian federal police reported.
Have you seen this baby? We're continuing to look for missing child Hoang Vinh Le, born 21 June 2020. Vinh was removed from the care of his maternal grandmother on 9 April 2021 in Canberra by his parents. Contact Crime Stoppers, 1800 333 000, quoting AFP reference 6779918. pic.twitter.com/rmxdbpy69J
— AFP (@AusFedPolice) August 4, 2022
A spokesperson for the family court told Weekly Beast that Justice Shane Gill allowed the publication of the child’s story by the AFP and ACA because he believed it could aid in his recovery.
#EXCLUSIVE: Missing baby Hoang Vinh Le has been FOUND alive & well, more than a year after his parents said they gave him away. Tonight only on @ACurrentAffair see the incredible reunion with his grandma Kim, and hear from the dedicated cops who helped bring this little boy home. pic.twitter.com/sfdA8awyQF
— Hannah Sinclair (@hansinclair9) October 11, 2022
AFP Det Supt Andrea Humphrys told ACA, in a story about the child being reunited with his grandmother, that the public and the media played a crucial role in finding Vinh.
“This was a classic case where that opportunity to engage media, A Current Affair, social media, proved really helpful in terms of getting public support to help find Vinh,” Humphrys said.
SMH all wrapped up in The Everest
On Saturday the Sydney Morning Herald carried a four-page colour wraparound “The Everest Carnival”, which featured five news articles and two large advertisements for Saturday’s TAB Everest horse race.
On Tuesday the paper was again wrapped in a four-page promotion for the horse race, written by the masthead’s sports reporters and accompanied by front-page and back-page ads.
The Herald was particularly interested in the race this year, running a lot of copy, including a puff piece with the Racing NSW chief executive, Peter V’landys, on Wednesday about the number of drones he had in the sky to promote the race.
“‘We’ve got the best harbour in the world and we’ve always said we’d showcase it,’ V’landys told the SMH. “‘What better way than with this spectacular barrier draw. And one thing I’ve always said: we’ll never stop the boats.’
“And there’s not much stopping The Everest at the moment.”
We asked if any of the copy was advertorial. The SMH said the coverage was all editorial.
