There was one person notably absent from Phillip Adams’ farewell on the Dot Strong Terrace in Ultimo on Wednesday when the managing director, David Anderson, honoured the Late Night Live host’s contribution to the ABC over 33 years.
The ABC chair, Kim Williams, a towering intellect like Adams, stayed away, while executives including the chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, gathered to say goodbye.
It was perhaps a wise move given Adams has been rather frank in his assessment of the man he fell out with three decades ago.
“I’m already on the record as not being a great fan of Kim Williams,” Adams told Weekly Beast. “Kim and I have a lot of history. I’m not happy that he got the big job.
“Although Kim wouldn’t have been my first, second or third recommendation, I wish him well in trying to save the joint. It’s in pretty terrible shape.”
Adams went on to explain his Radio National program suffered from technical glitches due to a lack of support and old equipment, a claim later backed up by a former producer who told the gathering the decision to get rid of the technical operators a few years ago was “devastating”.
It’s true Radio National has not received a lot of support from the ABC’s leaders in recent years so it was heartening to hear Williams say last week he believed it should be renewed as the flagship of intellectual ambition.
You can watch the final Late Night Live, recorded with Laura Tingle, on iview.
Adams will continue to write his weekly column for the Australian. This week, Adams wrote he had been dumped on the footpath outside the ABC on Harris Street, Ultimo, but “as an advocate of voluntary euthanasia, I’ve gone willingly. I suspect I’ll suffer from PBD (post broadcasting disorder) and RD (relevance deprivation), although I may dull the pain of the latter by suing someone for defamation.”
X factor
Anderson gave a rare insight into what it’s like to be grilled by senators at estimates committees, describing how he was regularly asked about Adams’ latest post on Twitter, now known as X.
“I’ve been at Senate estimates and heard the inevitable: ‘David, have you seen what Phillip Adams has posted?’,” Anderson said.
“Senate estimates is where humour goes to die. I can’t remember the exact post, Phillip, but you did bring humour into my life in a very dark moment.
“On a personal note, I can now remove the file with his name on it from my Senate estimates brief and we can end the search for the rightwing Phillip Adams.”
For those who don’t remember, the phrase “the rightwing Phillip Adams” was coined by the former prime minister John Howard in 1996 when he said: “I think the ABC would do itself enormous credit if it had a rightwing Phillip Adams.”
Adams told Weekly Beast the comment gave him “job security” for many years because the ABC didn’t dare drop him after such a public statement by a PM.
But it also gave rise to a string of so-called rightwing Phillip Adams hosts which management installed over the years under pressure from the right: Imre Salusinszky, Tim Blair, Tom Switzer, Michael Duffy and former Howard minister Amanda Vanstone have all graced the RN airwaves.
Unlucky Seven
Just like News Corp Australia last month, Seven West Media has divided its business into three divisions. Unlike News Corp, Kerry Stokes’ outfit announced its plans publicly.
While the News Corp restructure emerged via leaks, Seven put out a statement and named the executives who were leaving the company, although it was more coy about the number of staff who were axed.
SWM has been divided into television, digital and, curiously, a separate division called Western Australia.
The company has reportedly made up to 150 staff redundant including three top executives: chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette; chief marketing and audience officer Mel Hopkins and the head of sport and MD of Seven Melbourne, Lewis Martin.
The turmoil at Seven started with the departure of chief executive James Warburton in April and the elevation of the company’s chief financial officer, Jeff Howard.
The financial pressure at Seven is being felt across the media industry, which has seen a decline in advertising revenue and the pending loss of an injection of cash from Meta’s news media bargaining code, which was reportedly worth $15m to Seven.
A parliamentary committee, which heard this week the government has been war-gaming scenarios for if Meta pulls news from Facebook and Instagram, will take evidence on Friday from Australian executives from Meta, TikTok and Google.
On Wednesday, Howard was open about the extent of loss to the company from the departing executives: “Combined they represent more than 65 years of experience at Seven and it is always very disappointing when such changes have to be made.”
On Friday, Nine Entertainment followed suit, announcing the shedding of 200 jobs due to the “economic headwinds” facing the media.
Greene day
There was mixed reaction to Sarah Ferguson’s interview on the ABC’s 7.30 program with Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia congresswoman who compared Donald Trump to Jesus in recent weeks.
The influential Republican was invited to speak about Julian Assange, as one of the US advocates for his release, but the lengthy interview changed markedly when questions turned to her support for Trump.
I’ve never been to Australia, but I’ve always wanted to go.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) June 27, 2024
I’m sure the Australian people are wonderful just like the American people.
The Australian press however, clearly mindless robots muttering the same stupid talking points from their government masters.
Just like ours. https://t.co/0OfRNRWnpM
Taylor Greene: “Sarah, Sarah. Are we talking about Julian Assange?”
Ferguson: “It’s a question about the rule of law.”
Taylor Greene: “Are you even a serious interviewer? I thought that we were talking about Julian Assange here today.”
Ferguson: “We are.”
Taylor Greene: “That’s what you were asking me to come on your Australian news show … I don’t usually do interviews like this, because people like you can’t be taken seriously.”
Some were critical of 7.30’s decision to invite the divisive figure on the program given she is a conspiracy theorist and controversialist; others praised Ferguson’s cool handling of the clash.
Then there were the fans of Taylor Greene, like Sky News host Liz Storer, who praised the congresswoman’s reaction: “That congresswoman wasn’t taking a bar of it from the ABC’s Ferguson.”
Tuckered out
Paul Sakkal, a political reporter for the Age and Sydney Morning Herald, had his own bizarre clash with another far-right US figure, Tucker Carlson, when he covered his appearance at the Canberra croquet club on Tuesday.
Sakkal asked whether the former Fox News host felt embarrassed that he conducted an interview with Vladimir Putin, which was described by the Russian dictator as softball.
But the question was interrupted repeatedly by Carlson, who was supported by interjections from the rowdy crowd.
“He’s so bad!” Carlson said before Sakkal could get his question out. “Did he make you take the Covid shot?”
Meet the Australian media. pic.twitter.com/IyiEqihPkb
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 26, 2024
When Sakkal said the vaccines saved millions of lives, Carlson demurred.
“Oh, yeah. Safe and effective. This is why everyone loves the media!” he said. “It’s like a time capsule. It’s like you’re the last Japanese soldier on Okinawa thinking the war’s still going on. No, it didn’t save millions of lives.”
A frustrated Sakkal eventually asked: “Can I get the full [question] without interruption?”
Like Taylor Greene, Tucker posted the exchange on X, with a common response from his supporters being “this is a master piece on how to deal with media”.
