When Luke McIlveen was asked in 2010 to name the journalists he most admired, the then-Murdoch editor said radio shock jock Ray Hadley was the “most influential and effective working journalist in this country”; and he mocked storied journalists David Marr and the now-late Liz Jackson along the way. At the time McIlveen was a rising star at News Corp and given his first masthead – the Manly Daily – to edit, and was keen to display his credentials as a no-nonsense leader with a passion for tabloid journalism.
This 14-year-old article in the Australian’s media section, “Ten Questions with Luke McIlveen”, was just one of the historical articles nervous journalists at the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age were passing around last week when Nine Entertainment said McIlveen, also the founding editor of Daily Mail Australia, had been appointed executive editor. The unashamedly downmarket operator who revelled in mocking so-called worthy journalism was now in charge of the Herald and the Age.
Appointed to the key role by his friend and fellow former News Corp journalist Tory Maguire, McIlveen is no stranger to jumping camps. A decade ago he famously walked away from News to join the Daily Mail in Australia, where he engaged in a public war with his old colleagues over who was lifting more copy from rivals.
The former media writer who wrote the Ten Questions article for the Australian was, ironically, Nine publisher James Chessell, who walked away from Nine late last year, making way for Maguire to take over as publisher and McIlveen to take her old job.
Tricky territory
The first item on McIlveen’s to-do list might be to sort out the drama at the Age surrounding culture editor Osman Faruqi, who took leave last year after a disagreement with management over its response to staff around the signing of an open letter to Australian media organisations calling for ethical reporting on the war in Gaza.
The Herald and the Age banned staff who signed the letter from having any role in covering the war, which – just quietly – has caused some practical issues with production.
The tension over management’s response to the letter led to both Faruqi and environment reporter Miki Perkins resigning, but Faruqi was talked down and sent on leave, sources told Weekly Beast.
Perkins, a senior journalist at the Age, is understood to have quit because of Nine’s response to the union-backed letter, but only said publicly she had moved on to seek “broader horizons”.
Faruqi was approached for comment.
ABC divisions
ABC chief David Anderson may have been thrown under the bus by his former head of current affairs, John Lyons, over the corporation’s Gaza coverage, but the managing director does have the support of another high-profile journalist: 7.30 host and staff-elected director Laura Tingle.
Anderson is understood to be dismayed that Lyons, who he appointed global affairs editor, criticised the ABC’s directives for coverage of the war at a union meeting instead of raising it with him.
He said as much when he told ABC radio this week: “I’ve been in touch with John and encouraged him to get in touch with me directly if he’s got concerns with that.”
An ABC news union meeting last week attended by more than 200 people narrowly passed a vote of no confidence in the managing director, with just over 100 people supporting the motion.
Tingle, who took part in the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance meeting and took extensive notes to brief the board, did not support the motion.
“While many staff deeply care for the ABC, there is a wide range of views about how best to deal with issues it faces and what is the best way to register those concerns with senior management and the board,” she told Weekly Beast.
Tingle and the ABC’s board later rejected the union vote, with outgoing chair Ita Buttrose saying the suggestion Anderson did not support the broadcaster’s journalists was “abhorrent and incorrect”.
The union meeting was called in response to a claim by Antoinette Lattouf of unlawful termination on the grounds of political opinion. The case is before the Fair Work Commission and final submissions were due on Friday.
Anderson denied the ABC was pro-Israeli in its reporting.
“Nor do I think we’re pro-Palestinian in this – we’re certainly not pro-Hamas,” he told ABC radio. “The line that we need to tread is to be accurate and impartial at all times, to be objective in what it is that we do, and I believe that we do that.
“I don’t see systemic bias at the ABC. I haven’t in the five years that I have been managing director. There are times when we don’t get it right and we own up to that.”
End of an era
Weekly Beast can reveal the legendary ABC broadcaster Phillip Adams, who has hosted Late Night Live on Radio National for 33 years, will retire before the end of the year due to poor health. Adams will be 85 in July and has been hosting LNL since 1991.
The former advertising executive and Australian film industry pioneer, who writes a regular column for the Weekend Australian, is arguably the most-loved broadcaster at the ABC and his listeners, who he refers to as “Gladdies” a reference to his imaginary single listener “Gladys”, will miss his in-depth interviews and irreverent style.
Tele gets huffy
The Daily Telegraph and other outlets did not shy away from publishing multiple intrusive photographs of a Sydney woman who was bitten on the right leg by a suspected bull shark in Elizabeth Bay on Monday.
There were two Tele front pages with close up shots of Lauren O’Neill on a stretcher being treated by onlookers.
So we were surprised by the paper’s huffy response to the leaking of a graphic photo of her injured leg from the hospital.
“Shark victim’s sensitive photo leaked from hospital: urgent probe,” the Tele reported.
“A private, graphic photograph of shark attack victim Lauren O’Neill’s leg is at the centre of an investigation after it was leaked from inside a hospital.
“The sensitive photo, which has been circulating in online chat groups and on social media, shows a gaping wound on Ms O’Neill’s lower right leg as she lies on a hospital bed.
“The Daily Telegraph has chosen not to publish the picture.”
It has since emerged a New South Wales ambulance staff member was allegedly responsible for leaking the image that was circulating on social media.
NYT scaled back
After opening with great fanfare in 2017, the New York Times’ Australia bureau has quietly been wound back and its future is now under review.
The Australia bureau in Bondi has closed and bureau chief Damien Cave has taken on additional duties as an international correspondent writing about Taiwan, China and Ukraine, although he is still responsible for directing Australian coverage.
Along with Cave, Natasha Frost, whose main gig is writing the Times’ weekday newsletter, the Europe Morning Briefing, is the only other Australia-based reporter. Several members of the bureau, including Yan Zhuang, who was employed in 2020, have moved on to other roles and much of the reporting on Australian issues is now out of the Times’ breaking news hub in Seoul.
Zhuang wrote late last year: “My time with the Australia bureau is coming to an end – soon, I’ll be moving to Seoul to join the Times’s breaking news hub there– and I’ve been reflecting on a job that has allowed me to see and write about the best and worst of Australia, and all the weird, zany and amazing stories in between.”
• This article was amended on 2 February 2024 to clarify the circumstances of the disagreement between Osman Faruqi and Nine’s management, and state that Faruqi subsequently took annual leave, not “stress leave”.
