Barack Obama’s views on world affairs, including the Chinese president, Xi Jingping, his successor, Donald Trump, and Russia’s war on Ukraine, were widely published by Rupert Murdoch’s Australian newspapers this week.
Even Barack and Michelle’s choice to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge without a harness headlined reports in the Daily Telegraph and the Australian.
But when Obama took aim at the Murdoch empire for creating polarisation in western society and for making people “angry and resentful” his editors gave the comments a wide berth.
Daily Mail Australia reported: “Barack Obama takes a brutal swipe at Rupert Murdoch – slamming Fox and Sky News Australia: ‘Making people feel angry and resentful’”, but no one at News could see a story.
While the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Guardian, and international media reported the president’s swipe, readers of the Murdoch mastheads were left in the dark.
“There’s a guy you may be familiar with, first name Rupert, who was responsible for a lot of this,” Obama said at his Sydney event.
“He perfected what is a broader trend … it’s now a wild west and a splintering of media. In America, it’s Fox News, here I guess it’s Sky.”
It’s not that they didn’t notice, well the Daily Telegraph did anyway, dispatching their chief reporter to ask Malcolm Turnbull if he was to blame for Obama’s comments.
Murdoch’s Daily Telegraph is trying to work out why Barack Obama would ever have imagined that Murdoch’s media is undermining democracy. So their Chief Reporter called to accuse me of putting this outlandish thought into his mind! https://t.co/XZCEsSDE4z
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) March 29, 2023
Turnbull told Weekly Beast the Tele asked him if he had ever discussed News Corp and Sky News with Obama, and if he was the source of the criticisms. The former prime minister thought it was absurd.
Meanwhile, Sky found plenty to criticise Obama for, including using a private jet, and not selling out every seat. Both Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch own private jets, but that was not mentioned.
“First class commercial fares apparently are not good enough for them, so it’s the private jet caper,” Sky’s Chris Kenny said.
Peter Gleeson lives on at Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail columnist Peter Gleeson may have left News Corp after multiple instances of plagiarism were uncovered but he is still very much alive on the Queensland tabloid’s website, luring potential subscribers to sign up.
The Courier-Mail announced his fate in November, a humiliating end to a 34-year career with News Corp which included editing the Sunday edition of the Courier-Mail.
But when readers click on an article behind a paywall these days they are taken to a page featuring none other than a smiling photo of Gleeson above the words “We’re still the most trusted news source”.
Has someone forgotten to remove him or is he still driving subscriptions? We asked News Corp to explain.
The Courier-Mail editor, Chris Jones, said the website reference to Gleeson dates back to a 20 August 2017 article – when he was the editor of the Sunday Mail.
“Your query is therefore as nonsensical as me asking you if it is deliberate or a mistake when you incorrectly report in this piece that Michelle Guthrie runs the ABC.”
Andrew Bolt scolds Mark Latham over ‘disgusting’ tweet
Mark Latham has been scolded not just by Pauline Hanson, but by Andrew Bolt after posting a widely condemned homophobic tweet.
Bolt said he cancelled the One Nation politician’s appearance on Sky News on Thursday and said the tweet was “so disgusting, so homophobic and so vile in a pornographic way that I can’t even hint at what he said”.
Sky News host Andrew Bolt says NSW One Nation Leader Mark Latham’s homophobic tweet to an MP is “disgusting”.https://t.co/VECgKncEIa
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) March 30, 2023
The Herald Sun columnist said he doubted whether Latham could ever come back from this, the latest of many offences over the years. “He will be a pariah, and not just here at Sky,” Bolt said. “I wonder how he will be able to function as a political leader when he’s earned the contempt of so many for his abuse.”
“Mark, get treatment,” Bolt said. “You are such a clever man, with so much to offer, but you seem to have a death wish.”
“You crack and say things that are so cruel and vicious and now homophobic that the one who’s hurt most is you.”
Kyle Sandilands breaches decency code
The media watchdog revealed this week that radio station KIIS FM has had to employ a second censor and provide sensitivity training to Kyle Sandilands after the shock jock described watching the Tokyo Paralympics as “horrific”.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) found the broadcasts of the Kyle & Jackie O show in September 2021 breached the commercial radio code of practice decency provisions.
But the new measures to curb the tongue of the $5m-a-year ratings juggernaut are already looking futile. The morning after the announcement Sandilands called KIIS FM’s undertaking to the regulator “bullshit” and said he was unaware of the code breach until he read about it in the newspaper that morning.
“Yeah, I’m in [the headlines]. Some sort of bullshit in there about something I didn’t even know about,” he said. “Still don’t know about. One day I’ll find out.”
Sandilands continued to joke about his new “sensitive era” after the Acma report, saying “I can’t keep a straight face”.
Lisa Millar to pen more Muster Dogs
The ABC News Breakfast host Lisa Millar is taking five weeks’ long service leave to write a book to accompany the smash hit ABC TV show Muster Dogs, which she narrated.
HarperCollins approached Millar to write a book to accompany the second series, which she will also narrate, when it’s released in 2024. Millar told Weekly Beast she will attempt to explain the phenomenon that Muster Dogs became and the difficulties of filming during the pandemic as well as go behind the scenes with the puppies and the people involved. The secrecy around the second series is tight but Millar had permission to reveal that border collies – and not kelpies – will star.
Brian Walsh funeral to draw big names
The television, media and political world will turn out in force for the funeral of the Foxtel executive Brian Walsh on Monday at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral, followed by a celebration of his life and career at the Entertainment Quarter at Moore Park.
To celebrate his legacy, The Brian Walsh Scholarship for New Acting Talent has been established at the National Institute of Dramatic Art for emerging actors.
Along with his sisters, Maureen, Jeanette and Bernadette Walsh, mourners include Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch, who were close to the entertainment supremo, who died aged 67 earlier this month. Australian celebrities whose careers were closely linked to Walsh, including Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, may attend if they are in town, sources said.
Party confusion on the Gold Coast
We’ll leave you with this terrific front page from the Gold Coast Bulletin featuring an art work named “Pool Party” which unfortunately translated into something else once the kids were superimposed.
This article was amended on 31 March, 2023 to include comment from News Corp.
