‘News fortress’: Foreign Correspondent to boost Q+A

Q+A host Hamish Macdonald.

The ABC’s Thursdays are about to rival Mondays as a news and current affairs bastion for the public broadcaster.

Hot on the heels of Q+A’s move to Thursday nights, Diary can reveal that long-time Tuesday resident Foreign Correspondent will join the ABC’s flagship panel show in moving to Thursday night on its return later this month.

We’re reliably informed that Foreign Correspondent, which has been a strong ratings performer, will now have an unbroken five-month run on Thursday nights. That will give a welcome and reliable current affairs lead-in for the Hamish Macdonald-hosted Q+A in what is still an unfamiliar home late in the week.

Hamish Macdonald. Picture: Supplied

Foreign Correspondent’s move means that on both Monday and Thursday nights, the ABC will now have four-and-a-half hours of news and current affairs, starting with The Drum at 5pm and ending with Media Watch on Monday nights and Q+A on Thursdays.

Interestingly, we’re told the new timeslot has been driven by the ABC’s general programming division, which believes the smartest play is to make Thursday night a ‘‘news fortress’’. The ABC figures that for those not interested in sport like the NRL or reality shows like MasterChef or The Bachelor, a news night offers a clear-cut ­alternative.

The hope within the ABC is that Thursday can catch a bit of the stardust that has made Monday nights the ABC’s strongest performing ratings night on TV. Interesting to see if it works.

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ABC cracks down on ‘fascist’ ScoMo tweet

ABC managing director David Anderson has had enough.

After a series of tweets by senior staff members directly trolling PM Scott Morrison and senior Coalition ministers, Anderson has drawn a line in the sand.

In a nutshell, his message is that any anti-ScoMo social media activity by ABC staff will no longer be tolerated.

Diary has uncovered a statement by Anderson in response to a question on notice by a Senate committee to the ABC, in which he reveals Aunty has commenced a “process under its Enterprise Agreement” to discipline ­Sebastien Maury, one of the government broadcaster’s senior in-house ­lawyers.

For some time now, Maury has made quite a name for himself as an anti-government warrior on social media.

Among his many now-deleted anti-government tweets, the ABC lawyer — who, among other roles, has done legal work for Four Corners — labelled the Morrison regime as “fascist”.

In 2019, he reportedly described the PM on Twitter as an “awful human being”, adding that ScoMo had been “dreadful at all the jobs to which he’s turned his clumsy hands”.

Last November, Maury also tweeted provocatively after the screening of Louise Milligan’s ­Inside the Canberra Bubble, the original Four Corners episode about the behaviour of ex-attorney-general Christian Porter: “Honestly. If this doesn’t finish his career, then nothing means anything.”

The ABC’s Laura Tingle.

But the disciplinary action against Maury will also send an unambiguous message about misguided activity on Twitter to some very senior ABC journalists — including 7.30’s chief political correspondent Laura Tingle, who in a late-night tweet last year trolled Morrison for “government ideological bastardry”.

Anderson has indicated that Maury’s case will now be the precedent by which all ABC staff will be judged.

After being asked by Liberal senator Andrew Bragg — who has been the leader of a Coalition push for more accountability from the ABC — whether a staff member calling the government “fascist” meant that Aunty’s new code of conduct was a failure, Anderson’s written reply was stern.

“Mr Maury’s tweeted comments were inappropriate and not in compliance with the ABC’s guidelines for personal use on social media,” the ABC managing director wrote.

“The ABC will continue to monitor compliance with its code of conduct and any policies or guidelines issued in accordance with it.”

Asked by Bragg if it was acceptable that a lawyer who “gives advice to ABC journalists to protect the organisation, tweets comments disparaging to the federal government”, Anderson sternly replied: “No.”

The final consequences of Maury’s tweets are still to be decided.

But in an email three months ago, Anderson fired a warning shot.

He told all ABC staff that “mixing the professional and the personal in ways likely to bring the ABC into disrepute” on social media could lead to “disciplinary action, including possible termination of employment”.

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Eddie’s everywhere — except on Triple M

Luke Darcy and Eddie McGuire. Picture: Tim Carrafa

There’s apparently no love lost between Eddie “Everywhere” McGuire and the breakfast radio show he helmed on Triple M until the end of 2020.

Exactly six months after he left his long-running gig hosting the Triple M Hot Breakfast with Luke Darcy in Melbourne, the Eddie Everywhere of old was back on radio with a vengeance last week, showing up just about “everywhere” — except with his former employer.

After one of his tougher periods in the public eye, McGuire is back, even showing up with his bitter one-time Melbourne breakfast radio rivals: the top-rating Ross and Russ on 3AW, as well as Fifi, Fev and Nick on Fox FM.

The Hot Seat host also turned up last week on Brisbane radio — first with NOVA and then with Neil Breen’s breakfast show on 4BC.

On Monday, he’s also scheduled to do another Melbourne slot with SEN’s Gerard Whateley.

But despite McGuire’s triumphant return to radio in recent days, there was no sign of him on Triple M breakfast, which he hosted for 11 years until 2020.

That’s right, just about the only place Eddie Everywhere wasn’t available to listeners was on The Marty Sheargold Show, Triple M’s rebadged version of McGuire’s former Hot Breakfast.

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Karl needles PM with sledge-fest

The Today show’s Karl Stefanovic was spoiling for a fight with Scott Morrison the morning after budget night on Wednesday. And if provoking a grumpy demeanour from ScoMo was considered a win, Stefanovic’s efforts were highly successful.

Diary just wonders if the PM will be in any hurry to return to Today.

Stefanovic managed to pack no less than four epic sledges at ScoMo into the space of a short but memorable interview, on the same day ScoMo also faced an interrogation from 7.30 host Leigh Sales.

First Stefanovic suggested Morrison was a “steak knives” salesman, then compared him to big-spending Labor icon Gough Whitlam, before proffering that the government had been spending like “drunken sailors” and then, finally, asking an increasingly grumpy-looking PM, with the trademark Stefanovic look of faux concern: “Is everything OK?”

Karl Stefanovic. Picture: Getty Images

With such a provocative line of questioning, it was quickly evident that Karl was hoping for a gotcha moment. He opened the short-pitched barrage against the PM by invoking the memory of the great Tim Shaw and his Demtel “wait, there’s more” amazing offers in his summary of the budget. “The only thing missing was the steak knives,” he told ScoMo in his first barb.

When the PM soberly responded by emphasising that the budget was designed to “secure Australia’s recovery” after “looking into the abyss” following the pandemic, Stefanovic tried to push Morrison’s buttons once more by venturing that the Budget was “Gough Whitlamesque”.

ScoMo warded off this and a follow-up gibe that the government was “spending like drunken sailors”, with more grave talk of “saving lives and livelihoods”.

But Karl wasn’t about to let him off the hook that easily, and had one more go at keeping the PM on the back foot by trying to wedge him and his Treasurer.

“Josh Frydenberg had a very big smile on his face this morning. I thought you might be happier this morning, PM. Everything OK?”

ScoMo’s blunt reply? “I’m fine, mate,” before adding, with the tiniest hint of sarcasm: “I appreciate the care and concern.”

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ABC’s iview plays catch-up with Netflix

ABC viewers have just six weeks before they will be unable to access iview without setting up an account and giving away their personal information. Last week’s announcement was co-ordinated with a campaign fronted by The Weekly host Charlie Pickering to put the best face on the controversial move.

But putting Aunty’s catch-up service behind a “login wall” is unpopular even with rusted-on ABC types. The typical response: ‘Why do we as taxpayers have to give away our personal information to a free streaming service we already pay to fund?’

Editorial director Craig McMurtrie defended the decision on the ABC website last week, explaining that Aunty was “hardly an early adopter — commercial media and SBS have already made the move”.

 

But Diary has learnt that’s only a small part of the picture. Senior ABC insiders tell us the real reason for the creation of iview accounts — which has been in planning for years — can be summed up in one word: Netflix. They claim that without a login model, iview would always look like amateur hour compared to Netflix and similar streaming services.

As one insider put it: “What is the actual reason (for the logins)? It’s because it’s the only way that the ABC can personalise the service in the same way Netflix does. With no login, iview has had no idea what you’ve already watched. That means if you binge a show or a series, you can’t pick up on it where you left off.

“Netflix knows what episode you’re on, even if you’ve left it halfway through on your TV and want to watch the rest on your phone. That’s what the ABC wants iview to be able to do going forward.”

ABC editorial director Craig McMurtrie. Picture: Sean Davey.

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Fletcher tops Josh as ‘media magnet’

It might have been Josh Frydenberg’s dance, but days before he unveiled three new ABC board members (including Peter Tonagh, as we revealed last week), Communications Minister Paul Fletcher burnished his credentials on budget night as the government’s ‘‘media magnet’’.

Paul Fletcher: Picture: Getty Images

There was a formidable roll up to Fletcher’s Bradfield Forum in parliament’s Mural Hall that included Google, Netflix, Nine, Seven and a rich line-up of ABC alumni.

No less than two ex-ABC communications bosses, Sally Cray and Emma McDonald, were in attendance, along with one-time ABC senior lawyer (and now Free TV CEO) Bridget Fair, and her current boss, ex-Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood.

But there were also the government affairs bosses of Google and Seven, Lucinda Longcroft and Clare Gill, Netflix production policy chief Deb Richards, ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd and Nine’s Helen McCabe. Even Labor’s ex-Queensland Premier and ABA boss Anna Bligh showed up. Take that, Josh!

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Nine still hit by hacking issues

It’s close to two months since Nine was crippled by a catastrophic hack attack in March — but still, some of the network’s key IT systems are not functional.

One large problem area has been the state-of-the-art Stan Sports studio — which is meant to spearhead a big move by Nine/Stan to become a player in live sports coverage — in Nine’s new premises in North Sydney.

Diary hears the sports studio remains offline, which has been a bit of a problem for the network’s first big move into sports broadcasting: Super Rugby.

On Friday night, Stan’s coverage of the trans-Tasman Super Rugby tournament — anchored by Nine/Stan host Roz Kelly — was fully conducted as an ‘‘outside broadcast’’ from Sydney’s SCG as a “workaround” because the actual North Sydney sports studio remains crippled.

Roz Kelly. Picture: Carly Earl

While things are getting fixed, all of Nine’s coverage is being conducted from the actual rugby games themselves.

Diary is told it’s an issue of priorities for Nine, with the full restoration of its news studios considered most crucial on its road to recovery from the hack.

A couple of weeks back, Nine finally produced its first Sydney 6pm news out of the Harbour City in more than a month, after 55 staff from around the country had for weeks been based out of Melbourne.

Last week, Nine made its next tentative step forward as it tests all of its systems individually after the hack, with Nine’s pre-Today show 5am news bulletin able to air for the first time since the attack.

But the journey isn’t over. We’re told Nine’s IT people will more than earn their keep for at least two more months, just trying to restore all systems — including the Stan sports studio.

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‘Snakes in the sheds’: Crawford’s TV project

One of the longest losing streaks in Australian football has been ­broken — and now it’s about to ­become the ultimate rags to riches TV tear-jerker, produced by ­Hawthorn AFL legend and Ninja Warrior co-host Shane Crawford.

Nine days ago, the Crawford-coached Ardmona Bush Cats Aussie rules team from northern Victoria made headlines by breaking a 2121-day (or six-year) losing run to beat the Longwood Redlegs by 127 points.

That led to dressing room scenes insiders have described as “epic”, featuring media identities like Rob ‘Millsy’ Mills, and commentator and Beijing Olympics gold medallist Steve Hooker.

But Diary has now learnt that the Brownlow medallist paid a film crew o

Shane Crawford Picture: Supplied.

ut of his own pocket to record raw fly-on-the-wall footage of Ardmona’s emotional journey, after taking on the role of the battling club’s coach at the start of 2020 as a passion project.

Crawford’s star power saved Ardmona from extinction in the Kyabram District Football League. Rival teams had already voted to kick Ardmona out, as it faced significant challenges well beyond its six-year losing streak.

Off the field, there was financial turmoil, players on the wrong side of the law, and even, Diary is told, snakes in the dressing sheds.

On the field, there were history-making losses: in one case by 400 points.

Until their landmark win, the club hadn’t scored more than three goals all year — making the victory celebrations after beating the Redlegs sweeter.

Crawford owns the footage, which will be as gritty as the underdog tale suggests.

Diary reckons streaming services and sports networks will beat a path to the AFL legend’s door once they see this column.