Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto lectures state reporters about standards of journalism

Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto ripped into state reporters last week over their treatment of him opposed to the government.

For weeks, Victorian Opposition leader John Pesutto has been dealing with headlines that suggest he’s a dead politician walking.

So how best to deal with the swirling speculation?

Blame the media, advised no media adviser ever.

Victorian State Liberal leader John Pesutto has vented his frustration with the media coverage on his leadership and party woes. Picture: Ian Currie

While speaking with the state rounds press pack outside Victoria’s Parliament House last week, Mr Pesutto lectured reporters about the non-stories that they were putting to print, to air, and to digital.

“What we saw in the last five days with reporting, it was about nothing. I’m sorry, but it was about nothing,” a visibly frustrated Mr Pesutto thundered.

“We just want fair treatment in the media. You would never run some of these stories against the government – and tell me if I’ve got this wrong – run some of these stories against the government, you wouldn’t.”

His blistering attack didn’t stop there, as he continued to complain to journalists that Labor Premier Jacinta Allan’s government was getting a much more positive run in the Victorian media.

“It’s about the coverage, which doesn’t apply the same level of scrutiny to the government,” Mr Pesutto cried.

“I’ll be candid with you all, there are things that are reported about our side of politics, the centre right, which, frankly, those standards of journalism are not applied to the government.”

A frustrated John Pesutto has taken aim at the media, claiming he's been unfairly treated.

He's hit out over reports of a looming Liberal Party leadership challenge that's failed to materialise. @msanto92#9Newspic.twitter.com/mSilQgzREk

— 9News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) March 19, 2024

And one man to back up Mr Pesutto’s mounting grievances with the media was none other than former Liberal leader Matthew Guy – the man who led the party to two disastrous results at the last two state elections.

Mr Guy decided to dish out his own pro bono advice to journalists on how to do their jobs.

“What I think is the media has a responsibility to report fact, not gossip,” a displeased Mr Guy snapped. “John will lead us to the election.”

Thanks a lot, Lobster Mobster. Now I’m totally cooked, Mr Pesutto may or may not have thought at this point.

Former Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Luis Enrique Ascui

Anyway, later that week, Mr Pesutto popped up on ABC Melbourne’s mornings program with Raf Epstein and was asked a very pointed question: “You don’t think your colleagues are feeding the media stories?” An entirely unconvincing Mr Pesutto replied: “No, and nothing that’s turned into anything.”

Diary contacted Mr Pesutto’s office to ask why exactly he thinks he’s been unfairly targeted by the media and to rattle off examples of the Labor government not being held to account, as he had suggested. A spokesman gave us “no comment”, and no examples.

It’s hard to argue that former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews enjoyed an easy run in the media, and nor has his successor, Ms Allan, for that matter.

Mr Andrews might have got a rails run in some corners of the fourth estate, but his unwanted nickname ‘Dictator Dan’ – bestowed upon him by the media during the Covid pandemic – was hardly a term of affection.

But the woes for Mr Pesutto, who has been Victorian Liberal leader for just 16 months, are certainly far from over.

He recently lost two of his most senior staff – chief of staff Rodrigo Pintos-Lopez and communications director Nick Johnston – and it’s looking like an uphill battle to get decent media talent to join the party’s backroom staff.

And, of course, then there’s his legal headaches. Mr Pesutto is facing three defamation lawsuits from UK-based women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, Liberal MP Moira Deeming and activist Angie Jones over comments he made after the trio attended a March 2023 Let Women Speak rally which was subsequently gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Did Paul Barry just compare Kevin Rudd to the Pope?

When Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took a good old-fashioned swipe at Australia’s US ambassador Kevin Rudd on Wednesday, it dominated the news headlines and raised questions about the former Australian prime minister's tenure in Washington if Mr Trump is to win the 2024 US election.

In an interview with GB News host Nigel Farage, Mr Trump described Mr Rudd as a “little bit nasty” and “not the brightest bulb”, and said that if he wins November’s presidential election, Mr Rudd ought to pack his bags.

“If he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long,” Mr Trump said.

But putting aside the former US president’s comments for one moment, some in the media weren’t primarily concerned with Mr Trump’s blunt assessment of our 26th prime minister, but instead were oddly more focused on why Australians should even care about a significant story relating to what is arguably our most important diplomatic post.

Nigel Farage interview with Donald Trump, Tuesday 19th March. Picture: GB News.

ABC RN breakfast host Patricia Karvelas said on the Party Room podcast: “Kevin Rudd got a bollocking in a TV interview – to be clear, the witness (Trump) was led significantly in a TV interview with the former British firebrand politician who is now very much a broadcaster, Nigel Farage.”

“We don’t have it yet (a problem with Mr Rudd’s position), ‘cos it (the election) is eight months away,” she said.

Podcast co-host Fran Kelly was quick to shoot down the interview too, saying: “We are getting there too early, that’s one thing. We are overreacting. He (Mr Trump) clearly doesn’t know him. Fancy anyone saying Kevin Rudd’s not the brightest bulb.”

Karvelas agreed: “Australia had a meltdown. The opposition jumped on it, Peter Dutton insisting Kevin Rudd has to repair the relationship, then the Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said Kevin Ruddcan’t remain in the role. The Prime Minister is standing by Kevin Rudd, Penny Wong is standing by him.”

But ABC Media Watch host Paul Barry’s left-of-centretake on the media’s coverage of the story really caught our eye.

Barry, who has, for the longest decade, been the self-appointed arbiter of what’s wrong or right in the media, offered on social media platform X: “Why did so many in the media savage Rudd not Trump for this? Did they all pile into the Pope when Trump took aim at him? A lot of poor reporting and commentary.”

Hold up, Paul! Did you just compare Kevin Rudd to the Pope? Not even Mr Rudd himself would be so bold … although we can’t be 100 per cent sure of that.

Why did so many in the media savage Rudd not Trump for this? Did they all pile into the Pope when Trump took aim at him? A lot of poor reporting and commentary.

— Paul Barry (@TheRealPBarry) March 20, 2024

Anyway, Diary asked Barry whether he thinks the Trump/Rudd story was of any interest to the Australian public. Barry, who is never normally short of words, swiftly responded to Diary’s queries – within six minutes in fact – but was not in the mood for a conversation: “Thanks. Watch (Media Watch) on Monday.”

To our mind, open skirmishes between former or current national leaders are usually pretty newsworthy and, most often, it’s the local guy that tops the local angle.

Readers might remember that Mr Rudd – who knew how to engineer a news headline – fuelled plenty of articles a few years ago when he labelled Mr Trump “the most destructive president in history” and a “traitor to the West”.

4BC’s musical chairs

Nine Radio’s Brisbane station 4BC, Diary has been reliably informed, is in for a bit of a shake up.

The Queensland-based radio station enjoys nowhere near the success of its Sydney and Melbourne siblings. In the first radio ratings poll of 2024, it finished sixth, with the disappointing result no doubt a cause for concern among Nine executives, including the media company’s radio boss Tom Malone.

With a two-week ratings break coming up at the end of this week, local spies told Diary that executives are looking to rethink the station’s weekday line-up.

Word has it that while the struggling breakfast trio of Laurel Edwards, Gary Clare and Mark Hine take a two-week break, afternoons host Sofie Formica and weekends host Peter Fegan will be filling in for the first week.

All eyes will be on how the pair perform together, particularly given that the existing breakfast trio’s contracts are up for renewal mid year.

The word is that Fegan will be the solo fill-in breakfast host for the second week. ‘Feegsy’, as he likes to call himself, certainly isn’t afraid to back himself either.

In an online promo for his side gig doing emceeing work he says: “If you want your guests feeling relaxed, and ready to have a good laugh, then that’s exactly what you’ll get with me. I’ve never met a room I can’t read,” he said in his promo material.

Good for you, Feegsy, you room reader!

Peter Fegan was stripped of his media awards for his reports on former Liberal MP Andrew Laming.

The seasoned journo, of course, made plenty of headlines last year after he was stripped of three media awards for his false reports that alleged former Liberal MP Andrew Laming upskirted a woman. Filling in for Formica in the afternoons timeslot is expected to be former Channel 7 Sunrise reporter Bianca Stone, who back in 2021 was told off by former Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for being “rude” in a press conference.

But 4BC’s breakfast trio are the ones that need to watch out because their ratings performance is the biggest worry for 4BC bosses.

Formica’s ratings aren’t going so well either – she recorded an audience share of 5.4 per cent and was sixth in her slot.

At last year’s Australian Commercial Radio & Audio Awards, Edwards was inducted into the prestigious Hall of Fame for holding the record as the longest serving woman in the same radio slot, having clocked up more than three decades behind the breakfast mic.

Radio presenter Laurel Edwards at home in Brisbane. Picture Lachie Millard.

4BC also remains the subject of an Australian Media and Community Authority investigation after The Australian revealed multiple hosts including Formica, Hine and Bill McDonald, held commercial deals that were suddenly deleted by the station’s website when news broke around disclosure issues plaguing Nine’s radio arm.

The deals came under scrutiny after it was revealed 3AW drive host Jacqui Felgate held 15 lucrative partnerships that the station failed to disclose. Felgate later described it as an “oversight”.

Rantless AFR

Positive feedback is hard to come by over at The Australian Financial Review, it seems.

On more than one occasion last week, the masthead’s once-esteemed letters page published just three paltry missives from its readers.

Many individual households get more than three letters a day, so when a national newspaper’s civilian correspondence slips to just a few, what’s doing? Is it Australia Post’s fault?

On Friday, the paper, headed up by editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury,printed a bumper page with eight letters, but it was a false dawn. Two of the eight were complaints about how The Fin’s letters page was a daily disappointment.

The Australian Financial Review’s editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury. Picture: Supplied.

‘Peter’ from Sydney’s Killara, observed that the numbers of letters being published by the paper was at “an all-time low”.

“Are we letter writers failing to say anything useful or interesting these days? Or just not writing any?” he asked.

‘Reg’ from Queensland, complained that the shrunken letters page gave the readers “less variety and interest”.

“It also makes it harder for me to have a rant,” Reg said.

When newspaper readers are denied the right to rant, things are very bleak indeed.

Aunty’s hot air

Veteran ABC weather presenter Paul Higgins left many of his social media followers in a sweat recently, after revealing he had departed the ABC’s 24-hour news channel.

The Victorian weatherman posted on social media platform X that ABC news had “decided to go in a different direction” and this meant no more news channel for him.

For those wondering where I’ve got to on @abcnews channel, they have decided to go in a different direction. A huge thanks to all who I’ve spoken to and had contact with during my time on air. Appreciate your comments! #abcnewschannel@JoeDoesNews

— Paul Higgins (@PaulHiggins) February 26, 2024

So Diary was left a tad confused recently when suddenly Higgins was back on … you guessed it … the ABC’s 24-hour news channel.

Soon after his grand announcement on social media, Higgins was giving the channel’s viewers an extensive update on Melbourne’s weather.

ABC weather presenter Paul Higgins.

Diary made some calls and it turns out Higgins was moved on because the ABC’s 24-hour news channel now relies on staff in the Top End to give afternoon and evening weather updates. Fair enough, but it seems the matter wasn’t handled well internally.

Higgins – who took long service leave late last year – told Diary: “I never heard directly from news channel about the change.

“I was told they weren’t happy about my leave absences.

“But apparently they were more than happy with my work.”

He said he doubted if the ABC even knew he was going to make a cameo on the channel.

When Diary approached the ABC about the matter, a spokeswoman said: “The news channel weather update has been done from different locations, given it’s a national bulletin.

“It’s currently being done from Darwin. Paul Higgins remains the Victorian 7pm weather presenter.”

Confused? So is Higgins.

Nick Tabakoff is on leave