Media turn into cry babies over crying baby
Ita Buttrose was a rare voice of reason in the growing hysteria over the ‘breastfeeding mum’ and her crying baby in comedian Arj Barker’s show.
Too much ink has already been spilt on last week’s saga of the “breastfeeding mum” – as she became known in the media – and her crying baby at the comedy show. But what the hell, it’s rolled-gold clickbait, so let’s rake over it one last time, shall we?
Firstly, a quick recap for those that ignore stories with the phrase “crying baby” in the headline: comedian Arj Barker politely asked the mother of a seven-month-old baby to leave his show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival on April 20 after the noisy tot’s relentless gurgling became a distraction for the audience.
Fair enough, surely? The guy’s got a job to do – namely entertain several hundred people who have forked out plenty of cash to see him.
But, unfortunately for Barker, he chose the wrong time in history to ask for a fair go. Cue the outrage machine.
The mother, Trish Faranda – who, we hasten to add, is completely faultless in this media-engineered brouhaha – was embraced by certain members of the fourth estate, who were ready and waiting to jump on their high horses and charge into battle on her behalf.
On Wednesday, ABC personality Annabel Crabb wrote a longwinded essay about the incident, with her argument swinging from breastfeeding in public (which, as it turns out, had nothing to do with Barker asking Faranda to leave the theatre), to “the degree of subconscious tolerance of interruption”, before landing on an appropriate way the comedian could make it up to the ejected mother: “Perhaps the best approach for Barker might have been to have his people find Ms Faranda and shout her a day out for her family.”
Yes, that would be a nice thing to do, but why does Barker owe her anything? His obligation is to his audience as a whole.
If Barker had allowed the noisy baby to stay, ought he have shouted all the other patrons a day out with their families, as a means of apologising for the infantus interruptus?
Over on 3AW Drive, host Jacqui Felgate tried to entice her on-air guest Ita Buttrose to climb aboard the let’s-get-Barker bandwagon.
“Yes, it is 2024, and we are having this debate again: where are babies welcome and where are they not?” Felgate told listeners.
“I would hope that we’ve moved on from decades ago where women were judged for breastfeeding in public, where children were seen and not heard and mothers were shamed for leaving the home with their baby.”
Noble words, sure, but not actually relevant to the facts of the matter.
When Felgate asked for Buttrose’s thoughts on the matter, she clearly didn’t get the response she was hoping for. Said Ita: “I just think maybe with all the Covid and flu that’s around at the moment, that the best place for a seven-month-old baby is not at the theatre, but actually at home in its bed. I’ll just put that thought out there for you.
“It’s not just the mother and the baby you have to think of in this circumstance, it’s the other theatre patrons as well as the performer, Arj Barker. They’ve all got to be taken into consideration as well.
“There’s probably a lot of people that were annoyed by the baby. It’s not that they don’t love babies, it’s just that there’s a time and a place for babies. And I suggest to you it’s not at the theatre.”
Felgate, who sounded somewhat taken aback by Buttrose’s answer, attempted to snooker the 82-year-old, but she was having none of it.
Felgate: “OK, did you ever bring your kids to work?”
Ita: “Not when they were really little.”
And therein ended the crying-baby-in-the-theatre debate!
Albanese’s cricket team of spinners
How many media advisers does it take to shape the narrative of a prime ministership?
Eleven, apparently.
According to an updated list of ministerial media contacts, distributed to Canberra press gallery journalists last week, the Prime Minister’s Office boasts a cricket team of, er, spinners, with the XI captained by chief media director Brett Mason.
Anthony Albanese’s vice-captains are Labor stalwart Fiona Sugden, and Katharine ‘Murpharoo’ Murphy, a relatively recent recruit from the Guardian Australia, where her eye-catching pro-Labor style obviously caught the eye of coach Albo.
The middle and lower orders are made up of a clutch of veteran Labor flaks and ex-journos, including Caitlin Goddard, a former adviser to erstwhile WA premier Mark McGowan, Melburnian Suze Metherell, one-time political reporter Stela Todorovic, and long-time ALP staffer Josh Lloyd.
Irene Oh, Matthew Barnard, Ellen Duffy and Chloe Andrews round out the Albo XI.
But it’s the size, not so much the personnel, that has left members of the gallery open-mouthed.
Why hire a cricket team to do a job that could be comfortably done by a four-person bobsled team?
To put the Albo XI in context, in the months leading into the 2022 election, Scott Morrison had four media advisers. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has just two senior press secretaries, Adrian Barrett and Nicole Chant.
Diary approached captain Mason to inquire about his oversized squad but we were told the government does not comment on staffing.
A possible explanation could be that the Albo XI is simply centralised in the Prime Minister’s Office, but are allocated duties across various ministerial offices.
Another explanation could be that the PM’s innings is looking increasingly shaky, and he’s decided to finetune his messaging.
Either way, eleven spinners in the PMO is probably a few too many.
KIIS hits Melbourne
After months of hype, top-rating Sydney KIIS FM radio duo Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson will finally hit the Melbourne airwaves on Monday morning.
The duo has promised to shake things up in the Victorian capital, but plenty of industry observers are betting that Melburnians are likely to thumb their noses at the Sydney shock jocks, despite their standing as the most recognisable radio hosts in the land.
Diary thought best to ask the station’s head honcho – ARN Media chief executive officer Ciaran Davis – whether Melbourne listeners will warm to the pair.
Davis reckons their much-discussed foray into the Victorian market isn’t a “risk”.
“The show itself is not a city-centric show as a lot of radio is; it’s very generic entertainment that is very relevant to anywhere in the world,” Davis told Diary.
“I think Kyle and Jackie have demonstrated over the last 25 years that their chemistry together and the content they produce is very universal in its appeal … so I don’t think it’s a risk.
The pair will take over the slot after the former pairing of Lauren Phillips and Jase Hawkins were shown the door late last year, dumped by the station to make way for the Sydney duo.
Fortunately for Lauren and Jase, they were later picked up by Melbourne’s Nova 100 and returned to the airwaves last month.
But Kyle and Jackie certainly have their work cut out for them because KIIS currently sits seventh in the breakfast timeslot, which is led by 3AW’s Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft (18.1 per cent audience share), followed by Gold 104.3’s Christian O’Connell at 11.2 per cent. KIIS sits in seventh spot, with an audience share of just 6.4 per cent.
As for putting a time frame on how long it will take Kyle and Jackie to find their Melbourne groove, Davis said there won’t be one.
“That would be unfair to put that level of pressure on them, so we’re not going to put a time frame on them in terms of success,” the radio boss told Diary.
Davis said the pair will come to Melbourne from “time to time” but will remain broadcasting out of Sydney, which may not sit well with Melbourne listeners.
Horsing around
Senior news executives at the ABC have been drawn into an internal investigation into senior journalist Jamelle Wells, after she actively advocated to stop the culling of wild brumbies and voiced her disgust about the controversial news issue on social media.
The Sydney-based senior reporter’s actions are under investigation by both ABC news management and the public broadcaster’s ombudsman Fiona Cameron, as a result of her publishing numerous online posts that offered advice to anti-culling activists on how to get favourable media coverage.
Wells, who is primarily a newsreader, has also read negative reports on the ABC about the culling of feral horses in national parks, without disclosing to listeners or ABC management that she is privately active in public campaigns on the issue – a fact which has raised questions about her impartiality on the subject.
Wells, who clearly identifies herself as the author of some of the posts in a fat dossier handed to ABC management, states she is an ABC employee in the offending online messages and says she is more than happy to guide anti-culling activists on ways to engineer media coverage to suit their agenda.
She told one online forum how they could get a “professional and ongoing media campaign to win the hearts and minds of the public” and outlined which programs to target for coverage, including A Current Affair and 60 Minutes.
Curiously, there was no mention of any ABC programs.
But Wells’ interventions drew the ire of the Invasive Species Council’s advocacy director Jack Gough who complained to the ABC about the journalist’s conduct.
It has since resulted in action being taken internally at the ABC but when Diary checked on the weekend on the progress of the investigation, the in-house spinners simply said that they had nothing to add.
In correspondence seen by The Australian to Mr Gough on April 22, Cameron confirmed the matter is under investigation to see if Wells’ actions breached the ABC’s impartiality and accuracy. ABC news management is conducting its own review.
“I am writing to let you know that an ombudsman’s investigation into the ABC’s impartiality and accuracy standards is ongoing,” Ms Cameron wrote.
“I am also aware that ABC News Management are considering other issues (including the personal use of social media, which is a matter outside my remit).
“The matters you canvass are being given serious attention, however a range of sensitive and confidential issues require careful and due consideration.”
But Gough is far from pleased with the progress on the matter, and told Diary it’s taking too long.
“I’m surprised that after 10 days the ABC still hasn’t told me about any action they’ve taken on this, other than starting an investigation,” he said.
“This is a black and white case of an ABC journalist acting impartially, misrepresenting the facts and undermining the integrity of the ABC.”
Mr Gough said he is looking forward to the outcome of the investigation.
On the ABC’s website Wells is described as an “ABC television and radio newsreader and the senior court reporter for NSW. She works across television, radio and online.”
According to her online profile, Wells has not filed any news reports since March 19.
Rowland’s misfire
Clearly, neither Jamelle Wells nor ABC News Breakfast TV host Michael Rowland got the memo from Aunty’s new chair Kim Williams, who warned of the lack of value of social media and his concern over “journalists being a respondent to what the public wants to hear”.
Last week, Rowland decided to bash out a killer quote from the PM following the furore that erupted over X publishing posts of the attack of Sydney bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, who was stabbed on April 15.
Rowland tagged Albo – or at least an account he thought belonged to Albo – as well as X owner Elon Musk, writing: “PM @albo on @elon musk: ‘We’ll do whatever’s necessary to take on this arrogant billionaire who thinks he’s above the law’.”
PM @albo on @elonmusk: ‘
— Michael Rowland (@mjrowland68) April 22, 2024
‘We’ll do whatever’s necessary to take on this arrogant billionaire who thinks he’s above the law.’@abcnews
But there was a slight problem. Instead of tagging the PM and adding a quote from him, Rowland mistakenly looped in an Italian porn artist called @albo instead of the PM’s official X account, @alboMP.
What a boob!
The post caught many eagle-eyed X users who were quick to alert Rowland to his gaffe, with one user writing soberly: “You’re (sic) tagged an Italian porn person”.
The post – which was viewed more than 357,000 times – even caught Musk’s attention, earning a virtual chuckle from the billionaire, who responded with two laughing emoji tweets.
🤣🤣
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2024
Good to see Musk is paying attention to exactly what is being written about in Australia, particularly by the esteemed public broadcaster.
Rowland took swift action and within 21 minutes he had reposted his problematic message of support for the real PM.
“Apologies, that should be @alboMP …(with a grimacing face)”.
If Kim Williams was an emoji right now, he’d be that guy slapping his head with his hand in exasperation.
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