Media Diary: ‘January 26 is January 26’: Ten boycotts Australia Day

In an internal note sent to staff, Ten’s chief content officer Beverley McGarvey says Australia Day is ‘not a day of celebration’, empowering staff to refuse to take the public holiday off.

Ten’s chief content officer Beverley McGarvey has panned Australia Day as ‘not a day of celebration’. Picture: Adam Yip

The Ten Network – which has long styled itself as a vocal advocate of Indigenous rights — has made its biggest statement yet as commercial TV’s leading voice in opposition to the celebration of Australia Day.

In an internal note sent to her key programming and editorial staff last week, and obtained by Diary, Ten’s forthright chief content officer Beverley McGarvey has panned Australia Day as “not a day of celebration”.

In a letter signed off by McGarvey, and co-signed by Ten’s chief commercial officer Jarrod Villani last week, the Ten boss started off by abruptly refusing to name January 26 as “Australia Day”. In the internal email, McGarvey poses herself the question: “What name does Paramount ANZ call January 26?”, and answers her own interrogation with an emphatic two-word reply: “January 26.”

McGarvey then proceeds to give her rationale for refusing to name the national day as Australia Day.

“At Paramount ANZ we aim to create a safe place to work where cultural differences are appreciated, understood and respected,” she says. “For our First Nations people, we as an organisation acknowledge that January 26 is not a day of celebration. We recognise that there has been a turbulent history, particularly around that date and the recognition of that date being Australia Day.”

So committed is Ten’s US owner to its Australia Day boycott that it is empowering its staff to refuse to take January 26 as a public holiday. “We recognise that January 26 evokes different emotions for our employees across the business and we are receptive to employees who do not feel comfortable taking this day as a public holiday,” McGarvey writes.

“Upon individual requests, all employees will have the option to work on January 26 and substitute the public holiday for another day in line with business requirements and approval from their manager.”

McGarvey says the decision is ultimately up to individual staff: “We recognise and appreciate that this is a personal choice.”

But she has also urged staff to respect the increasingly divergent views about whether January 26 should still be a respected day on the national calendar. “Whether you choose to work on January 26 or take the public holiday, we ask that you reflect and respect the different perspectives and viewpoints of all Australians.”

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Lisa Wilkinson’s new role: as an ‘influencer’

A month on from her shock departure from The Project, and with no immediate prospect of any new on-air role at Ten, Lisa Wilkinson has time on her hands. So it’s probably no surprise to many that she seems to be preparing the ground for a new career — as a social media influencer.

An Instagram post that the Walkley-nominated Wilkinson put up in the wee hours of Friday morning may not be winning any journalism awards. But it certainly ticked a lot of boxes in the potentially lucrative influencer stakes.

In a lengthy multi-screen post by Wilkinson to her 365,000 Instagram followers, which has since disappeared all together from her Instagram Stories section, she heavily promoted her stay at five-star Melbourne hotel, the Marriott Melbourne Docklands after flying down with her husband, Peter FitzSimons, for Billy Joel’s blockbuster one-off concert at the MCG nine days ago.

In one part of her story, she generously posted a large photo of the Marriott’s infinity pool, together with the message: “Thanks for the lovely stay @marriottmelbournedocklands”.

On the very next screenshot, she promoted a meal and cocktails she imbibed at the hotel’s rooftop bar, Sunset House – this time generously including the Instagram handle for both the bar and the Marriott as a whole.

Lisa Wilkinson seems to be preparing the ground for a new career — as a social media influencer.

With arrows pointing to the couple’s differing beverage tastes on the night (together with an attractive-looking meal), Wilkinson wryly wrote: “His tea. My margarita.”

She also ran footage of Joel and Tina Arena’s Uptown Girl duet from their clearly prime seats at the MCG concert on the night. Again, Wilkinson’s influencing skills were on full display as she also promoted the official Instagram handles of both Joel (“@billyjoel”) and Arena (“@tinaarena”). For a journalist, Wilkinson has certainly built up a lucrative track record in promoting well-known brands over the years.

Just before she left Nine for The Project in 2017, she became the chief brand ambassador for Vitaco, owner of prominent vitamin brand Nutra-Life, reputedly on a two-year deal worth $500,000 a year, Diary has been told by well-placed network sources.

Additionally, Wilkinson has for several years been an ambassador for luxury European car brand Audi: an association that has been frequently promoted by the company in its brochures, magazines and events. Meanwhile, Wilkinson will have plenty of time to develop her influencing skills in coming months. The latest word is that she is unlikely to return to her day job at Ten until well into 2023.

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Lisa and Fitzy’s Titanic cartoon debut

Still on Lisa Wilkinson and Peter FitzSimons, Diary last week warned our readers to brace themselves for Australia’s ultimate media power couple to become prominent characters in the new series of Pauline Hanson’s hit cartoon series, Please Explain, to appear in 2023.

The media pair will be featured as part of a lampooning of the left of Australian politics in the new series of Please Explain, as a radically altered political landscape in Canberra gets the full satirical treatment for Teals, Greens and their supporters. Featuring in the cartoon this time will be some of Albanese’s most vocal media supporters, naturally including Wilkinson and FitzSimons.

Peter FitzSimons and his wife Lisa Wilkinson as seen in the Please Explain cartoon series.

Now we have the first images of Fitzy and Lisa from the cartoon’s producer, Melbourne animation studio Stepmates – and from a humour perspective, things are looking promising.

FitzSimons, who has been wryly nicknamed as the “Pirate of Cremorne” by some of his mates, will be flattered to know he has been made by Hanson’s animaters to look something more like heart-throb Johnny Depp’s character, Captain Jack Sparrow, from Pirates of the Caribbean.

His outfit includes trademark pirate hoop earrings, a crop top, frayed knickerbockers, and the slightest hint of a beer gut.

But what is really amusing from our first look at the Wilkinson and FitzSimons characters is the depiction of them emulating the most famous scene from movie blockbuster Titanic.

The still image of Fitzy and Lisa mirroring Titanic’s most famous scene (nicknamed the “I’m Flying” scene), in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Jack and Kate Winslet’s character Rose balance on the bow of the doomed ship.

Hanson’s cartoon is being funded partly by a special limited edition “Please Explain” rum, featuring the relaunched cartoon series on its label.

The new series of the cartoon is expected to launch early in the new year, provided enough bottles of the rum are sold.

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Virginia Trioli to ditch radio for TV?

The ABC’s Ultimo and Southbank studios are abuzz with talk that ABC Radio Melbourne presenter Virginia Trioli is about to return full-time to her natural habitat of TV.

Word reached Diary late last week that while it’s early days, Aunty may be in the formative stages of creating a new prime time TV show or vehicle in the field of the arts for Trioli.

Trioli would make a natural ABC spearhead for the arts. She has hosted a number of arts-focused episodes of the ABC’s flagship panel show Q+A when she was one of the show’s hosts, as well as hosting two key arts shows on the national broadcaster.

Virginia Trioli hosting ABC's Q+A earlier this year. Rumours are swirling the popular broadcaster could be returning to a full-time role next year.

Trioli announced earlier this month that she was embarking on an extended three-month break from her radio show, and won’t return to the ABC Radio Melbourne airwaves until March.

The last radio ratings of the year was a tough one for ABC radio in Melbourne and Sydney, with all major timeslots in both cities – including Trioli’s – copping a hit. ABC Radio Melbourne’s ratings fell by 1.3 points to 6.2 per cent, with Trioli falling by 2.3 per cent to 7.4 per cent.

However, ABC broadcasters say the numbers don’t tell the full story. They have claimed to Diary that some falls have come because the appetite for talk radio was artificially inflated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and that last week’s drops were simply a return to more realistic long-term ratings trends. “The audience is exhausted by the news events of the last three years,” was how one ABC broadcaster put it on Sunday.

During Trioli’s last week on air before going on extended leave, re-elected Victorian Premier Dan Andrews pointedly boycotted her show for his first detailed post-election radio interview, instead choosing to appear with Trioli’s ABC drive stablemate, Raf Epstein. The choice of Epstein over Trioli appeared to be payback for her daring to scold Andrews in October for failing to go on her show ‘for a year’.

Trioli’s possible return to arts TV at the ABC could make plenty of sense, given her long experience in the area. For ABC TV, she has previously hosted two dedicated arts shows, Sunday Arts and Artscape, the latter of which included the series, ‘In Conversation with Virginia Trioli’.

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Dr James Wright to be farewelled

Australia’s first TV doctor, the “merry medic” James Wright – best known for his appearances on the Mike Walsh Show, the Midday Show with Ray Martin and numerous radio programs — will be farewelled at a memorial service this week following his death last month aged 94.

John Knight, better known as Dr James Wright.

Dr Wright (real name John Knight) touched thousands of lives by revolutionising the general public’s understanding of medicine in Australia by explaining fiendishly complex medical problems in plain English.

For Diary, Dr Wright also happened to be his childhood family doctor – memorably even making hypnosis tapes in his distinctive Australian drawl to help your 1.95m columnist sleep after he went through an enormous teenage growth spurt.

Dr Wright will be farewelled at Wahroonga’s Seventh Day Adventist church on Sydney’s north shore on Wednesday morning.

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Sydney 2000 reunion goes ahead: 2 years late

A fascinating and long-delayed reunion finally took place in Sydney last Wednesday, involving some of the key media and political figures involved in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Diary is told the lunch was meant to be a 20-year anniversary affair to be held in 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic put paid to that.

John Coates. Picture: Damian Shaw

But last Wednesday, two years late, a prominent cast of characters gathered at the Malaya Restaurant on Sydney’s King Street Wharf to reminisce about events from 22 years ago.

Making a very rare public appearance for the day was the reclusive former minister for the Sydney Olympics, Michael Knight – who was joined by a powerful cast of characters.

They included International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates; Sky News commentator Graham “Richo” Richardson (who, of course, was the Mayor of the Sydney Olympic Village in 2000); the then-chief of staff for Olympic network Seven, Chris Willis (now a senior executive at Sky News) along with ex-Seven reporter Lee Jeloscek; and Australian Olympic Committee executive member (and former Labor powerbroker) Mark Arbib.

When we reached Richo about the high-powered lunch, he was suitably cryptic: “There were many colourful tales told, but I’m not going to reveal them.”

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Seven’s private glee at Nine changes

Nine says it has received strong feedback on its refreshed news and current affairs line-up in 2022, which sees 60 Minutes reporter Sarah Abo shifting to the Today show to replace the A Current Affair-bound Allison Langdon.

Sarah Abo

But across the way at the Seven bunker, which has dominated breakfast TV for nearly two decades, there’s private glee at the double change in Nine hosts. Some Seven insiders are privately happy that Nine – in turning to Langdon to replace Tracy Grimshaw at ACA – could have in the process sacrificed her growing threat to Seven on Today.

In the Seven camp, insiders believe that by choosing Langdon for ACA, Nine has upset the chemistry at Today just as her combination with Karl Stefanovic was cutting through.

On one day of Langdon’s final week, Today came within just 11,000 viewers of a full-strength Sunrise in the benchmark five-city TV ratings.

As one Seven insider sees it: “They’ve weakened their position in the real battleground. Anyone can host A Current Affair, but breakfast TV is a different game.” It won’t take long to find out who’s right. Abo joins Stefanovic on Today from January 16.

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Chris Smith fallout

The headline-making departure of Chris Smith from 2GB and Sky News over his behaviour after a Christmas party has left both media organisations with little choice but to remake part of their planned 2023 line-ups, less than a fortnight out from the new year.

At 2GB, it is believed that bosses have already whittled the field down to a small field of candidates for replacements for Smith’s plum weekend mornings gig.

The early frontrunner for Smith’s former job appears to be weekday overnight host Michael McLaren, who may have finally earned his right to do daytime radio after many years stuck on the graveyard shift. McLaren was tested by 2GB management on the weekend mornings gig on the first Saturday and Sunday since Smith’s abrupt departure.

Others still in contention for the role include another night owl, Luke Grant, the Australia Overnight weekend host on 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 2CC; former Ten news presenter Bill Woods, and; regular 2GB fill-in presenter and former Studio 10 co-host Joe Hildebrand.

The Smith departure has also caused problems for Sky, which last Monday – less than 48 hours after the events that changed Smith’s career — had planned to announce a new 2023 line-up that featured Chris Kenny moving from the 5pm slot to the prime-time 8pm show, Paul Murray moving from 8pm to his former 9pm slot, and Smith taking over Kenny’s 5pm slot.

As Diary noted a fortnight ago, ads had been filmed in the Sky newsroom ahead of the announcement that were to feature Kenny, Murray and Smith. Sky has since postponed announcing its 2022 line-up until further ­notice.

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Adios to a dramatic 2022

And that’s it for Diary in 2022, after a dramatic year in the media which included the permanent or temporary departures of some of TV’s biggest names: Tracy Grimshaw, Leigh Sales, Lisa Wilkinson and Carrie Bickmore, to name but a few. We’d like to wish all of our loyal readers a very merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.

The media is never dull, and Diary will return early in 2023 for what is already shaping as a seismic year in the industry of Australia’s biggest egos.