He may not have a TV or radio gig anymore, but Alan Jones has found himself another high-profile platform: this time as a cartoon character on Pauline Hanson’s hit South Park-style cartoon series, Please Explain.
Diary has learnt Jones will take a leading role in the cartoon series early in 2022, in the run-up to the federal election, with the former shock jock even recording his own voice as part of his character’s recurring role.
But it’s the actual part he will play that will surely attract attention. True to the sermons he used to deliver on 2GB and Sky News, Jones will this time be delivering lectures as the headmaster of Hanson’s unruly school of political reprobates in Please Explain.
Those who will no doubt be sent by Hanson to the headmaster’s office will include the Hawaiian-shirted PM Scott Morrison, Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton, Adam Bandt, a rebellious Bob Katter, and a beetroot-headed Barnaby Joyce.
Hanson, of course, is a noted Jones fan, having just last month beseeched him to “please stand for the Senate in NSW under the banner of One Nation”.
Already, as you may recall, some international castmates have also joined the show, helping it to attract in excess of half a million clicks an episode across various social media platforms, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
A highlight was a special guest appearance by a Greta Thunberg character who stormed out of the classroom because of its use of a climate change-inducing air conditioner – an episode that got plenty of online hits overseas.
To add more interest, much-anticipated episodes are looming in the new year which will feature Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd as miserable ghosts.
The cartoon series wraps on Friday until mid-January, with a special two-minute festive season edition to parody the growing movement by political leaders to avoid directly wishing people “Merry Christmas”.
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Ita Buttrose demands more money for ABC
There’s been plenty of tension between the federal government and the ABC in 2021, with everything from hostile questioning of Aunty’s bosses from Coalition politicians in Senate Estimates to Christian Porter’s shelved defamation case against the public broadcaster.
But if ABC chair Ita Buttrose is fazed by the dramas of the year, she isn’t showing it. Ita was in fine form when we caught up with her on the road on Friday, on her way from a two-week speaking road-trip in the NSW Hunter Valley.
Buttrose talked expansively about everything from how much money the ABC receives to the impact of the Omicron variant, with the ABC chair stating both she and Aunty were “ageing with zest” ahead of the public broadcaster’s 90th anniversary celebrations in 2022.
Most notably, however, Buttrose was keen to put both PM Scott Morrison and Labor leader Anthony Albanese on notice on one key subject: the government’s funding of the ABC, which she argues is insufficient.
She has let both leaders know she expects 2022 to be a watershed moment for the amount of money the ABC receives, currently set at just over $1bn a year including transmission fees.
Buttrose has told Diary: “I’m optimistic that after the election, the funding of the ABC will be given proper consideration. We would hope that the 90th year of the ABC will be the reason for whoever wins government to give us the funding we need.”
Depending on the timing of the election, the issue of money for Aunty could be settled as early as March. The ABC’s three-year funding is expected to be unveiled in the 2022 federal budget, which will be handed down pre-election in late March if Morrison goes to the polls in May.
But Buttrose is already in full campaign mode, citing a report commissioned by the ABC from Deloitte Access Economics which found screen productions contributed $744m to the economy between 2017 and 2020, and Aunty was a jobs generator for the economy, with ABC productions found to support 8300 full-time equivalent jobs between 2017 and 2020.
Elsewhere, Buttrose has hinted the emergence of the Omicron strain means some working-from-home arrangements may have to endure at the ABC, despite suggestions it may lead to a milder form of Covid-19. “We can see that it’s very contagious, so we’ll still see flexible working arrangements going forward,” she said.
But she isn’t fazed by yet more uncertainty: “In spite of the restrictions that Covid-19 puts on us, border closures and difficulties of travelling, I think we’ve all been surprised about what we’ve been able to achieve.”
Buttrose has also revealed she’s back on her beloved speaking circuit after Covid-19 lockdowns, delivering speeches in six NSW Upper Hunter towns, including Muswellbrook, Scone, Murrurundi, Aberdeen and Merriwa for a non-profit aged-care group.
Tongue firmly planted in cheek, she used both herself and the ABC as role models for ageing well: “I was talking about ageing with zest, and that’s something the ABC has done very well. The ABC has aged with zest, and so has its chair. You can have that one!”
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Axed SMH columnist considers politics
Elizabeth Farrelly’s interest in politics remains high following her sacking from The Sydney Morning Herald over claims she failed to declare she had registered as a Labor Party candidate in NSW local government elections.
A move remains firmly on the radar for the architecture and environment advocate, who says she is interested in becoming “some kind of political representative”.
She tells Diary: “There are lots of possibilities, which range from political ambition in some form to writing.”
But Farrelly — one of the Herald’s most high-profile and, at times, controversial columnists — says she would only pursue a political career on the right terms.
“If you had a chance to do something for the place, particularly on climate and corruption, or if it was about bringing some sort of decency to government — even in small ways affecting genuine change — then I’d be interested,” she says.
“But you would have to get a general understanding to talk about the ideas you care about.”
Farrelly says her political passions are focused on the inner-city.
“I’ve always lived in the inner city one way or another. The cliche is about inner city elites, but I honestly don’t think they are elites. I think there’s a lively mindset, a lively community.”
But the big question: would she stand for the ALP after causing such a stir at the Herald with her candidacy?
Farrelly will only say: “I have a bit of a suspicion of the major parties … Parties always want to serve apparatchiks.”
She denies she will stand in the next federal election — she is a dual national and that would trigger citizenship issues.
“I would have to dump my time-honoured New Zealand citizenship to stand (federally), and that is a cost. It’s one thing if you get preselected, but another if you renounce your citizenship and then don’t get pre-selected.”
She is more likely to stand for the NSW state election in 2023 — as there is no ban on dual citizenship for candidates.
“But there’s a lot of water under the bridge until then,” she adds.
In the meantime, Farrelly will focus on finishing a novel with the preliminary title of Road Kill, which she describes as “crime for adults”. She says the historical story set in Sydney in 1966 is “halfway through the final draft”. With her SMH duties now over, she expects to complete it within months.
She also wants to continue writing for children, having published one kids’ book, Caro was Here.
“I’d like to do more of that, but children’s publishers are much more pernickety (than general publishers). Anything you write has to be very family-oriented.”
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Albo’s on-air barney with Aunty
The Queensland border wall came crumbling down last Monday, and Anthony Albanese wasn’t wasting any time in hunting out early morning media photo ops that day in the battleground state. Albo, already in unofficial campaign mode elsewhere, clearly wanted to bomb the Brisbane airwaves with lots of grabs of his message: “Here I am in glorious Queensland.”
But what Albo wouldn’t have counted on was the harsh treatment he got from an unlikely source: the ABC.
After a Monday morning doing the rounds of Queensland radio and breakfast TV, he granted an audience in the seemingly innocuous waters of the Brisbane drive show of ABC presenter Steve “The Six Million Dollar Man” Austin. And just like his superhuman namesake from the movies, Austin was lying in wait to wallop the unsuspecting Albo.
In a fiery exchange, the normally mild-mannered Austin repeatedly refused to let Albanese get away with dodging questions.
It was all whether vaccinations should be mandatory in Queensland, a state where there remains strong scepticism towards governments who tell people what to do with their health choices.
Austin started the interview bluntly: “Do you support vaccine mandates, Anthony Albanese?”
When Albo responded blandly: “I support all the health advice being followed,” Austin got fired up: “Answer my question please!”
A Mexican standoff between the pair ensued, with Albo pointedly refusing to directly address Austin’s barrage, instead giving a series of patented politician non-answer answers.
As Austin repeatedly demanded Albanese “answer my question”, the Labor leader first said: “That’s the question, that’s the answer”, followed by “I’ve given you the answer”, and finally: “I’m not a doctor”.
But Austin wasn’t letting up, demanding for Albanese to answer as the potential “future prime minister of Australia”.
Albo, making it clear he was confident he would be PM, continued to be the immovable object to Austin’s unstoppable force: “The future prime minister of Australia will take proper health advice off the experts.”
What prompted the testy encounter? It emerges it’s likely about the wide berth that Annastacia Palaszczuk has given to ABC Radio Brisbane.
Diary has received word out of Aunty in Brisbane some of its presenters are highly irritated by the refusal by the Queensland Premier and some of her most senior ministers, including Health Minister Yvette D’Ath, to appear anywhere on ABC Local Radio.
Given that context, perhaps Austin was taking out his frustrations about Queensland Labor on poor Albo.
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Wilson’s flagging ratings on 2GB
The 2021 year ended on a strong note for Sydney radio leader 2GB, with virtually its entire line-up on top of the ratings – including breakfast host Ben Fordham, morning host Ray Hadley, afternoon host Deb Knight and night-time host John Stanley, as well as its weekend line-up.
Not so the station’s key drive show host Jim Wilson, who remains unable to capitalise on his stellar lead-ins from the rest of the line-up. Wilson ended the year in seventh place, with a 7.1 per cent audience share – beaten by the likes of Triple J, ABC Radio Sydney, Smooth FM, KIIS, WSFM and Nova.
When he first took the drive shift last year, Wilson announced a radical departure from 2GB’s tried and tested conservative-leaning tradition, telling Sydney’s Daily Telegraph: “I would like to think that after a couple of years of doing this, the listeners will wonder which way I vote. If I can achieve that, I will be happy.”
The jury is out on the success of that strategy. Wilson started 2021 in fourth place with an 8.3 per cent share. But despite the city’s four-month lockdown (which gave a big boost to talk shows) and plenty of on-air promotion, Wilson fell behind many music stations by the end of the year.
News of Wilson’s slow ratings decline emerged just as his summer stand-in, gun Nine political reporter Chris O’Keefe, immediately got comfortable in the 2GB drive chair, with industry insiders praising his radio debut.
O’Keefe has played down his performance, telling us: “I’m just happy to be in there learning.”
But he recently moved from Nine’s Canberra newsroom, where he was federal political reporter, to Sydney this year after his wife, sports anchor Yvonne Sampson, landed an expanded new contract with Fox Sports.
O’Keefe is currently considered pivotal to Nine’s TV political reporting ahead of a federal election. But good judges say the early mail is he could have a big future in radio – if he wants it.
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Gladys’s media profile soars in 2021
It might have seemed like 2020 was a prominent year for state premiers, after Covid-19 rocketed Dan Andrews, Gladys Berejiklian, Annastacia Palaszczuk and Mark McGowan to the forefront of the national agenda.
But if anything, the premiers became only more dominant in the media in 2021. The combination of a rollercoaster of a year for the now-departed Berejiklian (including a big Covid-19 outbreak, ICAC appearances and her shock October resignation) and continued lockdowns and lockouts across the states only served to cement the premiers’ primacy.
Media monitoring agency Streem’s annual list of the most mentioned names in the mainstream media shows no fewer than four of the top seven in TV, print, online and radio were premiers: Berejiklian (third with 53,003 media mentions), Andrews (fifth with 47,752 mentions), McGowan (sixth with 38,023 mentions) and Palaszczuk (seventh with 32,963 mentions).
Only PM Scott Morrison (140,223 mentions) and US President Joe Biden (71,129 mentions) ranked above Berejiklian.
The former NSW premier became even more prominent in separate research by Streem about online news, in which public figures are included if mentioned in the first 100 words of a story.
By that measure, Berejiklian finished behind only Morrison, with the other three premiers once more in the top seven.
Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese, meanwhile, ranked below the four state premiers on all measures. Expect that to change in 2022 if Albo pulls off an election win over ScoMo.
Meanwhile, the media’s fascination with last year’s No.1 Donald Trump shows no sign of abating. The ex-president is stubbornly refusing to budge from near the top of the list, in fourth despite his White House absence.
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Making the news
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Until next year …
And that’s it for Media Diary in 2021. We’d like to wish all of our loyal readers a very merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. We’ll be back for what looks certain to be a tumultuous 2022 in the media. Brace yourselves!
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