For decades, Norman Swan had been typecast as Radio National’s health reporter. But new research for Diary shows that since COVID-19 took hold of the country, Swan has made the transition from radio health geek into one of Australia’s highest-profile personalities.
Swan has averaged 111 media items a day during the pandemic — or an extraordinary 40,000 media items over the last year, according to research conducted by media monitoring agency Streem for Diary.
Whether it’s through his ads for the NSW government’s multi-million-dollar bowel cancer awareness campaign, guest hosting stints on breakfast radio or his regular appearances on 7.30 and commercial TV, it has been hard to escape Swan’s transition from media health hack to national celebrity.
Prominent media watcher Steve Allen says the explosion of Swan’s profile is nearly unprecedented. “He would have had the fastest rise in profile of anyone in the media since the pandemic took hold in March last year,” he tells Diary. “Before then, most of us had no idea what he even looked like.”
But when Diary reached Swan on Friday, he made it clear his meteoric rise in profile was “never what I intended”.
“I used to like the anonymity of Radio National, with 2 per cent of the national audience. You could creep around Woolies without anyone knowing who you are. You could cough without anyone tweeting about it.”
He added of his current media prominence: “I know these things are ephemeral, they last a minute, and you go back to normal. My role is to get information to the public.”
Tongue firmly planted in cheek, Swan told us that prior to COVID-19, his biggest presence in the public consciousness had been during “six seasons as the medical person on The Biggest Loser”.
Swan said his profile rose early in the pandemic, with a “bit of a trust vacuum before the PM got his act together in March last year”.
But he reveals that he gave short shrift to suggestions by some people last year that he should become chief medical officer.
It was “very dangerous” to think that way, Swan said — adding that the jobs of people like past and present CMOs Brendan Murphy and Paul Kelly during a pandemic were “thankless” and a “nightmare”.
Still, the Swan juggernaut shows no sign of slowing any time soon. This week, he will make a joint appearance with his equally prominent son, US-based political journalist Jonathan Swan, at the Sydney Writers Festival, ahead of the release of his first book in June. Could be a while before he’s able to shop at Woolies in anonymity again.
60 Minutes hires as $3m travel budget disappears
Before COVID-19, Nine’s flagship current affairs show 60 Minutes was the Australian media’s undisputed champion when it came to its famously huge travel budgets.
Diary is reliably informed that the program traditionally spent an average of $70,000 a week – or a remarkable $3m a year — to continuously jet reporters to exotic locations, business class lounges and five-star hotels around the world.
But what a difference a pandemic makes. These days, the only international connections Tara Brown, Tom Steinfort and co have been making are on Zoom and Skype, with interstate stories the only hope for reporters of even sighting a frequent flyer lounge.
But Qantas’s loss has been a rare gain for the reporting ranks. While we hear travel budgets are down to all-time lows, Nine’s creation of the 60 Minutes spin-off, Under Investigation, has created an extra role for a senior producer across the two shows.
There’s only one snag for those hoping for the glamour of the traditional 60 Minutes jetset lifestyle. With international flights (apart from New Zealand) very much still off the radar, we’re told the new senior producer’s position will be firmly rooted in Australia.
‘Brainwashed’: Wild Taliban defence in ABC interview
RN Breakfast stand-in host and veteran foreign correspondent Sally Sara was blindsided by a bizarre defence of the Taliban by her final guest on Friday, well-travelled Australian artist and film producer George Gittoes.
Gittoes was supposed to be talking about a new Sydney exhibition of his art and photography from his time in Afghanistan. But all that changed when he claimed that Australia should be sending “artists, not soldiers” to the troubled country.
In response, Sara — who spent a year covering the war in Afghanistan — very reasonably asked Gittoes whether Australians should be “making art” in the same country as the Taliban, pointing out that “their treatment of women and others are appalling”.
Sara was clearly stunned when Gittoes bluntly responded that she had been “brainwashed” against the Taliban.
“You’re the victim of propaganda, mainly American propaganda,” he said, as he also accused Sara of falling victim to a syndrome where “the enemy has to be demonised”.
By this point, any talk about Gittoes’s exhibition was out the window. Sara, to her credit, wasn’t letting him off the hook, reminding him several times of the Taliban’s appalling behaviour to its citizens.
In exasperation, she finally reminded him of the Taliban’s terrible treatment of women: “Under the Taliban, women couldn’t go out unless they were accompanied by a guardian, and a guardian could be as small as an infant boy.”
Gittoes wasn’t backing down, attempting to draw a parallel with Australia’s one-time treatment of women: “That’s the Taliban a long time ago … Australians back in 1900 were treating women very badly.”
He then went on to tell Sara a final time: “You’ve been brainwashed.”
With ample justification, Sara finally called time on Gittoes’s passionate Taliban defence. “I think we’re going to agree to disagree there. George Gittoes, thank you for joining us on RN Breakfast.”
The Age gets tough on Dan drops
The political ‘‘drop’’ has become an increasingly accepted part of being a reporter in most press galleries around the country. This is how it works: spin doctors for major politicians give a chosen reporter an early scoop on key policy announcements, with the expectation of receiving favourable newspaper articles where the journalist doesn’t seek comment from third parties. Melbourne’s The Age is no stranger to this type of arrangement, having previously benefited from front page ‘‘drops’’ from Daniel Andrews’ government on everything from growing the city’s bike path network to safe schools and green-tinged planning issues.
But Diary hears Age editor Gay Alcorn is altering the rules of engagement. The first step came recently when she finalised a set of principles with the government for drops in the future. When we reached her, Alcorn confirmed she was getting tough on drops. “We will only take drops if we are allowed to seek comments elsewhere about them,” she told Diary. That new policy extends to interviews: “If we get an exclusive with the Premier, for example, we reserve the right to get other comments. It will be the same rule for all political parties.” However, Alcorn has agreed to one exception. If The Age receives an exclusive copy of a prominent political speech to run on the same day it is due to be delivered, she is allowing a story to run without seeking further comment.
Wendt, Waley and Oakes unite for delayed wake
The man described by no less than Nine’s legendary former political editor Laurie Oakes as the “journalist’s journalist” will finally get the send-off he deserves, a full year after he died.
Tom Krause, The Australian’s long-time foreign editor and the former managing editor of Nine’s Sunday program, died in May last year, months after being severely injured in a car crash.
COVID-19 cruelly put paid to a big send-off for him last year, with only family and close friends allowed to attend his funeral because of restrictions on gatherings. But in 2021, Krause finally gets the send-off he deserves, with a “Toast to Tommy” next Sunday at the Paddington RSL in Sydney to be attended by a who’s who of the Australian media.
The broad church who will unite to finally pay tribute to Krause will include ex-60 Minutes presenter Jana Wendt, founding Sunday host Jim Waley, The Drum’s Ellen Fanning, News Corp’s Piers Akerman, Mark Day, ex-Sky host Janine Perrett (who will MC), Paul Bongiorno, Max Uechtritz, Anita Jacoby and Oakes himself (who will make the trip up from Canberra to attend).
Four Corners to take on ScoMo again
Paul Fletcher hasn’t been shy when it comes to attacking Four Corners — his angry letter to Ita Buttroseover November’s story “Inside the Canberra Bubble” was tweeted before it was even read by the ABC chair.
So Diary reckons Ita should prepare herself for another letter from the Communications Minister when he learns through this column that Four Corners is yet again training its eye on Scott Morrisonand his government.
We hear the ABC’s flagship current affairs show has been out in the field on the Australia Post saga. The story that will no doubt look at the role of the Prime Minister and Australia Post chairman Lucio di Bartolomeoin the departure ofChristine Holgateas CEO. And as minister in charge of Australia Post, Fletcher is unlikely to escape attention in the latest episode.
It’s early days, but Four Corners reporter Michael Brissendenhas been making calls to past and present insiders at Australia Post, as well as Parliament House types.
No word on whether Holgate is co-operating with Four Corners. But we’re told Brissenden has been exploring whether all or part of Australia Post, such as its parcel business, will be privatised.
Fletcher’s relationship with the ABC has become progressively more tense since he tweeted his letter to Ita.
In the letter, Fletcher asked if the Four Corners episode (about the behaviour of cabinet ministers Christian Porterand Alan Tudge) “demonstrates a failure by the Board…to ensure that the gathering and presentation of news and information by the ABC is accurate and impartial according to the recognised standards of objective journalism”.
Buttrose replied through this column, saying she felt “disrespected” by Fletcher’s decision to tweet out such a combative letter without consultation.
If Fletcher writes another letter to the ABC, will he put it on Twitter — or run the risk of sending it to Ita via Australia Post’s snail mail?
Moore in, Blaze out at Selling Houses
It’s rare for an on-air TV talent to make it as an executive — think Eddie McGuire’s short-lived run as CEO of Nine. But it’s equally rare for an executive to go the other way, and become a TV host.
Now one Australian media identity can lay claim to achieving both.
Reliable word coming out of the corridors of pay-TV is that Wendy Moore, the general manager of Foxtel’s Lifestyle channels, will replace founding frontwoman and Moore doppelganger Shaynna Blaze as the new host of Selling Houses Australia, the platform’s flagship real estate show.
Before Moore took on an executive role heading up the Lifestyle channels two years ago, she had for seven years fronted Seven’s renovation show House Rules as a judge. Now she’ll be back on air as the key female talent on what Foxtel privately dubs its most important show, while she also continues her day job as a senior executive with the pay-TV platform.
For this year’s instalment of Selling Houses, Moore will join long-time co-host Andrew Winter, who will no doubt be on his best behaviour with his ultimate boss.
Meanwhile, Blaze — who co-hosted Selling Houses for 13 seasons with Winter — will this year instead brave the prospect of being proverbially “fired” on a new Alan Sugar-hosted season of Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice on Nine, as well as continuing her annual gig as a judge on The Block.
Emdur Chase begins, but O’Keefe still on air
Larry Emdur, the new host of Seven’s most important game show, The Chase, can’t arrive at his new home quickly enough for his bosses, after more assault charges were laid in Sydney last week against its departed host, Andrew O’Keefe.
Diary can reveal that Emdur has finally started filming fresh episodes of The Chase, months after police first charged O’Keefe over an alleged assault on his partner, Orly Lavee.
Seven announced in February that it had parted company with O’Keefe, less than 48 hours after the initial assault charge was laid.
But O’Keefe is very much still on our TV screens. We’re in late April now — nearly three months on — and the network remains in the odd situation of still having to rely on a departed employee to anchor a program regarded as one of Seven’s most important, given that The Chase is the crucial lead-in to the network’s 6pm news.
Interestingly, The Chase with O’Keefe at the helm still convincingly beats Nine’s Hot Seat in the ratings, and there are, it seems, an endless stash of The Chase episodes in the can featuring the troubled star. Because of COVID-19 and its risks to filming last year, Seven prudently made many months of episodes just in case.
Now there are two key questions floating around Seven. How quickly will the Emdur episodes of The Chase go to air? And how many O’Keefe instalments will end up on the cutting room floor?
That last question carries particular significance for anxious contestants sweating on receiving their prizemoney from as-yet unscreened episodes. As Diary has previously noted, the fine print of TV game show contracts means networks are only required to pay them winnings if episodes actually air.
BBC apologises to staff over Russell Brand sex complaints
Some employees had stayed silent about the behaviour of the comedian and actor because they believed he ‘would always get his way’, a BBC director said.
Questions about ABC platforming ‘radical fringe Jewish voice’
Jewish groups have questioned why the national broadcaster has chosen to platform and ‘mainstream’ a Jewish ‘radical fringe voice’, in its coverage of anti-Semitic events in Sydney.