Luke McIlveen announced as Nine Entertainment’s new publishing executive editor
Media veteran Luke McIlveen has been named as the new executive editor of Nine Entertainment’s publishing division.
McIlveen had been widely tipped as the replacement for Tory Maguire, who was promoted to the head of publishing at Nine Newspapers after her predecessor James Chessell resigned from the company in December. As executive editor, McIlveen will have editorial oversight over The Age and the The Sydney Morning Herald, and online titles Brisbane Times and WAToday.
McIlveen started his media career as a cadet journalist at News Corp in the late 1990s, and has worked in senior editorial roles at The Manly Daily, The Daily Telegraph, and Daily Mail Australia.
He worked at Fox Sports for several years until his departure from the broadcaster last year.
The Australian understands that McIlveen’s appointment has the strong backing of Maguire.
Despite media reports suggesting that ex-ABC news boss Gaven Morris was a prime contender for the role, Diary understands that he was never seriously considered for the position.
David King, who is currently national editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, was not a candidate for the executive editor role, while the respective editors of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Bevan Shields and Patrick Elligett, have been in their senior roles at the company for only a relatively brief period.
Diary approached McIlveen for comment, but he did not return calls.
Not cool, Antoinette: Lattouf’s awkward Asian joke
Antoinette Lattouf hasn’t always got it right on social media – and we’re not talking about the controversial post in December about the Israel-Hamas conflict that effectively buried her three-day career at the ABC.
Earlier last year, Lattouf took to Twitter (since renamed X) and Instagram to observe the achievements of two Asian actors who had both won Oscars in prestigious categories at the 95th Academy Awards.
“As Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan’s Academy Awards win is being celebrated by Asians around the globe, just as many Asian mums’ reactions’ be like: ‘just one award each? Why not 3? Next year get three. Don’t be lazy,” Lattouf wrote.
Unsurprisingly, her attempt at humour badly misfired with some of her followers.
“Are you speaking from experience, or just trying to poke fun at Asian stereotypes to get some engagement on social media? Not cool,” wrote one user.
Lattouf, who is of Lebanese heritage, defended her “joke”, arguing on Twitter that she “uses the term ‘Asian’ broadly”, and explained that her own parents “hail from the continent of Asia”.
User kevincheng replied: “I would never even dream of cracking a joke about Lebanese people, even though we’re all from the same continent of Asia.
“It’s an off move to use the ‘term Asian broadly’ and perpetuate these stereotypes. Even more baffling to see the ‘joke’ from the co-founder of Media Diversity.”
Another of Lattouf’s followers, liew.es, posted: “Unfortunately, the trope of the ‘tiger parent’, who constantly diminishes the achievements of their children, is incredibly damaging to the Asian community and the East Asian community in particular.”
User edwinapickering observed: “It’s a very tone deaf ‘joke’ honey.” However, Lattouf’s post did receive hundreds of likes, with some of her followers offering comments such as “you made me laugh so hard”.
But in light of Lattouf claiming this month that she was sacked by the ABC because of her ethnicity, her dubious post about “Asian mums” raises questions about her own handling of the sensitive issue of ethnicity and how it is dealt with by the media, and indeed by the wider public on online platforms.
Lattouf’s expanded complaint to the Fair Work Commission last week also alleges the ABC systematically discriminates against people of colour.
Lattouf, 40, is the co-founder of the charity Media Diversity Australia – a not-for profit organisation working to “increase cultural and linguistic diversity in the media”.
When contacted by Diary for comment about her “Asian mums” post, Lattouf chose not to directly answer the question, saying: “Given The Australian has a sudden and keen interest in anti-racism, I can recommend my book How to Lose Friends and Influence White People – particularly the chapter outlining how tabloid newspapers lean on racism as part of their business model.”
Mission aborted
An ambitious bid to snap former New Zealand Prime Jacinda Ardern walking down the aisle and marrying her long-time partner Clarke Gayford this month resulted in the Daily Mail Australia embarrassing themselves and making headlines across the ditch for all the wrong reasons.
In an article published in NZ’s Weekend Herald on Saturday, “media insider” Shayne Currie penned an article that splashed with the headline, Ardern foils Daily Mail paparazzi, claiming that the “former prime minister pulls a cunning move as a snooping chopper buzzes overhead at her vineyard wedding”.
The article provided a fair take-down of the publication despite omitting the names of photographer Nathan Richter and journalist Lucy Manly who were sent by the Daily Mail from Australia to report from Hawke’s Bay.
The pair managed to get a few scoops from NZ including exclusive pictures of the former PM and former lockdown queen’s trip to a “luxury nail salon” all while donning a face mask.
But Currie hit out at Richter and Manly and said they were “full of swagger” when they arrived in Hawke’s Bay and were “vowing to scoop their counterparts with exclusive wedding angles and photographs”.
“They made no secret of their plans to hire a helicopter to sweep over the wedding on Saturday for photographs of the pair tying the knot,” Currie wrote.
Ardern didn’t bother with a magazine deal for access to her lavish wedding or enforce a no-fly zone for her big day.
The NZ media certainly mocked their Aussie rivals by publishing a pic of Richter onboard the chopper and sky high while cutting laps above the ceremony, while Manly remained on the ground to report.
But the Daily Mail’s grand plan ran into a spot of bother when the Bell B47 model known from the hit TV show M*A*S*H apparently only had enough fuel for an hour of flying until about 4pm.
Currie’s report said a clued-in Ardern delayed walking down the aisle and was even being concealed under an umbrella until 3.40pm, and eventually the Daily Mail was forced to give up their mission and left the scene at 3.56pm before their flying time was up.
Daily Mail editor Barclay Crawford told Diary that Richter and Manly shot down claims the pair were telling anyone who would listen about their pans.
“They provided brilliant coverage but certainly weren’t running around town boasting about their plans,” he said.
“It’s incorrect to say the chopper had to turn around because of lack of fuel – we actually only booked it for an hour – it was hard to secure one.
“We still managed to get some great photos of her (Ardern) which added greatly to our rolling coverage.”
Comeback kid
One can imagine ABC bosses spitting out their tea en masse on Thursday morning when the dulcet tones of Andrew Probyn were heard on Radio National during fill-in host Sally Sara’s breakfast program. Probyn, who was the ABC’s longstanding political editor until he was controversially axed by the public broadcaster last June, has since moved to Nine where he is national affairs editor.
But on Thursday he caught listeners – not to mention ABC management – by surprise when he popped up for a six-minute chat with Sara to discuss the various political issues of the day, including Taiwan’s reaction to comments by the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, the federal government’s handling of cost of living pressures, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s visit to Israel.
Probyn, who was well-regarded by his ABC colleagues – not only for his journalism but also for being unafraid to confront management on internal matters – told Radio National listeners on Thursday that he was happy “to be back”.
Sara introduced him to her program thus: “Andrew, we’ve had the porch light on waiting for you to come home and pay us a visit, welcome back on the ABC.”
Probyn, laughing, replied: “Sally, lovely to be back, I’ve been here all along just waiting for you to knock.”
The pair had an amiable and lively discussion before Sara read out multiple comments by listeners, with the general consensus among the audience being that Probyn’s return to the ABC was the best thing since the advent of colour television.
“Wonderful to hear Andrew again, miss him so much but big congratulations on his position at Channel Nine,” one listener offered.
“So great to hear the wonderful Andrew Probyn,” texted another.
After being showered in praise, Probyn replied to Sara: “bless all your listeners.”
Contacted by Diary, Probyn rejected the suggestion that his “reappearance” was in any way mischievous, given his acrimonious divorce from Aunty just six months ago.
“Sally’s producer called me the day before and asked me to go on the show, and I was happy to do it. I think Sally has done a fantastic job over the summer. She’s a real star.”
So, can RN listeners expect to hear Probyn on the ABC again? “Of course, I’d consider it, I think it’s important to promote Nine news and offer your perspective.”
The regular host of RN Breakfast, Patricia Karvelas, took to social media platform X on Sunday to announce her return to the airwaves after her summer break.
“I am BAAAAK on RN breakfast from 6am tomorrow and I am so happy about it. Thanks to the brilliant Sally Sara for bringing us breakfast over summer.”
The ABC was contacted about Probyn’s on-air return but did not respond.
Cartoon scratched
Why did Nine Entertainment’s Australian Financial Review swiftly remove a cartoon of Australia’s richest woman?
The publication raised a few eyebrows after it recently published online an unflattering cartoon of mining magnate Gina Rinehart to help promote a story written by resources writer Peter Ker titled, Lithium’s M&A frenzy is the wildcard ahead of confession season.
The January 15 article ran with the illustration by cartoonist David Rowe of the WA mining magnate with long blonde locks and dollar signs embossed on her white collared shirt in a less than desirable etch.
But within hours of the cartoon being published on the AFR’s website, without explanation, it was replaced with another Rowe illustration, this time a far kinder imagery of Rinehart wearing dollar-signed earrings, lithium batteries as a necklace and clutching a pink handbag.
The caption read: “Gina Rinehart’s deal to buy into Azure could be a godsend for lithium hopefuls considering whether to write down assets.”
When Diary contacted Nine asking for an explanation as to why the original illustration was removed, a spokesman wasn’t giving much away.
“There was no legal issue with the illustration,” a Nine spokesman told Diary.
Further quizzed on why it was removed, he didn’t respond.
A spokeswoman for Rinehart said she was pretty unimpressed the Rowe cartoon was published in the first place and a call was made to the newspaper to take it down.
“Mrs Rinehart is disappointed this image was reproduced again and had requested it be removed,” the spokeswoman said.
It’s unlikely the original cartoon will see the light of day again.
News guy gets Nine nod
Media veteran Luke McIlveen is expected to be announced as the new executive editor of Nine Entertainment’s publishing division as early as Monday.
McIlveen has been widely tipped as the likely replacement for Tory Maguire, who was promoted to the head of publishing at Nine Newspapers after her predecessor James Chessell resigned from the company in December. As executive editor, McIlveen will have editorial oversight over The Age and the The Sydney Morning Herald, and online titles Brisbane Times and WAToday.
McIlveen started his media career as a cadet journalist at News Corp in the late 1990s, and has worked in senior editorial roles at The Manly Daily, The Daily Telegraph, and Daily Mail Australia.
He worked at Fox Sports for several years until his departure from the broadcaster last year.
The Australian understands that McIlveen’s appointment has the strong backing of Maguire.
Despite media reports suggesting that ex-ABC news boss Gaven Morris was a prime contender for the role, Diary understands that he was never seriously considered for the position.
David King, who is currently national editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, was not a candidate for the executive editor role, while the respective editors of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Bevan Shields and Patrick Elligett, have been in their senior roles at the company for only a relatively brief period.
Diary approached McIlveen for comment, but he did not return calls.
Windy start for duo
The long-awaited arrival of Nine Melbourne’s new newsreading duo, Alicia Loxley and Tom Steinfort, got off to a somewhat shaky start when the pair performed their first live outside broadcast on day one of the Australian Open live from Melbourne Park.
The windy conditions made their on-air debut on January 14 less than ideal but the pair pushed through the noise to complete the 6pm news bulletin.
Loxley tried to make light of the testing situation by telling viewers that it was “a little bit windy here right now, but apart from that we could not have asked for better conditions to kick off day one of the 2024 Australian Open.”
Steinfort simply noted that it was “probably a good day to have shorter hair here”.
Interestingly, the voice of the veteran newsreader Peter Hitchener will be heard introducing the revamped news bulletins, despite him being shunted from weekday to weekend newsreading.
Apparent divisions in the Nine newsroom were laid bare after Diary revealed that a celebratory surprise party was thrown for Hitchener just weeks before he was sidelined from the weekday bulletin, with Loxley and Nine’s Melbourne news director Hugh Nailon among the absentees.
As for the ratings, the Loxley/Steinfort duo came up against Seven’s Rebecca Maddern and Mike Amor on Sunday, January 14, and Peter Mitchell for the rest of the week.
Up until Friday night, Nine won five of six ratings in Melbourne, possibly due to the sugar hit provided by Nine’s coverage of the Australian Open that led into the 6pm news bulletin each night.
But time will tell if Nine’s decision to move on from the Hitchener era was the right call.
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