Radio National’s Hamish Macdonald has emerged as the hot favourite to become the ABC’s new Tony Jones, hosting Q&A, Diary can reveal.
Macdonald, who also co-hosts Ten’s The Sunday Project with Lisa Wilkinson, will stand in for Jones on Monday night for the second time in a fortnight on a Q&A drought special.
That means that with Jones having been off the show entirely in October (as he has been preparing to launch the sequel to his “Day of the Jackal-style thriller”, The Twentieth Man), Macdonald has been the main host, with Fran Kelly and Annabel Crabb hosting the other weeks.
ABC insiders are thrilled with how Macdonald performed earlier this month, viewing him as being tough on politicians from both sides.
Macdonald, 38, would also herald generational change at Q&A. Recent big hits on his Radio National show, including a headline-making interview last month with union boss John Setka, haven’t hurt his chances.
And what about the other two Q&A stand-in hosts, Crabb and Kelly? Are they in a “host-off” with Macdonald for the big Q&A gig, before Jones heads off to China?
Kelly is considered second favourite, having also hosted the show in July.
Q&A insiders say Crabb, while loved at the ABC, is unlikely to get the gig because she has too many other projects across all ABC programming.
Crabb has roamed from co-hosting the ABC’s federal election coverage this year to fronting next month’s ABC Australia Talks special with Waleed Aly. She has also starred in general entertainment programs like Kitchen Cabinet and Charlie Pickering’s Tomorrow Tonight.
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Jones bolted on
Nine is due within weeks to formally take full ownership of Macquarie Media, owner of radio juggernauts 2GB and 3AW.
With that timing in mind, one of Macquarie’s departed radio stars, Andrew Bolt, has some friendly advice for Nine: discard Alan Jones at your peril.
Bolt hints he has heard word Jones is out of favour at Nine after the controversy over his Jacinda Ardern comments in August led to an advertiser backlash.
But the Herald Sun columnist argues that Nine would be unwise with its new investment if the recent problems led it to think Jones was dispensable.
“From what I’m hearing, it’s worth me pointing out: getting rid of Alan Jones would be like knocking out a keystone to the building,” Bolt tells Diary. “Taking Alan Jones out doesn’t just change his timeslot: it changes the whole station. If you haven’t got listeners in the morning, you haven’t got them in the evening.”
Bolt describes his comments simply as a “word to friends”. As he wryly notes: “I want (Nine chairman) Peter Costello to succeed.”
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Milo maelstrom
Could a Milo Yiannopoulos book threaten the very future of one of the country’s top journalism awards, the Quills?
It’s ironic that in the week that the media launched a $20m media freedom campaign, the Melbourne Press Club, which runs the Quills, ultimately imploded over an issue of, well, media freedom.
A dispute between two former senior figures at The Age, Mark Baker and Michael Smith, centred on Smith’s choice of publisher for the club’s proposed book on the Australian Media Hall of Fame.
Smith wanted to use Wilkinson Publishing, which had bought the Australian rights to the book Dangerous, by Yiannopoulos, the controversial far-right British commentator.
Baker and others on the Press Club board were not happy with Smith’s decision, sparking an epic eight-month dispute culminating in the resignations of club president Adele Ferguson, deputy president Michael Rowland and Baker himself.
Diary hears there was heated debate at board level on the “freedom of speech” issues of ruling out a publisher just because of its Yiannopoulos connection (apparently, the fact that Wilkinson also publishes Jeff Kennett’s Dog Lovers’ Poems was not an issue).
So what state is the Press Club left in?
A mess. It will be in limbo for months, with a decision on a new chief executive and board members unlikely until well into next year. Amazing what a difference Milo makes.
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Here Today, gone ...
With the Today show’s ratings stubbornly below the 200,000 viewer mark, changes are clearly inevitable — but how drastic?
Diary hears one certainty is a move from an all-female line-up back to a more traditional Today male-female hosting duo in 2020.
The juiciest talk is Karl Stefanovic and Weekend Today’s Allison Langdon will host.
Is the talk accurate? Not yet. Langdon is indeed the favourite to co-host Today in 2020. But Karl Mk 2? Not a done deal. With all the upside, there is still plenty of debate among Nine insiders about the potential fallout from bringing Stefanovic back to Today.
Put simply, no one at Nine is keen to “own” the decision of bringing back the Stefanovic media circus: endless paparazzi shots and constant media gossip about whether he’ll have another baby with wife Jasmine. And what if it fails? Some fear that after an initial “sugar hit”, public interest could quickly wane. The ratings for Stefanovic’s star vehicle, This Time Next Year, flagged towards the end of its run last month. “Can we trust Karl again?” is a common refrain around Nine.
Meanwhile, there are other live chances to be male co-host — most prominently, Langdon’s Weekend Today co-host, David Campbell, and 2GB’s Ben Fordham. A Campbell-Langdon pairing remains under active consideration.
On a wilder note, it’s true some executives have privately floated Andy Lee of Hamish & Andy for Today. That would certainly shake things up, but why would he leave his enviable and lucrative gig for breakfast TV?
On the female host side of the equation, where do current co-hosts Deb Knight and Georgie Gardner stand? At most, one member of the pair could survive on the show in 2020 — but definitely not both.
Nine insiders are adamant that there’s no truth to gossip Gardner will replace Sonia Kruger on Today Extra next year. But Knight and Gardner will definitely pop up somewhere in the expanded Nine empire in 2020.
Both, of course, are accomplished newsreaders. And for Knight, intriguingly, there’s also the radio option. She has been notably very keen to take every available radio shift she can at the Nine-owned 2GB — and slots are opening up there …
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MKR reheated
Seven has been anxious to stress that ex-MasterChef judges Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan won’t be working for My Kitchen Rules when they join the network.
The network launched its 2020 program schedule on Wednesday, with the highlight being a new show called Plate of Origin, starring Preston and Mehigan, along with MKR’s Manu Feildel.
Publicly, Seven has denied the show had anything to do with MKR. But behind the scenes, it was a very different story. The day after the program launch, Seven sales execs were actively telling potential sponsors of the MasterChef pair’s new show that it would indeed be called: “My Kitchen Rules: Plate of Origin.”
Strange. That’s at odds with Preston’s denial a fortnight ago that he was coming to MKR, when Diary’s scoop revealed the pair were moving to Seven: “Taking over MKR as host/judge is not on the agenda!” he said at the time. Sure, Matt!
Also contradicting his claim is the fact the Preston-Mehigan vehicle continues to have the working title of “MKR Series 12” at a production level. Calling it MKR certainly makes business sense, given that show already has established sponsors and is sold into 160 countries.
So why the reticence to label the show MKR? For one, perhaps, because Preston took potshots at the much-publicised paleo diet of founding MKR judge Pete Evans while still on MasterChef.
Given that Evans isn’t part of “MKR: Plate of Origin” with Preston and Mehigan, the elephant in the room is what that means for Paleo Pete’s future with the network. Does Seven think too many MKR cooks spoil the broth?
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Defamation despair
There are 50,000 reasons why the Nine-owned Macquarie Media’s on-air personalities at 2GB, 3AW and 4BC were nervously examining the fine print of their contracts last week, after Sydney weekend ratings leader George Moore of the George and Paul Show abruptly announced he would not be back next year.
Moore’s decision was a result of the worst-kept secret at Macquarie: the phasing out of full protection for on-air talent if they are sued for defamation. Contracts are being redrafted as they come up so that broadcasters are only protected for the first $50,000.
That has plenty worried. As Moore told radioinfo.com.au last week: “I could lose my home for simply doing my job.” In light of the $3.75m damages awarded against Alan Jones in the Wagner case, on-air talent has every right to be worried.
Why George Moore is leaving 2GB : insurance indemnity for defamation claims “every time you make a comment... you know they don’t have your back. And that’s what led to my decision†https://t.co/CYXBG30tn1 @radioinfo pic.twitter.com/sDwFopzqAd
— Jason Morrison (@JasonMorrisonAU) October 22, 2019
Responses at the network have been varied. Diary hears a few east coast Macquarie broadcasters have already pushed back against management and had the clause written out of their contracts. Others, in fear of their jobs, have reluctantly accepted the clause.
Meanwhile, some were simply unaware last week. Diary is told Moore’s comments prompted other Macquarie on-air talent to urgently dig out their network contracts to study exactly what they had signed up to.
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Wick on the rise
Nine’s imminent takeover of the Macquarie radio network will underline the rise and rise of its TV news and current affairs boss, Darren Wick.
Diary hears Wick will now expand his role to run the same function across Nine’s entire broadcast operations, including radio.
His new title also signals an imminent huge transformation of news-gathering at Nine, as it exacts maximum benefit out of its shiny new toy.
Wick’s big task will be to establish a super newsroom of television and radio talent, allowing TV talent to file radio reports for news and radio reporters to appear on camera.
However, Wick will remain hands-off with Nine’s print operations — which are still to be run by publishing bosses Chris Janz and James Chessell.
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Hinch’s hunch
Derryn Hinch has a hunch that his Thursday night show on Sky, Hinch, is on its last legs.
The Human Headline tells Diary: “The ratings haven’t been great. I’m the first to admit it. They hire me for what I say, and they fire me for what I say. It has ever been thus.”
We hear Hinch’s hunch is right and he won’t be part of Sky’s 2020 line-up.
But Hinch, 75, is philosophical about the likely end of his show. That’s because he is already hoping to become Australia’s oldest pollie when he stands at the 2022 federal election.
“I’m younger than Joe Biden (who’s now 76), and I hope that in 2022 he’ll be US president and I’ll be in the Senate here.”
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Aunty defies job cuts
ABC managing director David Anderson confirmed his worst-kept secret at Senate estimates last week: Aunty will have to cut jobs to meet its budget.
But in one part of the ABC, job numbers are growing. Diary is reliably informed the old role of head of public affairs, held until recently by Emma McDonald (now Communication Minister Paul Fletcher’s senior adviser) has been split into two roles.
McDonald ran both ABC’s communications and government affairs functions. But that won’t happen any more.
Aunty has advertised for a head of communications, asking for someone who can help to ensure “the ABC’s corporate image remains strong and cohesive both internally and externally”.
Hmmm — challenging. Applications close on Monday night.
But Diary hears the ABC will also shortly advertise for a head of government affairs to focus on managing the public broadcaster’s tricky relationship with ScoMo’s government.
Splitting one role into two will be costly for Aunty. We hear that separate communications and government affairs jobs will leave the ABC having to dig much deeper into its pockets than it did when the versatile McDonald ran both roles. And that means one thing: Anderson will have to find more job cuts elsewhere.
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