ABC assigns major role to former pay-TV industry lobbyist

Andrew Maiden, the former head of Astra the pay-TV industry lobby group, has a new job.

Cartoon: Johannes Leak.

It is not quite KGB masterspy Kim Philby jumping aboard the ­Dolmatova bound for Odessa in 1963, leaving behind wrecked British intelligence agencies to ­embrace the bosom of the Soviet Union. But in the febrile atmosphere of Australian media, not a million miles away. Andrew Maiden, former head of Astra, the pay-TV industry lobby group, has a secret new job. At, of all places, the ABC.

Maiden is consulting on a short-term basis to Louise Higgins, ABC chief financial officer and director of strategy, who has ambitions to make the ABC more transparent and efficient. Last year, after four years at Astra, Maiden was thinking of leaving when the role of the lobby group was downgraded. He celebrated by going travelling on a guided tour of Chernobyl before setting up a consultancy business. Prior to Astra, he spent 12 years at Telstra, including as executive director, corporate affairs, and was also a press secretary in the Howard government to finance minister John Fahey. FreeTV, the commercial free-to-air lobby group, was interested in recruiting Maiden, but when he made it clear he preferred consultancy life, it appears ABC chairman Justin Milne, who knew Maiden from their Telstra days, spotted an opportunity.

Coulthart exits

Veteran investigative journalist Ross Coulthart is out of Nine and 60 Minutes. And he is quick to rubbish reports that it is because he can’t stand new Nine hire Mark Llewellyn. Back in 2014 both men were working at Seven’s Sunday Night when Coulthart restrained Llewellyn after an office altercation. Llewellyn was removed from Sunday Night and Coulthart removed himself from Seven. Straightened times afflicting the media industry appears a more likely reason. “I joined Nine in 1988 and I have left three times and each time I have flourished,” Coulthart told Diary. His contract was the first up for renewal, so it will be interesting to see if other Nine stars are forced to downsize. Sources at the network insist it is not true that Karl Stefanovic is ­estranged from the program. Stefanovic had said the program had lost relevance, during his younger brother Peter’s infamous Uber phone call, where the younger Stefanovic said the program had rejected seven of his pitches. 60 Minutes might need the Stefanovics. Reporter Charles Wooley is out of action, breaking his ankle. It was not the result of any blowback from his notorious interview with New Zealand Prime Minister ­Jacinda Ardern, but because he stepped into a pothole.

No doubting Thomas

Last month Communications Minister Mitch Fifield hired ­former ABC journalist James Thomas as his senior political ­adviser. Thomas has 20 years ­experience in the broadcast media industry and has worked at Nine, Seven and the ABC, has a degree focused in communications from University of Canberra, and is a proficient Spanish speaker. His LinkedIn page proudly showcases his stories on equestrian cruelty for the ABC, and his investigation into Papua New Guinea money laundering on Seven. But what’s not mentioned is a controversy last year after a report by Thomas for 7.30 prompted a correction from the ABC and an admission of breaches of editorial standards. In March 2017, 7.30 broadcast a story alleging poor working conditions by ground handling company Aero­care. The report stated one Aerocare worker was risking his job in talking to the program, but he didn’t actually have a job to risk. The company pointed out the bloke in question was a casual who hadn’t had a shift in nine months. And 7.30 ran a photo showing an Aerocare worker sleeping in a luggage container. But he wasn’t ­actually an employee of Aerocare. The regulator ACMA rebuffed the company’s lawyers when they tried to take the complaint further.

Movement at the station

Leaving: Sky News Canberra ­bureau chief Lyndal Curtis, for more family time. Joining: Nine News has poached Ten News Sydney chief of staff Anthony Peterson. Says Sydney news director Simon Hobbs: “Anthony has been the cornerstone of the Ten news in Sydney. He’s gone head to head with us daily, with only four or five reporters and cameras.”

Brought to book

James Jeffrey is a man who bridges political, ideological and journalistic divides. As The Australian’s Strewth columnist and parliamentary sketch writer is one of this columnist’s oldest friends in journalism, we considered it borderline improper to give lavish attention to the launch last week for his memoir My Family and Other Animus. But that was before your Diarist was lavishly praised in Jeffrey’s launch speech, for suggesting that he turn his columns about his family into a memoir. So we totally reversed our position. The book was launched at Camperdown Commons in Sydney on Thursday, a former lawn bowling green turned neighbourhood garden and hipster food haven. The eager crowd ensured that 90 copies of the book on hand sold out. Federal Labor spokesman for infrastructure, and local MP, Anthony Albanese, launched the book, while his Today Show sparring partner, ­Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne looked on, as did ­Infrastructure Minister Paul ­Fletcher.

Also present: ABC 7.30 host Leigh Sales, Melbourne Univer­sity Press publisher Louise Adler, Richard Fidler, who had interviewed Jeffrey touchingly the day before, on his ABC Conversations radio program, and SBS Insight host Jenny Brockie. One of the many joys of the evening was that the event operated like a reunion of 1990s News Limited cadets, which included Annabel McGilvray, who met Jeffrey when they were both at The Australian and then married him. Why write the book? Jeffrey was to the point. “My standard answer — and I suspect it is the same for a great many MUP authors — is a simple one. I was in Louise Adler’s path and just too slow to get out of the way.”

Gloves are off

Forget the boxing at the Commonwealth Games. Wednesday marks the second bout of Sky News anchor turned ALP senator Kristina Keneally and ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie at the spillover session for Senate estimates. Expected are more questions about how the national broadcaster handled those Emma Alberici pieces of corporate tax rates that had the government up in arms. But this time the ABC is expecting more questions about the curious case of its Cabinet Files filing cabinet non-expose, where seasoned journalists shook their heads after the national broadcaster made a big fuss about obtaining top-secret cabinet minutes found in an old filing cabinet, produced a few not very good stories from them, was forced to apologise to former prime minister Kevin Rudd for getting it wrong, then handed the whole thing back to the government.

ABC head of news Gaven Morris is not expected to attend to explain either of those incidents, leaving it to Guthrie and powerful editorial director Alan Sunderland. It was a series of non answers last time around that led to the ABC being forced to deal with 81 questions on notice from Ken­eally. When will we get to see the answers? They were lodged with Communications Minister Mitch Fifield. A spokeswoman for the minster said: “The Senate committee’s deadline for responses to questions placed on notice is April 17. However, to assist the committee, the government is endeavouring to have responses regarding ABC matters lodged with the committee prior to the estimates spillover hearing to be held on Wednesday, April 11.”

If the senator is feeling favourably predisposed to Guthrie, he will release them before the hearing. But who can tell with the enigmatic Communications Minister?

Maguire at helm

Today week marks the start date for Tory Maguire as national editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The former News Corp journalist has achieved a spectacular comeback after last year’s axing of the joint venture between Fairfax and Huffington Post to run a local site with Maguire as editor-in-chief. Maguire was apparently the standout candidate during the interview stage, but it can’t have been an impediment that her old boss at HuffPost, Chris Janz, now runs Fairfax’s metro papers. Maguire began her career as a cadet on The Daily Telegraph and held senior editor and journalist roles at News Corp Australia for 15 years, including as a political reporter in Canberra.