Dangerous liaisons for the Daily Mail

A MESSY love triangle has emerged at the Daily Mail’s local joint venture with Nine’s digital media company, Mi9.

Mi9 CEO Mark Britt and CEO MailOnline publisher Martin Clarke at the announcement of the Australian launch of The Daily Mail...

A MESSY love triangle has emerged at the most senior levels of the Daily MailÂ’s local joint venture with NineÂ’s digital media company, Mi9. The multi-million-dollar partnership involved the hiring of more than 50 journalists, and is a key play in the Daily MailÂ’s global strategy.

But a complicated romantic liaison threatens to affect the day-to-day running of the team.

General manager of the Daily Mail Australia Mikaela Lancaster was in an on-off relationship with Mi9’s general counsel, Emren Kara, for about five years.

That is, until Mi9 boss Mark Britt stole Lancaster’s heart earlier this year. The pair have been having a secret relationship since then.

Britt informed Nine chief executive David Gyngell and Daily Mail publisher Martin Clarke, of the new relationship in the last few days.

There are now questions internally over whether Britt will have to resign from the Daily Mail Mi9 board to placate any concerns the Daily Mail UK has over conflict of interest.

Britt’s Linked-in profile states: “Mark lives in Sydney with his wife and four children. In his personal time he describes himself as an ‘aspiring but rubbish DJ’ and likes to keep fit by training for triathlons, in which he partakes as an enthusiastic-yet-uncompetitive participant for charity.”

Sources say Britt separated from his wife a year ago.

The Daily Mail’s spokesman said he would not comment on gossip but “The Daily Mail and Nine’s relationship couldn’t be closer.” Well, clearly. It’s this type of romantic liaison that is bread and butter for the Daily Mail’s famous sidebar of shame column.

King Kyle goes south

KYLE and Jackie O’s breakfast show could be syndicated to Melbourne next year after its success in the first ratings survey. The move was described to Diary as a “possibility” and, while no formal discussions have taken place yet, executives are weighing up the pros and cons of such a move next year.

A source said it would have to be carefully thought through, citing the example of the failed bid to bring Richard Stubbs from Melbourne into Sydney, and the mild success of Triple M’s Cage show, which was syndicated nationally. But the source said Kyle and Jackie O was a bigger name show and it could just work in the Melbourne market, which is struggling at breakfast with Chrissie Swan and Jane Hall.

“It’s a possibility, I wouldn’t deny that,” the source said. “They are a big name and it’s a big show but Melbourne and Sydney are different markets.”

Kyle and Jackie O’s show is the only show on KIIS produced by a specialist company, Bowserland, to allow it to be syndicated.

What is more certain is a rebrand of MIX FM to KIISFM next year.

It’s a costly exercise, but one executives say has paid off in Sydney.

ABC left with Lefties

THERE is plenty of speculation about who will replace Fran Kelly on Radio National when she fills in for Barrie Cassidy over the next four months, while he writes a book on his father’s 1500 days as a prisoner of war. There is a feeling within the ABC that they need to pick someone who will not be seen as a token leftie.

But the most conservative journalist at the ABC, Chris Uhlmann, is already presenting on AM.

Interestingly, Diary has been told Kelly came up with the original concept for a Sunday morning political show, but Cassidy allegedly stole her thunder and pitched a similar idea first.

Rev-heads rule

Ferrari’s Formula 1 team was a tad off the pace in yesterday’s first GP of the season in Melbourne. Perhaps it should hire UM’s dream team to inject a bit of zip into its lap times. In the corporate suites, a group of media agency executives were entertained by Ten chief executive Hamish McLennan and sales boss Louise Barrett. They included Carat’s Simon Ryan and Paul Brooks, Starcom’s Chris Nolan, Aegis’s Alex Pekish and OMD’s Andrew Gough. Since starting in the job a year ago, McLennann has turned Ten into the home of motorsport with the V8 Supercars moving to there next year. In the Qantas suite was Westpac CEO Gail Kelly; Crown was hosting outgoing AFL chief Andrew Demetriou.

The PM, Bolt and too much champers

THE GP shindig was a more sober and civilised affair than drinks hosted by the Prime Minister for Victorian journalists on Thursday night.

The soiree, designed to shore up support for Tony Abbott, in a state that wishes its PMs were AFL not NRL lovers, turned out to be more eventful than anyone anticipated. It was a semi-formal affair, attended by the PM and his chief of staff, Peta Credlin, and elegant invitations were sent out to Victoria’s top political journalists and editors.

What unfolded, however, was far from elegant.

The Herald Sun’s political journalist, James Campbell, who is up for a prestigious Graham Perkin award this week, got a bit over-excited. He was seen at one point in the evening walking around with a bottle of champagne in hand. Campbell approached high-profile News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt and did not hold back. Instead of expressing support for Bolt, who has had one of the worst weeks of his career after being unfairly labelled a racist on Q+A, Campbell gave him a hard time on several topics.

Bolt returned fire.

Campbell rang Bolt the next day and apologised, which was accepted.

Also at the drinks, radio host Jon Faine got down on his knees and begged for an interview with Abbott, (which he landed the very next morning), the ABC’s Rafael Epstein gave the PM the Prisoner X book he authored as a present and Abbott gave a speech declaring his real occupation was still a journalist.

We wouldn’t be surprised if Abbott leaves it a while before having drinks in Melbourne again.

Editor interrupted

THERE is no question about it now, the glossy Bauer magazines will definitely move out of their Park St, Sydney headquarters.

In the middle of a Woman’s Day coverline meeting, three women barged into editor-in-chief Fiona Connolly’s office to take measurements. The women, understood to be sent by the owners of the building, were discussing turning Connolly’s level 12 office, which has outstanding views of Hyde Park, into a penthouse with a master bedroom and ensuite.

The plan is to turn the Bauer offices into a residential tower.

The coverline meeting was derailed, with the Woman’s Day staff in panic mode at the thought of moving out of the building to North Ryde, shock horror, or World Tower, which is the frontrunner at the moment.

Bauer CEO Yvonne Bauer is very interested in commercial property and the new offices are likely to be state of the art and hi-tech, similar to the Hamburg offices.

Sunset deadlines

IF you’re expecting to read about Joe Hockey’s federal budget speech, or the latest ASX statements from Perth-based Wesfarmers and big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, don’t bother buying The Sydney Morning Herald or The Australian Financial Review.

The AFR’s deadlines are being moved forward due to the SMH being printed at North Richmond in Sydney’s far northwest, where it will share the presses with the AFR.

From the end of this month, the deadline for the weekday AFR will move forward one hour to 7pm. To avoid a late rush of copy, most companies reporters need to file well before 4pm. And the SMH has brought forward deadlines by half an hour to about 8pm Sunday to Thursday and 6pm on Saturday. With Perth-based companies, the AFR is faced with being out of date on newsstands before it hits the streets.

Another sign that Fairfax’s inexorable march to a digital-only future, as it prepares to abandon printing Monday to Friday editions of major mastheads, is getting closer.

More to the story

JOHN van Tiggelen’s comments on his departure as editor of Morry Schwartz’s The Monthly deserve closer reading. Van Tiggelen, who will be replaced by The Monthly’s online editor Nick Feik, said he had been looking forward to the change, “partly for family reasons”. It’s true the commute from central Victoria to Collingwood is a killer but there’s more to it. Van Tiggelen’s too much of a gentleman to comment but it’s understood he’d become exasperated with the left-leaning Schwartz’s editorial prejudices and commercial sense. Schwartz rejected the suggestion: “John and I are great mates. We see eye to eye on most things.” But we understand the courageous launch of The Saturday Paper three weeks ago, which in many ways is a direct competitor to The Monthly given it’s pitched at a similar audience, was the last straw.

No action taken

AN update to the Bath-Vader wardrobe shenanigans. Further to last week’s item about a dispute between Sunday Night host Chris Bath and Seven Network’s head of wardrobe, Annabelle Van Tongeren, Diary has learned that after the HR complaint was lodged in June, it was investigated, dismissed and no further action was taken against Bath.