Gyngell takes poaching personally

NINE CEO David Gyngell has ­labelled News Corp Australia his “personal enemy” after Fox Sports secured the services of highly regarded Nine executive Scott Briggs.

NINE CEO David Gyngell has ­labelled News Corp Australia his “personal enemy” after Fox Sports pulled off a coup in securing the services of highly regarded Nine executive Scott Briggs. When the announcement was made, Nine was holding a board meeting. Gyngell issued a statement shortly afterwards, saying: “We are happy for Scott, he’s a great colleague and a good friend, he’s going to a terrific company at Fox Sports and I look forward to working with him in the future.” But the truth is that Briggs’ defection to News went down like a lead balloon at Willoughby.

When Briggs resigned, an incredulous Gyngnell is alleged to have told him: “You’re joining the enemy … they’re my personal enemy.” Animosity between Gyngell and News has been brewing for years, and reached a new level when News snapped up the picture and video rights to his Bondi brawl with James Packer for a six-figure sum. Unsurprisingly, Gyngell was the only high-profile media boss absent from The Australian’s recent 50th anniversary celebrations. Perhaps his Nike trackies were at the dry cleaners.

Gay times all around

THE Saturday Paper has refused to publish its circulation data since it launched earlier this year, but a leaked email from the paper owned by Morry Schwartz shows its ad rates are $8500 for a full page. There are claimed to be 80,000 copies in the market.

Diary understands Schwartz Media is still playing with different markets in Melbourne and Sydney, and distributing the paper to areas where it’s unlikely to sell, such as western Sydney. It is selling more copies in Sydney than in Melbourne, with the lower north shore and eastern suburbs the most successful areas.

If the ad team is struggling to sell pages for the requested price, perhaps it could try an incentive scheme adopted by editor Erik Jensen. He sends Golden Gaytime ice creams to his writers to encourage them to file their copy. They cannot be couriered, so he rings a corner store close to their home and has the goods delivered.

We’re not sure Gaytimes would be an adequate filing incentive for most journos — we reckon McDonald’s chicken nuggets would speed up Tim Blair’s copy, a voucher to the ABC shop for Chris Kenny, a good ­bottle of wine for Paul Sheehan and French champagne for Jennifer Hewitt.

Swan V Kelly

WITH eight political books out this year, former treasurer Wayne Swan has just one aim: for his to sell more than Paul Kelly’s.

Kelly’s Triumph and Demise: The Broken Promise of a Labor Generation is highly critical of many aspects of Swan’s role in the Labor government, including that he misled Kevin Rudd over the mining tax that contributed to his demise as PM. Swan tells Diary he has nothing against Kelly and thinks he’s a good bloke, but he is determined to beat him in the sales of their competing political narratives, launched just days apart. He doesn’t give two hoots about books released by Greg Combet or Mark Latham.

Swan’s ambition may prove tough, given Kelly has some juicy revelations in his book. For the first time, he discloses the source of the story published in The Australian about then US president George Bush asking Rudd what the G20 was. The Australian’s editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, has gone on the record to reveal what unfolded following his dinner with Rudd at Kirribilli House on October 10, 2008. For this story alone, the book is worth its $49.99 cover price.

If you have tears…

WE’RE waiting to hear whether anyone has purchased a copy of Latham’s new book. The former Labor leader has developed a reputation as a bully: taking on a cab driver and a photographer will do that. But it turns out that, along with a temperament for tantrums, Latham is also quite emotional. He has cried in front of at least two senior Labor politicians.

The Australian revealed recently that after days of articles concerning Latham’s personal life in December 2003, he decided to hold a press conference with Rudd, then foreign affairs spokesman, over pre-leadership anti-American sentiments. Latham was so distressed when preparing for the presser that he wept on Rudd’s shoulder.

It turns out this wasn’t the first time Latham shed tears when things didn’t go his way. He also cried to Bob Carr after failing to win preselection for the NSW state seat of Liverpool in 1989. “I’d had a phone conversation with Mark Latham, unsuccessful right-wing candidate and staff member,” one of Carr’s diary entries from March 14, 1989 reads. “He in tears. Hung up on me. He later phoned in to resign. Bugger him. He failed to do the grassroots organisation necessary for a clear-cut, un­ambiguous win. We bled on the canvas for three weeks as a result.”

Pass the tissues.

Weep for Quay

LATHAM’S not the only one shedding tears. Diary attended the elegant Gourmet Traveller awards during the week, hosted by television star Leila McKinnon, where editor Anthea Loucas announced the best chef and top 10 restaurants for 2014. It was unlucky for Quay owner Leon Fink that Diary was sitting on the other side of chef Matt Moran when he plonked himself down at the table to complain about being beaten by Momofuku. Fink was outraged Quay had dropped to No 4 and didn’t understand how Momo­fuku could place higher than his world-renowned restaurant.

Starless in Coolum

DEEPAK Chopra this week became the latest to complain about conditions at Clive Palmer’s Coolum resort. During his three-day stay for a Journey of Enlightenment conference on July 18-20, Chopra had only cold showers. He wondered aloud to his 500-strong audience what the karmic significance could be of showering in freezing water.

When Diary rang Palmer Coolum Resort, the receptionist told us the hotel was rated five stars, but according to Star Ratings Australia it has not been rated at all. “They haven’t been independently reviewed so they are not five-star,’’ a spokesman said. “They self-rate at the luxury standard, but are not officially or independently reviewed as a five-star property.”

One wonders if five-star hotels only have cold water these days, what star rating it takes to be guaranteed a hot shower.

Hywood splashes out

WHILE Fairfax journalists prepare to go on strike this week to argue for pay rises, their CEO Greg Hywood has splashed out on a $140,000 Ferrari Maserati. Fairfax journalists have formally notified the company that from Wednesday there could be rolling strikes for a 24, 48 or 72-hour period, with the option to withdraw this at any time. Sources at Fairfax said journos were annoyed but not amazed by Hywood’s insensitivity. “It’s fair to say people haven’t been surprised that he could be so unappreciative of the optics,’’ one source said. Another source said Hywood led a life of luxury and it was common knowledge that he often left work not long after 5pm to work out at the gym.

When Diary attempted to photograph Hywood in his new car outside one of his Sydney properties, he is said to have thrown an epic fit because his 20-something son lived in the house.

In a case of staggering double standards, Hywood had no qualms about Fairfax papers risking Lachlan Murdoch’s primary schoolers’ safety with one gratuitous story after another about the home he has bought for his family in Sydney. In the past four years, Fairfax has published more than 20,000 words and scores of articles with extensive detail on the property including floor plans, photographs, architect drawings, even pictures of a model showing renovations.

It really ain’t so, Joe

FAIRFAX general counsel Gail Hambly likes to remind morale-zapped staff: “Management was prepared to back itself to achieve set targets — something the journalists are refusing to do.” One Fairfax journo who has always taken this attitude is Rear Window columnist Joe Aston.

Diary can reveal Aston had conversations about joining The Australian late last year. Diary is reliably informed Aston demanded a salary of $400,000 — at least $175,000 more than The Oz was willing to pay. Discussions ended and no firm offer was made. But Fairfax executives believed Aston had received a formal offer from The Oz, and he used this non-existent offer to his advantage financially at Fairfax. Aston has been a journalist for only two years but he has certainly learnt the old-timers’ tricks.