Stutch barking up the wrong tree

HE may be editor-in-chief of The Australian Financial Review but it seems Michael Stutchbury doesn’t know what the Seven West Media CEO looks like.

HE may be the editor-in-chief of The Australian Financial Review and a former business editor of The Australian. But it seems Michael Stutchbury doesn’t know what the CEO of Seven West Media looks like. The AFR’s Rear ­Window columnist Will Glasgow wrote on Thursday that Ten news chief Peter Meakin, Sky CEO ­Angelos Frangopoulos and ­Qantas executive Olivia Wirth had dined together at Rockpool.

The item sparked speculation about Qantas being involved in a bid for Ten. But Glasgow was not at Rockpool that day while his boss Stutch was. In a perplexing case of mistaken identity, Glasgow wrote that Seven boss Tim Worner was Meakin. The two couldn’t look more different. ­Worner is tanned and has the handsome look of a weekend ­surfer while Meakin is more rough and tumbled. An old-school newsman with a gruff voice and quick wit. “If Worner looks like me now it means he’s aged very ­quickly and not very gracefully,” Meakin told Diary. “And anyone who is a keen student of dining would have picked the difference in table ­manners.”

Mike’s foot out the door

MEAKIN hasn’t had much time for lunching lately as he sorts through the odd resignation letter and program negotiations for next year. One such letter was from Mike Munro who has quit his job as weekend newsreader at Ten.

The legendary television jour­nalist, who invented the foot-in-the-door, gave his notice to Meakin in October, finding staff cutbacks too much. Munro wouldn’t elaborate on the precise reasons for leaving but it’s widely known the cuts include a reduction in camera crews, no uplink trucks on weekends and news­papers no longer being delivered to the newsroom.

“I’d love to be able to stay but with the severe cutbacks on the weekend national bulletin, it’s too difficult,’’ Munro said. “Just after I joined Ten, 150 people from the newsroom were made redundant. It was a terrible time but despite all of that the ­morale and determination of the young staff was just incredible. Ten is genuinely a lovely place to work.”

It’s the third time Munro has given Admiral Meakin his ­resignation letter — first at Nine after 24 years, then Seven, when he quit as host of Sunday Night, and now at Ten. “When I walked in, Peter said, ‘What’s that envelope in your hand? Don’t tell me it’s ­another one of those’,” he said. It may not be the last resignation ­letter Munro hands Meakin, as it’s possible Munro will return elsewhere on the network next year.

Bauer sues Freedman

BAUER is suing Mia Freedman over the launch of her new ­website, Debrief Daily, with a ­directions hearing today. Bauer has its own website of a similar name, which it claims Freedman has copied. Freedman is likely to entirely reject the claim. There is the possibility of Bauer taking an injunction against Freedman’s website. Bauer Australia has been very slow to move into the digital space, with a poor online presence and very weak offering of content.

By contrast, Freedman has owned the online space for mothers and now she’s encroaching in the over- 40 demographic. Bauer could be seeking to delay her entry into this market until it launches its Women’s Network, which was announced some months ago but has not yet eventuated.

Bolt Report up in the air

AFTER his final Ten show for the year, Andrew Bolt and his family held a Christmas lunch at his home in Melbourne yesterday. Dining on his home-cooked moussaka and fennel sausages were Janet Albrechtsen, Bruce Hawker, Richard Marles, Josh Frydenberg, Tim Wilson, Andrew Landeryou and his wife, HSU official Kimberley Kitching, Judith Sloan and Rowan Dean. In a heartfelt speech to staff, Bolt said the future of his show was unclear — it may not return to Ten. While he didn’t elaborate, Diary can reveal Sky is keen to have the Bolt Report on its network. They’d also love Bolt to host his own nightly show instead of a weekly one. Executives at Sky, Ten and News Corp are highly complimentary of Bolt’s mainstream appeal and charm on camera. The fact his Sunday program rates better than ABC’s Insiders doesn’t hurt either.

Sunday night pick

ABC’s Foreign Correspondent executive producer Steve Taylor is a frontrunner to replace Mark ­Llewellyn as executive producer of Sunday Night. Taylor worked alongside Worner at the well-­regarded nightly current affairs show State Affair in Perth in the 80s, when Taylor was the host and Worner a reporter.

Taylor has experience both at the ABC and commercial networks and worked as EP at 7.30 when it was hosted by Kerry O’Brien. Llewellyn is staying with Seven but has moved on from Sunday Night after a blow-up with a producer in the office. There are still attempts to convince heavyweight journalist Ross Coulthart to remain with Sunday Night.

Other candidates for the role of EP are Gareth ­Harvey, Dan Meenan, Max Uechtritz. However, Diary understands the job is unlikely to go to an internal candidate. The backdrop of ABC boss Mark Scott’s ­interest in digital services over broadcast journalism is one reason Taylor may be more interested in moving to Seven now. In other changes at Seven, David Porter, Brad Lyons and Angus Ross are candidates for the new role of head of TV operations which oversees HR, IT and production management but not content — but there’s a reluctance to move Ross or Lyons out of their current roles. Worner will also have a more hands-on role in TV content moving forward. Despite weekend reports, Mark Ferguson will remain as Sydney newsreader, with no plans to replace him with Ray Martin, who doesn’t want a nightly commitment in any case.

Freudi’s non-slip

IT’S a sliding doors moment that Foxtel CEO Richard Freudenstein is probably grateful for every day of his life. Diary can ­reveal the job of ABC managing director came down to him and Mark Scott, with then chairman Donald McDonald choosing Scott, a former Liberal staffer. ­McDonald has refused to respond to repeated questions from Diary about whether he regrets the ­decision.

Freudenstein would not comment other than to say, “I think Mark would do a much ­better job at running a public broadcaster than I ever would. I think running a public broadcaster is probably not where my strength lies”. But Worner, who has been working closely with Freudi on Presto, disagreed. “I think he could do it on his ear,” he said, before adding quickly, “that’s not to ­dismiss the size of the challenge.”

Quentin on good wicket

WHILE it is very sad to see local journalism disappear from 7.30 on Friday nights, people shouldn’t be too devastated for outgoing ­experienced host Quentin Dempster. His defined benefit super ­income likely to be about $150,000 a year and he is already understood to be in talks with other networks. We wish him well.

Boss out of the loop

MEDIA agency wags are spec­ulating IPG Mediabrands global COO Henry Tajer could move to New York. Rumour has it Tajer may become global CEO. Trouble is no one has told the current incumbent and his boss, Matt Seiler.

Lights on at Packers

THE lights have been on at James Packer’s Vaucluse mega-mansion recently, with Erica lending the home to friends visiting Sydney. It’s fully furnished — despite the fact Erica has only spent four nights there since its completion.

Diary’s warm wishes

AFTER some pretty tough character assessments both ways, Hedley Thomas, Mark Latham and Diary broke bread and shared a few jokes over lunch in Liverpool. No arms were broken, everyone left unscathed and a mutual disregard for leftie journalism ­academics was discovered. And to everyone else we’ve exchanged blows with this year, especially our favourite media subjects, Mark Scott, Greg “Maserati” Hywood andNew Matilda’s Chris Graham, we wish you a lovely ­Christmas and a relaxing break. Until the next Diary on January 19.