Sam Newman, Seb Costello star in trainwreck podcast chat

After ending a chequered 13-year run at Nine, Seb Costello thought it would be a good idea to interview the controversial media identity. It wasn’t.

Former AFL Footy Show panellist Sam Newman. Picture: David Crosling

Journalist Seb Costello (son of Peter) thought it would be a good idea to appear on washed-up media identity Sam Newman’s podcast, You Cannot Be Serious, last week.

It wasn’t.

Earlier this month, Seb brought down the curtain on his chequered 13-year career at Nine, announcing he was in search of a “fresh challenge”.

But, for a guy looking for new employment opportunities, cosying up to Newman was an odd decision.

We don’t recommend listening to — or watching — Newman’s 58-minute “interview” with Costello because it is a painful experience.

Newman can barely conduct a conversation, let alone a media interview, and throughout his chat with Costello, the reporter repeatedly wondered aloud why he had agreed to the fireside chat with the 79-year-old former Footy Show star.

“What am I doing here?” Costello said at one point. During the pair’s discussion, Newman reheated tired tropes about Asian drivers and female sports commentators, he slandered former US first lady Michelle Obama, and quizzed Costello on whether he had taken drugs.

“None of the Bolivian booger sugar? A cap of heroin? A bong or something?” Newman probed.

Costello responded with either raised eyebrows, or embarrassed sniggering. At times he just sat there silently.

Costello also refused to engage on numerous other topics raised by Newman, including the circumstances surrounding the TV journalist’s controversial departure from Nine, his father’s altercation with a journalist at Canberra Airport last year, his possible future employment prospects with Eddie McGuire, and his long-ago online stoush with Sunrise star Edwina Bartholomew.

But, when pushed by Newman about the notorious 2017 incident when he “went missing” during his stint as Nine’s European correspondent, Costello hinted the demands of the job and of bearing his famous family name had worn him down.

Seb Costello. Picture: Tony Gough

“I felt at times during my employment at Nine that I was under huge amounts of pressure and part of that was because my dad was in the company as well,” Costello said.

“I felt like his position created an atmosphere of resentment towards me internally from some people who would say: ‘Seb only got this because of his dad’.

“I felt like I had to be perfect because I knew if anything went wrong it would end up in the newspapers, which is the incident you’re referring to.”

On two separate occasions during the podcast, Costello fired barbs at a former Nine colleague, Melbourne-based sports journalist Tony Jones.

Costello recounted how he had won a prestigious journalism award for his 2016 interview with sprinter Usain Bolt in Rio de Janeiro, but his efforts had been slammed by Jones.

“Tony Jones didn’t like it because it (Costello’s interview with Bolt) went too long and it meant his sports segment had less time,” he said.

“And he was really unhappy about this.

“I think Tony’s pretty untouchable, let’s be honest.”

Newman didn’t react, and several minutes later, Costello took another swipe at Jones over the Bolt interview.

“He (Jones) gave me some very specific feedback,” Costello said.

Newman again didn’t react, prompting Costello to say: “You’re not biting on that one, Sam.

“Are you and Tony friends?”

When Costello, 38, resigned earlier this month, he had been off-air since ­November, having been stood down (pending an investigation) after he and two colleagues from A Current Affair followed a man into a women’s bathroom at the InterContinental Hotel on Melbourne’s Collins Street, in a bid to ask him questions about his business conduct.

But, the review was aborted following Costello’s decision to resign.

The two members of the ACA crew who were also caught up in the bathroom incident have since been reinstated to their positions.

Nine’s penny pinching hits new heights — or low

It’s been almost 300 days (291, to be exact, but who’s counting) since the then-chairman of Nine Entertainment, Peter Costello, infamously (and forcefully) barged into journalist Liam Mendes at Canberra Airport, knocking him to the ground.

Thankfully, Mendes, an award-winning journalist with The Australian, was not hurt in the June 6 incident — video of which has since been viewed a gazillion times across various online platforms.

But, the reporter’s expensive camera gear wasn’t so lucky.

The body, lens and flash of the two cameras that Mendes was carrying at the time of the fracas were left completely buggered as a result of his contact with the hard floor of the airport — and these things don’t come cheap.

To be precise, the cost of the cameras’ repairs and replacements is $6556.79, according to a quote from an authorised Canon vendor.

Now, given the unequivocal nature of the footage of the collision between Costello and Mendes — and the clear evidence of who’s to blame — you’d think someone at Nine would have said sorry, written a cheque, and put this shameful chapter to bed.

Nope, nope and nope.

As of three weeks ago, Nine wasn’t budging from its initial offer to pay 50 per cent of the camera costs.

Not only that, the company’s bean counters are still of the view there may have been some pre-existing damage to Mendes’s camera gear, and therefore they shouldn’t have to stump up the full amount!

Wow. What an embarrassment for Nine.

If this is how this mob negotiates, no wonder they’re struggling to get a deal done on the sale of Domain.

Just to be clear, this is not a dodgy car insurance claim.

Mendes was the victim of unwarranted physical contact by the chairman of a $2.5bn media company, while simply doing his job: that is, asking powerful people legitimate questions.

You’d think Nine’s top dogs would want to send a signal to its own journalists that the company takes a dim view of reporters being physically confronted in the line of duty.

You’d also think that for a company desperately trying to restore its reputation as a good corporate citizen following last year’s scathing review of its workplace culture the wisest course of action might be to do the right thing and cough up.

DAZN closes in

The purchase of the Foxtel Group by DAZN for $3.4bn could be finalised very soon.

There is speculation both parties are ready to close the deal — the only box yet to be ticked is the federal government signing off on the acquisition.

Both parties are hoping that might happen before the government goes into caretaker mode when the forthcoming federal election is called.

DAZN already offers Australian customers the opportunity to watch every NFL game, major boxing clashes, MMA, UEFA Women’s Champions League and more.

It’s unknown how much it will integrate those products with Kayo down the track.

The impending sale has coincided with record audiences tuning in for the start of the AFL and NRL football seasons, while the Formula 1 season started with the most-watched race ever on Foxtel.

One cause for concern at DAZN about Foxtel Group’s current rights deals might be the continuing efforts of NRL chairman Peter V’landys to continually talk up the cost of the next round of rights.

News Corp journalist Peter Badel noted last week V’Landys is targeting an extra $1bn from rights holders for the new deal he wants to finalise this year ahead of the start of the 2027 season.

NRL chair Peter V'landys. Picture: Richard Dobson

The NRL is anticipating the possibility of selling off the State of Origin as a separate rights package which could generate a windfall.

What hasn’t been talked about yet is the impact on the NRL rights for the free-to-air holder if it didn’t have the State of Origin as part of the broadcast deal.

Quills’ Musk snub

The Melbourne Press Club’s annual Quill Awards, recognising excellence in journalism, were handed out at a gala ceremony at a packed ballroom at Crown Palladium on Friday.

The Australian jagged two of the biggest awards of the night: sports reporter Jessica Halloran won the prestigious Harry Gordon Sports Journalist of the Year award for her reporting on the sexual abuse of young athletes, her coverage of the Paris Olympics and her book — and subsequent documentary — on the life of former tennis star Jelena Dokic.

The Australian’s Jessica Halloran. Picture: Britta Campion

This masthead also took home the “business news/feature” award, which recognised the work of reporters Angelica Snowden, John Stensholt and Liam Mendes in their groundbreaking coverage of the scandal which engulfed WiseTech billionaire Richard White.

The Australian’s cadet reporter Brendan Kearns was named Victorian Student Journalist of the Year.

The Melbourne Press Club also recognised legendary Herald Sun editor and News Corp executive Peter Blunden with a lifetime achievement award.

Other big winners on the night included The Age’s Nick McKenzie, who won the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award, making him the first person to claim the honour three times in the 49-year history of the event.

For those unable to attend the event, there was comfort in knowing the list of winners would be available in real time on the Melbourne Press Club’s account on social media platform X, as has been the case for the past several years.

But, imagine Diary’s surprise when we arrived at the MPC’s page on X, only to be redirected to another social media platform, Bluesky.

“We’ll be posting to Bluesky all night,” read the Quills post on X.

You haven’t heard of Bluesky? You’re not alone.

But, all you really need to know about it is that it’s nickname is ‘Woke X’, and it’s not owned by Elon Musk.

We asked the Quills whether its decision to dump X on the night of the awards ceremony was just a bit of anti-Musk virtue signalling. Surely not?

MPC spokesman Nick Richardson was quick to reply, although he glossed over the Musk-shaped elephant in the ballroom.

“We used Bluesky as a suck-and-see trial, just to see how it would go on the night. No other reason. We’ll have a look at the numbers later this week,” he told us.

We reckon a basic abacus is all that will be needed to calculate the number of visits to the MPC’s Bluesky page. And we’ll hazard a guess that a fair few of the MPC’s 8000 followers on X weren’t overly thrilled with the “suck-and-see trial”.

Party in the USA

Travel writing is one of the few corners of journalism which can stay blissfully free from politics.

Sure, readers need to be informed of any potential social dangers and civil unrest, but for the most part, travel writing delivers treasured travel trips and joy — even if it’s just of the vicarious kind.

But, ever since Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November, travel writers at the SMH and The Age seem to have decided America is a no-go zone. It’s as if the Grand Canyon isn’t as spectacular during a Trump presidency as it was under Joe Biden’s Administration.

Last November, just days after Trump’s victory, we reported on SMH travel writer Ben Groundwater’s declaration that for him, the US was now off limits.

“Another of Trump’s stated policies is a reduction of firearms restrictions, which will seem ­absolutely wild to most people outside the country,” he wrote.

“There’s a plan for concealed carry reciprocity, which means if you can carry a concealed weapon in your home state, you will be able to do so anywhere in the US.

Sydney Morning Herald travel writer Ben Groundwater. Picture: Facebook

“Trump is hugely unpopular among women. And who do you think makes the decisions on spending and travel in Australian homes? According to a recent survey commissioned by Wise, it’s women: 70 per cent of travel decisions and payments are made by women.”

Righto, then.

Then, in January, travel writer Lee Tulloch, also writing for the SMH, bagged the US under the classic please-don’t-read-me headline: “I lived in America for 10 years. Now I don’t even want to visit”.

Tulloch didn’t need to bash Trump. Timing is everything. The article was published one week after his inauguration.

“We have been under the thrall of America for so long that it’s difficult to yank the focus away. Almost 640,000 Australians visited the US in the past financial year, though that number was well below pre-pandemic levels,” Tulloch wrote solemnly.

“I expect that the incumbent President, the thought of becoming collateral damage in a mall shooting, and the tanking Australian dollar are now giving more Australians pause for thought.

“As travellers, there are many more fascinating places where we can spend our money. I’d suggest Canada for a start.”

With respect that’s like telling Americans they should visit New Zealand instead of Australia. Crazy, right?

But wait!

Last week, the SMH’s Groundwater admitted to a travel epiphany!

The headline said it all: “I’ve changed my mind about travelling to Trump’s America”.

We’ll let Ben explain the dark night of his soul.

“My opinion, up until a few weeks ago, was: why would you bother? There are so many great places in the world to go; why mess with the US for the next four years?

“But then I had a conversation with a travel-loving friend that changed my mind.

“Who’s going to suffer, this friend asked me, if everyone stops holidaying in the US? The country’s economy will suffer, so maybe Donald Trump will too. Maybe your protest, or at least your position, will be heard. Maybe. Though he’s not running for re-election.

“But you know who will most definitely suffer? Americans. Americans who voted for Trump, sure. But also the vast majority of citizens who did not vote for Donald Trump. That’s 270 million people.”

Diary must confess — we struggle to follow Groundwater’s argument. By that logic, we should all immediately traipse off to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Anyway, if the end result is we can all agree the US is a great country to visit, irrespective of who is sitting in the Oval Office, then sanity has prevailed.

Nick Tabakoff is on leave.