A bloody invasion may be raging in Ukraine, but ABC correspondent Tom Joyner – who until the weekend was reporting on the conflict from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv – took time out on social media to chronicle something a world away from the mayhem surrounding him.
Early last week, around the same time blasts were shaking a number of Ukrainian cities, Joyner put up a lengthy Instagram story to his 1000-odd followers that was all about his adventures in finding a massage in Lviv – in a post that left some of his ABC colleagues bemused.
The post included plenty of detail about the one-hour event, right down to how the masseur came to be recommended by his driver: photos of both the practitioner he says “pummelled” him, and the “cage” out of which he operated; and even “the view out the window” from the massage studio.
Joyner, who was called in to Ukraine by the ABC a fortnight ago as a reinforcement from his regular post as Aunty’s Middle East correspondent, began his lengthy Instagram post by explaining his need for a bit of TLC.
“I wanted to get a massage today because my shoulders were sore and our driver recommended a guy at his local hospital. So we went,” he wrote. “It was not what I was expecting. Turned out it wasn’t a normal massage place. It was a physio who did massages on the side.”
Joyner had nothing but praise for the masseur’s work. “He was a total legend,” Joyner wrote. “I had to lie down in this cage surrounded by all sorts of instruments while he pummelled my back for an hour.”
The ABC correspondent concluded: “I felt 100% better at the end of it. The end,” rounding out his cheery post with a small Ukrainian flag emoji.
Nobody doubts the need for Joyner to take a bit of a time out in Ukraine, in the midst of what has no doubt been a tough assignment to cover. But the general consensus internally at the ABC was that it was tone-deaf for someone in a war zone to post a six-screen Instagram record of his massage adventures in Lviv, just as many were fighting and fleeing Ukraine.
Fortunately for ABC honchos, Joyner’s post quickly disappeared, because it had been shared as an Instagram Story that self-deletes after 24 hours. However, it stayed up long enough to be widely shared by some of his ABC colleagues, ahead of Joyner himself joining many Ukrainians in crossing the border into Poland on the weekend.
When Diary phoned Joyner in Poland on Sunday to ask if he had any comment on the perception among some of his ABC colleagues that his Ukrainian massage post was “tone deaf”, he replied: “I don’t really think I should.”
But the correspondent’s Instagram post plays into an ongoing narrative of a vacuum of leadership within the ABC’s news division. As we noted last week, Aunty remains without a permanent news director, with Gavin Fang still in the hot seat in an acting capacity, a whole five months after the resignation of Gaven Morris in October last year.
Before he left the ABC, one of Morris’s biggest bugbears was “poorly judged” social media posts by his news staff, amid a host of journalists overstepping the mark on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Additionally, there are clear signs that with no permanent news boss, a war in Ukraine, and a looming federal election, the ABC is having trouble just making editorial decisions. Witness the hand-wringing a couple of weeks back, simply about whether to screen a Clive Palmer speech on the ABC.
The latest issue is that the loss of a number of ABC old hands means there is a dearth of experience among current staff to give the bigger picture about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It therefore seemed no coincidence last week that the ABC suddenly decided to add some firepower to its coverage last week. Out of the blue came the return to screens of departed ABC veterans Philip Williams (its former chief foreign correspondent), and Michael Brissenden.
Less than a year back, there were gushing goodbyes for Williams as he permanently farewelled the ABC, with a press release at the time noting that it was time for Williams to “spend some more time with his family and on his farm” after 40 years with Aunty.
But suddenly last week, Williams abandoned the “farm” on a short-term ABC deal to pop up on virtually every news show from News Breakfast onwards to give his well-informed take on events in Ukraine.
The surprise resurrection of Williams seemed like a tacit acknowledgment that the ABC needs to spend less energy on Instagram posts about massages – and more on real insights into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Stan Grant’s Q+A spat with Fordham
Stan Grant has lashed out at Ben Fordham, after the 2GB breakfast host criticised the Q+A moderator and hinted he may have taken direction from producers on his earpiece before kicking out a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
Grant has told Diary he’s “disappointed” in Fordham’s claim, as well as his criticism that he had “lost control” of Q+A on Thursday night. He added he would “put my journalistic career” up against Fordham’s “any day”.
The Q+A audience member, Sasha Gillies-Lekakis, had said he supported “what Putin is doing in the Ukraine” before making inflammatory claims about the Kyiv government joining with “Nazi groups” to kill “Russian populations”.
About 20 minutes later, things suddenly became heated when Grant returned to Gillies-Lekakis’s remarks.
“You can ask a question but we cannot advocate violence,” Grant told Gillies-Lekakis. “I should have asked you to leave then. It’s been playing on my mind and, I’m sorry, but I have to ask you to leave.”
On Friday morning, Fordham panned Grant’s decision, claiming: “Stan Grant lost control of his own show.”
He raised the possibility that “someone got in Stan’s ear, because it took him 20 minutes and then he decided Sasha had to go”.
“Playing on your mind for 20 minutes?” Fordham asked. “It took you a long time to act, Stan.”
But through Diary, Grant has taken strong exception to Fordham’s comments. When we asked whether Fordham was right and that an instruction was received from producers through his earpiece, Grant was incredulous: “No. As if. What am I – 12?” he said. “I put my journalistic career up against his (Fordham’s) any day. Whenever I’ve met Ben Fordham, he’s always been polite and friendly. I don’t know whether to take that at face value, but it’s disappointing.”
Grant says the decision was his alone, and taken as a “moral” choice after “weighing up all of it” in a live TV environment.
“It troubled me that someone in an ABC studio was saying that they supported an illegal invasion where people were dying,” he tells Diary.
“People who sit there and take potshots know nothing about it. The remarks were distressing to people in the room. I wanted to have a proper discussion about the points raised, but it troubled me. We all walk out of there safe and sound, but people in Ukraine are not. You’ve got people dying right now.”
Fordham told Diary on Sunday: “I like Stan. He’s a decent fellow. I just didn’t think he needed to shame the bloke and kick him out of the studio 20 minutes after he made the comments. It’s just my opinion.”
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Stefanovic chases Albo’s new partner
Karl Stefanovic is fast establishing himself as the journalist du jour to humanise our most senior leaders.
A few weeks back on 60 Minutes, he memorably landed Scott Morrison strumming April Sun in Cuba on his ukulele, while Jenny Morrison made separate headlines in the same package by lashing Grace Tame’s lack of “manners and respect”.
Now we can reveal that Stefanovic is already halfway through filming his next political package: his profile of Labor leader Anthony Albanese, having already recorded two segments in Tasmania and Canberra. And as was the case with his interview with the country’s first couple a few weeks back, it once again looks like making headlines.
Diary hears that Stefanovic is having a stab at the unlikely prize of securing the participation of Albo’s girlfriend, Jodie Haydon, a strategic partnership manager at industry superannuation fund Aware Super, on 60 Minutes.
Interest in Haydon was heightened last month, when Albo took his first tentative steps towards opening up his relationship with her to the world, in a soft feature and photo shoot for The Australian Women’s Weekly. (Interestingly, that interview briefly even touched on Albanese’s “heartbreaking” divorce from ex-NSW deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt.)
Stefanovic is well aware that relationship partners are an X factor that add sizzle (and ratings) to packages about politicians. Already in the 60 Minutes interview with the Morrisons (of which Jenny Morrison was a major part), Karl described her as ScoMo’s “secret weapon”.
Given that Haydon is almost a totally unknown quantity, there would likely be an even greater interest from the public in finding out more about her.
As the election draws closer, the questions will only grow from the media about Haydon. Albo dodged questions on Friday about the relationship in an interview with the top-rating Nova 93.7 breakfast show in Perth in which he was asked: “Are we going down the marriage track with your partner?
Albanese first awkwardly replied: “You’re asking me on air?”, before ultimately saying: “I’m not going there. Not even on Nova.”
But those types of questions will no doubt persist until the election. So will the Albanese camp bite the bullet and put Haydon with Karl on 60 Minutes?
We’ll know this week, but at time of going to print, it looked less than a 50/50 chance. But don’t expect the irrepressible Stefanovic to give up on it.
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Pauline recruits John ‘Burgo’ Burgess
She’s created a South Park-style cartoon called Please Explain that has lampooned everyone from Grace Tame to Greta Thunberg.
Now One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is fast becoming an old hand at cartoons, with Diary learning she has commissioned yet another animated video ahead of the election. And this time, she’s recruited legendary Australian TV game show icon John “Burgo” Burgess, the long-time frontman of Wheel of Fortune and Burgo’s Catchphrase, to support her latest mission.
Hanson last week got down Burgo’s voice for a dedicated three-minute cartoon. But for this project, there will be no lampooning of her political opponents.
Hanson tells Diary her new cartoon will, unlike Please Explain, contain no One Nation branding and doesn’t aim to win any votes for the minor party.
Instead, she insists that her new cartoon voiced by Burgess, 78, is simply an “educational” video for voters to allocate their preferences however they choose, independent of “how to vote” cards from the major parties. Burgess, who is based in Perth, only agreed to do the cartoon when convinced it was not simply an ad for One Nation.
“John Burgess could see that this project was about educating all Australians and not about winning votes for a minor party,” Hanson tells Diary. “The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) explainer videos are old, clinical, patronising and boring.”
Hanson maintains that voters need to learn that they are in control of their own preferences — not the major parties.
“For decades I’ve had voters ask me where One Nation’s preferences are directed at every election, but when you explain to them that they own their preferences, it’s like a light bulb moment,” she says.
“Both major parties have intentionally avoided educating the public on how our preference system works, instead relying on voters to take how-to-vote cards. When the public learn how the preference system works, it gives the power back to the voter — not the political parties.”
Diary hears that Hanson’s new cartoon featuring Burgo is set to debut as early as next Monday.
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Nine shows Hadley some love
Nine will be making a point of showing some love for its highest-paid broadcaster on either radio or TV, Ray Hadley, on Tuesday.
A lunch in Hadley’s honour to celebrate his 20 year anniversary in the 2GB morning shift will be held in the media conglomerate’s ninth-floor boardroom at its North Sydney headquarters, with a veritable who’s who of past and present Nine names.
The actual anniversary passed on Friday. But Diary hears that Nine CEO Mike Sneesby will host plenty of close Hadley mates who also just happen to be big Nine on-air names to celebrate on Tuesday, including the network’s former sports anchor, Ken Sutcliffe (who is said to be making a special trip from his Mudgee home), chief rugby league caller Ray ‘Rabbits’ Warren, iconic race caller Johnny Tapp, ACA host Tracy Grimshaw and Sydney 6pm newsreader Peter Overton. Hadley’s wife Sophie Baird will also attend.
Nine will also roll out its heavy executive artillery to celebrate Hadley, 67, two days ahead of what is expected to be his 139th consecutive ratings victory – and, tellingly, now only two years out from the expiry of his $4m a year contract that Nine is eager to renew. Apart from Sneesby, its radio boss Tom Malone, news and sports boss Darren Wick, communications and government affairs chief Victoria Buchan will be attending, along with Hadley’s senior producer John Redman.
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Dissent over Hamish Macdonald’s ABC return
It wasn’t lost on some miffed ABC presenters that Hamish Macdonald – who of course spectacularly walked out on Q+A mid-year in 2021 – was drafted back like the prodigal son to host Aunty’s coverage of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on Saturday night.
Macdonald ably anchored a team that included performers Casey Donovan and Courtney Act on the Mardi Gras telecast.
But Diary hears the mood among many at Ultimo was that someone who chose to abandon the ABC to join Lisa Wilkinson on The Sunday Project shouldn’t have been at the top of the list to host a major live event back at the ABC.
There’s also a belief that the ABC would have derived a future benefit from blooding one of an ample supply of mid-level presenters as anchor on Saturday night.
The Mardi Gras is seen as the type of live TV event that is perfect to give an emerging ABC presenter (rather than a defector to Ten) invaluable live TV experience in a low-risk, feel good environment.
Tonagh quits ABC board early
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