TV, print and radio join forces in Nine-Fairfax merger

There are signs of television-print co-operation after a directive from the highest levels of the Nine organisation.

Days before Nine Entertainment gets full control of Fairfax Media, Nine boss Hugh Marks has already made moves to ensure significant “cross-pollination” with Fairfax’s print, radio and online platforms.

Marks’ directive to staff at both companies to “work together” has come as Nine has also joined forces with Fairfax in its legal steps ahead of the merger to mark its territory on one key brand: The Australian Financial Review’s magazine masthead, BOSS.

The Australian understands Nine’s program director, Hamish Turner, has now sworn an affidavit backing Fairfax in its high-stakes Federal Court challenge to the CBS-owned Network Ten’s right to use the “BOSS” name for its new multi-channel, 10 BOSS. Turner is understood to have claimed in the affidavit that the merger will provide “new opportunities” to use the BOSS brand across various Nine platforms. Turner’s affidavit adds weight to suggestions that Nine’s TV operations, and not just its future newspaper brands, have serious plans for the BOSS brand.

Legal proceedings aside, Nine and Fairfax are already co-operating editorially. Two of Nine’s on-air names, national political editor Chris Uhlmann and Sydney-based senior sports reporter Neil Breen, have made unexpected forays into print for Fairfax’s The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers in the weeks leading up to the merger.

There is also speculation other high-profile TV reporters and commentators will follow suit, with identities such as finance reporter Ross Greenwood said to be high on the list of candidates who could make an appearance in print. The new structures are also likely to see a closer interaction between Nine and radio’s Macquarie Media, which will be controlled by Nine after the merger.

Nine insiders say early signs of co-operation are no coincidence, and have come after a directive from the highest levels of the organisation.

“Hugh Marks has been saying: ‘Start thinking of ways to work together’,’’ one insider has told The Australian.

“Well, everyone’s going into it with the spirit of working together. For all the Fairfax journalists who rushed to social media to denounce Nine when the merger was announced, the relationship and co-operation between the Fairfax and Nine at a senior level has been really good.”

Russell Tate, the chairman of Macquarie Media, has backed the call for more co-operation between newsrooms. He argues Nine newsrooms could make radio news bulletins for Macquarie, and that Macquarie newsroom staff could contribute to Nine’s TV and online operations.

“Absolutely, they could do a bulletin for us, or we could do one for them,” he said. “We should all be experimenting. We’re mad if we don’t. I’m very comfortable with it. There’s no question of the synergies between the two companies. It’s not about costs: it’s about ­improving both products. That’s why these things are done. It’s about maintaining the integrity of both products at the very least, and ideally improving them.”

Media also understands that following Marks’ directive, Nine has also started to look at maximising the value it gets out of the high-profile broadcasters from radio’s Macquarie Media, in which Fairfax will own a controlling shareholding if the merger is approved on Friday.

One option that has seen preliminary discussion in the lead-up to the merger is a TV panel show that could fully use its Macquarie Media talent, along with other commentators from Nine and Fairfax.

There are already several Macquarie broadcasters who are also on Nine’s books. These include 2GB hosts Ray Hadley, Ben Fordham and Greenwood, along with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.

Macquarie’s Tate had no knowledge about any new TV panel show — but he ­acknowledged the possibilities of greater co-operation between Nine and Macquarie were endless.

“There are a dozen possibilities in news, in sport, programming — you can go right through them.”

The various permutations provide a revealing insight into the sort of editorial tie-ups that could emerge with a combined Fairfax/Nine newsroom.

Uhlmann teamed up with Fairfax journalists Nick McKenzie and Angus Grigg for stories in the SMH and The Age about Chinese spying. Breen, who is no stranger to print as former editor of Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph, published a lengthy analysis piece for the SMH on outgoing Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett.

Nine insiders say the overlap could easily go the other way: ­“Expect to see a lot more Fairfax reporters on Weekend Today and on Nine’s daytime chat talkshows,” one source said.

But there is also a mood that while the network will look to maximise the exposure of Nine’s own talent on its various platforms, it will also continue to feature journalists from other organisations, most notably News Corp. News Corp columnists are regular contributors to various Nine shows. For example, Sarrah ­LeMarquand, the editor-in-chief of Stellar Magazine, and prominent Daily Telegraph columnist Miranda Devine, are weekly panellists with the Today show.

There is a widespread belief at Nine that its programming is more closely aligned with the content of many News Corp publications than those of Fairfax. As one Nine source has put it: “It’s important we don’t pull away from using News Corp talent.”

Meanwhile, Nine has already started experimenting with using its TV news talent on radio, with its Adelaide 6PM news team already producing a half-hour midday news bulletin for Adelaide news talk station, 5AA.

The move is seen as a testing ground for other Nine TV news talent to prepare bulletins for Macquarie stations across the country after the merger.