SBS goes to ABC for its new boss. Michael Ebeid will take over from Shaun Brown as SBS managing director in June. Brown delayed his plans to retire this month to oversee the initial phase of a new strategic plan, according to the broadcaster’s website.

SBS chair Joe Skrzynski paid tribute to Brown for the major changes and achievements during his management, including new digital channels, pay TV investments and audience share increases. But it hasn’t been without controversy: he oversaw the unpopular introduction in 2006 of advertising within television programming as opposed to in-between programming, and in 2007 popular newsreader Mary Kostakidis walked out after nearly 20 years, allegedly in response to changes to the news bulletin, increased commercialisation and decreasing standards.

The national broadcaster also suffered an embarrassing budget reversal this year; predicting a $3.3 million loss compared to its expected profit of about $1 million in 2010-11. In May last year, Crikey revealed SBS had cut 10 members of its crucial subtitles team, which Brown later justified on economic reasons. Critics questioned Brown’s funding priorities and his commitment to SBS’ multicultural charter.

Ebeid’s last post was as executive director of strategy and marketing at the ABC. Appointing a marketing director to the position could increase speculation about commercialisation. The SBS media release emphasises Edeid’s experience in telecommunications, information technology and other media, and his upbringing, having migrated from Egypt as a young child. — Crikey intern Laura Griffin

Schembri spoils Scream 4, anger ensues. There are certain unwritten rules a film reviewer must abide by — none more important than not spoiling the ending of a movie. Scream 4 opened in cinemas yesterday. The fourth in a series of bloody self-referential slasher movies, it is in essence a whodunit. As is custom in the Scream flicks, the killer is revealed at the end of the movie, and a large part of the fun for viewers is trying to pick who it is.

But in the very first sentence of his review, published yesterday online on Fairfax websites, veteran critic Jim Schembri took the “who” out of whodunit. His critique opened with the following line (name of actor omitted): “Only the sight of <xxxx> getting all kill-happy in the frenzied, formulaic final-reel bloodbath makes this totally unwanted, utterly predictable franchise stretcher marginally worthwhile.”

When the papers went to press the next morning, however, that opening line had mysteriously changed. It now reads: “Only the sight of <xxxx> getting caught up in the frenzied, formulaic final-reel makes this totally unwanted, utterly predictable franchise stretcher marginally worthwhile.”

Fairfax was careful to alter the copy on each of its websites: The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, WA Today, even Optus My Zoo, which syndicates Fairfax content. But Google still finds the original words of Schembri’s review:

One presumes Fairfax was hit with a smattering of complaints from furious Scream fans venting their fury on websites such as Twitter and managed to change the copy in time for print the next day. It is staggering how a critic of Jim Schembri’s experience (he began as a full time journalist at The Age in 1984 and started writing about films shortly after) appeared to have no qualms about breaking one of the cardinal rules of being a film reviewer.

Schembri was contacted early this morning but did not respond to Crikey before deadline. He did, however, log onto Twitter shortly after Crikey emailed him and sent the following two tweets:

Note the present tense in the sentence: “We do not give away the ending.” Not: “We did not give away the ending.” — Luke Buckmaster

Al Jazeera’s social networking scoops

“Al Jazeera embraces social networking sites and bloggers for real time and personal reporting of civil unrest.” — Journalism.co.uk

Guy suing HuffPo for not paying bloggers doesn’t pay bloggers

“Jonathan Tasini, the litigious freelancer who’s suing the Huffington Post for not paying its contributors, has a blog that invites readers to contribute. No, he doesn’t pay them.” — Gawker

Apology, with damages at The Daily Mirror

“In an article on January 18, 2011 headed “Upton No Good” we claimed that Karren Brady, vice-chairman of West Ham United, had sent text messages to a number of players encouraging them to rise up against the manager Avram Grant and demand his sacking. We now accept that Ms Brady never sent any such text messages.” — Regret The Error

Artificial intelligent or artificial guilt

“Computer researchers at Tel Aviv University are working on a project funded by Google that aims to teach computers how to minimize “regret” or, in other words, to learn from their decisions and make better ones next time.” — Mashable