Gill finds new counselling gig. Former Australian Financial Review chief Michael Gill has a brand-new gig. According to his LinkedIn profile, Gill has been ensconced as a “counsellor” at boutique global corporate advisory Dragoman since May, run by two former BHP executives John Fast and Tom Harley.

Harley is Alfred Deakin’s great grandson and was famously caught up in the AWB scandal when he arranged for a $US5 million “donation” of wheat to Iraq via AWB at the same time BHP was interested in the country’s petroleum deposits. The Melbourne Club regular also featured in a US Securities and Exchange Commission probe last year into BHP’s activities in Cambodia during Harley’s time as corporate development chief.

Fast was BHP’s chief legal counsel and head of external affairs until 2007 and would have dealt extensively with Gill during his new employee’s decade running Fairfax’s business publications. The mysterious Dragoman’s raison d’etre appears to be opening doors for multinationals in developing countries with Gill’s media string-pulling likely to be called upon to oversee related PR offensives (a message for Gill left at the firm’s Melbourne office wasn’t returned).

Gill famously resigned in a blaze of glory from Fairfax’s Financial Review Group in March to make way for Australian turncoat Brett Clegg, just days after appearing in a last ditch YouTube video to defend his record. — Andrew Crook

Front Page of the Day. We don’t know what to make of yesterday’s New York Post front page …

Former News of the World news editor arrested

“Metropolitan Police detectives have arrested Greg Miskiw, a former newsdesk executive at the News of the World, on suspicion of involvement in phone hacking.” — Media Spy

Stock market swings punish media companies

“Shares in public media companies are taking a disproportionate beating in the stock market’s recent tumult. The overall world of marketers, media companies and agency owners has actually been holding steady with the general market, even faring a little bit better, as the last month has delivered increasingly volatile swings. ” — Advertising Age

Roger Ailes and the rise of Fox News

“Even Rupert Murdoch is afraid of Roger Ailes, the paranoid boss of Fox News. But ‘the Chairman’ is using his power to make Americans more rightwing, more ignorant and ever more terrified.” — The Guardian

Crime reporter Les Kennedy had one last scoop before dying

“A newshound to the end, veteran Sydney courts and crime reporter Les Kennedy broke his final story at the weekend and died yesterday at home surrounded by loved ones and listening to Bob Marley.” — The Australian

Conde Nast elevator gets its own hilarious Twitter

“The fashion world is all atwitter (ha, get it?) over @CondeElevator, the new Twitter account that anonymously documents snippets of conversation overheard in the Conde Nast elevator. The account, presumably run by an employee of the magazine publishing giant, launched on August 6 with this tweet…” — Huffington Post