Aunty gets a new boss
Former News Corp and Fox chief executive Kim Williams has been appointed as the next chair of the ABC, replacing the outgoing Ita Buttrose.
Williams was chief executive at News Limited (as it was then known) for two years between 2011 and 2013, when he resigned, and for a decade before that he led Foxtel. He has also chaired the Sydney Opera House Trust, the Australian Film Commission and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and has been an AFL commissioner. He represents the first chairperson in the 92-year history of the ABC board to have experience running a broadcaster before their appointment.
Williams, speaking to Sarah Macdonald on ABC Radio Mornings after the announcement, said it was “imperative” that the ABC is “absolutely verifiably independent, offering at all times true journalistic integrity and to the extent possible in human affairs, having an aspiration to freedom from bias”.
While much has been made of Williams’ history at News Limited, to say his time at Holt St was tumultuous would be an understatement. A resurfaced profile from The Sydney Morning Herald in 2013 tells of the toxic relationship between Williams and News’ top brass.
Over two years, “whenever [senior editors] didn’t like something Kim had told them to do, they simply called Rupert and had it reversed”, a senior executive said. On top of beefing with the Murdoch family over the NRL rights, Williams left the company in 2013, having been “grin fucked”, to use one News Ltd editor’s turn of phrase.
ABC backs in David Anderson
The ABC held an emergency board meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss Antoinette Lattouf’s ongoing Fair Work Commission action against the broadcaster. Lattouf alleges she was dismissed on the grounds of a political opinion and/or her race, after sharing a Human Rights Watch post to Instagram that alleged Israel was using starvation as a tool of war. Lattouf did not work the final two days of her five-day casual fill-in contract at the ABC on Mornings. A mediation hearing on January 18 did not see a resolution, with ABC union staff passing a no-confidence motion in managing director David Anderson on Monday, 125 votes to three.
The motion said the ABC’s leadership had “consistently failed to protect our ABC’s independence or protect staff when they are attacked”. ABC global affairs editor John Lyons, who is currently in Israel reporting on the conflict, said, “When the heat’s on, our journalists are not being supported by management”.
Following the meeting, the ABC board and Buttrose released a statement that said they had passed a unanimous vote of confidence in Anderson.
In the statement, Buttrose said it was “abhorrent and incorrect that people would suggest that he has shown a lack of support for independent journalism and journalists”.
Aussies look abroad for their news
Every month, market research firm Ipsos releases its rankings of the top Australian news websites, which shows some of the key trends in Australian media consumption. For those at the top, it’s a prized mantle, and for those battling in the lower echelons, it’s a fight to make it into the top 10.
The most recent rankings, for December 2023, see news.com.au hold the top spot, which it has done for more than a year. Notably, however, it sees an interesting trend lower down the rankings.
The New York Times, for the first time, entered the top 10, while the BBC rose from 16th to 13th. It comes alongside a drop in rankings from a number of the News Corp mastheads — though notably a significant proportion of News Corp masthead content is shared, similarly to the Nine-owned titles The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph dropped out of the top 20 altogether for December, while the Herald Sun fell from 14th to 17th. The Australian also went from 13th to 18th.
Moves
- Former Daily Mail and Fox Sports editor Luke McIlveen has been appointed executive editor of Nine’s metropolitan mastheads.
- Former triple j Breakfast host Ebony Boadu joins Mushroom Labels as an A&R manager, after a number of years at the national broadcaster.
- Former ABC digital journalist Heath Parkes-Hupton joins news.com.au as a senior reporter.
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