Brook granted a fresh Wish. Departing Australian media editor Stephen Brook is set to embrace a new gig as a writer on the newspaper’s glossy “travel and luxury lifestyle” magazine Wish. The Oz‘s media section reported Brook’s exit last week to a “senior writing role”, but failed to disclose its exact focus. He is making way for News Limited favourite son Nick Tabakoff, who is returning to his old stomping ground from The Daily Telegraph.

Brook was hired amid great fanfare last April from The Guardian‘s respected Media Guardian site, where he was once deputy editor.  However, insiders at The Oz pointed out the local media terrain varies wildly from Brook’s adopted home. A lot had changed since Brook initially left The Oz to travel and write overseas in 2003, they said. Brook told Crikey this morning the Wish posting was not yet confirmed. — Andrew Crook

Age backs down on cartoon scrapping. The Age has reinstated its popular back-page cartoon section after readers inundated the newspaper with complaints on social media. On Friday, Crikey revealed that Oslo Davis and Andrew Weldon — who share the illustration space with Judy Horacek — had been told their services were no longer required because of a page redesign. Davis was informed by an editorial staffer but Horacek wasn’t called at all.

The decision prompted torrents of online outrage, as Horacek reported the news that “apparently due to cuts, etc, they’ve sacked all three, and only had resources to tell two of them”. But now, Fairfax wants the trio of doodlers back. A Fairfax spokesperson, Miranda Schuppan, told Crikey  that “the back page was in the process of being redesigned to accommodate our Focus feature and elements of Melbourne Life, but it still includes the cartoon component”. But she didn’t explain why Davis and Weldon had originally been offloaded, or the reasons behind the embarrassing backflip.

On Friday, Davis explained he had been moved on because of “page redesign and editor cuts. Us cartoonist[s] were at the end of the food chain”, and linked to his last illustration. Australian cartoonist Jon Kudelka relayed the news that Weldon had also been sacrificed. The blowback was savage. Regular Fairfax contributor Benjamin Law reacted by saying “Age news sucks various balls”, while noted crime novelist Shane Maloney said “a stiff letter is on its way to the editor”.

Horacek’s cartoon appeared on the back page today, as per usual. She said the company “are calling it ‘a bit of confusion’. Obviously there are widely varying definitions of ‘bit’.” — Andrew Crook

NT News trolls attack the dead. I met Vikki Riley many years ago in very different lives and somehow we both ended up in Darwin, a town she described as “one of the greatest cities in the world”. Yesterday afternoon Vikki was struck by a car as she crossed McMillans Road in suburban Darwin while on her way to do what she loved and did best — advocating for and working with the many asylum seekers that find their unfortunate way to the various detention centres around Darwin.

It brings me no joy to record that while Vikki was lying in the hospital fighting for what little life she had left there were people willing to traduce the memory of a woman who at her worst would always be better than them at their pathetic best. We’ve all seen the outrages over bad behaviour on social media over the past few months and years — the vicious and unwarranted attacks, the vicarious slurs, the demeaning of the good and great by petty and mindless bullies.

I’ll leave it to others who knew her better than I to write here — and at her Facebook page — of the good works she did. But for now I think it is important not to diminish our memories of her and her good life, but to expose those who have made thoughtlessly unworthy comments about a good woman they never knew. — Bob Gosford (read the full story here)

AFL beats rugby league in TV ratings. Thanks to the co-broadcast deal with Seven and Foxtel/Fox Sports, the AFL was the big winner from the first weekend of finals football in AFL and rugby league. Early data suggests the co-broadcast has boosted total audiences for some games by more than 30% compared with last year when Seven and Ten shared the broadcast rights. It is the first co-broadcast finals after the first co-broadcast home and away season.

It shows what rugby league missed (and what Foxtel and Fox Sports failed to strongly press for) in the recent new broadcast contract by not ending Nine’s three exclusive games and pushing for co-broadcasting with Fox Sports, which retrained its eight games. The NRL and the commission have missed out on what looks to be a significant boost to audience numbers, judging by the AFL figures.

On top of the extra eyeballs, AFL games are longer, which are better suited to advertising. Now there are more people watching AFL games. — Glenn Dyer (read the full story here)

Front page of the day. Today’s Adelaide Advertiser mourns the tragic death of Port Adelaide Power footballer John McCarthy. McCarthy died yesterday while celebrating an end-of-season trip with teammates in Las Vegas. He was 22 years old.

The Department of Corrections. There’s apologies and then there’s king-sized apologies. Today’s South African newspaper The Witness apologises on its front page to King Goodwill, the reigning King of the Zulu:

UK Labour MP sues Sun & NI

“Siobhain McDonagh, a Labour MP, has launched a legal action against News International and The Sun in relation to the theft of her mobile phone and is seeking damages for alleged invasion of privacy and breach of confidence.” — The Guardian

Could CVC Asia Pacific lose Nine?

“Channel Nine, Ticketek and Sydney’s Allphones Arena could end up in the hands of hedge funds and Goldman Sachs if a rescue plan for its debt-laden owners is accepted. Nine Entertainment Company’s owners, CVC Asia Pacific, are struggling to find $2.8 billion of debt due to a hedge fund syndicate in five months. And a further $1 billion due in April 2014 to a Goldman Sachs-run mezzanine debt fund.” — The Age

Indian cartoonist jailed

“A political cartoonist whose drawings mock Indian government corruption has been jailed in a sedition investigation widely condemned as evidence of political leaders’ growing intolerance of criticism. ” — The Australian