When youth media boss Hannah Ferguson was given a platform at the National Press Club to bemoan that “Rupert Murdoch is the conservative mouthpiece for the English-speaking world”, it was all too much for Chris Kenny.
Ferguson announced she planned to run as an independent Senate candidate in 2028, and took aim at the Murdoch media, saying it “presents a departure from our reality”.
The Sky After Dark host was furious the “far-left activist” was spouting “partisan rubbish” at the Canberra institution, and unimpressed the ABC broadcast her address live.
The previous night, Sky’s Kenny Report had lambasted the ABC for presenting the content creator as a “political insider” on Gruen, where she was invited to discuss the election, when in Kenny’s view she was “anything but neutral”.
Kenny delivered a speech on Sky about Ferguson’s press club appearance that neatly summed up his worldview: “It was broadcast by the ABC, of course, and it included plenty of the usual extreme-left bile directed at the Coalition parties, at News Corp media, or anyone else invested in the liberal democratic market capitalism model that’s delivered all of our success, prosperity and social advancement in the western world.”
Frosty breakfast
The ABC’s new Melbourne Breakfast duo, Sharnelle Vella and Bob Murphy, became the news this week when the former Bulldogs captain inexplicably kicked a sleazy comment towards the former Seven reporter and had to apologise.
Vella and Murphy took over the highly competitive slot of 5.30am-8am weekdays this year, replacing Sammy J.
The co-hosts were discussing odd jobs when Vella said: “I remember when I worked in retail many moons ago when I was still in high school … ” and Murphy interjected, “Not at Spearmint Rhino, the other one.”
On Breakfast on Thursday Murphy responded to a newspaper report about his comments. “I did make a comment that insinuated my colleague and co-host Sharnelle here worked at Spearmint Rhino, a well-known Melbourne strip club,” he said.
“Cutting straight to the point, it was not just a mistake, it was a gross and inaccurate offhand quip. I promised Sharnelle that I’d never disrespect her and I did break that promise. Put simply, I’m really sorry.”
The tension in the studio was evident in her response: “I won’t let you off the hook on it,” she said. “It wasn’t OK. I appreciate your words but we do move on.”
The ABC said Murphy’s comment was inappropriate.
“Bob intended to humorously reference a conversation from an earlier program, however, the comment was out of context in that moment and Bob acknowledges it was inappropriate,” a spokesperson said. “Sharnelle has accepted Bob’s apology and wants to move on from the incident.”
Seven and out
Anthony De Ceglie, the news director who brought horoscopes and a satirical segment to the 6pm bulletin on Seven News, has dramatically quit the Kerry Stokes media empire to become the inaugural chief executive of the NRL’s Perth Bears.
It’s a surprising move as De Ceglie loved being a newspaperman, rising fast through the ranks at News Corp before being hand-picked at a young age by Stokes to run the West’s newspaper empire: the West Australian, the Weekend West, the Sunday Times, thewest.com.au, perthnow.com.au and 19 regional publications.
A little over a year ago, Stokes handed De Ceglie the keys to the Seven Network’s news division at the age of 38. That didn’t go as well, and 13 months of mass redundancies and falling ratings ensued.
His shock defection to the NRL is a particularly jarring move as Seven West Media has a $1.5bn deal with the AFL, and the West Australian has actively campaigned against the NRL team. Now one of Stokes’s former lieutenants will be inside the tent.
The Australian Rugby League Commission chairman, Peter V’landys, was blunt about the West’s coverage of the Bears, which included last week’s front-page headline “The bad news Bears”, and a subheading: “Rugby mad Roger Cook forces WA taxpayers to pay Sydney NRL rejects $65m to play in Perth.”
V’landys said: “Well I think the media coverage has been a bit biased in the sense that the main newspaper here is owned by Seven West Media that has the AFL rights, let’s be quite frank, so they don’t want us to be here because they realise we’re going to be competitive and we’re going to take some of their lunch – and we eat a lot.”
Underlining the contempt the West Australian has for the NRL, the newspaper reported De Ceglie’s big move on page five on Friday, without even naming the Bears: “[Seven West Media chief executive Jeff] Howard thanked outgoing director of news and current affairs Anthony De Ceglie, a former editor-in-chief of The West, who is leaving journalism to help launch a new rugby league team in his hometown Perth.”
Seven’s loss is Ten’s gain
At Seven De Ceglie was responsible for Seven News, Sunrise, The Morning Show and Spotlight, as well as 7news.com.au despite having no experience in television. His legacy looks set to be that he was the mastermind behind the short-lived horoscopes and satire, and the sacking of much-loved Brisbane newsreader Sharyn Ghidella. Ghidella was dumped over the phone while she was at the hairdresser after 17 years with the network. Weekly Beast understands Stokes reached out to her at the time to tell her he was sorry about the unceremonious dismissal. Ghidella was soon snapped up by Ten to host 10 News First in Queensland.
‘Bombshell’, but no fallout
The South Australian police issued an unusual statement on the weekend following a particularly dramatic report on Seven News in Adelaide, described as a “SA Police bombshell”.
Seven’s report included a live cross from police headquarters to say the assistant commissioner, John Venditto, “is tonight off duty in mysterious circumstances”.
“Mr Venditto was seen packing up his things before storming out, and he hasn’t been seen since.” There was no further detail.
The police media team sprang into action. “In response to inaccurate reporting on Channel 7, SAPOL wishes to correct the record with the following statement,” it said.
“Assistant Commissioner (Crime Services) John Venditto is on paid leave.
“Mr Venditto has not been suspended from duty, nor did he ‘storm out’ of any police premises and he has not cleared his office out.”
The story remains online but has not been followed up by other media.
A spokesperson for Seven told Weekly Beast: “We’re comfortable with the story.”
