Glenn Milne:

Crikey says: Re. “Media briefs: Glenn Milne poisoned at News … Kim Williams used to love the ABC … Rupert’s first pay shot” (Friday, item 21). The departure of gallery veteran Glenn Milne from News Limited’s Sunday tabloids was confirmed over the weekend, along with his replacement in News colleague Simon Kearney.

Not, as we incorrectly reported on Friday, the similarly-pronounced Shaun Carney — The Age rightly points out its associate editor and senior columnist is going nowhere. Our source has been poisoned and we apologise for the error.

The ABC:

Kim Williams, CEO and Managing Director of FOXTEL, writes: Re. “A challenger emerges for make-or-break sports rights” (Friday, item 20). As usual Glenn Dyer gets all muddled and rich with conspiracy views in relation to what I have said and what I have done in relation to the ABC and in the course of doing so got confused when he cited Joe Skrzynski who is Chair of SBS and not an ABC Board Member — facts matter Glenn.

I am happy to provide confirmation that I did work at the ABC from 1992 until April 1995 when I left to establish FOX Studios Australia. I left the ABC when a partnership had been forged between Nickelodeon, Fairfax and CNN to launch two new services (subsequent events saw those services not proceed but that was not on my watch). I have never tried as Glenn says to hide any involvement with the ABC and have spoken publicly about it on many occasions (including to Ken Inglis and Quentin Dempster when they were writing their respective books — facts matter Glenn).

My position is really quite simple — I have no issue with the ABC participating in commercial media if it does according to commercial principles and disciplines (as was the case in the partnership I formed back in the early 90’s). As evidence I remind Glenn that the facts are that under the new Broadcasting Services Act in 1994 the ABC was actually granted a special licence — Licence C — for 2 services in the new subscription television arena (there were 8 other licensed satellite services 4 each under licences A and B).

The ABC also received a capital grant for its participation of $12.5M — both actions were specific elements of the new Act and were mentioned in the explanatory memorandum where the ABC’s participation was specifically required by legislative remit and on firmly commercial principles. Facts Glenn, facts.

Glenn doesn’t represent what I said at the ASTRA annual conference at all accurately (naturally) — I indicated that I have a real issue with the ABC not working in a transparent fashion under its Act (and I did mention its charter) and moreover I have a very real issue with the ABC behaving as if it is a commercial competitive beast when it applies the opposite of commercial principles and is in its own words contemptuous of commercial principles and behaviours.

Something Glenn omitted to mention and on which I placed real emphasis (another boring fact Glenn) is that there is a real issue with the ABC behaving as a partisan player in the ABC’s Director of Television accepting the mantle as Chair of Freeview — a body which clearly is commercially in vigorous opposition to subscription television. The chairmanship of Freeview represents an impossible conflict of interest for the ABC. The ABC has no place in taking partisan positions in relation to the broadcasting landscape when it receives gifted monies and is bound by a different set of accountabilities and performance rules.

For the record when ABC2 was launched its immediate delivery and access to the Australian public was more than doubled by virtue of its retransmission by subscription television but that is now seen as being a minor consideration in the greater battle of words peppered with false and misleading representations which Freeview wears as a badge of honour under the Chairmanship of the ABC.

Science in the media:

COSMOS Editor Wilson da Silva writes: Re. “Media briefs: Aunty on a diet? … rip-and-read science journalism … Google’s ‘arrogance’” (15 March, item 19). I’d like to take issue with the claim made by Popular Science editor Kevin Cheung that recycling PR pieces is “standard practice across the science magazine industry”. This is not the case at COSMOS, or at any other science magazine I know of. It might be more the case that recycling PR pieces is standard practice at Popular Science.

Compare this story with the original ANU media release, the Popular Science article and our story. COSMOS has an original story with fresh quotes and other scientists quoted, and it appeared two days before the Popular Science recycled.

We’ve also noticed that Popular Science occasionally recycles stories appearing on other magazines such as COSMOS (compare their article with ours. Although in this instance, they do credit the source.

Justin Madden:

Francis Horvat writes: Re. “Madden green lights Windsor and Manningham’s Chinese nursing home” (Friday, item 15). The landholders around Mildura can’t wait to see the back of Justin Madden.

The horticultural sector of the local economy is taking a severe beating due to record low irrigation allocations, heat waves and low commodity prices especially in the wine industry, which has left up to 40% of the area abandoned or the irrigation turned off. Growers of all sizes are doing it hard, so clearly there needs to be a well thought out plan to beat this complex crisis before it gets worse.

Madden and his goons have recently gazetted a policy to protect agriculture by changing the local town planning scheme which ban’s permits for dwellings on the bulk of the lots within the farming zone, dissolving up to 90% of their market value and they argue this will get things moving again, problem fixed. They admit that this will reduce the rate base by $60 million and growers will lose equity due to the lost underlying value, but you have to destroy the village to save it right?

Only a suit from inner Melbourne could come up with a pearler that makes existing residential house lots more desirable than the surrounding farm land.

Broadband in the bush:

Lois Achimovich writes: Re. “Tips and rumours” (Friday, item 8).  Re. The problems with satellite broadband in the bush. It cost me $495 up front. Mine worked well for the first year — then became erratic for about two months. The ISP said it was the modem. I posted it to them and they returned it. The system again worked erratically for a couple of months.

I requested to be let out for the contract and was told I would have to pay the remaining money. The ISP said that it was probably the tree that had grown near the house. I then paid $200 for this to be confirmed by a technician, arrange by the ISP. He said that the removal of the tree would do it. It cost another $200 to cut the tree down. No reception.

The ISP was now sure it was the satellite dish (transmitter or transponder or something.) That cost me about $500. Then I demanded that the rest of the contract be cancelled and this was done — ten months after the original problems started.

Please Mr Rudd, let’s have internet to the node now!

Getting away with murder:

Charles Williams writes: Re. “Last night’s TV ratings” (Friday, item 22). For the second week in a row, Glenn Dyer has described the ABC’s Friday night crime drama program Blue Murder as “a repeat’. It is not.

The first episodes in the current season were repeats, but fresh episodes began last week (albeit with a 2008 copyright date). The Australian managed to get this right, why can’t Crikey?