Logies “a bit naff” — but we love ’em anyway. Join the Crikey blog! Tammy McIntosh — apparently, as The Daily Telegraph reminds us, a “tough naval officer on Channel 9’s Sea Patrol” — said what we’ve known for some time: the Logies are pretty crap. As she told radio yesterday morning: “If we had the money to produce an amazing show that we were proud of, I would go but I think it’s a bit naff that it’s associated with one network and one magazine that I’ve never read in my life.”

Wrong. Seems her employer — that of the beleaguered network and the alarmingly unread magazine — got in her ear and reminded her just how important television’s night of nights really is. By yesterday afternoon she was spinning backwards: “my intention wasn’t to be disrespectful to the Logies or the Nine Network,” the small-screen starlet declared; “I apologise profusely to anyone who took offence over my comments.”

We imagine the only people who took offence were the PBL carpet-strollers, who bank a considerable fortune on the success of the annual frock-fest, beamed from James Packer’s glittering gambling mecca Crown Casino in Melbourne this Sunday night. Here at Crikey, we couldn’t disrespect the Logies more — which is why we love them so much. We’ll be providing full and fearless commentary on the event with a team of TV nerds documenting every wardrobe malfunction, every undeserved award, every painfully self-deprecating line from Bert Newton on his rug (is it on backwards?). Join us online from 7:30 AEST this Sunday night. — Jason Whittaker

With friends like these… Nova in Perth sacked one of its DJs, Hans Bruechle, yesterday for what The West Australian describes as giving a listener an “unfair advantage” in a competition. In fact, Crikey understands the listener he tried to give $10,000 to is a personal friend.

Nova vows to play 100 songs in a row — and give one lucky listener $10,000 if they miscount. “Ashlea” called the station on Wednesday to point out the station had fallen short of its 100-song target, with Bruechle handing over the cash on air. But a producer at the station had overhead an off-air conversation that apparently clearly showed the two were friends. Crikey has heard the producer took the information to the boss who alerted the Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor.

Andy Milne, a spokesperson for the station, refused to confirm or deny to Crikey that the two were actually friends and stressed that Nova took swift action in an effort to independently assess the matter. Nova has decided to give away the cash prize to a local youth charity and will give listeners an opportunity to win another 10 grand during the promotion today. — Patrick Tombola

Flannery staying put in New Zealand. TVNZ’s director of news and current affairs, Anthony Flannery, has quashed speculation originating out of NZ he is about to return to Channel Nine and take over from Michael Venus as news director in Melbourne. In an email to staff, Flannery says he is not about to return to Australia. There’ve been rumours for months in Auckland that Flannery would quit amid continuing criticism that, under his watch, TVNZ news has moved away from an ABC-style of information-based news and current affairs to one more concerned with entertainment news.

From: XXXXXX On Behalf Of Anthony Flannery
Sent: Thursday, 29 April 2010 5:20 p.m.
To: News_AK_Mail; News_Wn_Mail; News_Ch_Mail
Subject: Crikey.com

Crikey.com has published the rumour floating around that I’m leaving TVNZ and going back to Australia.

I’m not.  It’s wrong.

I wouldn’t normally bother to address this sort of thing, but a couple of external journos have made enquiries so it’s likely to pop up locally.

Please ignore.

Cheers
Anthony

Definitely lazy, possibly stupid? If you take a look at the Yahoo!7 homepage you’ll see they’ve illustrated a news item about sexual shenanigans on HMAS Success with a picture of the the guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge. What’s more, it’s the picture from the Wikipedia page on Arleigh Burke-class DDGs. I don’t expect them to consult Jane’s Fighting Ships, but that’s just lazy. I mean, it’s not as if there are no pictures of Success around. — a former military intelligence officer

30-04-2010 9-48-49 AM

White House demands writer reveals sources

“The Obama administration is seeking to compel a writer to testify about his confidential sources for a 2006 book about the Central Intelligence Agency, a rare step that was authorised by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.” — New York Times

Going behind the wall, in a cloak of darkness

“With nearly a month to go before News International raises its first paywall in June, both Times Online and Sun Online have stopped publishing their user numbers through the ABC in the UK.” — paidContent:UK

Media influence: Obama, Kutcher, Oprah, Gaga

“Lady Gaga has nearly as many Twitter followers as Barack Obama does; is she really just as influential? Probably not. But in other cases, the comparisons are more apples to apples.” — Time