Hun mum on story sources. Crikey has been on the lookout for quote stealing and mis-attribution ever since our story on News Limited’s leaked strategy document was picked up by rivals without acknowledgement. Another fine example was provided by the Herald Sun yesterday, where Dane Swan’s smiley partner Taylor was quoted by Aaron Langmaid and Colin Vickery on the merits of the now notorious Brownlow Medal “ho-tisserie”. “I said, ‘there is no way I am getting there’,” the Hun quoted Taylor as saying. “I don’t have a contract with the Brownlow to stand up and fall over.”

But here’s Taylor talking to Nova 100’s Hughsey and Kate a full day earlier: “I said ‘there is no way I am getting on there’, I don’t have a contract with the Brownlow to stand up and fall over.” A Nova press release containing the quotes was sent out by publicity director Jane Elliot. But the crucial words “told Nova FM” were nowhere to be seen when the Herald Sun hit the streets. — Andrew Crook

Bob Carr on Foxtel arts and ads. A quick look at Foxtel’s October program guide confirms the contempt this monopoly is showing its subscribers. Cheap reruns of Andre Rieu are back on STVDIO which had been promised as an arts entertainment channel. The life story of Hitler’s dog Blondie and that old favorite, America’s Fattest Honeymooners, are back on public view.

You might like to nominate your example of the monopoly’s most appalling programming. And also keep a record of the monstrous advertising schedule with clusters of ads being boomed out every eight minutes. Hey, why did I pay that subscription?

Most curious is the Bio Channel. It has no bio. Silly me again, expecting documentary content anywhere on spy TV. They broadcast something called Paranormal State (the Foxtel mob love superstition – extraterrestrials even bob up on the History Channel), Oprah, The Peoples’ Court, Judge Judy and The Dog Whisperer. Why is it called Bio?

But then the senior executives don’t watch the programs. And without quality control inside and no power residing with the Broadcasting Authority over programming, we are watching a dumbing down of Australian tastes driven by the worst of American trash TV. And the ads come every eight minutes. — Bob Carr from his blog Thoughtlines

Hacking defender gets hacked. You know that feeling in your cheeks when a smile expands across your face, before you even realised you’ve heard good news? This might do it:

“It takes a lot to shock Kelvin MacKenzie. But the moment the Metropolitan police laid in front of him the documentary evidence that his phone had been hacked he felt violated.

“In this week’s Spectator, the former Sun editor and columnist writes about the incident in terms that show the level of his distress at betrayal by journalistic colleagues.”

Yes, the motormouth for hire, who has been across all media in the past months defending News Corporation phone hacking on the grounds that “people chose to read about it” has himself been hacked. The idea that dead teenagers and their families are fair game, but journalists are not, tells you all you need to know about the ethic that drove the hacking in the first place — and the blithe sense of elitism that surrounds News Corp journalists.

Haven’t they read that peerless insider’s account of the company — Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar — by Simon Sebag Montefiore, and realised that they have all been hacked? And has the leadership not realised that they will have been subject to the traditional “insurance” of the espionage world, and hacked by the underlings they hired in the first place? What everyone’s looking forward to in the forthcoming inquiry is when some sacked Newser puts a transcript of James Murdoch’s messages on the table. — Guy Rundle

Smail can’t match the original. Superb Daily Mail-esque headline in The Courier Mail today …

And one from the guys who do it best …

Front page of the day. Andrew Bolt’s hometown paper and employer the Herald Sun certainly thinks Andrew Bolt is a big story today:

Murdoch’s Daily averaging just 120,000 readers

“Rupert Murdoch’s iPad-only newspaper is averaging just 120,000 readers a week, less than a quarter the number he said the publication needs to make money, an advertising executive close to the Daily has told Bloomberg.” — The Guardian

Interns, unpaid by a studio, file suit

“Two men who worked on the hit movie “Black Swan” have mounted an unusual challenge to the film industry’s widely accepted practice of unpaid internships by filing a lawsuit on Wednesday asserting that the production company had violated minimum wage and overtime laws by hiring dozens of such interns.” — New York Times

NY Times editor releases book, The Puppy Diaries

“New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson’s new book, The Puppy Diaries, will be released in two weeks. The book is about Abramson’s obsession with dogs and the challenges in raising her young golden retriever named Scout.” — Women’s Wear Daily

Kindle Fire won’t kill the iPad — but it will kill more retailers

“It’s to the blogosphere’s credit that relatively few pundits are calling Amazon.com’s just-announced Kindle Fire tablet, part of a family of tablets and readers, an “iPad killer.” But just by raising the question, they’re missing the real victim. That would be other retailers.” — Forbes