Today in Media Files, Fairfax’s business pages get their businessmen in a muddle, and The Australian pays tribute to its much-loved music writer Iain Shedden.
Solomon who? The business pages of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age today used headshot image of Premier Investments’ Solomon Lew with one small problem — the picture was not of Solomon Lew.
The picture is actually incoming Myer chair Garry Hounsell, who is also mentioned in the story.
Vale Iain Shedden. The Australian‘s much-loved and much-respected music writer Iain Shedden died, aged 60, yesterday at his Sydney home. Tributes have come from all quarters of the music and journalism industries, and Stephen Fitzpatrick’s obituary in the Oz today remembered him as a gentle and generous man who was an authority on the music industry.
“An interviewer, friend and confidant to rockers across the globe, Iain Shedden became the tear-stained focus of that world yesterday. Shedden, who died aged 60 after the return of a cancer that was first diagnosed in late 2014, spent a lifetime straddling twin professions — both of which he loved. Between journalism and music he propelled himself from modest Glaswegian prospects to the Sydney Opera House stage. It was a mark of the man that he neither complained about the former nor bragged about the latter.”
Assange’s right of reply. Last night’s Four Corners interview with Hillary Clinton has stirred up Julian Assange from inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. In a rambling tweet, he responded to Clinton’s claims in the interview that Wikileaks was “a tool of Russian intelligence” by saying she has a “cold creepiness”, and followed up by saying he hadn’t been offered a right of reply. Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour has responded, also on Twitter, by referring to an interview request for Assange last month, and by saying the offer remains open.
Daily Telegraph, take two. The best thing about having multiple print runs of the newspaper is that if you come up with a great headline after you’ve already gone to press, there’s still another chance to make a top pun.
Netflix value skyrockets. Some time in the next few weeks the market value of Netflix will top $US100 billion — making it worth twice as much as the Murdoch family’s 21st Century Fox ($US49 billion). The company is currently valued at $US87 billion — a record after the company’s shares closed above $US200 in the US, and then went higher after the streaming video giant added more subscribers than forecast.
Netflix added 850,000 new US streaming subscribers in the third quarter to reach 52.77 million, and a huge 4.45 million new international sign-ups pushed the total to 56.48 million. That 5.5 million new subscribers is twice the number of people who are watching prime time TV each night this year (2.7 million). So far this year Netflix has added 15.5 million new subscribers, a 29% increase.
With Disney taking away its movies and other TV products for its own streaming service, and talk of Netflix losing other programming made by rivals, the company will be under pressure to spend heavily on its own programming. In the latest quarterly report it said it expects to spend between $US7 and $US8 billion on content in 2018, up from about $US6 billion this year. — Glenn Dyer
Video of the day. US sports broadcaster Dick Stockton has had his very own Ron Burgundy moment, relying a little too heavily on the autocue. Reading a promo during a football game, he finished one sentence with, “look on graphic for the final two bullet points”:
While it obviously recalls Burgundy from the film Anchorman, it also reminds us of one of our favourite local bloopers: ABC News Breakfast presenter Virginia Trioli opening the news headlines with, “I’m Michael Rowland”.
Glenn Dyer’s TV Ratings. Overall, it was Nine’s night but also a particularly strong performance from the ABC. The Hillary Clinton “Exclusive” interview on Four Corners drew 1.14 million national viewers, and dragged other ABC programs higher and contributed to equal second place, with Seven where the first part of the Michael Hutchence special bombed badly.
Four Corners audience was up from 848,000 a week ago, boosting the ABC’s Monday night performance and lifting it out of its recent rut. The higher audience for Four Corners lifted Media Watch back over the million national mark to 1.005 million (794,000 a week ago) and boosted Q&A’s audience to 733,000 (from 611,000 a week earlier). The first part of Seven’s much hyped Michael Hutchence special averaged a very weak 809,000 nationally and 526,000 in the metros. That’s another nail in the biopic/docu drama genre about well known Australian personalities. So while the Hillary Clinton interview improved the ABC to parity with the other main channels, it was probably more the viewer thumbs down to the Michael Hutchence program on Seven. Part two is tonight.
The Block rolled on its merry way with 2.08 million nationally and 1.44 million in the metros. In regional areas The Block ruled with 645, 000 viewers, followed by Seven News with 614,000, then Seven News/Today Tonight with 513,000, then Home and Away with 465,000 and the 5.30pm part of The Chase Australia was fifth with 412,000. — Read the rest on the Crikey website
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