Next time a News Corp newspaper tries to tell you that it has an independent editorial stance remember this.....

The Independent 21 April 2015:

Rupert Murdoch berated journalists on his tabloid papers for not doing enough to stop Labour winning the general election and warned them that the future of the company depended on stopping Ed Miliband entering No 10.

The proprietor of Britain’s best-selling tabloid warned executives that a Labour government would try to break up News Corp, which owns The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times. He instructed them to be much more aggressive in their attacks on Labour and more positive about Conservative achievements in the run-up to polling day, sources told The Independent.

Mr Murdoch is understood to have made his views clear on a visit to London at the end of February, during which he met with senior Tories including the Conservative chief whip and former Times executive Michael Gove.

The News Corp boss, who has made no secret of his dislike of the Labour leader, told the editor of The Sun, David Dinsmore, that he expected the paper to be much sharper in its attacks on Labour……

Two days after Mr Murdoch’s visit the paper devoted a two-page spread to the election – with the left-hand page containing a 10-point “pledge” to voters written by David Cameron. The right-hand side of the spread was an attack on Ed Balls under the headline: “I ruined your pensions, I sold off our gold, I helped wreck [the] economy, Now I’m going to put up your taxes.”

It is understood that Mr Murdoch reminded executives that Labour would try to break up News UK, which owns The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times. The party has suggested that no owner should be allowed to control more than 34 per cent of the UK media, a cap which would force News UK to sell one of the titles.

It has also pledged to implement recommendations in the Leveson report for an independent press regulator backed by statute, bitterly opposed by Murdoch. Mr Miliband has made “standing up” to Mr Murdoch over the phone-hacking affair a central plank in his attempts to persuade voters that he is a strong leader. A source said: “Rupert made it very clear he was unhappy with The Sun’s coverage of the election. He basically said the future of the company was at stake and they need to get their act together.”……

Main stream media in self-congratulatory mode

Main stream media is currently in self-congratulatory mode. 

The Daily Examiner 14 April 2015:

Who had the power to help reduce street violence by 40% in Australia's biggest city? Who made Queensland's Government aware of the need to protect local jobs and forced them to backtrack on allowing 100% fly-in, fly-out workforces? And who is on the cusp of significant changes to domestic violence legislation that will better protect women?

The answer? The nation's newspapers, whose influence in our society is being highlighted in a $5 million marketing campaign.

APN News & Media (parent company of this newspaper), Fairfax Media, News Corp Australia and West Australian Newspapers (Seven West Media) have combined to promote the "Influential by Nature" campaign.

It will highlight achievements that few other media are able to match; like a Sydney Morning Herald campaign that reduced drunken violence by 40%, an Australian Regional Media campaign spearheaded by the Mackay Daily Mercury, Rockhampton Morning Bulletin and Gladstone Observer that reversed a 100% FIFO stance by the Queensland Government. And the current campaign involving this paper that will likely result in new domestic violence initiatives.

APN chief executive Michael Miller, fronting the campaign for the newspaper and website publishers, said readers and advertisers needed reminding that one media was having more impact on their patch than others……

There is no denying that ethical news reporting often gives newspaper readers their first information on a social or political issue.

However, this thinly disguised marketing ploy "Influential by Nature" ignores the decline of that which it is promoting.

The barely re-worked media releases presented as news gathered by journalists, the advertorials passing as articles, the growing number of spelling and grammar errors which turn paragraphs into guessing games for the reader and, the fact that modern newspapers are now more often followers rather than leaders when it comes to social and political 
issues.

Media cancer reaches NSW North Coast

News Corp has now acquired a 14.99 per cent interest in APN News & Media which owns a number of print and digital newspaper publications on the NSW North Coast and elsewhere in Australia and New Zealand, including some of this region's oldest mastheads such as The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star.

This percentage of ordinary shares not only makes it a substantial shareholder, it is likely to place News Corp (and Murdoch family interests) in the top three* shareholders in this media company.

There is no way of softening this - basically any hope of editorial independence and unbiased reporting continuing into the future has all but disappeared for most of our local media, along with the possibility of retaining any genuine local viewpoint on contentious social, environmental or political issues.

Two years from now what newsagent delivery vans throw onto people's front lawns will more than likely be a poor man's version of that Sydney rag The Daily Telegraph.

News Corp Builds Its Investment in APN News and Media, 18 March 2015

* The Daily Examiner reported on 19 March that News Corp was in fact now APN's largest shareholder.

Rupert Murdoch not squatting as securely on top of the News Corp dung heap?

The number of News Corp shareholders who do not unconditionally ‘love’ Rupert Murdoch appears to be growing if the 14 November 2014 statement to the United States Securities And Exchange Commission is any indication.

An estimated 31.30% of all eligible voters (or around 7 million more voters than last year) didn’t want Rupert Murdoch on the board of the company he inherited from his father, while 31.17% and 33.05% respectively didn’t want his sons Lachlan and James as directors either.

An estimated 46.05% of all eligible voters supported the dismantling of the dual class capital structure which reportedly gives Murdoch interests 39% of the company votes although his family owns about 15% of the equity.

* Broker Non Votes are: shares are held in a brokerage account, your broker is obligated to vote your shares as instructed by you. If you don’t give voting instructions to your broker, your broker’s ability to vote your shares depends on whether the item is “routine” or “non-routine.” The New York Stock Exchange decides whether an item is “routine” or “non-routine.”

Under the New York Stock Exchange rules, brokers may vote on “routine” items in their discretion on behalf of any customers who do not furnish voting instructions within 10 days of the annual meeting. With respect to “non-routine” items that come before the annual meeting for a vote, brokers would not be able to vote at all without first receiving voting instructions from their customers.

A broker “non-vote” occurs when the broker does not vote on a proposal because it is a non-routine item and the broker’s customer has not provided voting instructions. These broker “non-votes” would not be considered in the calculation of the majority of the votes cast and therefore would have no effect on the vote with respect to a non-routine item. [New York Stock Exchange]

** Dual Class Stock is: the issuing of various types of shares by a single company. A dual class stock structure can consist of stocks such as Class A and Class B shares, and where the different classes have distinct voting rights and dividend payments. Two share classes are typically issued: one share class is offered to the general public, and the other is offered to company founders, executives and family. The class offered to the general public has limited voting rights, while the class available to founders and executives has more voting power and often provides a majority control of the company.[Investopedia]

I do wish journalists would look at methodology before quoting surveys

The Sydney Morning Herald on 29 October 2014 published an article containing this statement:

The level of trust in the Abbott government has soared in three months as public attention shifts from the budget to a heightened sense of nationalism in the context of national security, a new survey indicates. 

In the middle of the year only 26 per cent of people thought the federal government could be trusted to do the right thing for the Australian people.

At the end of October the figure had climbed to 36 per cent - the highest level of trust in the federal government recorded since 2009 by the Mapping Social Cohesion survey. 

What the journalist failed to note about this survey was that:

The target for the project was to achieve n=1000 completed questionnaire with respondents aged 18 and over, who were born in Australia and whose parents were both born in Australia.

Now the 2011 national census revealed that almost a quarter (24.6 per cent) of Australia's estimated population of 21.5 million people were born overseas, 43.1 per cent of the population (or 9.2 million people) had at least one overseas-born parent and 15 per cent did not have citizenship. Approximately 84.5 per cent of the population at that time would have been 18 years of age and over.

What this indicates is that the Mapping Social Cohesion survey did not include the possibility of canvassing the opinions of large section of the Australian community.

Even living in regional New South Wales as I do, it would exclude a good many voters in the town in which I live.

All of which changes the weight readers might have given to this newspaper article if they had realized the demographic limitations it contained.

Standard and Poor's has downgraded APN News & Media's debt credit rating

An interesting snippet from the AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER HISTORY GROUP NEWSLETTER No. 79 October 2014:

79.3.4 APN (2): Rating downgraded

Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s has downgraded APN News & Media’s debt credit rating after the media company canned a proposed offering of senior unsecured notes in the US bond market (Australian, 18 September 2014). S&P has lowered the publishing, outdoor advertising and radio company’s debt to BB from BB+. APN was expected to use the proceeds from the $US250 million ($270m) issue to repay its outstanding debt and to cancel commitments under a bank facility of $630m.

A BB rating is assigned when a company’s creditworthiness and ability to meet financial commitments is deemed to face “major ongoing uncertainties or exposure to adverse business, financial, or economic conditions”. APN abandoned the offering citing unsatisfactory “terms and conditions”, and said the decision would not impact debt level or maturities. The company recently entered into a new facility with a syndicate of domestic and international banks, and was carrying net debt of $482.6m as of June 2014. The debt downgrade comes as APN considers strategic options for APN New Zealand, which operates publishing assets including the New Zealand Herald as well as The Radio Network and the digital business GrabOne. APN has retained Grant Samuel to assist in the process.

The next time a News Corp journalist tries to point a finger at someone at a rival media outlet, remember these recent examples of that company's own lapses from grace

The Daily Mail 8 August 2014:

First edition blunder: This is the Daily Telegraph's first edition printed on Thursday, August 7, featuring the photoshopped image of Boston bombing victim, James Costello - who became one of the iconic figures of the terrorist attack tragedy - on the right hand side of Page 11. The image shows the stricken body of Mr Costello as he staggered around dazed in shredded clothing with severe burns to his legs and shrapnel wounds. The paper replaced his face with that of Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton's, complete with an Arab headdress

Whoops, take two: The Daily Telegraph removed the photograph of Boston bombing victim James Costello from the photoshopped image, replacing his injured torso with that of a man buttoned up in a brown suit, but keeping Mike Carlton's head and the Yasser Arafat style headdress

Adjudication No. 1614: Third Party Matter 130256/The Daily Telegraph (August 2014)
The Press Council has considered whether its Standards of Practice were breached by material published on The Daily Telegraph's website on 3 February 2014 relating to the death of the actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman. The material was headed “Kids grieve for junkie actor dad” and included a photograph of his children and an assertion about what their response would be to the circumstances in which Mr Hoffman died.
The Council has concluded that the combined impact of the references to the children and their alleged feelings, a photograph of them and the use of the term “junkie”, was highly unfair and offensive, especially as the material was published only a few hours after Mr Hoffman’s death.
The Council also concluded that serious breaches of its Standards of Practice occurred in this case even though the offending aspects were removed from the website within an hour. The Council noted it is entirely foreseeable that, as occurred in this instance, material which has been removed from a website may nevertheless be seen widely before its removal, and remain permanently available from other internet sources

Adjudication No. 1598: Cameron Byers and others/The Australian (July 2014)The Press Council has upheld complaints arising from a front page article and an editorial in The Australian on 16 September 2013 and a subsequent item headed “clarification” on 21-22 September. The items related to an impending report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), especially about observed rates of global warming of surface air temperature.
The Council concluded that an erroneous claim in the headline of the article about a revised warming rate was very serious, given the importance of the issue and of the need for accuracy (both of which were emphasised in the editorial that repeated the claim without qualification). It considered that there had been a failure to take appropriately rigorous steps before giving such forceful and prominent credence to the claim. Accordingly, the complaint was upheld on that ground. The Council considered that the gravity of the error, and its repetition without qualification in the editorial, required a correction which was more substantial, and much more prominent, than the very brief “clarification” on page 2. It said the heading should have given a brief indication of the subject matter to help attract the attention of readers of the original article and editorial. Accordingly, the complaint was upheld on those grounds.
The Council welcomed the acknowledgement of error and expressions of regret which the publication eventually made to it. But it said they should have been made very much earlier, and made directly to the publication’s readers in a frank and specific manner. It expressed considerable concern that this approach had not been adopted.

News, opinion or advertisement?

I wonder if the businesses involved in this type of advertising fudge realise the badwill they create in the hearts of quite a few newspaper readers?

Dressing the family up in white won't undo any negative opinions formed.

Snapshot from Page 7 of The Daily Examiner, 12 February 2014

Click on image to enlarge

UPDATE

The identical advertorial and photograph was published in a rival newspaper, The Clarence Valley Review, on the same day - again it was being passed off as a news article on Page 6.

Australian Media Coverage Of Climate Change/Global Warming 2000-2013

Been wondering which Australian newspapers have the most stories in which global warming/climate change science and/or debate about reality of climate change or need for mitigation measures occur?

Well here is a graph for you from the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research.....

Http://Sciencepolicy.Colorado.Edu/Media_Coverage/Australia/Graph.Jpg

How our region compares with the rest of the world....

http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/media_coverage/world_graph.jpg

Journalists becoming a dwindling band

 

Australian Newspaper History Group December 2013 Newsletter:

The number of journalists and other writers in Australia fell by 16 per cent in the year to August as traditional media organisations slashed staff numbers, according to the latest jobs report by consultancy Economic and Market Development Advisors (Australian, 4 November 2013). Staff numbers in public relations also fell “as this sub-sector experienced a fairly dismal year”, the report said. The media and marketing sector employed 291,000 people in the year, including about 23,500 journalists and writers, 19,300 public relations people, 131,000 sales and marketing managers and another 51,000 sales and marketing professionals. “This sector is one that is most responsive to the state of the economy and as the economy and business confidence improves, jobs growth is anticipated to return,” the report said. The number of journalists and writers was still historically high, having risen 19 per cent over the past 15 years, said EMDA director Michael Emerson.

Over the same period, the number of PR operatives had grown 79 per cent. The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance estimated that in the past 18 months 1500 journalist jobs had been cut by major media outlets and over the past six years the number of newsroom staff had halved. It estimated there were now fewer than 9000 working journalists in Australia. The union estimated that “well over” 500 jobs were cut at News Corp Australia in calendar 2012, although the company refused to comment on that figure, as well as about 400 at Fairfax Media and 100 at Ten Network.

Canberra Times caught out in historical error

This was the Canberra Times boast on 22 November 2013:

Canberra learned of the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy exactly 50 years ago - after a whole edition of The Canberra Times was overhauled and reprinted in the early hours of what otherwise would have been an unremarkable Saturday.

It was the only newspaper in Australia to report the story on November 23, 1963. Journalists and printers were called back to work when a taxi driver happened to ask editor David Bowman for news of the 46-year-old leader's possible assassination in Texas.

The boast was duly reported in the December 2013 Australian Newspaper History Group [ANHG] newsletter:

75.4.11 Reporting the assassination of JFK

A whole edition of the Canberra Times was overhauled and reprinted in the early hours of Saturday, 23 November 1963. The Canberra Times has claimed (22 November 2013) it was the only newspaper in Australia to report that day the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. Journalists and printers were called back to work at the Canberra Times when a taxi driver happened to ask editor David Bowman for news of the 46-year-old leader’s possible assassination in Texas. Just hours before, Kennedy’s motorcade had flashed past huge crowds in downtown Dallas and into the range of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, perched on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.

Ian Mathews, a subeditor at the newspaper in 1963 and later the editor-in-chief, said: “The print run at the Mort Street office and printery would have been about 2am or 3am … The main body of printers, apart from those who had headed home, gathered in the bindery for their ritual Friday night-Saturday morning poker game.” The news was reported just after 4.30am, prompting only momentary shock from Bowman and chief subeditor Frank Hamilton who snapped to action. ‘‘The radio was switched on; AAP, who supplied the newspaper with foreign news, was called; the single teleprinter was turned on again. And the news began to flow,’’ Mathews said. ‘‘To print a new edition Bowman needed printers and he found them playing poker. On any other night it would have been different.’’

Returning for a shift on the subeditors’ desk on Sunday afternoon, Mathews helped fit news of the tragedy into a Monday edition, alongside weekly fixtures including local sport results and the television guide. ‘‘As usual we ran late. This was fortunate because just after 3.30am Canberra time, [nightclub owner] Jack Ruby shot Harvey Oswald – and once again we rushed to produce a second edition,’’ he said. [Trove does not have the second edition of the Canberra Times of 23 November 1963.]

Then the letters began to arrive at ANHG and according to Rod Kirkpatrick the boast was shot down in flames:

Ken Sanz wrote: 

I am glad you used the word “claimed” in the Canberra Times article on the death of JF Kennedy, and being the only paper printed with this news on Saturday.

It may have been the only morning newspaper to print this, but it was not the only paper to print this news on the Saturday 23 November 1963. Both the Daily Mirror and The Sun usually went out at 10am each Saturday. Admittedly they were only 16 pages tabloid, but on this day they produced their first editions at 9 a.m. and followed this during the day!

My source for this is my memory because I was there as an apprentice for the Sun-Herald and when I arrived at 8 a.m. the Sun compositors and editorial were already on duty and rushing about to get the paper out early to beat The Daily Mirror. I checked this with Gavin Souter’s “Company of Heralds” page 523.

I also suspect that the Saturday early editions of the Saturday night and Sunday newspapers also printed on Saturday from before 6 pm of this news for country readers.

Kim Lockwood wrote: 

Meanwhile, the Canberra Times cannot be allowed to get away with its claim that it was "the only newspaper in Australia to report that day [22/11/63] the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy".

I know for a fact the Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial put out a late edition, having recalled several staff from home. And what does the Times have to say about the afternoon papers across the country (Saturday afternoon papers were still printed in the capitals)? The Herald, Melbourne, splashed with two decks on the front:

PRES KENNEDY

ASSASSINATED

Others did something similar.

Jenna Cairney retires as Editor of The Daily Examiner

Jenna taking a break from preparing for 

the removal van on 27 November 2013

North Coast Voices wishes retiring The Daily Examiner Editor, Jenna Cairney, all the best as she professionally advances to deputy editor of the respected national masthead The Land established in 1911 and widely read by four generations of Australian farming families.

Her interest in and enthusiasm for the Clarence Valley was always appreciated.

I’m sure valley residents look forward to incoming editor, APN News & Media Northern Rivers chief sub-editor and Woolgoolga resident David Moase, sharing that same interest and enthusiasm.

Jenna on Page 7 of The Daily Examiner, 7 December 2013:

It's been a grand ride

THE first five things I thought on arriving in the Valley were:

The Pacific Hwy sucks.

Is this Grafton? Ah no, it's South Grafton. Now how the Hell do I get to Grafton?

The internet on my phone is so, so slow.

Now, that's a river.

Yamba = paradise.

I wonder what will go through my mind as I drive out over the bendy bridge on Wednesday.

You see, this is my final editorial for The Daily Examiner.

I'm off to work as deputy editor for The Land, based in Richmond, west of Sydney.

I guess one of the first things I'll think about will be Grafton Jail. The community response over its closing was something I'd never witnessed. I've never been so proud to stand side by side with my fellow residents and fight for a cause. That experience still gives me goosebumps and it will live with me forever.

A jail was probably one of the last things I ever thought I'd think about.

I'll think about how, as I toddled down my path like a kid on her first day of school, a neighbour pounced: "You're the new editor of The Examiner - I read your editorial today ..." then gave me a critique of my writing and The DEX.

"Wow, they certainly read this paper," I thought.

And I wasn't wrong.

Every word, every slip-up and, of course, every time we got it right, there was a visitor, a phone call or an email.

So, I'll think about how much one region cares about its daily paper and about how privileged I was to sit in the driver's seat.

I'll think of the people I've met and, in particular, the impressive pool of talented and passionate people who work at The Daily Examiner.

Despite massive changes, in the face of big breaking news and even in the everyday humdrum, they've (more often that not) had a smile on their face, a spring in their step but, most of all, fire in their belly.

Because of that team we've been able to achieve some amazing feats - APN Newspaper of the year and the finals of PANPA. But most importantly, we have continued to be the voice of the Valley and to stand up for things that matter.

Now it's time to warmly welcome the new editor, David Moase, whom you will meet on Monday and who brings bucketloads of experience and talent.

Having worked with David in his capacity as chief sub editor of Northern New South Wales, I can attest to his professionalism and quality of his work. He's a worthy leader for such a dedicated team.

Lastly, as I head over that bendy bridge come Wednesday arvy, I'll think:

Please let me find my way back here one day. The Clarence Valley: God's Country.

'Letter from a Terrorist' sent to APN News and Media Chairman Peter Cosgrove

According to Independent Australia posting on 14 October 2013, this letter set out below was sent over a fortnight ago.

Given the relentless cost cutting that APN News and Media has undertaken in recent years, I am inclined to believe that part of this 27 year-old former journalist's complaint concerned with hours being routinely worked by staff on regional newspapers and lack of work-life balance.

This is supported by a comment under the post from another former APN employee living in the Northern Rivers region; I can testify my workplace at an APN regional newspaper was full of weary, broken down people who did a tremendous job under an uncontrollable workload that got heavier with each absence or resignation. The ones my age were counting the days to retirement. The young often returned to the office ashen-faced after being sent to a gruesome car accident or similar. Everyone’s dreams wilted.

While another remarked; Entirely validating – I want to buy former fellow employee #133,332 a beer, if he’d email me.

As for the allegations concerning company spying, I leave that for readers to evaluate.

Letter From A Journalist To APN News & Media's Board Chairman

APN Whistleblower Policy here.

So Fairfax media chose to publish untrue statements about Slater & Gordon

It  appears to have taken the Australian Press Council over nine months to come to the conclusions set out in the adjudication below. It was published just ten days after the federal election was held.

Australian Press Council

Adjudication No. 1566: Slater & Gordon/The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Canberra Times (September 2013)  

Document Type: Complaints

Outcome: Adjudications

Date:17 Sep 2013

The Press Council has considered complaints by a law firm, Slater & Gordon, about two articles that appeared in The Age on 13 October 2012 as well as in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times. The first (“Gillard gave support for union group’s registration”) was a news report which led with a claim about the role of Julia Gillard in the incorporation of the AWU Workplace Reform Association in 1992. The second (“Parting company: ‘Brothers no more’”) was a lengthy investigative piece by the same journalist focussing on the impact of publicity about Ms Gillard’s departure from Slater & Gordon on a friendship between two former partners, Nick Styant-Browne and Peter Gordon.

The news report

Slater & Gordon complained that two statements in the report inaccurately and unfairly implied it was concealing the existence of a file about incorporation of the association and preventing or delaying release of the file to a person who was entitled to it (namely, the alleged client, Mr Ralph Blewitt). The first statement was that another law firm had been “pressing Slater & Gordon for more than a month” to enable Mr Blewitt “to gain access to the association incorporation file”. The second statement was that a former lawyer had “accused the firm of stalling” in providing access to the file.

The firm said that the journalist should have given it an opportunity to comment before the material was published. It said the journalist would then have been informed that it did not hold any files about incorporation of the association and the only documentation it knew of about the matter had been created by Ms Gillard and was not recorded by her in the firm’s system or held by it. The journalist would also have been informed that Mr Blewitt was not the client for Ms Gillard’s work on the association and therefore would not be entitled to access any file on it. The firm said Mr Blewitt had been a client for other work by Ms Gillard for which the firm did have files and had provided them to him within days of being asked to do so.

The publication replied that in the same article it had reported that Ms Gillard had not created a “formal file”. It had also reported in a subsequent article that Slater & Gordon said it could not find any documents relating to the matter. It denied that the article suggested Slater & Gordon was hiding files, and also pointed out that the claim about stalling was in a quote from the former lawyer, not a statement by the journalist. It said comment had not been sought from the firm before publication because it had seen legal correspondence from and on behalf of Slater & Gordon which supported the claim of delay, and because there was a real risk of injunction to prevent publication.

The Council has concluded that the publication failed to take reasonable steps to ensure fairness in the report in relation to whether the firm held a file on incorporation of the association. Even if the story is interpreted as having done no more than report allegations, rather than endorse them, their gravity was such that the firm should have been given a reasonable opportunity to respond prior to publication. The legal correspondence relied on by the publication did not provide sufficiently strong grounds for its failure to do so. The Council has also concluded that failure to seek comment for fear of triggering an injunction may be justifiable in some circumstances but in this instance the risk of an injunction did not relate to the statements in question and they could readily have been checked with the firm.

Accordingly, the complaint about the report is upheld on these grounds.

The feature article

Slater & Gordon complained that it had not been given a reasonable opportunity to respond to five passages in the article which implied it had engaged in a whitewash to protect the office of the Prime Minister. The publication replied that the relevant assessments and descriptions of the firm were fair comment, and that Mr Gordon’s views had been detailed fairly and comprehensively.

The Council has concluded that two of the passages in question were so serious and adverse that the firm should have been given a reasonable opportunity to respond before publication. They are the quotation of Mr Styant-Brown as saying that “[Slater and Gordon], in my view, have this sort of untrammelled objective of protection and hiding adverse material at all costs”, and the article’s description of a working draft of Mr Gordon’s media statement as “a document that made a mockery of [a] media statement” by the firm’s managing partner.

Accordingly, the complaint against the article is upheld in relation to those two passages. It is not upheld in relation to the other three passages.

Relevant Council Standards (not required for publication by the newspaper):

This adjudication applies part of General Principle 1: “Publications should take reasonable steps to ensure reports are accurate, fair and balanced.” and General Principle 3: “Where individuals or groups are a major focus of news reports or commentary, the publication should ensure fairness and balance in the original article. Failing that, it should provide a reasonable and swift opportunity for a balancing response in an appropriate section of the publication.”

Murdoch's minions labour to produce a little undergraduate humour

Excerpt from Sky AM Agenda transcript of interview with Federal Labor Trade Minister Richard Marles, 8 August 2013:

GILBERT: Finally, the Daily Telegraph's front page has Thommo's heroes Craig Thomson and, well, accompanied by Anthony Albanese as Sergeant Schultz and Kevin Rudd as Colonel Klink. This - even though he's on the front page would see this as humorous one, wouldn't they?

MARLES: Well, we can all have a laugh at it and this ranks up there with the Stephen Conroy front page. It gives all of those on the front page something to put in their pool rooms. And, look, it's funny. I think the point to be made here, Kieran, is that they're not editing Honi Soit; this is not a campus newspaper that they're putting together here. This is our largest city's biggest newspaper and so they can have some fun with it. It's perspective journalism; there's no sense now in which this is fair or balanced media. And, of course, it's a free country; they can do what they like. But I think they do need to remember what masthead they're actually editing here.

GILBERT: Okay. Richard Marles, thank you for joining us live from Geelong this morning.

Old news re-churnalized to fill online & print columns

This is an online article carried across various APN mastheads on 16 July 2013 and basically it is a reworking of the contents of a number of old, publicly available media releases with direct quotes inserted from two of these:

THE Queensland and New South Wales governments have a stake in the coal seam gas industry, as well as significant responsibilities when it comes to keeping the industry in line.

In Queensland the State Government has created an independent statutory body called the Queensland GasFields Commission.

Commissioner John Cotter said the commission's most important role was to ensure that both agricultural landholders and mining companies had the factual information they needed to negotiate good outcomes.

He said the State Government had identified mining and agriculture as key pillars of the state's economy.

"Come hell or high water I'm going to ensure that these two industries work to the benefit of themselves and to the benefit of the Queensland economy and community," Mr Cotter said.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said the coal seam gas sector was pumping billions of dollars into the local economy and would generate significant royalty revenue, however he cautioned that it "must co-exist with the agricultural sector and better work with the rural landholders and regional communities that we depend on for food and fibre". [Seeny media release 27 November 2012]

In NSW the State Government has formed the Office of Coal Seam Gas and a website to better inform the community about coal seam gas.

It also introduced new regulations on drilling for gas within 2km of residential zones and proposed future residential zones, as well as excluding drilling from critical industrial areas.

"Once finalised, the policy will ensure CSG exploration and production activities cannot occur in country towns, suburbs, villages and critical industry clusters across NSW," Planning and Infrastructure Minister Brad Hazzard said. [Hazzard 24 March 2013 media release]

APN restructures - says it believes in the future of regional media

Hopefully the NSW North Coast will retain the regional mastheads which contribute to community cohesion and the conversation between the Northern Rivers and Australia’s three tiers of government.

Senator Stephen Conroy may be many things, but Stalin he is not

 

"This government will go down in history as the first Australian government outside of wartime to attack freedom of speech by seeking to introduce a regime which effectively institutes government sanctioned journalism," News Limited chief executive Kim Williams said.

 

Yes, without a doubt Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy  Stephen Conroy has a tendency to go too far whenever he looks at regulating areas which fall within his portfolio.

 

One only has to look at his attempts to censor the Internet to see how foolish he can be.

 

However, to equate him with a dictator whose insane policies resulted in the deaths of literally millions is going too far even for Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited.

Has to be the worst ad placement yet

 

Taking a trip down memory lane @robboma3 posted this June 2008 UK article on Twitter ……

 

Regional media in trouble on the NSW North Coast?

Independent News and Media (INM) has an estimated 29.5% investment in APN News & Media Limited which owns many of the local newspapers operating on the NSW North Coast from Coffs Harbour up to the NSW-QLD border, including The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star.

 

It is no secret that Independent News and Media (which has its own financial woes) is unhappy with the continuing lacklustre performance of APN and its latest trading update.

 

So unhappy is this major shareholder that it was calling for the sacking of APN’s current CEO Brett Chenoweth.

 

If this move is successful it would make him the second chief executive officer to go in the past two years.

 

INM’s revolt appears to be the reason for the APN trading halt announced on 15 February 2013.

 

All this would be of nothing more than passing interest to Northern Rivers residents, if it were not for the persistent speculation that APN regional media assets may be broken up and some sold-off.

UPDATE:

THE Daily Examiner and Coastal Views have restructured to ensure both publications remain the voice of our region for the long-term future.

While we'll be closing our office in Yamba on February 28, our coverage of the Lower Clarence will remain unchanged as we move towards a more mobile workforce in keeping with industry changes worldwide.

We have also re-engineered our sales structure to match our clients' needs, both large and small. In doing so, some local positions have been impacted.

Our new structure will provide higher levels of customer service and reader value than ever before and we look forward to the next chapter of our papers' evolution in this digital age.

The Daily Examiner has been an integral part of the Clarence Valley since 1859 and will continue to be so for many, many years to come. [The Daily Examiner 22 February 2013]