The voice, try and understand it: kid gloves for reporter who asks Dutton ‘is it a man or a woman?’ | Weekly Beast

When Nine News Brisbane reporter Peter Fegan interviewed Peter Dutton this week he “commended” the opposition leader for his stance on the voice “because I don’t understand it”. It was soon clear the stand-in Radio 4BC presenter wasn’t kidding when he said he did not understand the proposal for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

Fegan: “My questions are, you know, what I want to know is: where does this person sit in parliament? Is it a man or woman? Are they going to be within the upper house? Are they going to be a minister?”

Dutton did not jump to correct Fegan but after a while cleared a little of his confusion: “it’s not an elected position. It will be an equal balance, as I understand it, of men and women of Indigenous heritage or people who identify as being Indigenous. They are appointed, as I say, not elected, and they represent Indigenous people across the country. That’s the proposal.”

Perhaps Fegan had other matters on his mind than keeping up with the news. Last year his joint award with Nine News colleague Rebeka Powell was withdrawn by the Walkley Foundation after an internal review.

The investigation of former MP Andrew Laming won the Walkley award for television/video news reporting in 2021, but the foundation decided to review it after Nine News withdrew allegations and apologised to the former Liberal National MP.

A former Channel Seven reporter, Fegan moved to Nine in Brisbane after he was sentenced to an 18-month conditional release order in 2021. Police caught him near Seven’s Martin Place studios with cocaine after his work Christmas party. Fegan apologised and no conviction was recorded.

Dutton dodges the question

While Dutton had the kid gloves on for Fegan’s agreeable interview he was in no mood to answer a reasonable and informed question from ABC reporter Lee Robinson in Alice Springs on Thursday.

Robinson: “You mention again today the so-called ‘rampant rates’ of child sexual abuse in Central Australia. Now we’ve seen the [community organisation] which advocates for Indigenous children, come out and strongly reject your call for a royal commission into that. They’ve labelled it an uninformed approach. Why do you think those kind of peak bodies are rejecting those calls by you, and what evidence do you have that there is this so-called ‘rampant child sexual abuse’ occurring in remote central Australia?”

Instead of answering the question Dutton accused him of being an outsider.

Dutton: “I mean, with respect, that’s such an ABC question. Do you live locally? Do you speak to people on the streets to hear what it is they’re saying to you? I mean do you believe …”

Robinson: “I live locally.”

Dutton: “You live locally? You don’t believe there’s any problem here?”

Reporter: “No. I’m asking you, what evidence do you have that there is …”

Dutton said his information was anecdotal. “I’ve spoken to the police and the social workers” – and accused Robinson of not doing his job if “you’re denying the reality of the circumstances on the ground”.

When the ABC cut away from the interview to go to the news, conspiracy theories popped up variously saying the ABC was trying to protect the reporter or trying to protect Dutton.

Whyalla wipeout

Regional news took another blow this week when a South Australian TV news bulletin for Port Pirie, Whyalla, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln and Broken Hill was suddenly axed.

Owned by Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), it was the only locally produced commercial television news service for thousands of regional South Australians.

“SCA confirms that it will discontinue its weekday News bulletin on 7TWO in the Spencer Gulf region of South Australia,” a spokesperson said.

“Discussions with affected staff for redeployment opportunities within SCA are under way. The final local News bulletin went to air on 12 April 2023.”

There was no indication it was the final bulletin when Madeline Kerr signed off, and the ABC reported staff were unaware that the Wednesday night bulletin would be their last.

News Corp cuts staff

In February Rupert Murdoch’s global company posted a 47% decline in earnings in its news media division, and lower quarterly revenue overall, forcing News Corp Australia to cut one in 20 staff.

Those job cuts hit this week. Staff targeted for redundancy received emails telling them they were redundant and inviting them to a meeting with HR.

Weekly Beast understands the cuts have run deep on the lifestyle and QWeekend sections of the Courier Mail, but are expected across all mastheads including the Australian, the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun, as well as regional titles, as editors look for a 5% headcount reduction. The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance says News has suggested 30 to 40 editorial positions would be targeted.

Crikey’s bumpy ride

While it’s true Lachlan Murdoch has not had an easy ride in the last few months with embarrassing revelations from the Dominion lawsuit and this week’s Vanity Fair bombshells, the Australian publication the Fox Corporation CEO is pursuing with that other defamation suit – Crikey – has hit some rough patches.

Late last year at the height of the legal stoush with Murdoch, managing editor of Private Media and Crikey editor-in-chief Peter Fray stepped down after a drunken outburst at Walkley journalism awards. Fray, who is a respondent in the Murdoch suit, left the company last month.

Now, a three-part Crikey series written by a freelancer, titled “China’s Queer Purge”, has been “unpublished” by Crikey. Crikey said it took the articles down “after experts quoted in the series contacted Crikey with concerns they had been quoted on the record without their consent or their quotes had been mischaracterised or taken out of context”.

The series has disappeared so we can’t tell you what it was about but it was criticised as “alarmist” and “rainbow hyperbole” by John Menadue’s Pearls and Irritations blog.

“As a result, our confidence in the series has been undermined and we’ve taken the unusual step of unpublishing it,” Crikey said in a note.

Private Media has appointed former Crikey editor Sophie Black as editor-in-chief and its news editor, Gina Rushton, as editor.

Outfoxed

The ABC’s Four Corner’s episode that focused on the Murdoch empire’s Fox News and the 2020 US election is still reverberating behind the scenes in Australia.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) is not happy that Sarah Ferguson went public with her dismay about the regulator’s finding, according to questions on notice from Senate estimates.

“ACMA’s final report and its inflammatory press release raise questions about the regulator’s understanding of journalism,” Ferguson said in an article published by the ABC in December.

The Four Corners documentary about Fox News was found by Acma to have breached the accuracy and fair dealing requirements of the ABC’s editorial code, but did not violate impartiality standards.

The Acma chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, wrote to the ABC to complain about its “dismissive response”.

“In the Acma’s view this is to the detriment of the broader Australian media landscape at a time when access to trusted news and information is more essential than ever. I would therefore welcome an open and constructive discussion between us, potentially including the ABC Ombudsman, on these matters with a view to aligning our expectations for the future.”