Budget hysteria. The Murdochification of Nine’s papers in full swing
The media campaign against the Federal Budget is unprecedented not for its severity but for its uniformity between the Murdoch and Nine Entertainment bodies. Michael Pascoe fears for the future.
Peter Tonagh, chairman of Nine Entertainment, is the former CEO of News Corp Australia. He is one of four or nine board members with ties to Murdoch. One of the remaining two was a senior adviser to Simon Birmingham when he was a Liberal Cabinet minister.
There is some Liberal connection in Nine’s top ranks. The company’s director of communications and public relations was Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s senior press secretary. James Chessell, editor-in-chief of the Australian Financial Review, was press secretary to Treasurer Joe Hockey.
Nine’s two senior editors – the managing director of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, are former News Corp, as is the director of broadcasting and editor-in-chief. Chessell and the Sydney Morning Herald editor both had roles in Murdoch’s newsrooms earlier in their careers.
There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that. Our own Michael West won the Walkley Award for business journalism while in Australia. AFR And SMH. Hell, I started The Courier-Mail, but that was long before Murdoch got his hands on it.
But what has stood out over the last two weeks is the similarity between the Murdoch and Nine campaigns. Is this warranted, or is there a growing cultural convergence within Australia’s two largest media companies? In short, has the Murdochification of the old Fairfax taken place?
Is there any possibility of a merger?
The bleak reality of the news media economy generally, and the particular difficulties Nine faces in fighting for corporate clarity, suggest the dire possibility that the two are on the path to eventually folding into each other. There are no prizes for guessing which one will fold around the other.
Nine and News currently share printing and distribution. In the never-ending quest to cut costs, a non-ownership Nine board without printer ink in its veins might well look at how much of its back office has been unnecessarily copied and how many other resources could be shared. You know, in the end it’s all just ingredients, just different brands. And you know Albo will let them.
The increasingly widespread culture was showcased on ABC. Media Monitoring Monday night as fish packers showcase their hyperbolic budget response AFR And SMaj (aka “this imprint”) fits right in with the Murdoch rags.
AFR is reduced to trolling readers for reactions, none better than his (fake) running thread.
Media Monitoring It could have gone much further had time allowed, the media setting an example in itself by swallowing the Coalition’s “Death Tax” and repeating it over and over again.
Of course, bad news sells, but dangerous allegations occasionally made headlines in Murdoch and Nine newspapers; the only difference was that stories read in relatively small numbers tended to eventually include Nine’s rebuttals of the Treasury, while Murdoch’s tabloids didn’t care.
My personal favorite was AFR He clearly highlights one veteran stockbroker’s view that “yields hit 15-year high as bond investors curse ‘radical budget'”
understanding AFR Readers may be aware of the collapse in the global bond market. Japan’s 30-year bond yields hit their highest level ever; US 30-year bond yields hit their highest level since 2007; Germany’s 10-year yields were the highest since 2011; UK and France’s 10-year yields are at their highest level since the GFC.
Who knew Jim Chalmers’ budget would shake the world?
For the record, Australia’s 10-year bond yield was at 5.04 per cent before the budget; It fell to 4.9 percent at the end of last week.
hat tip AFRMark De Stefano for keeping perspective on the run of play by tweeting that the ASX 200 closed at 8670 before the budget and was at 8670 ten days later.
That’s how hopeful Murdoch and Nine were for the end of capitalism.
Revolving doors of media
Culture in any company is an interesting animal to read, but the first instinct is to replicate itself, to “hire people like us.” Smart boards and management try to neutralize this instinct, but it is difficult.
Back on the Nine board, Tonagh became chairman in November, just 10 months after joining the board. His predecessor was barrister Catherine West, who joined the Nine board after 17 years at Murdoch’s UK Sky network, where she served as director of legal and commercial affairs. West, of course, took over from Nine’s best-known chairman, Peter Costello. AFR He reported that after joining the board in 2016, he “quickly became a close ally of Costello.”
Alongside Tonagh’s Murdoch connections are two non-independent directors representing the company’s largest shareholder, conservative Bermuda-based tax exile Bruce Gordon.
Andrew Lancaster and Chris Halios-Lewis are CEO and CFO respectively of Gordon’s WIN Corporation, Nine’s regional broadcaster, the company also responsible for moving Murdoch’s Sky News from subscription to free-to-air television across the regions, doing for One Nation what Murdoch’s Fox did for Trump.
Independent director Mickie Rosen was an executive at Fox Interactive Media in the US.
Former accountant Timothy Longstaff was an employee of Simon Birmingham. He was also appointed to the Snowy Hydro board and Takeover Panel by the Morrison Government.
This leaves Mandy Pattinson, a former executive at Discovery Communications, as the only executive without a Murdoch or Liberal Party connection on her CV.
None of the boards have printer ink in their veins. (Tonagh’s rise to the top of News Corp was via Foxtel and REA.) Yes, Nine took over Fairfax. This was not a merger.
Matt Stanton was promoted from CFO to CEO of Nine in March last year. He has what the Nine website calls “strong experience as a commercial CEO” in food and drink (Barambah Organics), retail (Woolworths) and media (magazines with Bauer and ACP).
Shares are losing value, assets are being sold
In short order, the new chairman and CEO sold Nine’s radio stations and regional television and paid $850 million to buy outdoor advertising company QMS from private equity firm Quadrant.
That price tag compares with the stock market valuation of $1.48 billion for Nine as a whole.
Nine shares were worth $2.37 when he took over Fairfax eight years ago. They are now trading below 90 cents.
Nine could have been worse, of course; It could be Seven slipping into oblivion until it was taken over by Southern Cross Media, whose market capitalization was a third of Nine’s.
Or, depending on how Paramount handles its taxes in Australia, there could be 10 that broke under Lachlan Murdoch’s leadership in 2017 and are still allegedly making losses.
And then there’s News Corp. Apparently he doesn’t make a profit either, or so you might think since he doesn’t pay taxes.
It’s a bleak landscape where cultural similarities can be like holding hands, a dangerous thing not to lead to dancing.
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Michael Pascoe is an independent journalist and commentator with five decades of experience in print, television and online journalism here and abroad. His book, Summertime of Our Dreams, was published by Ultimo Press.
