Witches founder goes to police over Kyle Sandilands’ remarks
stirring the pot
Kyle Sandilands’ former employer ARN Media isn’t the only group unhappy with the abusive broadcaster.
A week before ARN Media cited her on-air rants about members of activist group Mad F–ing Witches in its defense of Sandilands’ legal case over her $100 million contract, the group’s founder Jennie Hill lodged a complaint with Victoria Police about the effects of on-air threats allegedly made by the shock jock.
For years, a collective of left-wing women under the banner of the Witches has been trying to get companies to pull their advertising from the internet. The Kyle and Jackie O Show for his on-air behavior and history of comments made towards women.
They had a lot of success, which infuriated Sandilands, who said on air on November 7 that her friends had offered to take care of the problem.
“No one can really do anything about it. I bet if I were released I could. I’m telling you,” Sandilands said during a discussion about witches and cancel culture more generally.
“There are people who come to me and say ‘hey, I can handle this.’ I told them to stay out of this. And these are the people you really don’t want to show up,” he added.
In other comments referred to in legal defense submitted by ARN this week, Sandilands said he could “get ugly behind the scenes too” if he had to.
“And I don’t want that. I don’t want to burn down houses and do things like that.”
On April 30 last year, Sandilands said he would deal with the group “my way” after claiming KIIS was “slow” to get involved.
“I will have PIs [private investigators] “I’m following everyone they know until I find something about these people,” Sandilands said of the group last year.
The imprint emerged on Wednesday evening, prompting a multimillion-dollar counterclaim from ARN against Sandilands, whose case, along with Jackie “O” Henderson’s, returned to court on Friday.
Witches founder Jennie Hill said it was “incredibly ironic” that a group trying to stop a man from spreading “verbal violence” was now receiving anonymous threats.
“There are at least two that we found so frightening that some of our managers no longer live in their own homes and haven’t done so since the day we discovered the threats,” Hill said.
He said the danger was not from Sandilands or his friends. But Hill said “most people know about it” because the broadcaster made these statements to a large audience and then they were taken down. [Mad F—king Witches] “He had at least something to do with it, which means he had very angry listeners.” As a result, he reported his comments as potentially breaching updates to Victoria’s anti-defamation laws, which include sedition offences.
Late on Thursday evening, Victoria Police confirmed it had received a report of threats made against a person in regional Victoria on April 15, but no crime was identified after officers investigated the matter.
Crazy Munk
If there are two things that are certain in acting Guardian Australia editor David Munk, one is that he hates hedgehogs, the other is that the local precinct’s newsroom actually loves him (which is not uncommon for an editor who has to make tough choices).
These facts are relevant because Munk, who came up with the job when long-time boss Lenore Taylor resigned in February, was at the forefront, at least in the minds of her team, of remaining Australia’s permanent editor as the search to replace Taylor reached its climax.
Last week some candidates were informed that they had failed; global editor-in-chief Katharine Viner is expected to take part in the final round of interviews and decision-making processes in the near future.
Munk spent a decade working on this topic. GuardHe has served in ‘s local offices, first on its Sydney-based foreigners desk, then as deputy editor of its Australian edition, but whether he wants to stay there remains a mystery given that he is due to return to the UK in 2024. But if he had stayed, the staff would definitely have accepted him.
more than half a dozen Guard The staff said the troopers would be very happy to have Munk on full time.
A senior staffer said Munk initially told newsroom members he had no plans to stay, but seemed increasingly comfortable. Others are now actively waiting for the search process to end with the Briton staying, regardless of whether he actually applies.
Elsewhere, this imprint spoke to almost a handful of Australia’s most senior editors, initially chosen to gauge interest.
“Anyone who edited anything was originally voiced […] holding on to the reeds!” said one, speaking anonymously so as not to appear to have turned down the offer.
A. Guard The recruitment process is ongoing, the spokesperson said.
Peter V’landys’ News Corp dream
Some of Australia’s media and sports elite want News Corp to launch a bid Western Australia, Western Australia is the only state that does not publish a daily tabloid metropolitan newspaper.
But while senior News Corp executives have thwarted any active discussion of taking on the one-paper town, it befits a man so close to the current masthead pack, the NRL and horse racing leader Peter V’landys.
Why? The NRL’s launch via the Perth Bears is imminent in 2027.
Western Australia, The company, previously owned by the AFL’s free-to-air broadcaster Seven West Media, changed hands earlier this year when the company was acquired by radio-focused Southern Cross Media.
Perth is an AFL town through and through and the newspaper was hostile to the NRL’s arrival, dubbing them “bearers of bad news” following the announcement.
News Corp officially says it has no acquisition plans at this time West and a Southern Cross spokesman said the company was “not selling assets”.
But a handful of senior News officials said not only would a buyout make sense, but the Bears were unlikely to operate in Perth without the buyout. West Being owned by News Corp.
“There are certainly people like Peter V’landys who think we should buy it,” said one senior executive.
Contrary to the narrative, V’landys said: “I don’t care who owns the publications, all we want is fair and balanced reporting.”
What he wants is journalism that is “independent rather than managing other people’s agendas and making it seem independent.”
News Corp is investing heavily in the NRL. Owner of the Brisbane Broncos, sports Daily Telegraph‘s bread and butter, its journalists feature prominently in Fox Sports’ League coverage, and there are cultural overlaps between the two organizations that go back decades.
On Wednesday night, News Corp Australia chairman Michael Miller, senior editor and Peter Blunden, head of the company’s division that operates the Papua New Guinea outpost, hosted a cocktail party in Port Moresby, the site of the NRL’s other expansion. ‘After the Courier’New offices and accommodation. Chiefs boss Michael Chammas (former sports writer of this imprint) and Prime Minister James Marape were also in attendance.
If not News Corp, potential buyers of the paper are still the talk of the west town. Perth is full of nonsense, ranging from a Nicola Forrest-led bid to the return of Seven’s former majority owner Kerry Stokes via long-time adviser Bruce McWilliam. There are also rumors that a consortium led by Stokes’ local rival John Poynton has tried to buy the paper, reviving a nearly 40-year-old feud.
However, the new chairman of the board of the West Heith Mackay-Cruise, owner of Southern Cross, made his first visit to their offices. West Last week I told the staff the paper was “not for sale.”
beautiful china
Just hours after resigning from the ABC, following questions in this column about the behavior and use of a wealthy list owner’s private yacht, senior human resources executive Josh Keech invited colleagues to a farewell lunch at the swanky China Doll restaurant in Woolloomooloo.
“I would like to invite you all to lunch at China Doll in Woolloomooloo on Wednesday 22 April at my expense,” Keech wrote after what he joked was a “slow news day.” This included the ABC bidding him farewell after two years at the broadcaster and thanking him for his contribution.
We regret to report that Keech was tapped on the shoulder and instructed to cancel the lunch in question, and questions remain about his conduct, which the ABC says it is investigating.
It won’t be a delicious Chinese meal for Keech and his fans, who have been contacted for comment.
People and Culture
It’s now been a week since the ABC’s People and Culture division has officially begun investigating, as Background can reveal. Four Corners Reporter Mahmood Fazal, who returned to work after a few months’ leave.
Fazal was placed on leave in October after it was revealed that he had recorded an unauthorized podcast with underworld figure Ryan Naumenko, sponsored by an illegal crypto casino. Fazal allegedly received payments for two podcasts, but he denied this.
The scope of the broadcaster’s investigation is limited to Fazal’s external work. ABC is also investigating whether Fazal sought outside work to write several tracks this year. Lost Magazine In Daylesford, Victoria.
Fazal and an ABC spokesperson have been approached for comment.
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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect with: X or email.
