What
is it about some News Ltd columnists and their gullibility? First there
was the Strewth column in yesterday’s Australian which
reported this little snippet about Tuesday’s Graham Kennedy
funeral/memorial service:

No show from Seven
AFTER
all of Channel Seven’s chest-beating about wanting to televise Graham Kennedy’s memorial service to pay a
sincere and fitting tribute to the king of comedy, none of its high-profile
executives or stars seemed to be there. No David
Leckie, no Peter Meakin.
Nine, however, was represented by a large contingent, most of whom had known
Kennedy in the good old days, including Sam
Chisholm and his wife Sue,
Vicki Jones, Ken Sutcliffe, Mike Munro, Ray Martin,
John Mangos, Tony Barber, Geoff Harvey and Coast to
Coast producer Rob Hurst.

Then in today’s Daily Telegraph Confidential gossip page, a similar
snippet:

FOR a network so pleased with itself for
broadcasting the Bowral memorial service for Graham Kennedy this week, Channel
7 had a less than impressive showing at the farewell for the King of television.

Not
a Leckie or Meakin in sight.

Which
made us think, while Nine had a good showing, where has big KP been through all of this? Not a word
from him on his best-ever talent.

But
Amanda Meade, in today’s Oz Media Diary, wasn’t taken in like her News Ltd co workers. She
didn’t highlight the way Jane Fraser in Strewth swallowed the Nine line, but
revealed how Prue McSween, the PR Sam Chisholm personally hired, was feeding
Sydney journalists (and some interstate ones) this line:

Many
mourners were questioning the sincerity of Seven after their no-show at the
Memorial Service for Graham Kennedy today in the packed theatre. This despite all Seven’s grandstanding and chest-beating about
wanting to pay a sincere and fitting tribute to the king of comedy.

Seven waged an ongoing PR campaign to claim exclusive rights
to the Memorial Service, which was shown live this morning by Seven, Nine and
Sky News, but not one person from Seven bothered to appear in Mittagong
today to pay their respects.

No David Leckie, no Peter Meakin, none of the publicists
trying to point score over the king of comedy’s farewell.

Nine was represented by a big contingent, including Sam
Chisholm and his wife, Sue, Vicki Jones, Ken Sutcliffe, Mike Munro, Ray Martin,
John Mangos, Tony Barber, Geoff Harvey, John Mangos and Coast to Coast
producer, Rob Hurst. Other high profile attendees were Maggie Tabberer, David
Williamson, Toni Lamond, Stuart Wagstaff.

This is merely a grubby attempt by Nine and Sam Chisholm to
deflect attention from the embarrassment and damage done from the network and
his rejection of the telecast of the Kennedy funeral. That rejection has damaged Nine and Chisholm’s standing in
the Australian media and entertainment worlds. It was cheapskate and it was
churlish, hence the email from Prue McSween.

Meade detailed how Chisholm had said no to telecasting the
Kennedy funeral, twice. Seven said yes to the broadcast and yes to
the large TV monitor outside the Theatre in Mittagong that hundreds of
people watched. That was a constant reminder to Nine of its parsimony. $12,000
was all the hire and transport cost.

Geoff Harvey was there because he lives in the Southern Highlands and knew Kennedy, Mike Munro
wasn’t there, he was in the Willoughby Studios of Nine, John Mangos works
for Sky News, as does Tony Barber.

Chisholm spoke on camera, a rare event, but of course Nine
didn’t ask him why wasn’t the network broadcasting the service, as
it should have been. Strange that omission!

Seven paid, Chisholm wouldn’t. It’s no wonder Nine sent so many people. They were
embarrassed at their own miserliness.