It used to be that News Limited journalists granted an audience with the boss were spared the embarrassment of having their bowing and scraping recorded for all the world to see.

Every newspaper reporter knows that even the most deferential chin wag can be rendered as a hard-hitting interrogation with some carefully chosen words – and any sycophancy involved in the encounter can remain a private matter between consenting adults. 

But now that Rupert has discovered the internet the audiences he grants his subalterns have become a legitimate topic for podcasts – as the Advertiser’s columnist Paul Starick discovered this week.

Despite being an experienced international reporter, columnist and political correspondent you might notice Starick looks just a little nervous – as evidenced by his attempt at the world speed nodding record.

Given that David Flint and Steve Fielding have decided that media bosses have virtually no power at all – and it’s the journalists who call the shots – it’s hard to know what he could’ve possibly been worried about.