Today in Media Files, The Australian‘s blurry definition of an “exclusive”, and News Corp has snapped up former Australian Women’s Weekly editor Kim Doherty for the Wentworth Courier.

Exclusive watch. The Australian‘s definition of an “exclusive” story is, as we know, somewhat loose. Above the fold on its front page today, its exclusive yarn is a report of a speech former treasurer Peter Costello gave in Melbourne last night.

But the Oz obviously hadn’t counted on a reporter from Melbourne’s The Age to also cover the story, also on its front page.

 

BuzzFeed too lit for New York Times. BuzzFeed recently launched a morning TV show, broadcast live on Twitter every morning in the US. AM to DM launched using the tagline, “all the news too lit for print”, a play on The New York Times‘ famous motto, “All the new that’s fit to print”. But since Wednesday, the online show has dropped the motto from its graphics, and Mashable reports it’s because The Times objected to the program co-opting its slogan. A BuzzFeed News spokesman told Mashable:

“We can confirm that The Times did reach out about AM to DM’s slogan. We’re glad they are following along with our new show, like the rest of our robust audience over the last few weeks.”

Government to force ABC salary disclosure. Communications minister Mitch Fifield has given the ABC and SBS a month to disclose the salaries of its biggest earners, The Daily Telegraph reports. If the salaries of those earning more than $200,000  aren’t disclosed in 31 days, the government will introduce legislation to require disclosure. The ABC has long-resisted disclosure, saying it should not be required for privacy and commercial reasons.

The Book Club‘s final chapter. The ABC’s The Book Club will wind up at the end of the year, with host Jennifer Byrne leaving the broadcaster. In a video statement on the show’s Facebook page, Byrne said she’d be taking a break and would be reading for pleasure. The show has run for 11 years, starting out as First Tuesday Book Club in 2006, with co-hosts Marieke Hardy and Jason Steger. Hardy was appointed artistic director of the Melbourne Writers Festival last month.

How NBC killed the Weinstein story. The Daily Beast has taken a deep look at the story behind US network NBC killing a story about Harvey Weinstein from contributor Ronan Farrow, which he later took to The New Yorker. Farrow reported the story for months for the TV network before he was allowed to take it elsewhere. He told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that the story was reportable at NBC, and that it should have been reported earlier than it was.

“Farrow’s blunt claim highlighted an uncomfortable debate among NBC News insiders, and beyond, concerning the quality and status of his investigative reporting and the reasons why a respected television network would kill a sensational scoop about a famous, influential, politically wired, and undeniably newsworthy figure like Harvey Weinstein … Sources inside and outside NBC, meanwhile, challenged the network’s assertion that Farrow had obtained no usable on-the-record, on-camera interviews with Weinstein’s alleged victims.”

Murdoch plays hardball with Ten. Fresh from threatening the former Ten network’s board with legal action in early June if it persisted in trying to refinance the business (a move that plunged Ten into administration and collapse), the Murdoch media empire is again playing hardball with the company Lachlan Murdoch once part-owned, chaired and ran.

Rather than joining with former fellow Ten director Bruce Gordon, one of Murdoch’s other corporate gigs, 21st Century Fox (where he is co-executive chair with dad Rupert), has given Ten and its putative new owners, CBS, a whack by pulling all its TV programming from Ten with the contract renegotiations stalled over a new deal.

Ten has confirmed that Fox has withdrawn its programming — content such as Modern Family, The Simpsons, and This Is Us, Bob’s Burgers, Futurama and MASH, are also no longer airing on Ten’s channels. Ten has filled the holes with core CBS products and repeats of content from other producers. Ten says Fox had “verbally terminated” its content contract with Ten while the network’s ownership status remains unsure. So far the content produced by Endemol Shine, 50% owned by Fox, remains on Ten.

The move sounds hard-nosed but the truth is that all American TV content now underwhelms Australian viewers. Modern Family used to be the best performing of the current crop of Fox programs, but it has faded in popularity and like The Simpsons — another former star — was filling Ten’s One schedule and repeat slots on quiet nights on the main channel. — Glenn Dyer

Glenn Dyer’s TV Ratings. Sophie’s night again last night — The Bachelorette grabbed 1.3 million nationally, making her the most watched non-news program on the night and second overall. An OK 320,000 watched in the regions with the others not knowing what they missed. Gogglebox Australia had 1.14 million national viewers and fourth overall. Without Soph, that would not have happened. Ten ran second in total people in the metros and tops in the main channels.  Seven’s movie The Intern did well, averaging 760,000 from 8.30pm to 11.10pm. That gave Seven the win the night in total people and run second in the main channels, but seeing Nine has already won the week it was a “so what” result. Ten cleaned up in the major demos thanks to Soph.

But with tonight and tomorrow night looking so dire (as usual), time to go out and have fun, read a book, watch a movie, meet a friend and come back on Sunday for another dose of The Block and then Seven’s Michael Hutchence specials on Monday and Tuesday (up against The Block  —  that’s a big call by Seven).

In the regions Seven News was tops with 520,000, followed by Seven News/Today Tonight with 442,000, Home and Away was third with 419,000, then A Current Affair with 369,000 and the 5.30pm part of The Chase Australia was fifth with 349,000. — Read the rest on the Crikey website