Sam Chisholm

Eulogies flood in for TV legend Sam Chisholm, Seven’s cricket broadcasting team announced, Thai cave now full of international journos, plus other media tidbits from the day.

Remembering Sam Chilsholm. TV titan Sam Chisholm has died, aged 78. He is being remembered as “pugnacious“, “visionary” and “larger than life“.

Chisholm spent 15 years as boss of the Nine Network as it became number one, and led Sky in Britain through its merger to become what is now BSkyB. In an obituary for The Australian, Bruce McWilliam wrote:

Sam demanded great loyalty but he also gave it back. His modus operandi mirrored [Kerry] Packer’s — of fear and reward. But he was generous with recognition and acknowledgment.

Summer of cricket. Seven has continued its cricket commentary announcements, naming Alison Mitchell, Mel McLaughlin, James Brayshaw and Tim Lane as members of their broadcast team. They’re joining Ricky Ponting, Damien Fleming, Michael Slater and Glenn McGrath, among others, in the box for Seven’s broadcasts of Test and Big Bash League matches from this summer.

Thai rescue media circus. Now the Thai cave rescue has wrapped up, make way for the media digests on what happened, why, and how. Reporters have been allowed back up the mountain to the cave, posting videos from inside the cave, and promoting upcoming features. Seven’s Chris Reason posted a video on Twitter earlier today from the cave, and ABC Four Corners researcher Lucy Carter said there would be a special report on Monday about the rescue.

Department of corrections. Accidentally reporting satire as fact is the most embarrassing correction a news outlet can make. And so it was for The Washington Post overnight, in an article about US President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK.

British protesters have been campaigning to get Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ to the top of the charts, and in its report about the campaign, the Post quoted Clickhole — a satire site owned by The Onion — in claiming the lead singer “waited 13 years to reveal … that the ‘American Idiot’ was President George W. Bush”. 

The revolving door. Bauer Media has appointed Cosmopolitan digital managing editor Lorna Gray as editor of the magazine across print and online. She replaces Keshnee Kemp, who moved across to rival magazine publisher Pacific Magazines to edit WHO in May.

And in TV land, The Project’s managing editor and writer Tom Whitty has announced he’s leaving the show on Twitter, after nine years. He said he’d be taking a break from working and from the news cycle.

For sale: The Onion, Gizmodo, Deadspin. Months after dropping plans to list on Wall Street, struggling US media group, Univision Communications says it is now looking at selling its Gizmodo Media Group, which houses websites including Gizmodo, Deadspin, The Onion, Jezebel, Likehacker, and The A.V. Club. 

In August of 2016, Univision paid US$135 million for the Gawker Media assets in a bankruptcy auction, which didn’t include Gawker (which is dormant). Univision bought a controlling 40% stake in The Onion at the start of 2014. Gawker was bankrupted by legal action by wrestler Hulk Hogan.

Gizmodo Media is part of Univision’s Fusion Media Group and the sale would see the company departing from its most recent media strategy of diversifying into English-based outlets and away from its role as the largest Spanish-language TV broadcaster in the US. This deal will test the media sector’s appetite for digital news-related website operations.

Glenn Dyer’s TV Ratings. Nine’s night in total people and the demos, and Australian Ninja Warrior added viewers from Monday night, but lost them from its lead in last night. Monday night it averaged 1.17 million (and 1.31 million on Sunday night). Last night it averaged 1.19 million which looks OK, but 38,000 less than A Current Affair at 7pm which averaged 1.23 million. Read the rest on the Crikey website.