Top brass at News Corp Australia and the Seven Network were among the first commercial news executives to get the ear of Communications Minister Michelle Rowland after she was sworn into office last year, after meeting first with leadership at the ABC and SBS.
According to the first three months of Rowland’s ministerial diary, obtained by Crikey through freedom of information laws, Rowland spent three hours at Seven’s Eveleigh headquarters in Sydney on August 22, one hour of which was spent lunching with James Warburton, CEO of Seven West Media, and other Seven executives.
The meet-and-greet was among the earliest in a series of introductions with Australia’s top media representatives in the early days of the Albanese government, after meeting leadership at both public broadcasters during the government’s first weeks in office.
One week later, Rowland headed down to News Corp’s Holt Street offices in Sydney to sit down with executive chairman Michael Miller for a two-hour lunch.
About three weeks after meeting with Miller, Rowland met with SBS managing director James Taylor on September 19 at the broadcaster’s Artarmon offices for a meeting and “short site visit”.
She then dashed across town around lunchtime to meet with ABC executives again, including managing director David Anderson, as well as chief financial officer Mel Kleyn and director of strategy Mark Tapley.
The minister first met with ABC leadership in Canberra on June 8 last year, when she met with chair Ita Buttrose and Anderson, for 15 minutes, before sitting down with the ABC board for another 15 minutes.
Before arriving in office, Rowland pledged to extend the three-year funding terms provided to both the ABC and SBS to five years, to safeguard their budgets from “political interference”.
In November last year, Rowland announced in a speech to the Victorian Friends of the ABC that in addition to providing a five-year funding term to the ABC, the government had commenced work on a review of funding certainty for the public broadcaster.
Rowland said the department had plans to hold targeted public consultation through 2023, but ruled out changes to the charters of both the ABC and SBS, along with the possibility of a merger between the two.
Labor’s first budget, handed down in October last year, included a reversal to $83.7 million in cuts made to the ABC’s budget by the Coalition under previous governments. The ABC will receive the boost over four years, and is expected in May to receive confirmation of the government’s commitment to a five-year funding term.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said the communications minister met with news executives at News Corp and Seven before leadership at SBS. This is incorrect, and we apologise for the error.
Labor may have the numbers in Parliament, but it lives in mortal fear of the commercial media.
So can we presume that negotiations had already been completed with channel 9 before the election? ,,our dear spokespeople instrument for the industrial military complex.
It is good to see Crikey focussing on how important the control of information impacts on political outcomes and public opinion in terms of the peoples’ ability to independently reach unbiased decision making.
Who ever owns the information outlets has more say as to how we reach conclusions than any government attempting to get it’s message across.
They are the gatekeepers as to what type of “truth” a country hears in a democracy and ours is very much based on Neoliberal ideology,, as some Indian background folk might say”isn’t it”.
Re your final point about the every so precious ‘gatekeepers’ – hence the deafening silence from those that reprinted Wikileaks stories but, even before the cock creweth thrice, ‘know-not’ Assange.
No spite & jealousy like a hack shown up.
Why accept lunch from News Corp – not a good look.
I’m a federal Labor supporter but I absolutely hate the fact the she visited News Corp HQ and had a 2-hour lunch. It’s a horrible look. Why don’t they go to her? Not a fan of Michelle Rowland at all
In the same boat Northy and wonder if it is all worth it after 45 years. Speaking to a senior Mandarin I was told that politicians like to be liked (Reelected) so they promise one thing and when elected adjust to “like” mode by adjusting their “Beliefs” accordingly.
I am searching to think of a name of a person in this current Government I do “Like” as every one that comes to mind has flipped.
Perhaps Crikey could research to find one who has not flipped?
It has the aura of being called to the Principal’s office (just me?) but consistent with how media magnates have strutted their stuff for the last century. If I was minister I’d be
callinginviting them to my office, or some neutral venue swept by the Australian Signals Directorate.It makes sense to brown nose the people you can’t control. And my ABC is fully under control, unfortunately.