The end of the Ablettiser? The AFL world (yes, we realise that only stretches to certain parts of the country and we will stop talking about it soon, we promise) went into a mini-meltdown yesterday, after the competition’s best player Gary Ablett Jr announced (rather belatedly) that he was moving to the AFL’s newest club — the Gold Coast Suns. The little maestro, who has won two flags and a Brownlow, will head north as founding captain on a contract believed to be worth around $9m over five years.
Despite any thoughts of front page footy fatigue, Ablett moving clubs is genuine news. But what makes this story a little different is that it managed to make the front page of the Gold Coast Bulletin and the Cairns Post — a big publicity victory for the AFL in their quest to take the code into rugby league territory.
Even more surprising was Ablett not making it to the front page of his home-town Geelong Advertiser — which famously changed its name to the Ablettiser last month. A case of media payback perhaps? Not likely, the good people of Geelong would have been content with an enormous 12-page souvenir wraparound devoted to the loss of their favourite son. No one quite loves their footy like Sleepy Hollow. — Tom Cowie
NT News watch. Yes it’s the mighty NT News once again in ‘Media briefs’. With front pages like this, you’ve gotta love the work of the Top End redtop:
Seven hits back at Corinne Grant claims
“The Seven Network has hit back at comedian Corinne Grant who claims Today Tonight “lied” to her in an interview on Tuesday night. Yesterday Grant turned to Twitter to let fly at Today Tonight after the interview painted her as a celebrity hoarder, with footage of extreme hoarders and overflowing backyards.” — TV Tonight
Cleared NRL star Brett Stewart to sell story
“NRL poster boy Brett Stewart is in negotiations to sell his story after spending his lifesavings on defending s-xual assault allegations. The Manly Sea Eagles rugby league player was yesterday found not guilty in a Sydney court of two counts of s-xually assaulting a teenage neighbour.” — The Australian
How al-Jazeera’s World Cup coverage got in a jam
“It looked, at first, like a serious technical glitch. But once staff at al-Jazeera Sports had checked, and then double-checked, they realised something sinister was happening.” — Guardian
The erosion of online anonymity (and how to restore it)
“One of the most important principles of individual privacy is the ability to act anonymously. When people are driving to a store or reading a book at home, they have a reasonable assumption that nobody is monitoring their behavior and attaching it to their name and address.” — Huffington Post
Revenue up 29% at paywalled Journal
“Digital revenue at The Wall Street Journal for the first quarter of its 2011 fiscal year rose more than 29 percent, according to a memo to WSJ staff from Dow Jones & Co. CEO Les Hinton.” — Media Bistro
Record high for gay characters on TV, study says
“In a study released on Wednesday, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said that the number of gay, lesbian, bis-xual and transgender characters on television had reached a new high in the new season.” — New York Times
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