Seven acquisition in the offing? Is Kerry Stokes’ Seven conglomerate making a play for interactive media and gambling applications creator Two Way TV? A spokesperson denies it outright, telling Crikey today it’s a “try-on”, but we hear the parties are in advanced discussions. The source says it’s seen as an attractive fit for Seven’s TV and Yahoo brands and Stokes wants to move into the space.

OH&S concerns at News’ print plant. Workers at News Limited’s printing and production centre in Port Melbourne worried about their safety, say OH&S practices are virtually “non-existent”. One insider raises serious concerns about conditions at the centre, which produces all of News’ publications in Melbourne, including the failure to provide suitable seating for workers, inadequate staff numbers and the dubious nature of chemicals handled.

“They had a five-men crew on one of five presses,” they explain. “They shut a press down, reduced the staff and re-opened the press. Now [they] have a four-man crew working the press with no compensation despite a 20% increase workload.” Workers are also concerned about the nature of the chemicals they are handling: “Staff have no idea of what solvents are in each barrel as they are poorly labelled … [they are] told its safe as long as you don’t breathe in the solvent but the solvent room is overwhelming [and] the breathing apparatus required is not easily accessible for staff.”

Herald and Weekly Times corporate spinner Genevieve Brammall told Crikey the plant is proud of its OH&S record and “the list of current open action items from the last meeting only four weeks ago makes no mention of any of these issues”. She says an issue about crewing levels in the press room was investigated by WorkSafe and the issue was “resolved and finalised” in May, while “material Data Safety Sheets for all substances are displayed throughout the plant within the relevant designated work group areas”.

But another source tells us there have been at least four to five issues in the past month alone and HWT has in the past been “lax to say the least”. The AMWU’s site organiser, Nadia Machlouch, says several concerns were raised with her at meetings held last week and the union is currently working on enterprise agreements that would specifically seek to address these problems. Last week was the first time Machlouch, new to the position, had been officially made aware of the complaints.

News budget watch: on the trams. So News Limited will look through its editorial budget for any dodgy dealings. Former staff remember a time not so long ago — “think back to the time when the One.Tel drama cost News a motzah” — when an office edict declared the use of cab dockets would be put on hold. Still, to show that it had the best interests of staff in mind, the company provided a steady supply of tram tickets (“from memory they were 10 rides a shot”). There was an inter-office memo put out regarding the use of said tickets, the former staffer recalls (and says he still has), which went along the lines of: “It would be appreciated, if the chance arises, that you don’t validate the tickets.” Watching expenses at News has long been on the agenda.

Norton switches think tanks. Readers of Andrew Norton’s blog learnt this week the ex-Catallaxy scribe and current staffer at The Centre for Independent Studies and University of Melbourne is headed for the Grattan Institute. He writes:

“CIS and U of M are both great places to work, but I’ve long wanted to do more research and writing on higher education than I could with my current jobs. I’ve always had many more ideas for papers than I have had time in the week. Grattan offered me the opportunity to write those papers, and without having to leave Carlton. My new office is about a block away from my Melbourne University office, and a few blocks from where I live.”

Google protecting you against you. Does Google+ censor naughty words? One early adopter reports:

“People are allowed to post whatever they like, and see their post for themselves. However, all posts containing naughty terms are hidden from other people — not just the words themselves. Moreover, there doesn’t seem to be any setting to turn this filter off. It seems a little dishonest and tricksy to me. There’s nothing on the site that says naughty terms are forbidden, so people can write what they wish, and see their posts. Accordingly, they may be slow to cotton on that Google has ‘filter what your mates see’ settings on. I know it is in Beta, but still — I expect the search engine to be less puritanical in practice.”