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Opinion | Features
Can sport save Ten?
First there was the Grand Prix. Next came the reported $500m bid for cricket rights, then Ten secured the 2014 winter Olympics. So, can sport save the ailing network? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen investigates.The television sports rights bidding process is a bit like a game of poker.
Check, fold or bet. Those were the options for the Ten Network last week when it had to finalise its bid for the cricket rights.
Andy Lark: good for the marketing of marketing
I can still remember the first story I wrote about Andy Lark, when it emerged that he was to be the new chief marketing officer of CommBank.
It was immediately clear that Australia was about to meet an interesting marketer, one who blogged and tweeted and thanks to his time at Dell in the US was digitally savvy. Even two years ago, that was a big deal. The fact that he also had a stint in public relations gave him an absolutely intriguing background before he even arrived.
Storming the media barricades - advice for young journalists
This week Mumbrella’s Nic Christensen, who began his career four years ago, gave the keynote address to would-be journalists at the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s Student Day. This is an edited version of his speech.Good afternoon, I can remember distinctly the last time I was in this room.
It was 2009 and I was sitting where you are. I’d come to this event, a friend and myself — from memory we sat up the back — and I can remember at the time wondering if I’d ever get a job as a journalist.
It was only four years ago and then as now getting a job was ultra competitive but I’m not sure there was quite as much media ‘doom and gloom’ as there is now…
Paywalls will help fund campaigning journalism
In this guest post, News Limited’s group editorial director Campbell Reid responds to the views of ninemsn’s Hal Crawford that the company’s push into metered paywalls is about data rather than dollars.Hal Crawford is both right and wrong in his article which argued that our digital subscription plans are all about the data.
Fake it 'til you make it... as a features editor
Cosmo’s Kate Leaver tells us how to bluff it in her job in a feature that first appeared in Encore.What do you do, as a features editor?
Really, play with words and ideas all day. At any one time, we’re working across three issues of the mag – getting one on its way to the printers, pooling all the words together for another, and planning the issue after that. It’s busy but it’s a pretty magnificent process.
Savage counsel - JFDI
Hi Chris,I run a medium-sized agency that is doing pretty well. As the leader, I am finding my workload just seems to go up and up. I am struggling to stay motivated and particularly to tackle the bigger and tougher challenges I have to face every day. How do I keep up the energy when there just seems so much to do? How do you do it?
Productive, successful executives are those able to consistently tackle difficult and big challenges. It’s a constant struggle for me so I know how you feel. How do the successful leaders do it?
Q&A with Brett Clegg
Brett Clegg, group director – business media, Fairfax Media, in a Q&A that first appeared in Encore, on the journo who refuses to work with him – his wife.Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
Hard to go past Rupert Murdoch. He controls the single largest and most diverse portfolio and is intent on leveraging its scale (and, of course, influence). He’s an innovator and his will to win is obvious to all.
The experiential experience
Anyone can throw up a tent in a high-traffic area and harass the general public, but what does it take to pull off an effective experiential event? In a piece that first appeared in Encore, Matt Smith investigates.A television commercial can easily be muted and ignored, but try ignoring a purring, squirming cat in your arms. That was the experience awaiting passers by in Sydney’s Martin Place in October last year when Mars Petcare built Whiskas Kitten Palace.
The News Limited paywall isn't about revenue. It's about data
In this guest post, ninemsn’s editor in chief Hal Crawford argues Fairfax Media and News Limited’s new paywalls won’t draw much revenue, but will generate data. And they’re late to the data party.When I first learned that ninemsn’s major digital competitors Fairfax and News Ltd were going to introduce paywalls across their mainstream properties, I was excited.
Every obstacle thrown in the way of their audiences is an opportunity. People hate friction and anything that makes life difficult on a rival site is a chance to get them on yours.
Is this the worst time to be a journalist?
With scores of redundancies in 2012 and a mass exodus of experienced journos, is this the worst time to be a journalist? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen asks the question.In June last year a tsunami of redundancies began to sweep across Australia’s media landscape. They came in a series of waves and in the 12 months that followed, an estimated 1,200 journalists departed the mainstream media.
Are you a conscious leader?
As the advertising and marketing industry struggles to address the issue of rocketing rates of staff churn in their businesses, Slingshot CEO Simon Rutherford argues that today’s ‘conscious leaders’ should be more focussed on creating ‘staff wellness’ in order to deliver high performing teams and healthy profits.
A conscious leader believes the business has a greater responsibility towards the community it operates in. To ensure sustainable long-term profits, people must come first. Awareness, trust, authenticity, transparency, 100% responsibility, connection, compassion, and love: these are the tools of the conscious leader.
Suits: less popular than pest controllers
Advertising suits have a thankless job that is currently being eroded by the changing industry says Naren Sanghrajka in a piece that first appeared in Encore.Not in my wildest, craziest nightmares would I ever have thought I’d say this. But I’m going to. Being a bean counter is far more appealing than starting as a suit in advertising. There it is. I said it. I actually said those words.
Yes, it’s incredibly depressing. But it’s true.
An answer for Adam: What's the future for creatives?
Each fortnight, Adam Ferrier poses a question to the industry. This week, he asks about the future of the creative.
Who or what is a creative? It’s an old thought, but as I continue on my merry journey in advertising I wonder if there is a role for a ‘creative’ and if there is, what that role is?
In the world of film and TV there is not a ‘creative’. There is a director, a writer, a producer, a DOP and so on. From this mix the creativity happens. But no-one is charged with being ‘the creative’.
Australian films stand on their own merit
The argument that Australian audiences only embrace local films once they’ve picked up a gong at an international festival is inherently flawed says Lee Zachariah in a piece that first appeared in Encore.As much as we like to pretend that we collectively fulfil the world’s need for a country comprised entirely of laid-back, mellow beach dwellers, we do seem to get disproportionately excited when someone else mentions us. Our cool exterior drops away as our local news bulletins breathlessly report that CNN or the BBC or really anyone in one of the ‘real countries’ acknowledged our existence.
We feel detached from the world, and therefore crave its validation.
The vindication of Paul Fishlock
Wow.You may have noticed that not much went up on Mumbrella over the last couple of hours.
That’s because I’ve been reading the judge’s findings in Paul Fishlock’s case against The Campaign Palace.
I’d always known that agencyland can be a brutal place. But the picture of the cynical, ego-driven, unsentimental world that comes through in the findings of Justice John Sacker is something else. I recommend you take the time to read it yourself.
The reputation of Young & Rubicam’s global creative director Tony Granger certainly takes a battering in my view. The word “bully” is a hard one to come back from.
And former Campaign Palace CEO Mark Mackay comes across as someone you might think twice about either hiring or working for, based on the evidence presented. The judge calls him contemptuous of both Granger and Fishlock.
Meat Free Week to launch next year in anti-factory farming awareness campaign
Don’t eat me for a week
A campaign has launched to raise awareness of the amount of meat Australians eat, and the practices behind factory farming.
The campaign centres around Meat Free Week, an event that urges Australians to go without eating animals for a week, from 18-24 March next year.
The campaign is being led by former NewsLifeMedia executive Melissa Dixon and Pacific Magazines national advertising director Lainie Bracher.
It is being backed by model and TV presenter Laura Csortan, former magazine editor Deborah Hutton and actor Krew Boylan. Chefs Simon Bryant, Belinda Jeffery and Bill Granger are providing meat-free recipes for the campaign.
A campaign website – Meatfreeweek.com - goes live tomorrow.
Australia is the second largest consumer of meat per capita after the US. The average Australian eats around 120kg of meat a year. This consumption would not be possible without factory farming, which the campaign says leads to the suffering of 500m animals in Australia every year.
“We know it’s a big ask to cut back something you love to eat, but when people know the facts, we’re confident they’ll commit to eating less meat and when they do, make the choice to buy ethically produced meat” said campaign co-founder Melissa Dixon.
Money raised from those taking part in Meat Free Week will go to animal protection institute Voiceless.
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Comments
30 Nov 12
12:56 pm
You’re ruining my ham sandwich…
30 Nov 12
2:42 pm
Maybe that campaign website name should read ‘Meatfreeweek’ not ‘Meetfreeweek’? The latter sounds like something RSVP would do.
30 Nov 12
3:00 pm
I hope nobody gets grilled about this one, a great initiative.
30 Nov 12
3:20 pm
I think this is a great idea and this should kick off with not just one week across the year but two! I’m a meat eater but welcome this to encourage us to eat it less.
30 Nov 12
5:51 pm
There are many dimensions to not eating meat.
One is the highly questionable moral grounds for using animals as our subservants.
They have a lot more sensitivity and characteristics that we are only just starting to understand. Personally, I see the moral issue as #1.
Secondly, meat is a highly taxing environmental disaster, from land clearing, to the amount of energy and water involved in the whole process of meat production.
Fruit and vegetables are more environmentally sensible and renewable.
Thirdly, the nutritional benefits of meat are also dubious, and it is important to get to the facts rather than listen to the spin doctors. Illnesses such as bowel cancer would be significantly reduced without high meat consumption.
Fourth: there are some heinous practices in the meat industry, from immoral slaughterhouse practices to the whole gamut of disease, parasites, and effects on meat eaters that result from the poor hygiene and deliberate skirting of quality assurances. Not so say anything about corruption and collusion.
Lastly, for now, tasty as they may be, the nitrite additions in processed meats is pretty bad stuff health wise. It is time to really address the whole issue.
1 Dec 12
9:24 am
Just as I make sure I turn on as many lights as possible during Earth Hour I will ensure I eat as much meat as possible during this week.
I hate do-gooders trying to force their (usually left-wing, trendy) views on me. Piss off and go and play in the traffic.
1 Dec 12
7:51 pm
Rosco … sad. Just sad.
2 Dec 12
1:09 pm
Rosco, if your neighbour buys a rainwater tank, make sure you leave your taps running all day.
If they cycle to work, by an old gas guzzler and choose a new commuter route that’s twice as long.
If there’s a campaign against sexual harassment, make sure you shout lewd comments at women while driving your car.
That’ll show those trendy, lefty do-gooders.
2 Dec 12
6:05 pm
Gary,
Any chance you could provide some substance to your specific or indeed the wider claims you make.
It’s just that, with a growing population, the effort to create food in general is going to increase. And a degree of scale will be required to achieve that. I’m afraid that your quaint Enid Blyton view of farms disappeared around WW2.
I’m especially interested your assertions about meat providing dubious nutritional benefit. Some support for that would be awesome as it sounds slightly at one with accepted nutritional advice.
Similarly for the slaughterhouse claims. Sounds a little like bullshit to me, so do share your supported insight on the matter on this and nitrates so we can make an informed judgement on your opinion.
Cheers.
2 Dec 12
8:19 pm
AdGrunt
yeah, it was just a dumb guess.
http://www.meatvideo.com/
http://earthlings.com/
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03.....index.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/a.....-meat.html
http://sue-adams.hubpages.com/.....onsumption
http://www.vernoncoleman.com/eatingfor.htm
http://www.lef.org/magazine/ma.....eat%20meat
http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.....145244.htm
http://www.un.org/apps/news/st.....R1=warning
http://www.newscientist.com/ar.....reats.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/e.....27843.html
2 Dec 12
9:37 pm
Gee Adgrunt, where to start?
There’s a mass of reading out there.
The inescapable fact is that cultivating livestock for human consumption is a waste of resources. Vast amounts of studies to back this up.
Try Peter Singer’s Ethical Eating.
Or give it a google.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.....production
3 Dec 12
8:44 am
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....10788.html
3 Dec 12
11:07 am
Here’s a recent one from Australia for Adgrunt. Hope you’re not a big fan of dim sims!
http://tinyurl.com/cwdf9jp
I personally don’t think there’s any difference between eating a cow or a donkey…but the floor sweepings and the maggots?
And the point about nutrition is that Australians eat much, much more meat than could ever be considered nutritionally beneficial. Ask almost any other non-Western culture. And do ask a nutritionist. When I was studying nutrition at University, it was made clear that the Western diet is too heavy in protein and too poor in complex carbohydrates (aka veges and grains).
It really isn’t polite to call someone”s informed opinion bullshit unless you have irrefutable supporting evidence to the contrary. It also raises questions about your credibility. Perhaps in the future you could frame your questions in a more respectful manner and you may (gasp!) learn something that you don’t already know?
3 Dec 12
3:09 pm
I love research backed up with a great wikipedia link!
3 Dec 12
8:32 pm
Gary – don’t link-bomb.
Support your assertions cogently. And don’t link to partisan vegan shock-sites. It makes you appear a loon and this whole exercise as a vegan-in-animal-husbandry-clothing shonk.
Mike – your wikipedia link is fascinating, especially where it mentions that intensive farming and closed-loop farming is more energy and land efficient that traditional methods. But is that all?
Ricki – don’t embarrass yourself by linking to an article about a thirty year old report.
It’s rude to do so, then suggest bullshit is actually informed opinion. Provide credible support. It’s the job of those making the assertion to support it.
And the point is about intensive farming and animal husbandry, so stop pursuing strawman arguments about nutrition.
3 Dec 12
10:33 pm
I love AdGrunt. Smart AND rude, my perfect man!
3 Dec 12
11:38 pm
Join the queue, LW.
4 Dec 12
6:02 am
AdGrunt, do you anticipate there might be any argument that would make you alter your opinions?
I doubt it. Most people don’t approach these issues with the proper mindset – “what is the best thing to do?” – but instead are only thinking, “how can I defend my preferred lifestyle choice?”
Being vegetarian or vegan is better for the environment and limits cruelty to animals. Those are inescapable facts that you simply choose not to accept.
4 Dec 12
7:41 am
Mike, why doubt your ability to make a cogent argument? It’s the lack of one that prevents me believing you.
Supporting your “inescapable facts” would be agood start.
It’s also a bit awkward that you’ve hijacked a campaign for ethical animal husbandry bandwagon with a vegan agenda.
4 Dec 12
7:19 pm
I don’t doubt my ability to make a cogent argument.
I doubt your willingness to hear it.
There is plenty of useful information in the links posted above, much of it non-partisan. Far more than I think Mumbrella would be keen to moderate in this comments thread.
Not at all sure why you complain about “link-bombing”. Perhaps because you’d rather argue with individuals online than just do some reading and inform yourself?
Peter Singer’s “Ethical Eating”. A long-form cogent argument.
Read it. With an open mind.
5 Dec 12
5:04 pm
I wrote a book that was concerned with a number of the aspects in my earlier post.
I don’t think that many of the arguments are unsubstantiated. Moral arguments are clearly personal but best determined after a little soul searching.