Mumbrella live blog: Wednesday, March 12
Welcome to Mumbrella’s live blog, keeping you up to date with all you need to know in media and marketing. Refresh the page for the latest updates.
Top Stories:
- CommsCon will showcase PR at the cutting edge of technology and social media
- Audit Bureau hopes to lure big publishers after including autorefresh in web audits
- ABC journalism cleared of bias over election and asylum seekers in audit
- M&C Saatchi poaches The Monkeys digital head Ben Cooper for innovation role
- Ten shifts So You Think You Can Dance to Thursdays
- Optus goes after Telstra again in new ads despite court ruling
- Privacy Actchanges come into force today
- Dr Mumbo: People’s rants at Domino’s over images of asylum seekers
5:54pm – The last CommsCon Awards jury of the day has left the building, with Sean Walsh, head of comms for Mi9, Toby Hemming from Bold Media and Lorraine Murphy of The Remarkables Group have all done their bit. there will be more luminaries of the comms industry in tomorrow for the final categories.
5:24pm – Last night’s A Current Affair segment on alleged bad-behaviour one of the co-pilots on the missing Malaysian Airlines flight is attracting a lot of criticism in his native Malaysia, reports Mumbrella Asia. One former managing editor of the New Straits Times told the Malaysian Digest site: “It made me cringe to see the way the girls told their story. It is bad journalism, but then again Australian media is known for such behaviour.”
5:05pm – The CommsCon conference next week will feature case studies showcasing innovative ways technology and social media communities have been used to deliver PR outcomes. See a taster of what is to come here.
4:55pm – A fire that started in the basement of the Barangaroo development site has resulted is dominating the news this afternoon. If you want to see the latest, The Sydney Morning Herald is providing updates in a live blog.
2:20pm – Comment of the afternoon comes from ‘g’ on the story of the ABC being cleared of editorial bias, following an inquiry prompted in part by questions raised by The Australian:
ANNNNDD… the release was actualy covered in The Australian… mind. blown.”
1:42pm – The second jury of the day has entered the judging lair (otherwise known as our studio) to round up the CommsCon finalists.
12:56pm – There is greater transparency ahead for the reporting of online reader numbers as the Audited Media Association of Australia (AMAA) will start reporting the numbers for websites which automatically refresh their pages.
11:46am – Seven’s Morning Show host Larry Emdur joined the cause of The World’s Greatest Shave this morning, being shawn of his locks to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation.
11:18am – Ever get fustrated with those people on Facebook who post about their petty gripes on brands’ Facebook pages? Well, this new video from comedy duo Stuntbear should put it in a bit of perspective.
10:47am – TV ratings are in the bag, and Ten had an improved night with an 11 per cent share of the audience, although once again The Biggest Loser couldn’t touch My Kitchen Rules and The Block at 7.30pm.
10:15am – The first final round jury deliberations of The CommsCon Awards are underway at Mumbrella House with Adshel’s Nicole McInnes, Kim McKay of Klick PR and Jeremy Wrench of Capstone Hill search plus a couple of remote jurors starting the scoring. Over the next couple days around 40 jurors will be joining us.
10:01am – Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is facing challenges in pushing through his proposed drop of the media ownership rules from both the Labor party and Seven West Media CEO Kerry Stokes. Stokes is the only media baron to resist the repeal of ownership laws, reports the Financial Review, stirring speculation he would resist a stronger Fairfax Media and News Corp.
Although Tony Abbott voiced support for scrapping the media ownership rules he warned changes would need the broad consensus of the industry. And the political risk of pushing through reforms was escalated yesterday as Labor party members warned against sweeping mergers between city and country TV networks, The Australian reports.
9:41am – Changes to the Privacy Act came into effect today – we held a hangout with ADMA and Telstra yesterday to find out what it means for the industry.
9:32am – A big move in agency land, with well respected digital man Ben Cooper moving from The Monkeys to M&C Saatchi for a new innovation role.
9:02am – Ten hasn’t given up on reality despite the recent travails with So You Think You Can Dance and The Biggest Loser, and has released a new promo for MasterChef, although no date has yet been set for the return of the series which could be crucial to the network’s fortunes.
8:28am – Over at The Australian there seems to be an obsession with a certain crown. It’s no clear whether it is the same crown for TV and radio, or two different lineages.
8:13am – Among other things it’s CommsCon Awards judging day today at Mumbrella House, with many of the industry’s finest set to come through the door over the next two days.
8:05am – Morning all, and happy Privacy Act day (is that a thing yet?). There’s another busy day at
the coalface lined up today, with some interesting agency appointment news on the cards, among many other things. Stay tuned.
