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Mumbrellacast: Michelle Guthrie, a COVID scare at ABC, and tech giants under fire… again

This week’s Mumbrellacast features a chat with ex-ABC boss Michelle Guthrie, in which she discusses her take on the latest round of cuts at Australia’s public broadcaster, why she believes the loss of ABC Life is a shame and how a business can balance audience demands with tight budgets.

Sticking with the ABC, a COVID-19 scare on the set of News Breakfast this week sent hosts Lisa Millar and Michael Rowland into lockdown. It has been a tumultuous week for TV, but with the previous week’s ratings finally recovered from the hold of ransomware hackers, Seven found out if Big Brother went out with a bang and how Farmer Wants a Wife fronted up against Nine’s Australian Ninja Warrior.

The tech giants are back under fire as congressional hearings kick off in the US with Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook joining in on the heaviest Zoom call you could possibly cop an invite to. In Australia, the ACCC is suing Google for misleading millions of people by expanding its use their data. Will the tech giants ever be broken up by governments? How will the power be handed back to the people?

Plus, Mikey Robins dropped by for a chat about his new book, his media career, and whether satire will ever get old.

In the news

  • TV ratings finally get back on track from their hacking disaster (1:33)
  • Is it time to break up Facebook and Google? (34:41)
  • A brand reboot for Optus (47:42)
  • Tough times at Omnicom and IPG (52:50)

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Music credit: RetroFuture Clean Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Backbay Lounge Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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