Nine CEO Hugh Marks admits Liberal fundraiser ‘could have been handled better’
After the journalists of Nine’s recently acquired print titles, including The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), The Age and The Australian Financial Review (AFR), reached out to the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) to voice their concerns over a $10,000-per-ticket Liberal fundraiser held at Nine’s Willoughby offices on Monday evening and hosted by Nine CEO Hugh Marks, the CEO has admitted the event “could have been handled better”.
In an email sent to staff by Australian Metro Publishing group executive editor James Chessell, it was confirmed Marks had said the event was a ‘mistake’, but that the CEO doubled down on the importance of political relationships.
Marks said that while the event was important to discuss ‘key issues’ it ‘could have been handled better’
News broke of the fundraiser first across the AFR, with the SMH quickly following suit with a story, including a report the writer reached out to staff at Willoughby who “declined to comment”.
The fundraising event, which had a ticket price of $10,000-a-head, was attended by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, communications minister Paul Fletcher, education minister Dan Tehan, trade minister Simon Birmingham, government services minister Stuart Robert, and assistant financial services minister Jane Hume. It sparked concerns because it was hosted and catered by Nine, raising the question of whether Nine had essentially ‘donated’ to the Liberal government.
In the letter to staff, Chessell drew attention to The SMH and The Age’s charter of editorial independence which has been in place since 1998, and the fact it makes the Liberal party event “irrelevant to the way we report the news”.
Chessell went on to say nobody at Nine had attempted to influence editorial coverage at the previously-Fairfax titles since the merge.
“Overall the merger has been an extremely positive experience for the newsrooms,” read the letter.
But, it went on to say that the function was ‘regrettable’ and that staff were ‘worried’ about its impact on the reputation of the print titles. This is what sparked a meeting with Marks, in which he told Chessell it was a “mistake” to host the event.
However, Marks said Nine’s primary motivation for the event was to engage with the government on “issues of importance to the newsrooms” including press freedom and the ACCC digital platforms inquiry.
But, Marks conceded, it could have been “handled better”.
There’s a huge difference between networking (which we expect the media to do with pollies) and fundraising. Nine are fast killing off the credibility they bought when they acquired Fairfax and they will only have themselves to blame when advertisers start to complain that FFX is no longer attracting a discerning audience. For a CEO not to understand the implications of this to the business he’s running, and his responsibility to shareholders it should almost be a matter for ASIC.
So yes, much “regrettable” but entirely foreseeable.
User ID not verified.
Don’t mess with us.
User ID not verified.
If it had been a Greens fundraiser all the ex-Fairfax journos would have been at the event.
User ID not verified.
Hope the shock jocks and the usual screamers of the right wing media recall this episode the next time they gang up and have a yell about ‘bias’ in reporting. This is a spectacular example of that, especially with how far to the right the SMH has swung since the Nine takeover.
User ID not verified.
I really don’t see the issue. An Executive Management group has interacted with the Government at the most senior level, no doubt about creating dialogue and relationship to effect the business and industry. Why is it always journalists who immediately think these conversations are always an attempt to direct or remove their editorial independence. It makes sense that a media organisation like NEC has the best rapport with Government as possible and frankly, the decline of traditional Newsprint circulation and challenges to re-engineer digital News content media, should be seen as a positive to Fairfax newsroom journalists I would have thought? The fundraising aspect is not ideal, I concede, however if that is the angle for a seat at the table with the Government, it’s pretty much how commerce works the world over and should not be seen as a move to fill the quills of the newsroom with a subsequent political editorial decree.
User ID not verified.
A fundraiser is not “engaging with the government”, it smacks of corruption.
Says alot about the Liberal party really, that to get a conversation with them you have to give them a big fat “donation” (ie bribe).
User ID not verified.
Politically naive, much?
Forget for a moment that 9 is a media company, and just think that it’s a highly regulated company.
All regulated companies cosy up to Governments in ways that go well beyond “networking” which means little when it comes to influencing policy.
The only difference here is that 9 employs people with megaphones who don’t like the LNP and love a bit of moral posturing.
End of story.
User ID not verified.
Hi Steve,
Corruption in politics restricted to the Libs…. Maybe if they had taken the money in an Aldi bag it would have all been ok ? And while were at it have you been reading about the Annastacia Palaszczuk government recently ?
User ID not verified.
Can we see the case study?
I’d love to know
– funnel metrics for the ticket sales (invites to attendance)
– methods of in-room yield optimisation (first price or second price auction?)
– Was this just a Nine PMP? Or did attendees bring a header bidder?
– Who was the best performing data overlay source on portfolio opportunities?
– Did Nine try to to buy any politicians on a CPA cost per action model?
User ID not verified.
“especially with how far to the right the SMH has swung since the Nine takeover.”
So now it must be sitting slightly to the left of the Labour party then.
User ID not verified.
How does a CEO of the largest media company in Australia sit back and say to himself, “Yeh this will be fine, there won’t be any backlash over this at all.”
User ID not verified.
Hugh Marks now surrounds himself with people who constantly suck up to him at Willoughby.
He is disparaging to the Fairfax journalists which is the worse kept secret in media.
He appeared in a Love At First Sight parody at the upfronts last year then expects us to take his words on media seriously?
Major stuff up.
User ID not verified.
I remember when the Sydney Morning Herald was a respectable newspaper. Probably won’t ever be again, unfortunately.
User ID not verified.
Then we can look forward to the Labor Party fundraiser at 9 HQ And by the way, it’s arrogant and ignorant to end a comment with “end of story,”
User ID not verified.
Reads like the sort of “nothing to see here” waffle of Sky commentators.
User ID not verified.