Features

Year in Review: December – Seven’s sex scandal; Russel Howcroft’s big move; Mag publishers kill audits

It was an eventful end to 2016, with machiavellian manoeuvrings by Australia’s magazine publishers; a big job change for Russel Howcroft and Seven’s boss mired in a sex scandal

Tim Burrowes

December 31, 2016 12:10

When a titillating email was widely circulated to Australia’s media writers offering lurid information about an affair between Seven boss Tim Worner and a member of staff, it derailed what had been a strong year for the network. From winning most of its key audience battles with rival Nine, questions about financial dealings with Worner’s angry ex left it an open question whether he would survive in his role until Christmas.

tim-worner

In the end Worner made it to the end of the year. But nobody who read the graphic detail will be able to see him in quite the same way in 2017. And with the names of two major TV stars he was also alleged to have had affairs with (they deny it) easily available online, Worner’s position remained weak as he entered 2017.

The end of the year also offered perfect cover for Australia’s three major magazine publishers to deliver what appears to have been a lethal blow to the mag audit system.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.