Big News at News Ltd

It was an announcement that caught everyone by surprise today - the resignation of the boss of the Australian arm of News Ltd, John Hartigan.

Kim Williams

Even more surprising was Rupert Murdoch's following announcement in Melbourne today, that the Foxtel boss who also runs Fox Studios, Kim Williams will take Hartigan's place. Murdoch will now takeover as CEO of Australian operations.

It's a sure sign that no matter what happens with News Corp in the USA or UK, Murdoch is ensuring that the highly profitable control of his Australian operations is under his command. A court case in the Melbourne courts is currently tarnishing the image of Murdoch's most beloved publication The Australian, the countries only national newspaper set up by Rupert in 1964.

Gough & Margaret Whitlam

And the choice of Kim Williams who has never worked on a newspaper is an extraordinary departure from standard Murdoch practice. Williams is a no-nonsense boss and considered not only articulate and clever but bordering on the intellectual and certainly not a 'right winger' like most of News Ltd's major executives.

He is also married to Catherine Dovey, daughter of former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam who broke the Conservative stranglehold on Australian politics in 1972 when the Coalition was finally defeated after 23 years in power.

Whitlam swept into office on a wave of enthusiasm for change and for Australia to get out of the Vietnam War with the backing of the Murdoch media. Three years later Murdoch was to turn on Labor and give his support back to the Coalition.

Picture : News Corp Boss Sleeps In Street

Luna Park

John Hartigan

There he is in our snap-John Hartigan the boss of Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd empire in Australia.

He'll be sleeping rough tonight at Luna Park (motto : Just For Fun) along with over 200 other CEOs to raise awareness and cash for Sydney's homeless which is reaching epidemic proportions.

In a city where one house (Altona) just went on the market for an estimated sale price of $60 million, there are families living rough in caravans, cars, on church steps while hundreds of young people sleep rough at train stations and so on.

The Mathew Talbot men's hostel in Woolloomooloo, just a stones throw from the Finger Wharf with some of the countries most expensive restaurants and the penthouses of Russell Crowe and broadcaster John Laws, accommodates around 35000 people a year and serves 600 meals a day.

So far the combined CEOs have raised over $1,230,000 $3,326,064 but aim to quadruple that overnight. Hartigan, who reckons he can "sleep on barbed wire " is the biggest fundraiser to date.

You can go to the website of the CEO Sleep out 'Rise To The Challenge' and donate in the name of your favourite CEO (if you have one/) or register to sleep-out with them

News Corp Watch



Rupert today !

Possibly the most pleasing thing at last night's gala dinner was the fact Rupert Murdoch has abandoned that dark hair dye and returned his locks to a respectable grey.

The occasion was the News Awards at the Museum of Contemporary Art and a swag of Murdoch children attended : James Prudence, Elisabeth, and Lachlan. Missing was wife Wendi and his 2 youngest daughters.

 Son-in -law Mathew Freud ( married to Elisabeth) was also spotted.

Rupert's all time favourite publication The Australian received a Newspaper of The Year award presented by the great man himself.

News chairman John Hartigan presented his Chairman's Award to the editor of Adelaide's The Advertiser, Mel Mansell, while journalist Anthony Klan won the major prize for his investigation and features on the "waste and mismanagement in the $16.2 billion schools stimulus package".

The Oz says today :" While the BER story was largely ignored by other media outlets, The Australian published more than 200 articles about the program, shifting public opinion and forcing the federal government to launch a $14 million inquiry into the scheme by businessman Brad Orgill."

That inquiry found the whole thing was a major beat-up- possibly a complete waste of the $14M cost but hey-it nearly help deliver the reins of government into the hands of the Coalition and Tony Abbott, something the News Corp media would have desired.

Associate editor Cameron Stewart received the award for the Scoop of the Year for his " expose of counter-terrorism raids by Victorian and Australian Federal Police in Melbourne last year on"

A scoop indeed !

Especially when the tale of the raids was published in The Australian several hours before they actually took place.

Following a Victorian Office of Police Integrity investigation, a  Federal Policeman was charged with misconduct in public office , unauthorised disclosure of information and attempting to mislead the Director of the Office of Police Integrity. Maybe Rupert will pay his legal bill.



Rupert last year !

 You can read more on these in-house awards here where Rupert is quoted saying :

"quality journalism doesn't just happen".

"It takes a company committed to bringing the public the stories that no one else will do - and the talented men and women like you who are willing to do them."

"In contrast to the doom-and-gloomers who are always telling us that our industry is dying, we believe the public is hungry for high-quality news and opinion."

Let's hope this purveyor of quality journalism doesn't come across the website of his top tabloid the Daily Telegraph with it's headline today :

Drunken Cop : jailed 17 years ! 

That's a pretty stiff sentence for being in the grip of the grape, even for a walloper. The sentence the hapless policeman received was in fact, 17 months.