The Ten Network has poached an Australian TV news executive from New Zealand to be its new permanent head of news and current affairs. Plus other media news.
October, 2011
Power Shots: Power Shots: Gummow v French … ALP prez slams faceless men … Jobs dead at 56 …
Law enforcers: William Gummow at #2. The longest-serving member of the High Court of Australia is no judicial rock star. He’s rarely mentioned in the press and his biggest Facebook fan club boasts only 162 members compared to Michael Kirby’s 5,244. Yet bald and bespectacled Bill Gummow stands out as one of the most influential […]
Political snippets: Still healthy, wealthy and wise — but dropping in productivity
That’s the verdict of the Australian Bureau of Statistics according to its survey Measures of Australia’s Progress released this morning.
Video of the Day: Steve Jobs’ life as told by Steve Jobs
In 2005, university dropout Steve Jobs gave the commencement address at Stanford University. It’s a wonderful speech, outlining Jobs’ birth, getting sacked from Apple, his creations with Pixar and his search for finding work that he loves. Most poignantly, he discusses his battle with cancer and his views on death.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours
The Oz paywall: no money until Feb. The Australian will bring down its paywall in November — but you won’t have to pay for it until next year. Newsroom spies reveal the November “soft launch” will require registration of details to access premium content. Come February the paper will ask for credit card details. As we told […]
Crikey Says: Crikey says: Ken Henry changes the script
”I could have written the script for this before coming in,” said Ken Henry, adviser to the prime minister and former Treasury secretary, on day one of the tax summit.
Australia loses a great entrepreneur
A funny and fascinating post on Diana Gribble — publisher of Crikey — and her work as a successful businesswoman. Read Di’s spot-on advice for women wanting to get ahead in the business world.
Vale Steve Jobs: his NY Times obit
Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, helped change how society communicates. Have a read of the fascinating indepth obituary by the New York Times, examining the life of a visionary.
carbon price 
Australia’s carbon tax battle: where it fits into the global war
When it comes to climate policies, the Left and Right parties in Australia have adopted virtually wholesale the positions taken by Left and Right parties in America, write Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus.
No Palin for president
Former Alaska governor — and Republican vice-presidential nominee — Sarah Palin has announced she will not run for president in the 2012 campaign, as she says she’ll have more impact from outside the race.
The Chaser: now with added hamster
The Chasers new project The Hamster Wheel premiered last night on ABC1. Anyone familiar with the Chaser saw a show last night that had no real surprises. And that’s OK, says Dan Barrett.
The intellectual leader of the nation’s most powerful court
The longest-serving member of the High Court of Australia is no judicial rock star. Matthew Knott profiles William Gummow, Justice of the High Court of Australia.
Does dividing passengers according to risk work?
Was new IATA head Tony Tyler serious when he called for passengers to be divided into different categories of security risk and treated accordingly? asks Ben Sandilands.
Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize winner?
Singer and songwriter Bob Dylan is the odds-on favourite to win this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, with the odds at 5-1. It’s purely speculation (no list of nominees is released), with novelist Haruki Murakami the bookies second favourite.
A taxing two days in Canberra
Crikey media wrap: Tax isn’t a sexy topic, but Treasurer Wayne Swan’s two-day tax forum produced a few ideas worth getting excited about.
From the Tory front line: London in a catflap
You have to admire a certain kind of British wit, that steers a scandal involving a feline, from gaining the suffix “-gate”, becoming instead “catflap”. Guy Rundle reports on the Tory party conference from London.
iPhone release: no bunch of fives to the fore, but it’s OK
So yeah, the compulsory iPhone story. They made me do it
After a phenomenal peak, is Andrew Bolt in decline?
It is hard to remember a time when so much public debate focused on one journalist as what Andrew Bolt is going through at the moment.
Retail figures a bit like Goldilocks, not too hot, not too cold
Bad news for all the retailing gloomsters, the sector isn’t the basket case that they all claim it is.
Nobel winner puts pressure on lazy reporting
Brian Schmidt, the Australian National University astrophysicist who became a brilliant new star overnight when named a joint Nobel Prize science winner should also get an award for putting pressure on lazy science reporting.
Tony Abbott’s uni past gets another guernsey
Tony Abbott gave some wacky interviews in his uni days. One of these flicked around by dissidents to cast doubt on Abbott’s morals in recent days is this crystal clear recording from ABC-TV’s Nationwide program on 20 March 1979.
States sing the same old tune at tax forum
This week’s tax summit — sorry, forum — comes with low expectations, and so far seems to be meeting them.
