So says Stephen Mayne at Crikey:
The decision of the Nine Entertainment board to host political fundraisers at the company’s Channel Nine studios in Sydney this week has brought into sharp relief the question of whether the company has enough credibility to claim it is “independent, always”.
For starters, having a partisan figure such as Peter Costello as chairman raises immediate questions about independence. This is even before considering the optics of helping the federal Liberal Party raise $700,000 at the $10,000-a-head fundraiser on Monday night.
How on earth can a media company possibly expect to be treated as impartial when it is chaired by a warrior like Costello, who remains active in Liberal politics — posing for pictures with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg last year and receiving support to continue what is now arguably an excessive 10-year run on the Future Fund board (with the last five years as chair). Indeed, such is the tightness of the relationship, Frydenberg and Scott Morrison gave Costello another five-year term as Future Fund chair commencing February 14 this year.
If Nine wanted to reassure sceptical journalists about its independent credentials it would bring forward the expected Nine chair transition from Costello to former Fairfax chairman Nick Falloon, who is waiting in the wings as deputy chairman. Costello has already chalked up six years on the seven-person Nine board, with more than three years as chair, so it would be nothing unusual from a tenure perspective to make the change in the near future.
If he doesn’t go voluntarily, the question will arise at the 2020 AGM when he is next up for election and will almost certainly have to vouch that any additional three year term would be his last.
Costello was always a strange fit of a company that owned the iconic Fairfax newspaper mastheads given that, like many Liberals, he has had a long-running antipathy for the papers courtesy of their alleged left-wing bias.
Indeed, that lack of respect is reflected in the fact that Costello delighted in leading Nine’s aggressive takeover push to pay a premium for Fairfax last year. He was able to assume the chair role and also dictate on questions such as the company name. The Fairfax brand was foolishly buried, which remains a bizarre decision given its reputation for quality and credibility was far stronger than Nine.
The board’s decision to push ahead with these fundraisers showed little respect to the tradition and culture of the old Fairfax newspapers journalist, so the backlash launched on Tuesday via journalists’ union the MEAA was hardly a surprise.
It is unclear why the MEAA chose to send their stern letter only to Nine CEO Hugh Marks and newspaper boss Chris Janz, rather than chairman Costello, given that he and the board must have given Marks the all clear to go ahead with the fundraiser.
While this may be enough to trigger a backlash against Costello’s position as chair, perhaps an even better move would be a constitutional amendment at the upcoming AGM to change the name of the company to Nine Fairfax Holdings. A constitutional ban on any company funds being provided to registered Australian political parties, or political candidates of any persuasion, would also make a lot of sense.
Makes sense. The hoi polloi are in a panic, at The Australian:
Nine chief executive Hugh Marks has admitted that hosting a $10,000-a-head Liberal fundraising event was a “mistake” after a widespread backlash from current and former editors.
But Nine Entertainment’s newspapers could still face action from staff, who are planning to hold another meeting amid fallout from the unprecedented political fundraiser on the set of the Today show at Nine’s studios in Sydney.
Given they’re all just offshoots of the same real estate mafia I’m still not sure it even matters.
