Viceland (stylized as VICELAND) is a multinational television channel brand owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland launched on February 29, 2016 with the simultaneous launch of two Viceland-branded cable channels; one in the United States which is a joint venture majority-owned by A&E Networks (who owns a 10% stake in Vice Media, alongside a separate 10% stake owned directly by A&E's co-owner Disney), and in Canada, where Viceland operates as a Category A-licensed specialty channel majority-owned by Rogers Media. Viceland respectively replaced the U.S. version of H2 andthe Canadian version of Bio.

Operating under the creative direction of film director Spike Jonze, Viceland has a focus on lifestyle-oriented documentary and reality series aimed towards millennials, leveraging the resources of Vice's verticals with new original series, along with adaptations of and reruns of existing Vice web series. The network's launch programs featured programs hosted by existing Vice personalities such as Action Bronson and Thomas Morton, as well as notable figures such as Eddie Huang, Ellen Page, and Lance Bangs.

read more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceland

 

Viceland is right wing, slightly left of Ghengis Khan....

 

More excruciating developments with the government’s media “reforms”, which are designed to see the end of the two-out-of-three control rule for newspapers, radio and television and the 75 per cent reach rule for TV.

These are the “Moloch amendments”, which if passed will deliver the ancient mogul and his family a stranglehold on the Australian media and set the political agenda for the country until hell freezes over, which is what special correspondent Maurice Newman predicts.

In effect, it will deliver Moloch & Co three out of three, where he can control newspapers, radio and TV in the one licence area. If you include Sky News, which few to none are watching, then he has four out of three.

Concentration of the media at one end is justified on the basis that digital technology has given consumers all the diversity they need. It’s fiddlesticks, of course, because online information is so atomised that it can never match the critical mass of the mainstream players.

It wouldn’t be so bad if the Moloch hacks were turning out credible stuff, but rarely is that the case

read more:

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2017/05/13/gadfly-mark-respect/14945...

 

For those who can't read: Moloch = Murdoch...

You might not be familiar with what Melbourne's Channel 31 puts to air — but you'd surely know its alumni.

Rove McManus, Corinne Grant and Waleed Aly all got their first TV breaks there.

For more than 20 years, community TV stations across Australia have been a proving ground for young talent, and a vital outlet for lo-fi local stories.

But on Friday this week, the Federal Government will cancel their broadcast licences and take the three remaining community TV stations — in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne — off the air.

Like many media organisations, their future now lies entirely online.

It comes as the Government last week failed to pass its media reforms which had the potential to radically shake up media ownership rules.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/federal-governmen...

The Federal Government has waived broadcasting licence fees for commercial free-to-air television and radio broadcasters for the current financial year.

This "one-off relief measure" will save the broadcasting industry $127 million, according to Communications Minister Mitch Fifield.

Following this announcement, the share prices of several media networks surged - with the sharpest gains from Southern Cross Austereo, which was up 6.4 per cent to $1.27 by 2:10pm (AEST).

At that time, Nine Entertainment shares also had strong gains - up 6.1 per cent to $1.42 - while Seven West Media's share price gained 3.12 per cent to 72.7 cents.

At the most recent sitting of Parliament, the Turnbull Government was unable to pass its proposed media law reforms due to opposition from Labor and its inability to secure enough crossbench support.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-28/interim-financial-relief-for-austr...

 

News Corp is a “rogue organisation” which is seeking to get media laws changed in Australia so it can acquire Channel Ten, a former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, John Menadue, said in an extraordinary interview on ABC radio.

“The Australian government should resist any attempt to expand the media power of the news organisation which already controls 60 or 70% of the metropolitan media in Australia,” Menadue told ABC Melbourne Radio’s Jon Faine in an interview that focused on the power of Rupert Murdoch. “It is a disgraceful organisation.”

ABC Radio Melbourne(@abcmelbourne)

"A TRAGEDY" @johnmenadue used to run NewsLtd, but says Murdoch, "a disgrace. It's trampled on democracy in three countries"#Faine #auspol pic.twitter.com/TPnp0JiEIt

June 22, 2017

“Step after step [Murdoch] seeks favours from government to promote his rent seeking.”

Channel Ten is in voluntary administration and one of its billionaire backers, Murdoch’s son Lachlan, is in the box seat to buy the network if the media laws are changed to allow it.

Menadue, who was general manager of News Limited Australia for seven years and who worked for the prime ministers Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, said the young Rupert Murdoch was full of promise in the 1960s and 70s and he had enjoyed working for him.

“In recent decades his organisation has become a disgrace,” Menadue, 82, said. “It’s trampled on democracy in three continents, it’s damaged the media enormously in three countries.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jun/28/news-corp-is-a-disgrace-an...

 

The slow death of community television

Stations in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth face the chop despite a reprieve

And now to more sober matters, and the slow death of community television, which is still clinging to life in three of our capital cities.

Channel 31 gets a six-month reprieve on free-to-air TV shutdown

— The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 June, 2017

That stay of execution came last Tuesday. And if you think you’ve heard it before, you have, on the ABC in December.

EMILY BOURKE: … the free-to-air signal was to be switched off this weekend … But an 11th-hour extension granted recently, and without much explanation, has turned plans for 2017 upside down. 

— ABC Saturday AM, 31 December, 2016

*The presenter was incorrectly named as Elizabeth Jackson. It has been changed to Emily Bourke.


The initial threat to pull the plug on community TV was made by Malcolm Turnbull back in 2014 when stations still operated in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Then in 2015 Sydney’s TVS went dark.

And this year, Brisbane’s Briz 31 disappeared from the airwaves and went online.

So why the pressure to get them all off air? 

Well, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield wants to free up spectrum used by community broadcasters for new ventures. Such as: 

MITCH FIFIELD: … next-generation broadcasting technologies that could enable new services for viewers, such as the terrestrial broadcast of ultra-high definition 4K television. 

— Press Release, Mitch Fifield, 27 June, 2017

Good news, perhaps, for those with expensive 4K televisions. But for viewers of community TV, and aspiring talent and technicians, some of whom are familiar faces, it is a sad farewell.

WALEED ALY: It was a really, really useful stepping stone because it introduces you to people and it exposes you to the disciplines of broadcasting in a way you otherwise wouldn’t …

— Channel Ten, The Project, 10 January, 2017

Fifield argues community broadcasters can operate just as effectively online. But, as Channel 31 graduate Dave Thornton told the Project earlier this year.

DAVE THORNTON: It literally was a training session for anyone in TV, wherever you wanted to work, in front of the camera, behind the camera, and people are going to miss out on that which is sad. 

— Channel Ten, The Project, 10 January, 2017

The minister also argues that fewer and fewer people are watching … 

citing 2016 ratings that showed the peak prime-time audience is now down to just 4000 viewers.

But Melbourne’s Channel 31 General Manager Matthew Field told Media Watch:

MATTHEW FIELD: The most appropriate measure of a service like community TV is how many people we reach and the fact is that the CTV reaches 1.7 million people per month in Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide.

— Matthew Field, General Manager Channel 31, Statement to Media Watch, 30 June, 2017

That’s a decent audience. 

And Field also argues that the government’s claim of spectrum being needed to test 4K signals is a furphy:

MATTHEW FIELD: There are currently no tests planned … The reality is that if we are switched off in December then our spectrum, which is mandated to be used for TV broadcasting, will remain vacant for a number of years.”

— Matthew Field, General Manager Channel 31, Statement to Media Watch, 30 June, 2017

We reckon the government does have a point: when big broadcasters are busy commissioning digital-only content, and Facebook or YouTube offers a way to attract big audiences, it’s not obvious why community broadcasters need to use the airwaves. 

But freeing up spectrum for the sake of revenue and technology that may not be there doesn’t make much sense either.

And since the government has just handed back millions of dollars to the commercial networks.

What’s the cost in leaving the TV hobbyists to their sandbox?

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4695560.htm

Two of Ten Network Holdings' billionaire backers, Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon, have lodged a proposal to jointly bid for the troubled broadcaster with the competition regulator.

This manoeuvre is banned under current media ownership laws but the move could be in anticipation of potential reform in the coming months...

read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/lachlan-murdoch-and-b...

No doubt citizens are rejoicing that generous dollops of money from government departments and agencies are being allocated to various hard-pressed arms of the News Corp octopus.

First up is the $30 million to be lavished on Fox Sports to “support the broadcast of underrepresented sports on subscription television”.

At last, Fox viewers will now be able to relive the excitements of the pub darts and backyard petanque championships.

No one knows why this money was thrust into the ancient claw of Lord Moloch because Mitch Fifield’s Department of Communications and the Arts has knocked back an FOI request from the ABC for details.

The department says no documents exist, which is possibly more alarming than the funding decision itself.

As if this were not generous enough, the government agency Screen Australia has stumped up an unspecified amount of money so The Catholic Boys Daily can run an online six-part doco called The Queen & Zac Grieve.

This is an investigation by crime reporter Dan Box into the dubious conviction of a young Indigenous man for murder and the prospect of life imprisonment under the Northern Territory’s mandatory sentencing laws. The series is being made by In Films for The Catholic Boys Daily and Foxtel.

The newspaper modestly describes this as a “groundbreaking documentary film series that … will be one of the biggest stories of the year”.

Your dollars hard at work for Uncle Rupe.

read more:

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2017/07/29/gadfly-devine-inspiration...

(Bold by Gus)

Well, the "haunting" continues.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (like his counterpart Theresa May in the UK) must, on reflection, think that calling an early election has not proven an Einsteinian decision.

Having expected community adulation, it is hard to reconcile having to negotiate with parties with different values and ambitions to pass legislation.

So, deals are a fact of political life for both PMs — even recognising the considerable personal cost in achieving them, which leaves little room for attaining the moral high ground.

Political pork barrelling so an image can be spun of decisive and strong leadership, is a nasty business

Sadly, here in Australia, the ABC is being cynically used to ensure right-wing support within (and of) the Government — and to satisfy implied guarantees to the voracious media groupings.

Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield continues to say that all media leaders support the Government's media "reforms":

'The package has the unanimous support of the Australian media industry.'

As if that makes them worth supporting.

"Reform" is defined as change for the better. Many surely would challenge that In our current imbroglio; perhaps asking whether making media magnates more powerful and happier necessarily benefits all Australians.

And Senator Pauline Hanson is not satisfied with the ABC just being required to be "accurate and impartial" — rather that it should be "fair and balanced".

How One Nation's plan would mean the ABC would have to broadcast its dangerous nonsense to 'balance' scientific fact https://t.co/ZsBX95uTpj

— Urban Wronski (@UrbanWronski) August 16, 2017

Leaving aside the question of her ability to judge truth from fiction, one thing those outside the media find hard to comprehend about journalism is the word "balance".

My mantra has always been that fairness and factual accuracy is Journalism 101.

Tell me how you achieve balance when you rely on sources, tip offs and in covering a story which is still unfolding — and how is it possible to get daily "balance" in reporting, for example, court cases?

There, the prosecution makes absolutely clear at the outset that the defendant is guilty. Then later the defence puts its case and often casts compelling doubts on his/her guilt.

read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/one-nation-ab...

 

Some of Australia's most senior politicians have been caught out not declaring a free pay television subscription worth up to $1,600 a year.

Key points:

• Pay TV lobby group ASTRA offers the freebie
• Morrison, Sinodinos, Albanese, Hinch and Bandt update register of interests
• There is confusion about whether politicians need to declare the gift

 

Treasurer Scott Morrison and Industry Minister Arthur Sinodinos have rushed to update their register of interests after the ABC began contacting federal MPs.

Labor MPs Anthony Albanese and Tim Watts, crossbench senator Derryn Hinch, and Greens MP Adam Bandt have also added the Foxtel or Austar subscriptions to their register.

The pay TV lobby group ASTRA offers the freebie to all federal parliamentarians for their electorate offices.

Many politicians have accepted and disclosed the subscription, while others, like Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, declined and paid for it themselves to avoid any potential conflict of interest.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-23/senior-politicians-rush-to-disclos...

 

 

Note: There is no confusion: parliamentarians NEED  to declare gifts above a certain value (about $50) 

 

 

AS A MUSIC PROGRAMMER, Senator Mitch Fifield makes a better politician.

Referring to Triple J’s decision to move the day of its "Hottest 100" music countdown from Australia Day, Fifield said in a statement:

'The ABC shouldn't be buying into this debate ... Australia Day is our national day. The ABC should honour it and not mess with the Hottest 100.'

But the backdrop to the Minister for Communications' foray into music programming was not music-related but technological, as the NBN Co's announcement of further delays in the delivery of the Coalition’s “better, faster, cheaper” NBN, became public.

This, of course, did not surprise many Australians, most of whom have already given up hope of seeing any development in the NBN — apart from an increase in the national debt. Indeed, even the Prime Minister and former "inventor" of the internet, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, has described it as a "calamitous train wreck".

The news compounded other ongoing troubles for Senator Fifield who, earlier this week, also developed a bad case of amnesia when questioned about his prior knowledge of the dual citizenship of former Senator Stephen Parry. 

.SenatorFifield says it's the responsibility individual senators to disclose their citizenship, not others. MORE: https://t.co/3iiek3WSAV pic.twitter.com/dggyKVB5vV

— Yahya Ali (@Yahyaalireal) November 27, 2017

Thus Senator Fifield, faced with the problem of too many questions and no convincing answers, attempted to follow in the skilled footsteps of other Liberals before him, and created a diversion.

read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/fifield-ignor...

 

 

See also:

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/26218

and:

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/34352#comment-39623

 

Conservative politicians who complained about a sketch on ABC TV’s Tonightly comedy show are serial critics of the public broadcaster who are pushing a political agenda, comedian Wil Anderson has said.

The communications minister Mitch Fifield and Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi both complained about a segment in which a candidate for Bernardi’s party Kevin Bailey was called a “cunt”.

The host of the ABC’s hit show, Gruen, said Tonightly host Tom Ballard was just doing his job – making comedy and pushing the envelope – and the critics were just looking for something with which to bash the public broadcaster.

“I would say the majority of people are not offended by the word, they are more offended by the C at the end of the AB than they are about the C-bomb that was used in the sketch,” Anderson, a Triple M Hot Breakfast co-host, told Guardian Australia.

“The majority of people who are offended by these jokes are not really offended by these jokes. They are, by their very nature, offended by the very idea of the ABC and they want to prosecute an agenda against the ABC. This is just an example of something they can use to prosecute an agenda.”

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/mar/23/wil-anderson-on-tonightly-people-more-offended-by-c-at-end-of-ab-than-about-c-bomb-sketch

 

Read from top.

I have it from some informal channels that the news today is fale, flake or fishy...

 

Scott Morrison has praised the former magazine editor Ita Buttrose as an extraordinary Australian who has “lifted the standards of journalism” – fuelling speculation she is a contender to fill the position of ABC chair.

The Coalition is poised to announce a new chair five months after the former chair Justin Milne resigned in the wake of allegations of political interference.

The prime minister said the cabinet had yet to meet to confirm a new ABC chair but revealed he was surprised and disappointed the shortlist of candidates for the leadership of the national broadcaster did not include a woman.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/feb/25/pms-praise-fuels-speculati...

 

It's most likely to be bullshit — apart from Ita having been "an extraordinary Australian who has lifted the standards of journalism” especially with her centrefold of Jack Thompson, who is battling his kidney failure by promoting (and using) the kidney bus the Aboriginal people use...

See also:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/about/backstory/television/2019-02-23/kristy...

 

 

Read from top. 

 

My informant could be wrong though and the Federal government is really considering Ita...

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described publishing identity Ita Buttrose as an "extraordinary Australian" amid speculation she will be chosen as the new chair of the ABC.

Key points:

• Mr Morrison said he was disappointed there were no women on an independent shortlist of candidates for ABC chair
• Ms Buttrose was founding editor of Cleo magazine and the first woman to edit a major Australian metropolitan newspaper
• The ABC has been without a permanent chair since Justin Milne resigned in September

 

The organisation has been without a permanent chair since the departure of Justin Milne, who left within days of former managing director Michelle Guthrie being sacked last year. 

This morning the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Communications Minister Mitch Fifield was poised to take Ms Buttrose's nomination for the job to Cabinet, after no women made the cut in an independently prepared shortlist of potential candidates.

Mr Morrison said he was surprised and disappointed that no women were included on that list.

"It is true that she [Ms Buttrose] was not one of those who have been independently recommended, and I can confirm that the independent recommendations did not include a female candidate," he said.

"I've known Ita for a long time and I think she's an extraordinary Australian — Australian of the Year — and there's been few people more than Ita that I think have lifted the standards of journalism in this country, and I think that says a lot about her character and her abilities."

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-25/pm-says-ita-buttrose-extraordinar...

 

Read from top...

 

It's a short way to the top... We hope there won't be nudes of Jack Thompson on the ABC...