“What does it take to get cancelled these days?”
The 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham had that urgent question for his listeners this week as he reported that screenings and a promotional tour for a documentary made by an independent film-maker, Kane Guglielmi, had been shelved by its distributor.
The film, Common Wealth, is billed as the story of how “a conservatively raised capitalist sets out on a global journey to explore plausible alternatives to the established economic and political models”.
Guglielmi claimed he was cancelled for “sitting next to an army veteran” – the 2 Worlds Collide podcast host Sam Bamford – and Fordham reiterated that he was “cancelled just for being on a podcast”.
Ben Fordham Live listeners heard a clip in which Gugliemi said: “Their only stated objection was to the podcast host whose views they considered racist.”
“So much for free speech,” Fordham said. “And veterans like Sam Bamford put their lives on the line to protect those freedoms. But if you talk to him, you get cancelled.”
Guglielmi claimed he “didn’t say anything controversial” on the podcast, Fordham said. But had he listened to it?
We did, and laughing along to the offensive term “retardmaxxing” was just one of the unsavoury moments. Most of the 90 minutes was spent railing against “mass immigration”.
“I don’t want to be demographically replaced in my own country by mass levels of Indians, Africans and Middle Easterns,” Bamford said, to which Gugliemi responded that the “important thing” was Australia’s low birthrate and “no one wants to talk about that”. Winding up, Guglielmi said: “I’m going to be in a lot of trouble, I have a feeling, after this conversation.” So he clearly knew he had stepped over a line.
A spokesperson for Tapt Media, which now owns 2GB, said Fordham “never suggested this was his take on the situation, he was relaying what Kane was claiming”.
But Fordham’s listeners were in no doubt about the meaning of the editorial, writing comments in their hundreds on his Facebook post such as: “Can we be anymore like China? This reads communist regime all over” and “Silencing critics is part of the control by Labor Government. Wake up supporters”.
The distributors of Common Wealth, Madman Entertainment, did not respond to requests for comment on whether the film had been withdrawn, or why, but the film has disappeared from its website.
A ‘hypothetical’ slur
The Indigenous affairs editor of SBS and NITV, John Paul Janke, found out from 60 Minutes on Sunday night that when he asked Pauline Hanson a question at her National Press Club address in June, a One Nation staffer at a party event reportedly shouted that he was a “black cunt”.
The Age investigative journalist Nick McKenzie spoke to sacked former One Nation staffer Charles Swindon, who alleged he witnessed the racist slur.
Janke, also the host of NITV’s The Point, wrote this week: “The revelation is deeply disturbing, not simply because of the appalling language allegedly used, but because it exposes the culture of racism and contempt that can exist within the ranks of a political party seeking to influence the national conversation.
“To be the target of such a vile racial slur is deeply personal. It also speaks to the broader experience of Indigenous Australians who continue to face racism, abuse and intimidation in public life. I had simply asked Hanson about her party’s Indigenous Affairs policies. It’s my job.”
The party’s Treasury spokesperson, Barnaby Joyce, told SBS the “hypothetical” slur was unacceptable, but questioned the veracity of the allegation.
“In terms of that hypothetical, it is not something that is acceptable; if a person said that around me, I would say, ‘You cannot talk like that’,” Joyce said.
A bit skint for Christmas
Contrasting moods surrounded festive celebrations in two wildly different media organisations this week.
Spare a thought for ABC journos based in Canberra, whose invitation to next month’s Christmas party came with several warnings and caveats.
“Get your jingle bells on because the only ABC slightly subsidised event of the year is happening,” the invitation sent to the ABC’s politics bureau in Parliament House said (italics in the original).
“We’re a bit skint so this one is just for ABC staff,” it read, meaning partners and children are not welcome at the Saturday afternoon party at a private house.
“Please note: if you work between Northbourne [the ABC’s local Canberra office] and CPH – you have to choose one or the other,” it went on. “NOT BOTH.”
Weekly Beast understands management subsidises catering for the events, but not alcohol. They always have to keep one eye on the possibility of questions at Senate estimates, we guess.
No such worries for the editors of the independent media outlet Lamestream, journalists Osman Faruqi and Scott Mitchell, who promise their annual Summer Gala Party, held in both Melbourne and Sydney, will be a “low-key, fun night featuring DJ’s [sic], dancing, drinking”.
If the Mad Men-styled promo shoot in a wood-panelled booth with green leather seats is any indication, these two unbuttoned gentlemen are very much in the mood to party.
The price of print
Weekly Beast has heard from some very cranky readers of the Sydney Morning Herald who are upset that their print subscriptions are about to double in price.
One reader said: “My subscription, Mon-Fri home delivery, has gone from $60.67 per month to $123.50 per month.” A cafe owner who orders the paper for his customers says the price rise is “highway robbery”.
We asked Nine why the price had doubled and were told the answer lies in the slow decline of print. Print is expensive to produce and deliver and it is a shrinking market. Digital subs are cheaper.
According to Roy Morgan, the weekday print edition of the SMH recorded an average issue readership of 374,000, while Saturday’s print edition recorded 479,000 readers. (And that figure is readership, not copies sold.) This is a fraction of the 3.1m cross-platform readership of the masthead.
“Nine has begun transferring a small number of legacy print-only subscriptions on to our current pricing,” a spokesperson said.
All about the coffee
Sophie Elsworth, Europe correspondent for News Corp, has once again attracted attention, and not for the quality of her journalism.
A breathless video report from the Australian pavilion at Cop31 by Elsworth, a former media writer for The Australian, has been labelled “positively ghoulish” by the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Elsworth was critical of the government for spending “tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money” at the “environmental talkfest” on giving away free coffee.
Turnbull told the Guardian at Cop31 in Antalya, Turkey, that Elsworth was “going up and down the line of people getting coffee, demanding them to say thank you to the Australian taxpayer for a free coffee”.
Multiple News Corp outlets have referred to the coffee cart in their Cop coverage.
“There is a media contingent here from News Corp, who are being positively ghoulish,” Turnbull said. “Seriously bizarre … even by their standards. And I told them so.”
Turnbull says the free coffee is a very good marketing ploy, which many other pavilions do.
