Leadership changes at legacy mastheads like the AFR are rarely simple, or bloodless. But the succession underway at the national business publication comes at a pivotal juncture for the title - and its parent company.
John Buckley
Media correspondent
John Buckley is media correspondent for Capital Brief, based in Sydney. He previously covered media at Crikey, and his reporting has appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, Business Insider, and The Washington Post, among others.
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Journalists from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and the Australian Financial Review have walked off the job in numbers for the first time since 2017, when they were still owned by Fairfax Media.
The strike action threatens to derail Nine’s coverage of the Paris Olympics, the opening gambit on CEO Mike Sneesby's $305m bet on the games through to 2032.
Unionised staff at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and the Australian Financial Review are set to take industrial action for the first time since they were owned by Fairfax Media in 2017.
Australian Writers Guild CEO Claire Pullen has joined journalists and other creative workers in calling on the government to consider establishing an AI disclosure framework.
The warning comes just weeks after the company announced that it would cut 200 jobs in response to Meta's decision to scrap media deals, and as the government nears a decision on 'designating' the social media behemoth
During a town hall last week, Network 10 president Beverley McGarvey tried to assure staff on the future of the network amid Paramount merger talks and local media job cuts.
A growing cohort of independent publishers are urging the government against taking action against Meta under the media code, fearing it will result in a news ban that could devastate their businesses.
The youth publisher will also shed licences to the Vice, Refinery29 and Gizmodo brands as part of the changes, which come in the throes of a company-wide cost-cutting program at Nine Entertainment.
The growing appetite for action in Nine's publishing division could see a newspaper staff strike for the first time since they walked off the job in 2017.
In the memo, the CEO shared more detail on his approach to generative AI, which he considers a major risk to journalism — even as the company strikes deals with AI firms.
In a Monday town hall meeting over Nine's proposed job cuts, Nine's managing director of publishing Tory Maguire confirmed that the Meta money is no longer flowing.
Unionised staff across Nine's publishing division backed a vote of no confidence in CEO Mike Sneesby and Nine's board.
Confirmation of Meta’s consideration of an all-out news ban marks a pronounced escalation in the company’s engagement with both local media companies and representatives of the Australian parliament.
Antigone Davis, global head of safety at Meta, will face lawmakers as Labor nears a decision on whether to designate the company under the news media bargaining code.
The discussions underscore the urgency within News Corp to secure payments from tech firms - but also shines fresh light on TikTok’s news strategy.
The deals publishers struck with Meta in 2021 are a focus of the government's social media inquiry after the tech giant announced it would not willingly renew them.
The arrangement will see GRACosway act on behalf of the youth-focused publication in a bid to get a seat at the table of the committee.
The ABC chairman has outlined a raft of improvements he wants to oversee at the ABC, as part of a call for more investment in the public broadcaster.
The nation’s largest domestic media company is being scrutinised by the state workplace regulator following allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
One of Tabcorp's largest institutional shareholders has backed the hire of the former AFL chief as its next CEO, but a prominent anti-gambling campaigner has criticised the hire for overseeing the 'cultural pornification' of sport.
The out of home advertising industry has emerged as an outlier of sorts in an advertising market that has been brutalised by tough economic conditions.
Staff will next week vote on whether or not to greenlight a one-year extension to their current enterprise bargaining agreement, which would see staff receive a 3.5% pay increase in the throes of a major restructure.
The replacement for Peter Costello as Nine chair is already facing questions about her suitability for the role, following a past clash with the company's own newspapers.
Peter Costello has resigned as chairman of Nine Entertainment.
The Nine chairman is expected to dig in and cling to power, but there is a growing sense chief executive Mike Sneesby is still vulnerable.
The government will delay regulation promised to take effect from July this year, adding to frustration and uncertainty across the Australian screen sector.
The regulatory call puts the special broadcaster broadly in line with its commercial counterparts, which last month called on the ACCC to force AI firms to cite and pay publishers whose content is scraped to train AI models.
In an email to all staff on Thursday, Sneesby announced the scope of an independent review that will be conducted by the firm Intersection, following a fortnight-long crisis at the company.
The Nine chief executive has been in contact with directors ahead of a board meeting, as crisis envelops the company.
Sweeping changes to the company were announced to staff in an email from executive chairman Michael Miller on Wednesday, including the high-profile departure of news.com.au editor-in-chief, Lisa Muxworthy.
Lawyers have told Capital Brief any potential findings of broader cultural issues could leave Nine vulnerable to enforcement under new workplace laws passed in December.
The investigation, which staff from across Nine’s television news division were told would likely be conducted by an external firm, was announced along with a string of other initiatives including a new hotline.
Mike Sneesby has returned to Australia on the heels of a week of scandal for the company capped off by fresh allegations against former executive Darren Wick published in the pages of one of its own newspapers.