When the assistant commissioner of the New South Wales police, Michael Fitzgerald, fronted the media on Monday to detail charges against Alan Jones, he acknowledged the reporting of the chief investigative reporter at the Sydney Morning Herald, Kate McClymont.
“The reports in the Herald and the Age did result in [alleged] victims coming forward and the creation of Strike Force Bonnefin,” Fitzgerald said, adding that a number of people had been assisting police over the years.
The strike force was formed after the December 2023 publication of McClymont’s years-long investigation of Jones, which revealed the former broadcaster allegedly preyed on a number of young men.
The arrest of Jones was the subject of much discussion when the media gathered on Tuesday night for the 69th Walkley awards at the International Convention Centre in Darling Harbour.
McClymont presented the award for short feature writing but was not up for one.
At last year’s ceremony, she was honoured with the Walkley for outstanding contribution to journalism, bringing to 10 the number of Walkley awards for excellence in journalism that she has received since she began with a cadetship in 1985.
Attenders started to murmur about why McClymont wasn’t nominated for her investigation, first published on 7 December, which was within the eligible timeframe for this year’s gongs.
A series of articles and a number of follow-ups were entered in several categories. She wasn’t short-listed.
The Walkley Foundation said: “The Walkley Foundation can confirm that Kate McClymont’s Alan Jones investigation was entered in two categories, judged by two different panels of first-round judges in September. In neither case was Kate’s story named one of the three finalists.
“The Walkley Foundation does not comment on the judging process.”
The Gold Walkley went to her colleagues – Nick McKenzie, David Marin-Guzman and Ben Schneiders, for their industry-shaking investigation into corruption in the CFMEU’s building arm – a report so impactful that the union went into administration.
Aunty’s talent drive backfires
The sacking of the ABC Sydney Mornings presenter Sarah Macdonald on Thursday has backfired badly on ABC management and almost overshadowed the unveiling of the broadcaster’s new TV and radio slate for 2025, mere hours later.
The outgoing Drive presenter, Richard Glover, took to the stage in Studio 22 before assembled media to introduce his replacement on Drive, Chris Bath.
But he first paid tribute to Macdonald.
“I just want to start by paying tribute to Sarah Macdonald, who we learned today is leaving us at the end of the year,” Glover said in front of the executives who had sacked her.
“She’s done such a lot of the journalistic heavy lifting for our radio station here in Sydney. She’s the one who’s been fascinated with the local issues, delved deeply into them, and yet has also been the warm thumping heart of the radio station.
“The wave of emotion that came in on the text line from hundreds of listeners today is just a measure of what radio can do, if it’s done properly.”
Weekly Beast understands the decision was made by the director of audio, Ben Latimer, and the head of capital city network and sport, Mike Fitzpatrick, but the news was not delivered to Macdonald by either man – it was a fill-in station manager who was the bearer of bad news.
It’s the first talent shake-up of the radio networks since Latimer joined the ABC last year from Nova, where he was head of content. Fitzpatrick joined this year after heading up the Triple M network for 11 years.
On Thursday, Macdonald calmly revealed on air that her contract won’t be renewed.
According to the latest ratings survey, Macdonald recorded a large rise, up 2.1% to 7.5% placing her fifth in the Sydney morning time slot – only 3.6% behind 2GB’s Ray Hadley.
It wasn’t just the ABC staff and listeners who were shocked. According to a log of messages to the Mornings program, Hadley contacted the ABC with a personal message. “Dear Sarah I was shocked to read you won’t be part of the ABC in 2025 – especially after the last survey. I hope your next adventure is exciting and rewarding, best wishes Ray Hadley.”
Glover later repeated his remarks on the Drive show.
“The news today that the management here had decided not to renew her contract has left our little family here, well, shell-shocked is the only word really. We were all just so taken aback, shocked, surprised, amazed, aghast, you know, choose any word you like, really.”
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On Friday Hadley said the person who made the decision was “a dope” and called on the ABC chair to act.
“Kim Williams, I think you are a really smart man, you need to get someone in the joint who can identify talent so the likes of Sarah Macdonald are not terminated but they are embraced as a quality broadcaster doing a good job.”
We asked Latimer why Macdonald had been axed and the ABC replied with a copy of her on-air remarks, later following up with a statement. “Sarah is an incredible broadcaster who has built a strong rapport with the ABC Radio Sydney audience over the last two years in Mornings and we wish her all the best. We will be making further announcements about our line ups in the coming days.”
Despite unveiling the radio presenters for 2025 on Thursday, the ABC was silent on Macdonald’s replacement.
Parroting the cartoon
Keen-eyed readers picked up the difference between a cartoon by the Sydney Morning Herald’s Cathy Wilcox that was published in the newspaper and online on Wednesday.
Wilcox, who also picked up a Walkley for cartoon of the year this week, drew Alan Jones as a parrot with his feathers plucked sitting on a copy of the paper.
It was a reference to Jones’s nickname – “The Parrot” – dubbed by comedian Greig Pickhaver when Jones was coaching Balmain.
However, the cartoon which was published online went a little further than the one in the paper, which had been rejected by the editor. It had the parrot sitting in a cage.
Curiously, despite the instruction to remove the cage before publication, and resubmit the drawing, the digital team uploaded the original one. And it remains online.
Sky’s the limit
A follow-up to last week’s item about Sky News Australia trumpeting that it is the “country’s first TV channel to reach 5 million subscribers on the world’s largest video platform, YouTube”.
In his Sir Zelman Cowen Centre Oration last month, the former ABC broadcaster Jon Faine put it elegantly when he explained the popularity of the channel in the US.
“Sky News, which is little more than an assembly line for YouTube content for the US conspiracy theory marketplace, which I might mention is lucrative beyond any revenue they generate within Australia. Sky News effectively is paid for by people in America watching their clips.”
Smith’s spray watered down by Holmes à Court
My colleague Graham Readfearn reported in his Temperature Check column that ABC local radio listeners were treated to a rant from Dick Smith about Australia’s transition away from fossil fuels, claiming renewables would make electricity unaffordable and cause sweeping blackouts.
The 15-minute segment resulted in 186 complaints to the ABC ombudsman’s office.
The complaints alleged that Smith presented inaccurate and biased arguments about energy generation, which were not challenged by the presenter, Ian McNamara.
This week the ombudsman did not find a breach of the program’s editorial standards because, by chance, Simon Holmes à Court, the convener of Climate 200, was listening and he called in towards the end of the program to refute the claims.
“Despite the unplanned nature of the contribution of Mr Holmes à Court, the Ombudsman finds that this did provide the necessary diversity of perspectives required when discussing a controversial topic,” the ombudsman said. “Therefore, the Ombudsman finds that the program did not breach the ABC’s editorial standards for impartiality.”
