Latest / The Front / Did the Ben Roberts-Smith drama end Karl Stefanovic’s career?

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Did the Ben Roberts-Smith drama end Karl Stefanovic’s career? · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's Monday, June twenty nine, twenty twenty six. Anthony albaneze
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: he's back on the up after dumping controversial tax measures.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: News poll in The Australian Today reveals Labour's primary vote
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: up three points and one Nation's down two but still
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: well ahead of a lackluster coalition vote. Check out that
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: exclusive live right now at The Australian dot com dot au.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Australia's richest person, Gena Reinhardt, appears to have been quietly
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: bankrolling Carl Stefanovick's podcast, and that's lucky since the former
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: nine star now needs the show to stay afloat after
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: losing his TV job. Today, Steve Jackson's here to discuss
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: how Stefanovic's defiance of nine's party line on Ben Robert
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Smith and Charlie Teo contributed to his departure, plus another
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: very expensive media exit. Jacko's here in just a moment.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Steve Jackson edits the Media Diary in The Australian and Jacko,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: there comes a time in media careers where people start
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: paying you to go away before we get on to
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Carl Stefanovic. Let's talk about Justin Stevens, the late recently
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: departed head of news at the ABC.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Well Claire, unlike everyone else who is getting paid to
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: go away, this time, it's us paying him to go away.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: So, as you'll find out in.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: The diary today, taxpayers, we're forking out about three hundred
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and thirty five thousand dollars for Justin to take a
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: little holiday after his time at the ABC. I know
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: it's a tough job, but that's the better part of
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: the wages for three journeys.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Well at the ABC, I think you could probably get
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: about ten. I think we've got all pretty lightly, Jacko
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the taxpayers, given he was earning six hundred and forty
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: six seventy six hundred and seventy thousand dollars to be
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: head of New us at the ABC.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Oh, people say it's a punishing job.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: You know, there's two thousand very conscientious reporters with strong.
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  Speaker 3: Views in it the ABC.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: But I think people are also underestimating what I would
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  Speaker 2: put myself through for six hundred and seventy thousand dollars
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: a year. It can't be that demanding, and all these predecessors.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Now we've got a note. Justin survived the shortest amount
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: of time reading to that what you will. But Kate
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Tawney she did six years, then Gavin Morris six years,
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  Speaker 2: Justin four years two months, and then he was burnt out.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: And they all come out as they Ah's challenging job.
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  Speaker 3: It's so high. They're not making any of the shows.
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  Speaker 2: They've all got executive producers and the lifestyle content we
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  Speaker 2: love about. You know, when to change your towels and
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: whether or not you should share your toothbrush with someone
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: spoiler alert, No you shouldn't.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Thanks ABC.
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  Speaker 2: We needed our hard working journalists to tell us that.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: But it's not like they're making anything there. They're figurehead
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: so I think six hundred and seventy thousand dollars, which
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: is equivalent to what the people get paid in commercial TV.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: The different with commercial TVs you have the added drama
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: of advertisers and there is this little window at the
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: moment while Justin's taking his taxpayer funded holiday, hopefully he's
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: spending it somewhere nicer than Sydney at the moment, which
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: has just been drizzling, and Simon's not starting until September.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: But there's this little gap where look, people are.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Going to be nervous, and the people are going to
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: be nervous are the ones that we're friends traditionally with
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: the people in powered at the ABC. And it's been
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: quite a conscious move, I think, and a savvy move
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: by Hugh Marx, who is obviously the managing director and
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: the editor in chief of the ABC to go I
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: want someone who's not friends with anyone not to say
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: you can't be friends with your employees, but he wants
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: someone to come in and go, look, I'm not here
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: to look after my mates. I'm not here to listen
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: to their gripes and tell them my yeah, you are amazing,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: we should back you and support you regardless. Let's find
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: out the facts first, see what our staff have done wrong.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: They're not infallible, and if we've made a mistake, own
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: up to it.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: Again.
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  Speaker 2: We saw during Steven's tenure and we're not blaming him.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I'm not blaming him personally, But where there's a situation
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: where you go, you know what, there's some fake gunshots
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: have turned up in a video.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: You know, it's just one of those editing mistakes.
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  Speaker 2: You remember that time in the front where all of
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: a sudden, six gunshots were just randomly inserted.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: So get rid of that.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: There is a wonderful opportunity here for Simon Robinson. I
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: think to win back the audiences whom the ABC has lost.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Lifelong ABC watchers and listeners who really want twenty four
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: hour radio that's impartial and informative, who want lively local radio,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: who want great current affairs programming on television. They could
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: be one back.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Well here's the thing.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: And look, I met with Hugh Marx earlier this year
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: when he granted me an interview and we had a
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: chat in his office, and I said to him, mister Marks,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: you know the thing about The Australian is we write
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: about the ABC not because we're determined to tear it down.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: It's because we share the same audience. The people listening
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: to this podcast, the people that read The Australian, they're
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: interested in the ABC. They know who they are, and unfortunately,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: I know from reading through the comments a lot of
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: them are going, oh jeez, I remember the good old
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: days when there used to be stuff for us on it,
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  Speaker 2: and now they're feeling alienated. And I think under Kim Williams,
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  Speaker 2: the chair and Hu Marks. There has been a desire
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: to return to that and go, hey, we don't want
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: it to be a niche. We're a broadcaster funded by
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: the taxpayers. We've got to have broad appeal to all taxpayers,
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  Speaker 2: not just some pockets that we think are the intelligent
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  Speaker 2: pockets or the pockets were like, hey, we're here to
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  Speaker 2: serve everyone, not to say let's not have some voices
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  Speaker 2: from the left, but let's balance up with voices from
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: the right and just make sure that we're delivering to
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  Speaker 2: as many people as possible.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Coming up. The dust is still settling after Karl Stefanovic's
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: departure from Today. Okay, Karl Stefanovic, you broke the story
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: last week that Kyl Stefanovick was going to be ending
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  Speaker 1: his time at nine after a very ill advised interview
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  Speaker 1: or poorly conducted interview with a far right figure Tommy
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  Speaker 1: Robinson on his independent podcast.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: Loved by supporters and condemned by critics. A few figures
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: have had a bigger impact on Britain's cultural wars. Strap
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: yourselves in. Here's our chat with Tommy.
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  Speaker 1: Robinson that ended Carl's broadcast career, and he you know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: he made a video in which he seemed tearful.
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  Speaker 4: It wasn't easy this last couple of days, but we
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: roll on. So here's what I believe in the public
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: deserve to hear perspectives. You have the right to hear
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  Speaker 4: from different voices. Freedom of speech here and around the
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  Speaker 4: world is what this show is about.
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  Speaker 1: He then ran through a park and clicked his heels
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: in the air, which was weird and just shows Carl
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: desperately needs a producer, Jacko well soone to tell him, no, man,
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  Speaker 1: don't click you yours.
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  Speaker 2: That everyone needs a producer or an editor to tell
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: him you know what's good or what's bad. Carstefanovic hasn't
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  Speaker 2: done anything wrong, right like, by the terms of his agreement,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: he's allowed to say and do whatever he wants on
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: his podcast. But once again you see on his way
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  Speaker 2: out he's saying, I'm finally free. He could have been
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: free at any point, at any point in the last
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  Speaker 2: twenty five years. He could have said, you know what, nine,
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  Speaker 2: I want to be free of that three million dollar paycheck.
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  Speaker 2: You're giving me, the restraint placed on me by that
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  Speaker 2: monthly you know fifty thousand you put in my bank account.
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  Speaker 3: I just can't bear it anymore.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the thing that he had done wrong was allow
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  Speaker 1: a far right activist onto his show and not ask
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  Speaker 1: him any hard questions, will not challenge him at all.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, here, I am invisible because you put me on
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  Speaker 5: level with somebod who murdered five thousand people one day
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  Speaker 5: because or use speech, because you don't agree with my
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  Speaker 5: free speech and I state facts, not opinions.
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  Speaker 3: Facts. At some point you decided to make a stand.
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  Speaker 3: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
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  Speaker 1: But in Nine's eyes, I think what he'd actually done
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  Speaker 1: wrong and maybe they were just waiting for an excuse.
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  Speaker 1: I'd love to know what you think was implicitly or
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: explicitly criticized Nine's journalism about Ben Robert Smith and Charlie.
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  Speaker 3: T Yeah, one hundred percent.
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  Speaker 2: And what we know is that in the weeks and
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  Speaker 2: months leading up to this, that was the simmering tension
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: within nine.
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  Speaker 3: Tommy Robinson.
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  Speaker 2: He's a little bit of a distraction because you know,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: they can say, oh, there's suggestions of an.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: Advertiser boycott, so we have to deal with this.
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  Speaker 2: The problem that they had was over the course of
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  Speaker 2: the first six months of him being afforded this fully
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  Speaker 2: independent freedom to go and do whatever he liked. On
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: his podcast, he's continually ridiculing the network that's made him
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: a star. He's apologizing for promoting the vaccine during the
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  Speaker 2: COVID global pandemic.
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  Speaker 4: And I am definitely sorry for the role I played
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  Speaker 4: in not questioning the science, in not questioning more the
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  Speaker 4: government mandates. And I feel like I isolated people because
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: of that. And I don't think the media should be
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  Speaker 4: involved in that kind of messaging.
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  Speaker 2: He's talking to Pete Evans and saying I shouldn't have
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  Speaker 2: been part of the mainstream media while being part of
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  Speaker 2: the mainstream media, And he's critiquing or thumbing his nose
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  Speaker 2: or even ridiculing a lot of nine's investigative journalism while
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  Speaker 2: being its highest paid journalists.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, suggesting that Ben Robert Smith is a wronged hero
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  Speaker 1: and that the arrest of him was some sort of
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  Speaker 1: active treason and a setup.
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  Speaker 6: You know.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, When I saw those images of Ben Roberts Smith
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  Speaker 4: being arrested taking off a plan, and I was just shocked.
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  Speaker 4: It didn't make any sense to me that someone would
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  Speaker 4: be arrested in such a public fashion around his kids.
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  Speaker 4: That to me was shocking.
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  Speaker 1: He's very clearly taking the side of Charlie Teo when
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: nine values very highly. It's journalism about the alleged failings
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: of Charlie Teo. They are all issues that a reasonable
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: person can have kind of differing opinions on. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: he's the lesson here that you can't expect a media
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: organization to continue to pay you two million dollars a
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: year if you're publicly canning their journalism.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Well, it is difficult because particularly with those stories.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Look, Karl has been a well known, long standing friend
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: of doctor Teo and he's got strong views on it,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: and doctor Teo has been very supportive of Carl and
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: his family, and there are reasons he supports doctor Teo.
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: I don't want to say this because sounds like I'm
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: a big noting myself, but Kream will always rise at
• 10:37
  Speaker 6: the top. And I guess if you're good at what
• 10:39
  Speaker 6: you do, and you're and you're doing it for the
• 10:43
  Speaker 6: right reasons, and yeah, everything will work out.
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: I'm not diving too much into that. It is what
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: it is. It's there for people to know to have
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: a look at. But before we move on with the
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: positive stuff, because there's a lot what's the hardest thing
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: if someone googles Charlie.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: Tea again with Ben Robert Smith.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: We know a lot of our own readers share the
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: views Carl Stefanovic had, and when you have an outlet
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: that says independent always, it's one of those things that
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: really Carl should be allowed to have a dissenting view.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: I know that when I read the opinion.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Pages of The Australian, there's stuff that people say that
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: I agree with and there's that people say that I
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: don't agree with. As an adult, I am allowed to
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: make that decision. As a smaller liberal, I don't believe
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: in deplatforming and canceling anyone.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: So should he have been allowed to say it? My
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: personal view?
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: Why not? Like he's allowed to have his view.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: It's just that it was always going to rankle people
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: within his own company and create an environment where they're
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: going to be, you know, pushing saying get him off
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: because he's not agreeing with what we're saying. We know
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: that that was a big problem when he last had
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: too on the Today Show and he supported him and
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: he was effectively forced to write a letter of apology
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: for disagreeing with the stance that the paper had taken
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: so inside that company they can't of there is a
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: group think mentality where they go we've decided he's bad
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: or we've decided this person doesn't deserve to be platformed,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: and you need to conform to it.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: And Carl, I think.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: The issue he's had is because he's been paid three
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: million dollars, he has conformed to that. So when he
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: talks about I'm finally free, he's really saying I'm I'm
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: finally free to give up the.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Million free of charge.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free and available
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: on the internet. But he is actually saying I'm finally
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: free of feeling as though I need to tow the
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: company line because I want to ensure I'm getting paid millions.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: It does beg the question, Claire, where is he going
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: to get these millions?
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Well, making a podcast is not quite as expensive as
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: making a breakfast television show, which is a huge production
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: every day and incredibly expensive. But you know, making that
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: podcast that Karl makes would not be cheap. I think
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: they could invest a little bit more in production. As
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I've said, the camera workers, having a producer to tell
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Carl to ask some questions, but also muting the microphone
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: of the person who's not speaking. Tommy Robinson in that
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: interview's kind of snuffling and you know you can clearing
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: his throat is disgusting.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: We picked something up from you for the show. Actually
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: on X you know a guy who you know, who'd
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: raped a woman.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: And but the rumor has been about Carl's podcast that
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: there was a billionaire behind it.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Well, yes, well I've been hearing that there is one
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: particular billionaire, probably the one everybody is trying to cozy
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: up to at the moment, Australia's richest person, self made billionaire.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: And that's right, it's self made. But I've got sent
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: a little kit.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Explaining how she's had one of those, Yeah, Gina Reinhart,
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: And so everyone's sort of cozying up to her at
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: the moment, and there are suggestions that she is already
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: financially supporting Carl Stefanovic. Now I have reached out to
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Jenna's team and said is this true, and they have
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: decided not to comment on that.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Well that's telling it itself, isn't it.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Well I think so, But yeah, they're not saying that
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: they are support but they're definitely not saying that they're
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: not supporting it.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: In any older days of tablaudjournalism, Jackie, you could ring
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: someone and just get them to deny something, and then
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: you could write a story that said so and so
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: deny as such and such.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Well you might you might see that in media diary today.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: And then all of a sudden we see it's not
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: just Carl who sees you know, the film Brewster's Millions.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: Now it's Ryan Hart's Billions.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: But all of a sudden, your references are way too
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: out of date.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Seriously, Well, yeah, I'm stuck in the eighties.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: But all of a sudden, we're seeing Kyla Sandalans, who
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: I don't think has ever mentioned Pauline Hansen in a
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: way that's sort of been unbridled support.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Let's put this orange bulldozer through this government and just
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: get rid of the waist.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: All of a sudden he wants to be part of
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: team Pauline Hansen, and they just seems to be a
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: causal link between people who are no longer being paid
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: by big media companies, going, oh this Pauline Hansen and
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: the dot over here to missus Ryan if I and
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: then could I and so all I'm saying is when
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: I launch my own independent podcast next week my first
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: interviews with Pauline Hanson and say what a great job
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: she's doing and hopefully that could see me financed.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Oh weal listening.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Thanks Jacko, thank you.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Steve Jackson is The Australian's Media Diary editor. You can
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: check out Jacko's work and all the best in media
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: right now at the Australian dot com dot au slash
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: media