Stirring the pot
Kyle Sandilands’ former employer ARN Media isn’t the only group unhappy with the foul-mouthed broadcaster.
A week before ARN Media cited Sandilands’ on-air rants about members of activist group Mad F—ing Witches in its defence to his legal action over his $100 million contract, the group’s founder, Jennie Hill, filed a complaint to Victoria Police regarding the fallout from threats allegedly made on air by the shock jock.
For years, a collective of left-wing women under the Witches banner have been trying to get companies to pull their advertising from the Kyle & Jackie O Show because of his conduct on air and history of comments made toward women.
They had plenty of success and that infuriated Sandilands, who said on air on November 7 that his mates had offered to deal with the issue.
“No one can really do anything about it. I bet I can if I was unleashed. I’m telling ya,” Sandilands said during a discussion on the Witches and cancel culture more generally.
“People that have approached me and said ‘hey, I can sort that out’. I’ve asked them, don’t get involved. And these are people that you don’t really want showing up,” he added.
In other comments referenced in ARN’s legal defence lodged this week, where Sandilands stated that he can “get nasty too behind the scenes” if he has to.
“And I don’t want to. Well, I don’t want to be burning houses down and shit like that.”
On April 30 last year, Sandilands said he would deal with the group “my way” after he claimed KIIS was “slow” in getting onto it themselves.
“I’ll have PIs [private investigators] following everyone they’ve ever known til I find some shit on these folks,” Sandilands said last year about the group.
Sandilands, whose case is back in court on Friday alongside that of Jackie “O” Henderson, is being countersued by ARN for millions of dollars, this masthead revealed on Wednesday evening.
Witches founder Jennie Hill said it was “incredibly ironic” that a group trying to get a man to stop spreading “verbal violence” were now receiving anonymous threats.
“There are at least two that we found so frightening that several of our administrators are now not living in their own homes, and haven’t done so since we discovered the threats,” Hill said.
She said the danger was not from Sandilands or his friends. But, Hill said, because the broadcaster made the remarks to his large audience and then was taken off-air, “most people know that [Mad F—king Witches] had at least some part in that, which means that he’s got listeners out there who are very angry”. As a result, she reported his comments for potentially breaching updates to Victoria’s anti-vilification laws, which includes incitement offences.
Late on Thursday evening, Victoria Police confirmed it had received a report of threats being made against a person in regional Victoria on 15 April, but after officers investigated the matter, no criminal offences were detected.
The Mad Munk
If there are two things certain about acting Guardian Australia editor David Munk, one is that he hates hedgehogs, and the other is that the local outpost’s newsroom really likes him (which is not exactly usual for an editor who has to make hard choices).
Those facts are relevant because Munk – who flew out to mind the post when long-time boss Lenore Taylor resigned in February – has emerged as a front-runner to stay on in Australia as its permanent editor, at least in the minds of his staff, as the search to replace Taylor reaches its pointy end.
Some candidates were informed they had been unsuccessful last week, with the global editor-in-chief Katharine Viner expected to take part in the final round of interviews and decision-making in the near future.
Munk spent a decade working out of the Guardian’s local offices, first on the foreign desk based in Sydney and then as the Australian edition’s deputy editor, but it remains a mystery whether he wants to stay here, given he moved back to the UK in 2024. But if he does, the staff would certainly take him.
More than a half dozen Guardian staff said the troops would be more than happy with Munk landing the gig on a full-time basis.
While one senior staffer said Munk initially told members of the newsroom it wasn’t his plan to stay, he is looking increasingly comfortable. Others are now actively expecting the search process to end with the Brit staying on after all, regardless of whether he’s actually applied.
Elsewhere, this masthead has spoken to a near-handful of some of Australia’s most senior editors who were initially tapped to gauge interest.
“Everyone who’s ever edited anything was sounded out initially […] clutching at straws!” one said, speaking anonymously so as not to out themselves as having turned it down.
A Guardian spokesperson said the recruitment process was ongoing.
Peter V’landys’ News Corp dream
Sections of Australians media and sporting elite are keen for News Corp to launch a bid for The West Australian, with West Australia the only state in which it does not publish a metro daily tabloid.
But while senior News Corp executives have kiboshed any active discussions to take on the one-paper town, it would suit one man very close to its existing suite of mastheads, NRL and horse racing supremo Peter V’landys.
The reason? The NRL’s imminent launch into the market in 2027 via the Perth Bears.
The West Australian, previously owned by the AFL’s free-to-air broadcaster Seven West Media, changed hands earlier this year when the company was acquired by radio-focused Southern Cross Media.
Perth is an AFL town through and through and the paper has been hostile toward the NRL’s arrival, famously dubbing them the “bad news bears” upon announcement.
Officially, News Corp says it has no current plans to buy The West and a Southern Cross spokesman said the company is “not selling assets”.
But a handful of senior News figures said not only would the acquisition make sense, but that it is unlikely the Bears will work in Perth without The West being under News Corp ownership.
“There are certainly people who think we should buy it, like Peter V’landys,” one top executive said.
V’landys said that contrary to the narrative: “I don’t really care who owns the publications, all we ask for is fair and balanced reporting”.
What he wants is journalism that is “independent rather than running other people’s agendas and dressing it up as independent”.
News Corp is heavily invested in the NRL. It owns the Brisbane Broncos, the sport is The Daily Telegraph’s bread and butter, its journalists feature prominently on Fox Sports’ League coverage, and there are culture overlaps between the two organisations dating back decades.
And on Wednesday night, News Corp Australia executive chair Michael Miller and veteran editor and Peter Blunden, chair of the division of the company that operates its Papua New Guinea outpost, hosted a cocktail party in Port Moresby, the site of the other NRL expansion, for the Post-Courier’s new offices and accommodation. Chiefs boss Michael Chammas (a former sports scribe at this masthead) and Prime Minister James Marape were also in attendance.
If it isn’t News Corp, potential acquirers for the paper are still the talk of the town out west. Perth is full of scuttlebutt, ranging from a bid led by Nicola Forrest to a return of Seven’s former majority owner, Kerry Stokes, via his long-time consigliere Bruce McWilliam. There have been rumours too of a consortium led by Stokes’ local rival John Poynton, reviving a near-40 year old feud by trying to buy the paper.
But the new executive chair of The West’s owner Southern Cross, Heith Mackay-Cruise, made his first visit to the offices of The West last week, telling staff the paper is “not for sale”.
Fine China
Mere hours after resigning from the ABC following questions from this column about his conduct and use of a rich lister’s private yacht, senior human resources executive Josh Keech invited colleagues to a farewell lunch at the flashy China Doll restaurant in Woolloomooloo.
“I would like to invite you all to lunch, at my personal expense, on Wednesday 22 April at China Doll in Woolloomooloo,” Keech wrote, after what he joked was a “slow news day”. That included the ABC farewelling him after two years with the broadcaster, and thanking him for his contribution.
Well, we’re sad to report that Keech was given a tap on the shoulder and instructed to cancel said lunch, with questions still floating around his conduct, which the ABC said it had been investigating.
There won’t be a succulent Chinese meal for Keech, who was contacted for comment, and his fans.
People and Culture
It has been quite the week for the ABC’s People and Culture division, which On Background can reveal has now officially begun its investigation into Four Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal, who returned to work from several months of leave.
Fazal went on leave after it emerged in October that he had recorded an unauthorised podcast with underworld figure Ryan Naumenko, which was sponsored by an illegal crypto casino. Fazal is alleged to have received payment for two podcast appearances, which he has denied.
The scope of the broadcaster’s investigation is limited to Fazal’s external work. The ABC is also investigating whether Fazal made an external work request this year to pen a couple of pieces for Lost Magazine in Daylesford, Victoria.
Fazal and an ABC spokesperson were approached for comment.
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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.
