In this weekโs On Background, a News24 journo joins One Nationโs naughty list; Senator Sarah Hendersonโs clarification; and a former interview subject of Karl Stefanovic gets convicted of harassing journalists.
Behind One Nationโs blacklist
On Tuesday night this week, viewers of News24 saw the unusual spectacle of its highest-profile presenters tearing shreds off each other.
Political editor Andrew Clennell was clearly upset. He went onto Peta Credlinโs program with a pre-written statement and couldnโt wait for the host to get to the topic he really wanted to address: One Nationโs national director James Ashby.
What was it that got Clennellโs goat? Was it being called a โdickheadโ by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson via Ashby over SMS on Monday morning? Maybe. Was it Credlin not challenging Ashby when she had him on her show that night and he doubled down? That probably contributed, too.
But itโs also likely that in the full text exchange between Clennell and Ashby โ which has been seen by On Background โ he tried to stand up to Ashby after his access to Hanson was pulled, and it hasnโt worked. Moreover, none of his colleagues publicly stood up for him after Ashby told Credlin that he, too, thinks Clennell is a dickhead, as do a number of people โwithin News24โ. That must sting.
The messages reveal some of the power dynamics playing out in Canberra, but also how One Nationโs growing journalistic naughty list gets made.
All it took initially was Clennell pointing out that the partyโs Please Explain cartoons depicting violence, specifically ones like those showing Hanson running over Lidia Thorpe, are โunhelpfulโ, particularly in the context of the Helen Haines attack.
Look, โunhelpfulโ isnโt exactly a hosing down. But it was enough for Clennell to receive an early morning text message from Ashby saying the leader of the nationโs second most popular party thinks he is a โdickheadโ, and as such, she wouldnโt be appearing on his show as planned that day.
The text messages show the subsequent pushback from Clennell left him stranded in the same spot as the ABC and The Guardian have been this year, struck off from access to One Nationโs leader. Other journalists in the gallery have also copped individual bans from Ashby.
โYou might be able to intimidate other journos but youโre not doing it to me champ. Just try me,โ Clennell said. Fighting words!
โEasier we donโt have anything to do with each other from this point forward, Andrew,โ Ashby responded.
โThatโll work well for you in politics,โ the sign-off from Clennell read.
But kicking journalists out of press conferences or telling Four Cornersโ Steve Cannane to โf— offโ on camera suggests Ashby believes this is exactly what will work well.
Apparently still hot from the exchange, Clennell put out a public call to arms on his own show, asking viewers for other examples of โrun-insโ with Ashby. Then, during an interview with Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, he couldnโt get a bite on questions like โWhat do you think of James Ashby?โ and โYou told Andrew Bolt earlier this year a One Nation official called you in April and warned you of an online campaign to be launched against you. Can you confirm that was James Ashby and what did he say?โ
And then there was Clennellโs pre-written statement and โhijackingโ of Credlinโs show, which handed him an almighty smack-down that left him looking like a sad puppy told off by his owner. The whole exchange was embarrassing, and sources inside News24 reckon it made the network look entirely amateur.
On Background went to Clennell, Credlin and Ashby for comment this week, but none wanted to talk.
On the plus side for News24, itโs never had so much publicity.
Welcome to the party, pal
On Monday, Clennell said the response โraises questions about whether Ms Hanson or Mr Ashby have glass jawsโ.
โFeels a bit like Mr Ashby can dish it out, but he isnโt so good at taking it,โ Clennell continued on his program.
On Background applauds Clennell for calling out One Nationโs bullying behaviour to the media, even if it took him becoming the target.
Itโs been their M.O. for a while. You speak out, you lose access. It is why Ashby and Hanson prefer to speak to News24โs late-night opinion line-up, where there are fewer challenges, or directly to their prospective voters on social media where there is no push-back at all.
This is a recalibration of traditional media norms happening in real time, with One Nation increasingly unwilling to play by the established set of rules. This might work for them in opposition, but with major gains expected in Victoria next month and Ashby himself expected to run for the federal seat of Capricornia in 2028, that dynamic becomes even more challenging.
Anyway, at least News24โs leadership stood up for its political editor. Oh wait, Hanson was invited back the next night.
Mea culpa
This week at Senate Estimates, shadow communications spokesperson and Victorian Liberal senator Sarah Henderson spent much of her allotted, limited time pressing the ABC on its apparent hiring of a โHamas operativeโ to help put together some content for 7.30 in 2023.
That stringerโs name is Roshdi Sarraj, a Palestinian journalist who was briefly engaged by the ABC to help the broadcaster on the ground in Gaza before he was killed by an Israeli airstrike on October 22, 2023, just 15 days after the Hamas attacks on October 7 prompted a new phase of this long-running conflict.
Central to Hendersonโs 25 questions was her claim that the Israeli Defence Force has Sarrajโs โHamas ID cardโ. This was, as Henderson put it, prima facie evidence the ABC had employed a terrorist, and they should answer for it. While the ABCโs boss, Hugh Marks, and editorial director Gavin Fang stated several times they had no evidence to suggest Sarraj was anything other than a journalist killed by an Israeli strike, they did seek further evidence from the IDF, but never got any back.
โWe have spoken to the IDF and have received some feedback from them, but we have not been provided with anything from them that, to date, is evidence of the claim that the fixer that we worked with was a member of Hamas,โ Fang said.
Those answers were not satisfactory for Henderson, who directed her ire towards Fang for being โflippantโ about the topic. She cited a report, The Press Files, released by the IDF seeking to debunk claims it deliberately targets journalists (almost 300 have been killed by Israeli strikes in three years). It named Sarraj as one of 170 โmilitary operativesโ who had been killed while posing as media workers since 2023. There was, however, no information provided to support this claim.
โThe IDF has their Hamas ID card. The fact that youโre not regarding, seriously, this work is deeply concerning,โ Henderson said. โIโm really shocked by this.โ
โThis is the work of the defence force of one of our closest allies in Israel. Their work includes the fact that Mr Al Sarraj has a Hamas ID card, and you donโt think thatโs sufficient evidence?โ Henderson said.
And as it turns out, it wasnโt sufficient evidence. Hendersonโs claim that Sarraj held a โHamas ID cardโ held no truth. On Thursday, Henderson clarified: โI incorrectly said he held a Hamas ID card rather than the two Al Jazeera journalists I referenced in the hearing who had Hamas military ID numbers.โ Henderson said she stood by the claim Sarraj had been a terrorist.
It is a good thing taxpayers spent all that money clearing that up, then. Of course, this mea culpa came after Hendersonโs questions prompted a flurry of news articles across the spectrum from The Australian, The Nightly, News24, Mediaweek and 7News.
With such serious claims being made and subsequently filtered throughout Australian media, the shadow communications spokesperson could heed her own advice and avoid being so flippant with the facts.
God, I love ya
Karl Stefanovicโs lovey-dovey interview with British far-right activist and thug Tommy Robinson continues to age poorly.
Robinson was this week convicted of harassing two journalists, causing two Daily Mail reporters to employ security out of fears for their safety.
Stefanovicโs infamous โGod, I love yaโ line to Robinson in the interview which ultimately got him sacked from Nine must have softened the heart of the British criminal because he didnโt treat Stefanovic like those other poor journos, if you can even call him that these days.
Robinson will face court again next month, and a potential jail term of up to 10 years.
Meanwhile back home, Stefanovicโs erstwhile business partner, Keshnee Kemp, has an issue with the media herself. She called out a โmale journoโ for โobsessively going afterโ her this week after her legal case against Stefanovic was settled weeks ago.
โThis is obviously an orchestrated attack but Iโm just not interested in someone trying to tear down my achievements,โ Kemp posted on Instagram. The post came one day after an article in The Australian dissected Kempโs LinkedIn account, claiming that she had invented or embellished large parts of her CV, as listed on LinkedIn.
Kemp said the beat-up was โa little strangely personalโ and that it would likely have been different โif I werenโt a femaleโ.
We asked Kemp whether she wanted to expand on the post, but we didnโt hear back.
ABC D-Day
In under one monthโs time, ABC chief Marks will present his new strategy to the broadcasterโs staff in a town hall briefing.
In that briefing, Marks is expected to lay out how he will recalibrate the broadcaster to produce more distinctive, local and live content.
The extent of the changes โ what it will be doing more of, less of and cutting completely โ is still unknown.
What we wonโt hear next month, however, is how new News boss Simon Robinson intends to revamp his division. That is to come in the first quarter of next year, when Robinson approaches six months at the desk.
The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.
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.From our partners
About the Author
