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Wilson one of AAP’s mystery investors

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 7-Jul-20

Wilson Asset Management founder Geoff Wilson is a member of the consortium that has acquired the newswire business of Australian Associated Press. Wilson has stressed that he contributed to the consortium via a privately-owned entity rather than any of his listed companies. The 35-member consortium finalised the deal in late June, and will formally take control of the business on 1 August.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS PTY LTD, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT

Reynolds calls for local push on rare earths

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 7-Jul-20

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds says Australia and its partners are working to boost the supply of rare earths and other minerals that are important to their defence forces. Her comments come as Australia and other Western nations seek to cut their dependence on China for rare earths. The federal government’s Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility will provide $150 million in financial support for a proposed mineral sands mine in Western Australia that will include rare earths capacity. The NAIF is also considering supporting Arafura Resources’ $1.1 billion rare earths project in the Northern Territory.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE, ARAFURA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX ARU, NORTHERN AUSTRALIA INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITY, LYNAS CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX LYC

Can the Federal Government’s $50 million regional media bailout package save community newspapers?

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Original article by Ainsleigh Sheridan, Peta Doherty
abc.net au – Page: Online : 3-Jul-20

Launched in April, the federal government’s $50 million Public Interest News Gathering fund aims to support high quality news in rural Australia. The fund has announced that it is offering financial assistance to five television stations, 13 radio stations and 92 newspapers, with major media companies Australian Community Media and Seven West Media among those to receive assistance. Country Press Australia president Bruce Ellen claims small regional publishers did not get overly much in the way of money from the fund. Noting the federal government gave regional airlines $300 million, he questions whether the government values independent and local journalism

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, COUNTRY PRESS AUSTRALIA

Feds eye charges for ABC reporter

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 3 : 3-Jul-20

A spokesman for Attorney-General Christian Porter has declined to comment on the Australian Federal Police’s decision to refer an ABC journalist for possible prosecution. The AFP has forwarded a brief of evidence to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions following a two-year investigation into the ‘Afghan Files’ case. However, the brief only names one of the ABC journalists responsible for the series of reports, Dan Oakes. Porter would have to approve any decision to prosecute Oakes, and he has previously stated that he would be unlikely to authorise the prosecution of journalists for publishing classified information.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT

Regional media to get $50 million lifeline

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 29-Jun-20

News publishers account for 92 of the 107 regional media companies that will receive a combined $50m in emergency relief funding under the federal government’s Public Interest News Gathering program. Some $20m has been allocated to TV broadcasters, publishers will receive $18m in total and radio broadcasters have been allocated $12m. The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a sharp fall in advertising revenue for the media sector.

CORPORATES

ACM brings back bulk of print titles

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 29-Jun-20

Regional newspaper group Australian Community Media will shortly resume publishing at least 50 of the print mastheads that were suspended in April due to the coronavirus pandemic. The move affected about 80 non-daily titles, and sources have indicated that a decision has yet to be made as to when the remaining mastheads will resume publication. ACM CEO Allen Williams has urged regional communities to support their local newspapers to ensure that they are financially sustainable.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA

ABC axes flagship roles for digital

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Original article by Steve Jackson
The Australian – Page: 7 : 25-Jun-20

About 70 jobs in the ABC’s news division will be cut under the five-year plan, as the public broadcaster shifts its focus to digital on on-demand content. This will result in a significant reduction in original reporting produced by its current affairs programs. The ABC’s news analysis and investigations teams will also be scaled back, while the position of chief economics correspondent is expected to be axed. ABC News director Gaven Morris has confirmed that fewer new episodes of ‘Australian Story’ and ‘Foreign Correspondent’ will be produced due to the budget cuts.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Directors take pay cut as ABC jobs axed

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 7 : 24-Jun-20

The ABC will release its five-year plan on 24 June, which will include up to 250 redundancies across its operations. Meanwhile, an ABC spokesman has advised that the Remuneration Tribunal has approved the public broadcaster’s proposal to temporarily reduce the salaries of its nine-member board by 10 per cent during the second half of 2020. The ABC’s five-year plan was originally slated to be released in March, but it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL

The Australian named most trusted paper

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Original article by Christine Lacy
The Australian – Page: 19 : 22-Jun-20

The Reuters Institute’s annual Digital News Report has found that the ABC and SBS are the most trusted media outlets in Australia, with trust scores of 72 per cent and 71 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, ‘The Australian’ is the nation’s most trusted newspaper across print and digital, with a trust score of 56 per cent. The News Corp Australia flagship was also ranked second among newspapers in Australia, the US and the UK, behind the ‘Financial Times’ with a trust score of 58 per cent.

CORPORATES
REUTERS INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Third media report in a year

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 22-Jun-20

The federal government has issued a tender for an independent report on the media industry. The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development & Communication will pay up $220,000 for the report, which will examine both the existing business models for the media sector and the regulatory regimes in other countries. The government previously received two separate reports on the regional broadcasting sector in late 2019 and early 2020, although this will not be a specific focus of the new report.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS