Remember me
While the luvvies were partying it up at News Corp's Sydney headquarters last week for the rebranding of Sky News - which has become (drumroll, please) News24 - it gave an opportunity for some up-and-comers to make their mark.
All production was shifted last Friday to Melbourne so the Sydney studios could be set up for the big presentation. One of those who really impressed was Jack Nyhof.
Young Jack did a fine job presenting the news of the day, leaving those monitoring the network impressed with how he carried himself while the marquee motormouths knocked back champagne.
A star in the making? Perhaps. And certainly a lot cheaper than some of the more experienced talent commanding mega-salaries.
What's that old saying in television? Never take a day off...
Meanwhile, the big rebrand has landed with a thud, with many inside and outside the bunker wondering why the once‑immortal Sky News Australia has been rebadged with a name so achingly generic.
While the company has been forced to make the change due to a licensing deal with Sky News UK coming to an end - and the British company wanting no affiliation with its right-leaning Australian step-sibling - News24 just feels so… bleh.
All your favourite Sky News Australia stars will now be mouthing off under the News24 banner
While the luvvies partied it up at News Corp's Sydney headquarters last week for the relaunch, Inside Mail is told that young Jack Nyhof impressed while holding the fort from Melbourne
The company chose to avoid using 'Australia' in the title so it can focus on revenue derived from YouTube. Its populist commentary plays well with Americans and generates millions in profits, so downplaying the Aussie factor was a strategic choice.
But now there's talk of whether the ABC will take News Corp to court over a copyright claim - the ABC owns the ABC News 24 trade mark for its news channel - and the social media handles for News24 are already taken by a South African company.
It's a schemozzle.
Insiders we spoke to suspect the name was a last-minute decision, despite it being well-known the licensing agreement was coming to an end.
One industry observer said this much was obvious after star commentator Rita Panahi uploaded a set of clumsily cropped photos on Instagram announcing the rebrand that didn't exactly scream 'planned rollout'.
And inside the company, reactions to the bold new name are mixed.
True believers within the Holt Street bubble love it. To their minds, the word 'news' is practically synonymous with News Corp, making it perfect brand alignment.
But those who haven't drunk the company Kool-Aid have their doubts.
One media insider sent us this screenshot from Rita Panahi's Instagram with the words 'nice cropping'. Petty? Perhaps. But it does contribute to the feeling the rebrand was a little rushed
To them - and to the rest of the world - 'news' simply means news. It's not a point of difference for a News Corp‑owned network, even if it is written in Rupert Murdoch’s handwriting.
'We'll see how it goes,' is how one source put it. Sounds like a ringing endorsement.
Morrison's moveCongratulations are in order for former TV executive and talk radio presenter Jason Morrison, who is bound for The Daily Telegraph.
He'll be the Sydney newspaper's next chief-of-staff.
Morrison departed Seven in 2023 after eight years as director of 7News Sydney. Later, there were rumblings of him bringing a local version of U.S. network Newsmax to Australia, but nothing has materialised.
The Tele's editor Ben English confirmed the appointment to Inside Mail.
Congratulations are in order for former TV executive and talk radio presenter Jason Morrison (pictured), who is bound for The Daily Telegraph
Roar no moreFarewell, sports website The Roar, which, ironically, ended with a whimper.
Mumbrella noticed the body first, then Calum Jaspan of the Sydney Morning Herald got the postmortem: the website, owned by online betting platform PlayUp, had fallen silent for a month amid talk of unpaid staff wages and superannuation.
The four full-time staff walked out, understandably, four weeks ago because they weren't being paid. The outlet's editor, Tony Harper, told Jaspan he and his staff were last paid two months ago.
In the background of all this is a dispute over who actually owns The Roar following a series of puzzling deals made by PlayUp since it took over in 2021.
There was hope of some clear resolution for staff when Dylan Howard emerged as a possible buyer - but it fell through.
The SMH described Howard as the 'Australian former editor of American tabloid The National Enquirer turned media entrepreneur', which is technically correct, but we believe undersells the man.
Howard is the sort of guy whose 'Controversies' section on Wikipedia outstrips 'Career'. Not entirely unusual for a veteran tabloid operator, but it's worthy of note.
He was allegedly a central figure in The National Enquirer's strategy to minimise negative press about Donald Trump in the lead-up to the 2016 US election.
Former Geelong boy-turned-seasoned tabloid operator Dylan Howard (left, with Donald Trump) was almost the owner of shuttered sports website The Roar. He has, er, quite the reputation
Anyway, after years of barnstorming overseas, he is back in Australia seeking fresh opportunities.
Aussie media types with long memories will recall that Howard's first media dust‑up occurred when he broke the story for Seven that two players from Victorian AFL clubs had tested positive for illicit drugs.
The league hit the roof over the controversial yarn, marking the end of Howard's tenure as a 7News reporter, after which he moved to America, where he found success in the supermarket tabloid game.
Years later, in 2021, the former Geelong boy found cause to call his lawyers on Channel Seven over an unrelated matter.
Meghan Markle's estranged dad Thomas (of all people) had made some incendiary claims on Sunrise about Howard, which we cannot repeat for legal reasons.
Howard strongly denied the allegations and wanted the record corrected. He got his wish.
A day later, Sunrise host David Koch issued an on-air apology for Thomas going 'a bit rogue, making some pretty wild and unfounded allegations, including against Dylan Howard... and Jeff Raynor, a Los Angeles-based photographer.'
Nat Barr added: 'Seven did not intend for such allegations to be broadcast and has subsequently removed them from all versions of the program.
'We would like to apologise to those gentlemen named by Mr Markle that the allegations went to air.' Oof, sounds like they got a hell of a legal letter.
So, what would The Roar have looked like under Howard's leadership?
Given the man's widely reported industry nickname - 'Dildo' - Inside Mail can only imagine the newsroom banter would've rivalled that of any football locker room.
Andrew's teenage nightmareWhenever a long‑rumoured rotter finally gets their public comeuppance, the gossiping classes inevitably lace up for a victory lap, spilling all the stories that were previously unpublishable due to defamation risk.
So it is with the artist formerly known as Prince Andrew - said for years to be insufferable, now safely criticised with near‑impunity thanks to the ever‑expanding archive of his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It's no secret that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor had no great love for Australia, but in the late '90s he did deign to visit New Zealand.
Naturally, he was painful - as demonstrated by a freshly exhumed anecdote about his trip to the Gulf Harbour Country Club in pursuit of a free round.
According to the rumour - often repeated in media circles Down Under and dredged up this week by Popbitch - the game didn't go too well for the then-royal who was soundly beaten by a local teenager playing there.
The Queen's favourite son toured New Zealand and the South Pacific in the '90s. He was a total prick, disgracing himself at a golf course, and then throwing a tantrum in the clubhouse
Filthy at being bested by a teenager, a filthy Andrew told anyone who would listen that Gulf Harbour was the 'worst-designed course he had ever played in his life'. Sounds like a skill issue
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor crouches over an unidentified woman in a damning photo from the Epstein files
Filthy at being bested by someone barely out of braces, Her Majesty's favourite son threw a tantrum in the clubhouse, telling anyone who would listen that Gulf Harbour was the 'worst-designed course he had ever played in his life'.
Any hope that he was attempting British irony evaporated when he rattled off a string of specific and petty flaws, even trying to blame the 'offshore wind' for conspiring against him.
One thing's for sure: that was one teenager Andrew never wanted to see again.
P.S. Just this week, New Zealand became the second Commonwealth nation to support removing Andrew from the royal line of succession following his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Whether this had anything to do with his golf club tantrum - or simply his alleged criminality - remains to be seen.
Veteran out of Are MediaThe infamous Are Media 'deep throat' - the anonymous but always reliable insider who leaked us a 'poison pen' email about the various crises within the Park Street magazine publisher last month - got back in touch a few days ago.
Once again, they delivered the goods.
They confirmed that technology director Daniel Tisi was on the way out - and lo and behold, his exit was confirmed at Tuesday's all-staff meeting.
Are Media's technology director Daniel Tisi is out of the company. The official line is that he resigned
'We can confirm that Dan Tisi has resigned as Are Media's Technology Director two weeks ago,' an Are Media spokesperson told Inside Mail in response to our enquiries.
'Dan has been a huge part of our transformation in recent years, resetting our technology foundations, leading major projects, and building a strong, capable team that's well placed for the next stage of our tech evolution.
'We wish him well in the future.'
By anyone's standards, Tisi was a magland lifer with a 25-year history at Park Street - on and off - dating back to the Bauer and ACP eras.
We were told by our spy that he was 'MIA the last couple of weeks before Christmas' while Are Media was allegedly in the market for a new CIO.
The company, we are told, had engaged Derwent recruitment for the hire, which some insiders suspected might push out Tisi.
Before Tuesday's announcement, select staff were told he was departing to spend more time with his family - a well‑worn rationale that inevitably raised eyebrows.
No Bonnie blues for talent agentJust over a year ago, Emma Gillman - founder of the Siren Group PR agency - was the quiet force behind Bonnie Blue's unlikely leap from OnlyFans freakshow to the sort of celebrity your grandmother has heard of.
More than business partners, Bonnie and Gillman were good friends... until the plot twist no one saw coming.
Late last year, Gillman announced she was happily entangled with Bonnie's long-suffering ex-husband, Ollie Davidson. At first, industry chatter assumed it was just another publicity stunt. But as months ticked by, the couple proved remarkably genuine.
Bonnie Blue's (pictured) Australian former publicist is living her best live in Europe with the OnlyFans star's long-suffering ex-husband
Emma (left) is now Instagram official with Ollie Davidson (right), the former Mr Bonnie Blue
For Gillman's 25th birthday, she bought herself a brand-new baby blue Porsche Taycan, with a $300,000 price tag
Since going Instagram-official, Gillman neatly wrapped up Siren Group's champagne-soaked first anniversary party in Sydney, before relocating to London with Davidson, where she continues to run her Australian PR empire remotely.
The loved-up couple have documented many romantic moments on social media, including cosy Christmas celebrations and a trip to Rome for Gillman's 25th birthday.
To mark that milestone, Gillman also made a statement purchase: 'A birthday gift from me, to me,' she captioned an Instagram photo of a brand-new baby blue Porsche Taycan, with a $300,000 price tag.
The new ride was almost certainly funded at least partly by her short tenure managing Bonnie's lucrative antics. Not bad for a one-time Mamamia junior writer.
Bonnie, meanwhile, looks increasingly desperate.
Her latest stunt - a stomach-churning 'breeding mission', with claims of bedding 400 men 'raw', swiftly followed by photos of a pregnancy test - made headlines, naturally, but felt like her jump-the-shark moment.
Is she knocked up for real? Who knows. But we expect Gillman and Davidson are too busy to notice.
It's not us, it's youMinisters are now solemnly briefing ahead of the May budget that the Prime Minister wants to trim public spending to push inflation down - as if they’ve just discovered fiscal virtue after years of shovelling money out the door. How cute.
It's all designed to make Anthony Albanese look like he's fiscally responsible. The only problem is that, just the other week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers was blaming private spending for inflation, in order to swerve criticism for the record levels of government spending on his watch.
Square that circle.
Chalmers even scoffed at economists who said public spending was also a factor. What would they know?
Given the mismatch between what the PM and his Treasurer are saying, the real inflation driver may, in fact, be whatever happens to be most politically convenient at the time.
So which is it? Are families and businesses the problem because they're spending too much, or is Canberra the problem because it can’t stop itself spending?
'Patriotic lawyer needed'New media and old media collided this week as the Australian Financial Review's Mark Di Stefano found himself sparring with social‑media agitator Drew Pavlou.
Pavlou, fresh off a media blitz attacking Billie Eilish over her 'no one is illegal on stolen land' comment - a saga that ended with him being blocked from entering the US when he attempted to visit her California mansion - is now promoting an independently made video that he claims will expose widespread NDIS fraud in western Sydney.
According to Pavlou, the backlash has already begun - and he needs legal help.
'We have already received three defamation letters from one potential provider in west Sydney,' he said.
'We urgently need a patriotic lawyer to help review our video so that we can make necessary edits to protect ourselves prior to release.'
New media and old media collided this week as the Australian Financial Review's Mark Di Stefano (left) found himself sparring with social‑media agitator Drew Pavlou (right)
Speculation around the unreleased video quickly snowballed online, prompting Di Stefano to step in - frustrated by what he saw as a fundamental misunderstanding of defamation law.
'Jesus f***ing Christ that's not how this works.'
'Lawyers pre publication don't tell you "yes, this is defamatory" or "no, this isn't". They give you an opinion based on likely risk.'
Di Stefano has previously criticised Pavlou's project, saying he was 'sceptical' and comparing the effort to an infamous US investigation.
'These lads are obviously trying to do the Minnesota childcare fraud series, but for the NDIS. Few things, good on them for giving it a go but I'm sceptical because Drew et al don't seem like the guys to put in the work to prove fraud,' he said.
Pavlou's collaborator Pete Zogoulas said they were 'working with another law firm to make sure the legal system can't be weaponised to bankrupt [Pavlou] and myself.'
Speaking to Inside Mail, Pavlou hit back at Di Stefano directly.
'Old man former BuzzFeed slop journalist Mark Di Stefano has completely destroyed the Rear Window column at the AFR. He will never be Joe Aston so he is lashing out in rage and jealousy at youthful, energetic representatives of new media like me.'
'He is extremely jealous that my tweets reach more people in one day than his entire yearly gossip column reaches each year. Jealous and failing. SAD!'
Inside Mail contacted Di Stefano about his disagreement with Pavlou, as well as Pavlou's claims about his tenure at Rear Window. He politely declined to comment.
ABC blame gameWhat a mess the ABC found itself in this week.
Australian Story, usually one of the broadcaster's least controversial shows, was forced to pull Monday's edition from airing – with no warning for viewers.
The episode, titled 'Nabbed', was to feature Ian Williams, who had faced off against NAB in court after he had been scammed out of $1,338.
When viewers noticed a different episode was airing, they complained on social media. The ABC's ever-helpful comms department offered a simple statement saying it was an editorial issue with 'no further details at this time'.
Let the speculation begin!
Many assumed, wrongly, that NAB had taken out an injunction, but the dropping of the episode was news to them.
It turns out a lack of checks and balances led to the episode being shot and prepared for air – only to never see the light of day.
As you can imagine, fingers are being pointed and they're all turning on one person.
Producer Amos Roberts.
Despite his credentials, including being a former producer on Four Corners, Roberts apparently didn't do enough research into the star of the episode.
It's basic journalism – and bosses aren't happy.
They're used to having to deal with controversy and crisis on shows like Four Corners and Insiders - but Australian Story isn't meant to cause issues for the corporation.
Not this time.
Pensioner Ian Williams (pictured) unsuccessfully tried to sue UBank over its handling of two unauthorised transactions from his account totalling $1,338.55
'The ABC received new information about Mr Ian Williams on Monday afternoon prior to Australian Story airing that was unrelated to his case against National Australia Bank,' the ABC said in a statement released on Tuesday.
'We have since confirmed Mr Williams was convicted of serious historical offences, which he failed to disclose to the ABC.'
For an organisation ready to throw stones at everyone else, this is highly embarrassing for the news and current affairs department. Just how much money was wasted on an episode of television that will never air? Here at Inside Mail, we reckon this one will come up at the next Senate estimates.
And what do you think the ABC will say?
'We'll have to take that on notice.'
'Progressive patriotism'Labor firebrand and Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs Julian Hill delivered his own set of rhetorical fireworks at the McKell Institute on Wednesday, urging Labor’s progressive wing to reclaim the very idea of patriotism.
In trademark Hill fashion, the address came with a handful of pointed flourishes.
While he rolled out the usual Labor jabs at the 'Greens political party', Inside Mail also detected notably sharper‑than‑usual swipes at One Nation, the minor party enjoying a noticeable rise in recent polling.
And while that resurgence has mostly eaten into Coalition support, fresh polling suggests One Nation is now peeling votes from Labor as well.
Hill argued that One Nation and other fringe outfits have been able to 'seize' Australia's national symbols and institutions because progressives have spent years retreating from patriotic language.
Labor firebrand Julian Hill argued that One Nation had been able to 'seize' Australia's national symbols and institutions because progressives have spent years retreating from patriotism
His pitch closely echoes Albo's call for a more confident, unapologetic 'progressive patriotism', and Hill made clear he thinks the left must stop treating patriotism as taboo.
But Inside Mail couldn’t help noting some contradictions in Hill's own framing.
He said he would proudly celebrate Australia Day so long as there wasn’t a 'consensus' to change the date.
Yet when pressed on the fact that some of his left‑faction colleagues openly oppose the day, Hill appeared unbothered, brushing off their stance as something he simply didn’t mind.
Whether Albanese’s push for 'progressive patriotism' catches on remains to be seen.
But with One Nation continuing to rise, Inside Mail suspects Labor may soon be forced to mount a more aggressive counter‑offensive.
Guess who, don't sue!Which purring News Corp reporter - known as Rita Skeeter for her habit of conjuring quotes out of thin air - is now making years magically disappear from her age?
We've heard she's claiming to be 37. A little bit of digging shows she's closer to 50 than 40...
We won't name her, but Inside Mail readers will be keen to know she is the same hack known to brag that she is the best 'on-the-road journalist' in her city.
A bold claim indeed!
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