What a week...
News in media? You can count on it.
It's been a big week in media and PR land here in Australia. The second Tuesday in May is the day the Federal Treasurer hands down the annual budget. Not only is it extremely consequential for the future of the nation, but it is consistently one of the biggest media events of the year.
At Telum we spoke with some of the leading journalists covering the Budget, and provided a handy "what you need to know" guide. It's great if you're a PR professional trying to understand how to work with media during budget week, but also great if you've just wondered how journalists are able to get through so much information so quickly.
You can check out the guide here.
Speaking of the Budget, the AAP Newswire, which was almost shut down by majority shareholders in 2020 but was saved by a group of philanthropists, received AU$15 million over two years from the Morrison Government. This is to help keep it going while while it finds a more sustainable business model. As Chair Jonty Low said "Yay-AP".
In other news about media, News Corp Australia has announced it will be hiring 100 new editorial staff, which includes 30 new Cadets (new entrants to the industry) and 20 digital journalists in the regions. Investment in editorial is a fantastic thing - and hopefully a sign the organisation is going to continue to invest their Google and Facebook money at the coalf face of the industry and not give it directly to shareholders in the form of dividends. Let's see if the other organisations that are part of the same scheme commit to increasing editorial headcount.
Over in NZ, Newshub will be closing its Dunedin newsroom. This is the same week a mass-stabbing occured in that same town and local journalist Hamish McNeilly politely (not really) told a network with no local reporters he would not be appearing on their station to give them the news for free.
Meanwhile over in PR...
It feels like May is the month for PR agencies to announce senior promotions. Honner, opr and Zeno group all announced big changes to their teams.
Budget week got us thinking here in the Telum Australia team: if you have a big report, a set of statistics or big data, what's the best way to work with journalists to get a story up in the media? We spoke with Ticker, the ABC and 2CA to get some insights - check out the video.
In our latest Agency Profile, we chatted to Reymond Communications. If you're looking for a PR agency or you are an agency looking to be profiled, get in touch!