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The first email was sent in 1971 by engineer Ray Tomlinson. He sent it to himself. After a few years, common standards were accepted by newly developed internet networks and email became the world’s de facto means of communication. The rest, as we know, is history. Unlike pen and paper communication, at best disintegrating within a few hundred years, email is forever.
Australian public broadcaster ABC chairman Justin Milne was forced out this past week (September 27) because of an email, several actually. One sent by him to “management,” leaked to and reported by Fairfax Media (September 26), referred to ABC economics correspondent Emma Alberici. “They fricken hate her. She keeps sticking it to them with a clear bias against them. I just think it's simple. Get rid of her. My view is we need to save the corporation not Emma.”
“They” presumably referred to the coalition government then headed by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who appointed Mr. Milne to the post 18 months ago. Another email, reported the Sydney Morning Herald (September 27), pointed at political editor Andrew Probyn. “You have to shoot him.” Mr. Turnbull resigned in August. He told The Australian (September 28) he had “never called for anybody to be fired.”
ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie showed the email streams to the ABC board a week earlier and was promptly fired with two and a half years remaining on her mandate. Mr. Milne said the email texts were “taken out of context.” ABC staff unions seem delighted to have both of them gone. Both Ms Guthrie and Mr. Probyn remain on the job.
“I had no notion whatsoever of what the ultimate impact would be,” said the late Mr. Tomlinson when entering the Internet Hall of Fame in 2012.
Leading Austrian news publishers have called for the dismissal of a government official after an leaked internal memo appeared to direct police agencies to circumvent critical media. The memo was published by leading dailies Der Standard and Kurier. The Interior Ministry communications department emailed memo “encourages” press offices of Austrian regional police forces to "limit communication with these media to the minimum legal requirement,” reported news agency AFP (September 24). Specifically named were Der Standard, Kurier and weekly news magazine Falter; all recently critical of Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, named to the government by the far-right Austrian Freedom Party FPÖ.
Herr Kickl blamed ministry press spokesperson Christoph Pölzl for the “mistake.” It didn’t fly. “The Minister is fully responsible for what happens in his house,” offered Der Standard (September 25). “If constitutional principles and fundamental values are violated there, then he must stand up for it. A minister of the interior who lacks the courage to do so cannot give the citizens a sense of security – only the fear of arbitrariness.” (See more about press/media freedom here)
"Our democracy should not die in darkness because a minister feels too weak to withstand criticism and is clearly unsuitable for this sensitive position." wrote Kurier (September 26) in an editorial. “The boycott of critical media is above all a boycott of the forming freedom. If the concept of the Kickl ministry were to occur, then all Austrians would soon only be exposed to propaganda instead of information.” (See more about media in Austria here)
The Interior Ministry memo also instructed police agencies to identify in press releases the “citizenship and residency status” of suspects in “acts committed in public.” This is, noted Der Standard (September 24), at specific odds with Justice Ministry media policy, which states that “personal characteristics should only be included if it is absolutely necessary for the understanding of the incident being reported.” Further, the notorious memo ask police agencies place “special emphasis be placed on the provocative communication of offenses committed in public.” The inquiring mind need not wander too far.
The end, after all, came more suddenly than some expected. Within a week Rupert Murdoch exited satellite pay-TV company Sky plc in something of a flash. The exit was expected, the flash maybe not.
A week ago, on rather short notice, the UK Takeover Panel (PTM) announced that US telecom/broadcaster Comcast and 21st Century Fox had better place their final bids by the end of Saturday (September 22). And they did. And Comcast came out on top, in certain respects. It wasn’t even an exciting auction, like those for rare works of art or, even, cows but the final bidding for a a large parcel of pay-TV company Sky plc attracted its due.
Comcast’s GBP17.28 per share final bid topped GBP15.67 from 21st Century Fox. This was for the 61% of Sky plc publicly traded and not already owned by 21st Century Fox. The remaining 39% parcel had tentatively acquired by the Walt Disney Company as part of a larger acquisition of certain assets of 21st Century Fox, which is principally controlled by the Murdoch family. Comcast had previously bid for those assets and lost out. (See more about mergers and acquisitions here)
Sky plc is one of the best run and most profitable broadcasters in the world. It operates in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy. Media and big business observers universally refer to it as a “prized asset.” Sky plc always going to be a takeover target after the Murdoch family shuffled assets in the wake of the infamous phone hacking scandal to form two holding companies, News Corporation largely for publishing and 21st Century Fox largely for entertainment. (See more about Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation here)
The next surprise hit this week as 21st Century Fox abruptly, it appears, sold its 39% stake in Sky plc to Comcast for about US$15 billion in cash. The Walt Disney Company reached an agreement to acquire significant 21st Century Fox assets earlier this year, closing expected next summer, for US$71 billion in stock and debt. The decision, in the end, was Disney chief executive Bob Iger’s, who earlier this year said “we fully intend to hold onto” (the minority stake in Sky) “under any circumstances,” quoted by CNBC (May 8).
Gone, now, are speculations about trading stakes in loss-making video streamer Hulu, in which the 30% owned by 21st Century Fox become a 60% stake owned by the Walt Disney Company with Comcast retaining its 30%. At the end sometime next summer, unknown factors notwithstanding, the Murdoch family will pocket several billion, one or two shared with investment bankers.
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