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Nine passes off Kerry Packer promo as “news”

Nine News tries to pass off a thinly-veiled promo for its Kerry Packer miniseries as a legitimate news item.

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Nine is getting so excited about its upcoming miniseries Howzat!: Kerry Packer’s War that last night it tried to pass off a thinly-veiled promo as a legitimate news item.

Reporter Tony Jones interviewed actor Lachy Hulme about how he imitated Packer’s voice and physical presence.

“I think I unlocked the secret of Kerry, that he’s a bit of a mad scientist. He’s a maddie. He’s a bit of an eccentric,” Hulme explained.

The piece was filled out with production footage of Packer and actors playing Aussie cricketers from the upcoming miniseries.

But it sure wasn’t News.

It might have been better utilised as an interview in Nine’s current affairs show that followed, or as one of the network promos that run in between Nine’s actual shows.

It managed to air the item on the same night that Media Watch took a close look at product placement on TV.

Coming up next…… how Tricky Business actors research their roles as mercantile agents in Wollongong.

28 Responses

  1. Sure got you fired up David

    Have no fear… I have a feeling this will back fire on Nine. I bet they’re expecting this to replicate the ratings Beaconsfield got. Don’t think it’ll happen

  2. The Australian thought fit to run this on their front page yesterday…Herald Sun also ran a large news story on it too. Still not news?

    1. Was it actually news or just Nine supplying them with production shots for some free publicity?

      Production on Howzat finished weeks ago and I’m still not sure what the actual news in the 2 min. story was?

      When TEN News went to 90 mins at one stage they added a regular entertainment news section with Angela Bishop. If we can have Sports news then sure, we can have a regular Entertainment news section too (I would actually welcome it). But it needs to be genuine news content and it needs to cover all networks. Entertainment news this week includes DWTS winner, Voice winner, ratings results, KAK cancer, new series for MasterChef etc, The Block crowds, ACMA breaches. These would qualify as entertainment news. As Lachy Hulme told me, he finished the shoot weeks ago. What was it about June 18 that warranted its inclusion in News rather than say ACA? Don’t get it….

  3. And (TCN) 9 News tonight has a fluff-piece on the chick that won The Voice last night. A story on a hit-run killing in a love triangle got one third of the time in the second part of the “news”.

  4. I’m really not surprised by this. Nine set a world-record for cross-promotion for The Voice, so I guess this is only going to continue.

  5. interesting too that you mention Media Watch.

    I missed it last night but they copped quite a spray on Twitter last night for not covering or even mentioning the Fairfax announcement of cutting 1900 jobs, re-formatting The Age, SMH and putting up paywalls on their websites. Probably the biggest news media story of the year.

    Of course MW is pre-recorded earlier in the day (IIRC) but the story broke very early in the day it is bizarre that they apparently didn’t even mention it, even with a “we’ll look at this in more detail next week” teaser?

    1. Yes I saw that trending too. You’re observations are spot on. Monday was the worst day for the news to break for mid-arvo MW record. Still want a longer adjunct, but not sure it could have rescued them yesterday.

    1. Yes viral videos creeping in across the board. And fashion launches are running amok. Maybe these things need to go back to being a colour piece after the weather not in with finance and international news. The hierarchy gets muddled. Can’t see it happening though…

  8. “It might have been better utilised as an interview in Nine’s current affairs show…”
    Don’t worry. It will be, and more than once. I just hope it lives up to its hype and isn’t stuffed full of ads.

  9. it is a worry when you read comments on The Age website in the wake of the news of 1900 job cuts and website paywalls that people say “oh i will just rely on the TV for news instead of paying for The Age website”… and then you see stuff like this parading as “news” on TV.

    It’s like people are happy to be spoon fed this sort of slop to consider themselves “informed”?

    Brekkie: not quite sure I follow your comparison. A prime-time news bulletin should ideally have bigger stories to cover (and without a conflict of interest) rather than a cross promotion piece that is better suited to fluffy ACA. (But Nine are not alone in this regard, given comments about Seven News/DWTS and Ten has run news stories about MasterChef… so they all do it.. doesn’t make it right)

  11. @ Lucy, spot on re- 7 news promoting DWTS during the Sunday night news. I’m sure if Mr Knox didn’t see it he could give them a call and ask. I’m sure they would give him a answer (NOT)!!
    The story in 9 news re – Kerry Packer mini series i thought was great and fitting, especially when he had so much 2 do with the 9 Network.

  15. But when they show the latest Harry Potter trailer in the news thats news is it? or when they played the Michael Jackson music videos
    …Yeah right its nothing new

  17. Which is why I only watch ABC24 for “real” news. The real Kerry would never allow the quality of Nine News as it is now.
    Also sick of the number of questions on Hot Seat that are about Channel Nine shows/stars “who won Apprentice”? etc.
    ““I think I unlocked the secret of Kerry, that he’s a bit of a mad scientist. He’s a maddie. He’s a bit of an eccentric,” – what an insult. KP was a brilliant businessman and TV station operator, speaking as one from the days when.

  19. To be fair considering his history with Channel 9 – and don’t forget you’ve passed off Nine airing the promo as “news” twice over the past couple of weeks too – Nine can justify it for exactly the same reasons you can as it’s something that’s probably of interest to their viewers.

    1. Lucy: No I didn’t see DWTS story. Expect I would have had the same reaction.
      Brekkie: If you want to compare a personal blog to network news than we will have to disagree. It would have been “news” if Nine had said “production has been shut down because etc.” or “James Packer complains to Nine because…” or even “The series has been sold overseas…” It added nothing new and should have been in ACA or elsewhere. Do we see Nine giving us stories about Offspring or The Slap in the 6:00 News? No because they’re not on Nine. Can’t have it both ways.

  20. News has turned into a big pissing contest now anyway. They now report obscure current affairs type content eg. old person getting screwed by council, put a big ‘first on XXXX’ sticker on it, and call it news. I’ve completely stopped watching it now. I either watch The Project for light hearted news, or the ABC for ‘real’ news.

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