Where does Sky News Australia go from here?
Saturday night saw an unexpected repudiation of the LNP in Australia, with the right-leaning political party being slapped down in the Federal election. The left(ish) centrist Labor was given a majority government, with the rise of independent MPs one of the most interesting aspect of the politics of the story.
But… there’s two interesting media elements to this that I want to touch upon today.
First - For all the talk that this has been a “podcast” election (but is really a YouTube & TikTok election), I found it interesting that Australia’s sole political panel round-up show Insiders only focused on what traditional media news outlets had to say about the election. There may be time for a re-evaluation of which political media voices are worth listening to on shows like this.
The second - If the Australian public are rejecting the LNP for its politics, which are so heavily rooted in the nonsense culture war concerns that have been imported from the US, where does that leave Sky News Australia?
The politics of Sky News Australia and the LNP have been hand in glove for years. The TV opinion network has embraced a lot of the same right wing ideologies that US networks like Fox News and Newsmax have been pushing for decades now, with the LNP aligning themselves with similar talking points.
It was interesting to see the criticism of now former LNP leader Peter Dutton on Sky News’ Outsiders show on Sunday morning where Dutton and the party were accused of not going hard enough. The deliberately provocative (and thoroughly unwatchable) Outsiders shouldn’t be judged as a barometer for the entire opinion network, but it’s an opinion that represents a crossroads for Sky News going forward.
Does Sky News Australia lean harder into the culture wars to prop up an increasingly niche viewership? Or does it start ditching the anti-woke warriors in an effort to find more of a middle ground with mainstream Australia?
Here was something said by Chris Uhlmann, a panelist on Sky News Australia’s Saturday night live coverage:
“Where does this party go?” he asked. “This is a party that will tear itself apart while it tries to work out how it articulates itself to appeal to enough people in Australia to be able to form a government in future.”
The same questions need to be asked of Sky News in its efforts to relate to the audience.
What was different about the election this year was that it was determined for the first time by Gen Xers and Millennials, which now outnumber the boomers down under. It’s an audience that Sky News Australia won’t be winning over if it leans even further to the right.
Politics aside, the big problem for a grievance opinion channel like Sky News Australia is that it doesn’t read as a difference of opinion for younger viewers, it just reads as inauthentic in an era where authenticity is prized in media.
I just don’t see any longterm benefit to Sky News Australia chasing the older, boomer audience as they continue to decline in volume (and ad dollar value).
What may bouy Sky News Australia over the coming days as post election analysis is done at the executive level, is that the LNP only really struggled in metropolitan areas. In the regional parts of Australia, the LNP still performed well enough - which is also where Sky News Australia is at its strongest with linear viewership. Outside of the cities, Sky News Australia is broadcast as a free to air network. Viewership isn’t massive, but it’s clearly aligned in views with its audience.
Later this year Sky News Australia will be undergoing a rebrand. Will that provide cover for a shift in editorial direction?
Related: The ABC network (inclusive of the main channel and news channel) and ABC iview found a record prime-time audience on Saturday night with a FTA Total TV prime-time share of 48.4%. Source: ABC
Rian Johnson wants Netflix’s next Knives Out film in cinemas
Rian Johnson has a third Knives Out film set for release later this year, his second Knives Out film for Netflix. With the second film given a minor cinema release, with high per-screen attendance, it became a poster child for cinema enthusiasts claims that streaming films should get a cinema release first.
In an interview with Business Insider, Rian said:
“I want this in as many theaters for as long as possible, We’re going to push for everything we can get in terms of theatrical because I want as many people as possible to see it in that form.”
Because Johnson is a media savvy guy, I thought his response to this question, about whether he agrees with Netflix (co)boss Ted Sarandos that cinemas are outdated, was pretty smart.
“Obviously, I don’t, because I love movies. I love going to see movies. But also, I have a feeling talking to Ted, it would be a different thing than one quote taken and kind of tossed at me in this context. So I don’t want to phrase this as I’m having a proxy discussion with Ted right here.
I think theatrical is not going anywhere. I think we’ve seen if you put a movie people want to see in the theaters, they are going to show up for it, and that experience of being in a full house and having that experience is so important. It’s something that I love and I want more of in the world.”
News Desk
Charley Scalies, best known for a second season The Wire arc, has died aged 84. Read: THR
BBC chairman Samir Shah says Huw Edwards should hand back the salary he was paid while signed off from work with mental health issues (he was under police investigation at the time). I’m no Huw Edwards defender, but if BBC wants that money back, it should have tighter morals clauses in its contracts. Read: Deadline
The Equalizer has been canned after five seasons at CBS. Read: Deadline
PBS CEO Paula Kerger has called Trump’s executive order to cancel funding “blatantly unlawful.” Read: THR
It was a real delight to hear Vulture’s Josef Adalian name-check the Always Be Watching newsletter on the most recent Downstream podcast. Thanks Mr Adalian!
Grand Theft Auto VI has been delayed until 2026. Read: NYT
Elsbeth co-star Carra Patterson has been demoted as a series regular. The show (and trade press) are treating this as a narrative evolution for the show, but as a semi-regular viewer, I’d chalk it up to that character weighing down its protagonist with limited benefit. Let Elsbeth be Elsbeth and not one half of a duo lacking charisma. Read: Deadline
Trailer Park
Season five of The Chosen debuts on Prime Video June 15.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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It’s certainly been a very different election when viewed through the “new media” of Instagram and TikTok than through the “old media” of dead tree press and linear TV. But in the same way that the ABCs Media Watch only watches traditional media, I’m not surprised Insiders doesn’t spread its remit any further. Maybe that’s a gap new media can fill for us?