The Sky News Australia boss, Angelos Frangopoulos, has raised the stakes in the Murdoch empire’s latest war on the ABC by suggesting the government give the commercial media a chance to pitch for Aunty’s $1.4bn in annual funding.

In an interview with the Australian this week Frangopoulos, who recently became the chair of the Walkley advisory board, was critical of a deal between ABC Commercial and billboard advertising group oOh!media in which news content is syndicated on roadside billboards as well as digital billboards in shopping centres and Qantas lounges.

“If the ABC thinks it’s OK to go chasing commercial revenues, then it should in turn be challenged for its own funding,” the Sky chief executive said. “We’ve learned that the ABC is a formidable commercial opponent, not because of its content, but because it can fully leverage its taxpayer-funded resources.

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“But as we’ve shown, when the ABC itself is tasked with competing for government funds, it is shown up badly, as has been well documented.”

We believe Frangopoulos is referring to the ABC losing funding for the Australia Network in 2014. With Sky News moving into Murdoch’s headquarters at Holt Street in Surry Hills, the legacy newspaper publisher is embracing broadcasting along with newspapers and digital and increasingly sees the ABC and SBS as a threat.

During a trip to the Riverina in New South Wales this week where the ABC held a board meeting and community forum in Wagga Wagga, the ABC chairman, Justin Milne, called the latest attacks from News Corp “extremely unfounded”.

“The commercial media have been bellyaching about the ABC for 85 years,” Milne said in an interview with ABC Riverina. “Eighty-five years ago the media barons were out in force saying that ABC radio was going to wreck their radio stations – and it didn’t. Then they were saying ABC TV was going to wreck their TV investments – and of course it didn’t.

“Australians want and benefit from – and so does commercial media – a vibrant, interesting, diverse media environment. It just works better.”

Ticking the diversity box

When you are a public broadcaster committed to increasing onscreen diversity, you have to ensure every effort is being made to put the policy into action. The ABC’s managing director, Michelle Guthrie, has made diversity her catchphrase since she took over from Mark Scott, saying the goal for the ABC is “to look and sound like Australia”.

“I am also not only the first woman to hold the position but I am also the first managing director from a non-English speaking background,” Guthrie said last year.

But the move has only meant more red tape and some ABC TV journos are a little frustrated at being told they have to track their own diversity quotas. “Every time you file a TV story can you please fill in this form,” a recent memo said.

The “onscreen diversity tracker” form includes drop-down menus asking how many of each type of person you included in your story: European males; European females; non-European males, non-European females, Indigenous males, Indigenous females, people with disability. Additional questions include was it “distinctive” and was there any regional content.

Crabb walks as freelancers feel Fairfax squeeze

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Presenter of The House, Annabel Crabb, has stopped writing her weekly column for Fairfax. Photograph: Josh Flavell

The cuts to Fairfax newspapers have been well documented, and dozens of journalists, photographers and subeditors have left the company in recent months. But the lesser-known consequence of the drastic cuts to the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age has been the impact on freelancers.

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One Fairfax editor sent a note to her contributors with the subject heading “budget cuts”. “I’ve just received an email saying my budget has been cut by 50%. Everyone’s story/word rate is going to be slashed. I’ve been told to source free copy as well. Please tell me if you are not keen to work for a lower rate and word count. I will factor you in, although what I offer you may prove repulsive and you might still pull the pin anyway. Sorry about this. It’s awful.”

Another source told us the top rate at Fairfax has been capped at 70 cents a word (some writers got $1 or more a word).

Columnists such as the ABC presenter Annabel Crabb and Tracey Spicer, author of The Good Girl Stripped Bare, have gone. Crabb, who is doing the publicity rounds for her new TV series The House, addressed her departure from the Sun-Herald in an interview with the Oz this week: “My need to take a break from writing a weekly column coincided with Fairfax’s need to have fewer journalists. I retain a great respect for my former colleagues there who work very hard.”

Coalition’s Foxtel gamble

For those of us looking for answers as to why the Turnbull government gave $30m to Foxtel in the budget came by a little more information this week. But not much.

Mitch Fifield (@SenatorFifield) Speaking at the ASTRA event about the importance of media reform for Australian voices and stories. @Foxtel @martaduss pic.twitter.com/zo0QH9N1ab

The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, had a busy week, negotiating with the minor parties to pass the media reform package, attending the pay TV and Foxtel annual Parliament House reception in the Mural Hall as well as an interview with Rafael Epstein on ABC Radio Melbourne. Fifield essentially told Epstein that Fox Sports had to be compensated for losing revenue after a government crackdown on gambling advertising during live sports.

“We recognise that the free-to-air TV operators had the opportunity to offset some revenue losses against the licence fee reduction part of the package,” Fifield said, referring to the abolition of the licence fees for Seven, Nine and Ten.

“But we also recognise that subscription TV has a different operating environment. They don’t pay licence fees and therefore they don’t have the same offset opportunity.

“What we as a government didn’t want to see happen was that the effects of a decision in one part of the package, such as the gambling ad restrictions, would be to the detriment of women’s sport coverage on subscription TV.”

Epstein said: “So it does sound like that we as taxpayers are handing them money so they can charge us to watch women’s sport.”

Given only 30% of Australian have access to Foxtel, we couldn’t have said it better than that.

Not a croc

The NT News produced a powerful front page in support of marriage equality this week which took a lot of people by surprise. It was a strong stance to take, especially for a News Corp tabloid. The head of news at the paper, “former croc and UFO reporter” Jill Poulsen, told Weekly Beast the response had been “90% positive”.



The NT News (@TheNTNews) TOMORROW'S FRONT PAGE - IT'S TIME pic.twitter.com/tfOuPVJX8P

“I just heard that it may be the most tweeted front page ever in Australia – estimated to have reached up to 2 million people on Twitter. We think that speaks volumes about how the country is feeling for it to have resonated like that,” she said. “We’re proud to have been able to stand up for our readers in such a powerful way.”

