"Creative people, the kind of people who work at the ABC, are very sensitive people," she said. "You've got to understand that - that's why they do the sort of things that they do. "So they're a little more fragile than some workers. They have to be patted a bit, and reassured that all is well," Buttrose said to laughter. Indeed, we're told some senior ABC personnel may be in need of reassurance about Buttrose's roster of extra-curricular activities. Just last month she cancelled a speaking engagement spruiking retirement villages for property giant Stockland after News Corp questioned her about the gig.

There are, after all, bigger fish to fry. ABC managing director David Anderson, news director Gaven Morris and general counsel Connie Carnabuci are due to appear on Tuesday at a parliamentary inquiry into press freedom (alongside other media types) sparked in part by federal police raids on the ABC's Ultimo headquarters. Buttrose did not attend Symond's conference in her capacity as ABC chair. But she did regale the crowd with the tale of how Scott Morrison's minders summoned her into a room at the Australian of the Year awards in Canberra so the PM could offer her the ABC chair gig. "Prime Minister, you’ve taken my breath away," she told him.

UNDER THE TABLE It takes a lot to get thrown out of the Kennedy Awards, the night-of-nights for NSW media. But Al Jazeera's undercover operative Rodger Muller managed it at the after-party. You'll remember Muller from the sting operation that saw One Nation's James Ashby and Steve Dickson get "on the sauce" in Washington while cosying up to the National Rifle Association. Dickson and Ashby claimed they were drinking scotch for hours with Muller when they boasted - on secret video - about their chances of getting $20 million from the NRA. Perhaps the dreaded scotch was a factor in Muller's unedifying display on Saturday night. He was heard heckling throughout several speeches, including muttering "rigged" when Al Jazeera lost Scoop of the Year to Nine's Danny Weidler.

CBD's sources also heard Muller yell "f--king Kiwi" as Diimex's Stephen Cook claimed his gong for best news photo, and murmur while The Guardian's Lorena Allam accepted her Indigenous reporting award. His behaviour prompted at least two female journalists seated nearby to move tables. Later, Muller was seen being kicked out of the after-party at Royal Randwick's Stables bar. Needless to say, he didn't make it to the Strawberry Hills Hotel for the after-after-party. The late Les Kennedy would have been proud. Maybe. Al Jazeera executive producer Peter Charley - who was at Muller's table and collected the prize for outstanding investigative reporting - didn't reply to emails before deadline.

OUT OF AFRICA It's always tough when a holiday is rudely interrupted by business back home. So spare a thought for Mark Carnegie. The venture capitalist owns a 3.6 per cent stake in Macquarie Media, owner of Sydney's 2GB and 2UE radio stations, plus 3AW down south. He's got more than a few calls to make in the wake of Nine's offer to snap up the rest of Macquarie, which it acquired during its merger-slash-takeover of Fairfax Media last year. Sadly when the big news broke, Carnegie was off in Africa - noted for its safari opportunities, among other things.

The buyout would net Carnegie about $9 million, while major shareholder John Singleton would reap a cool $80 million and broadcaster Alan Jones around $3 million. But that'll have to wait until Carnegie hops on QF64 back from Jo'burg later this week. NEW TRICKS Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has made quite a splash since arriving in Canberra five minutes ago, including an incendiary first speech about superannuation that may have earned him "six years on the backbench", according to some Liberal sources. Now he's hired himself a controversial spinner in former TV news host John Mangos.