Media Watch host Paul Barry has a rival. On Monday, News Corp’s most prolific resident media critic, the Australian’s associate editor and columnist Chris Kenny will launch Kenny on Media, a new show on Sky. The former Liberal adviser promises to “call out fake news and put media behaviour under the spotlight”. He must get on well with the new Sky boss, ex-Murdoch editor Paul Whittaker, because he now has three shows on the After Dark line-up.

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We’re pretty sure Kenny will have lots of advice on how the ABC should be run if his Twitter feed is any indication. Just this week he suggested in a column the retiring ABC broadcaster Jon Faine be replaced by a presenter “who might argue a pragmatic and cautious approach on climate policy or the primacy of affordability and reliability in energy settings”. The new Faine could “argue for winding back immigration numbers” and support border policies, Kenny mused.

Dominic Kelly (@illywhacker_) Hell yeah pic.twitter.com/H94F0uOCsE

Perhaps in his first show Kenny might enlighten us as to the meaning of the headline in the Oz earlier in the week suggesting feminists could learn from John Howard. Media Watch itself returns on 4 February.

Tabloid critic dances into spotlight

One of the more curious moves by people who have suffered the glare of the media spotlight, and been outspoken about how ugly it is, is to turn around and join a reality show. It was revealed this week that Cassandra Thorburn, ex-wife of Karl Stefanovic, whose marriage breakdown was dissected by tabloids, has strapped on her dancing shoes to compete in Ten’s revamped Dancing with the Stars.

The end of the high-profile marriage created so much negative press it led to the December sacking of Stefanovic as co-host of the Today show. Putting to one side the question of whether she qualifies as a star, the former journalist has complained about press intrusion and how she has been hunted by the women’s magazines and “constantly harassed”.

“After two-and-a-half years, I’m not a news story,” Thorburn said last year. “I’m just a mother who’s divorced from my ex-husband, and I’m trying to find my place back in the world. This constant harassment, every time my ex-husband’s in the news – which is often – they then come looking for me, my children, my mother.

“It’s not OK, and I don’t think as a society we should be accepting it.”

However, when offered a contract by Ten, the 47-year-old signed up, saying her father told her on his deathbed that she would regret it if she didn’t.

“What I’m wanting now – and I’ve made no secret of it – I’ve been trying to manoeuvre myself back into the workforce, because I’m in a position to now.”

Dancing With The Stars Australia (@DancingOn10) Take a step, our first 3 stars are here! 💃🕺 Get ready to cha-cha-cha with Samuel Johnson, Curtly Ambrose & Cassandra Thorburn 🙌#DWTSau coming soon on 10. pic.twitter.com/PxyCxm6rby

“People don’t really know much about me or what I do, and that is me. I guess I just want the opportunity to showcase that.”

Stefanovic in with Aunty?

Before we leave the topic of Stefanovics, we hear the younger brother of Karl, the former Nine foreign correspondent Peter Stefanovic, was spotted at the ABC’s Ultimo headquarters this week. Aunty says she has nothing official to report but let’s wait and see if he pops up on ABC news. Stefanovic Jr parted ways with Nine last year, months after a damning conversation he had with his brother in the back of a cab was leaked.

Nine serves tennis tickets

Nine’s merger with Fairfax Media may have some benefits for the newspaper’s journalists after all. Several Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review staffers have been spotted enjoying the hospitality of rights-holder Nine at the tennis in Melbourne this week. They include group editor James Chessell, Canberra bureau chief Bevan Shields, SMH editor Lisa Davies and AFR media editor Max Mason. But Nine says the presence of the print journos is nothing to do with the merger. A Nine spokesman said some News Corp writers including Nick Tabakoff and Will Glasgow were also invited, along with representatives from the Herald Sun, Mumbrella, Adnews, Nine News, 3AW, Kiis, GoldFM, Hiit and TripleM.

Bevan Shields (@BevanShields) Five stars #ausopen pic.twitter.com/Tt6bfPnZvh

Cryptic Pacific deal ‘myopic’

Earlier this week we reported the Coalition had promised $17.1m to the commercial TV industry to provide content to the free-to-air TV networks in the South Pacific. While the deal is short on detail and logic, Weekly Beast understands the peak body, FreeTV Australia, will provide drama, children’s programming, sport, news and current affairs and lifestyle programming amounting to 1,000 hours of new Australian television content each year for three years. FreeTV has admitted it has no idea what type of content it will be asked to provide.

The former ABC broadcaster and Pacific consultant Jemima Garrett has criticised the deal as “myopic” as there are two government inquiries into Pacific broadcasting that have yet to report. A former Australia Network journalist, Garrett says the Pacific audiences don’t want episodes of Home and Away, Neighbours and reality TV. They want to bring back Radio Australia, the axed Australia Network and quality education and news content. Emergency broadcasting provided by ABC shortwave radio, which has also been axed, is vital to the region, experts say.

BuzzFeed cuts

There was more bad news for BuzzFeedOz this week as the US head office revealed a 15% cut to staff across the board would be implemented next week. The general manager of BuzzFeedOz, Simon Crerar, would not confirm there would be job losses in Australia. Crerar referred to the memo from chief executive Jonah Peretti to staff: “We will be making a 15% overall reduction in headcount across the company. I’m sending this tonight because I wanted you to hear it from me directly instead of from the press.”

The local BuzzFeed outlet is already dealing with an early win by federal Labor MP Emma Husar in her defamation case against the news website. Last month a judge ruled an article written by Canberra reporter Alice Workman in July was capable of conveying that she was a “slut”.

The BuzzFeed UK editor, Janine Gibson, has already left the organisation ahead of the cuts.

Fake infiltrates feeds

Finally, a warning about fake social media accounts for people who eagerly retweet incendiary posts without checking their veracity. A fake account called Union News Australia posted a photo of departing Liberal minister Kelly O’Dwyer with the words “Bye Bye Bitch”, outraging many who presumed it was an official union account. The post was shared by journalists and MPs alike.

Sally McManus (@sallymcmanus) Hi Peter - we have spent six hours trying to get the unknown admins to remove it. It is absolutely not an official union site. The post on FB has been condemned by me and literally hundreds of union members. It goes against our values. @unionsaustralia is our account. Pls remove

Sally McManus, who is the secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, tried to alert people to the hoax but tweeters, including Liberal MP Jason Falinski, still haven’t deleted their tweets. “Well now we know what the left’s thoughts on women are,” Falinski said indignantly.