Dossier of magland's dirty secrets is leaked – we reveal all the embarrassing details from the house of Woman's Day. Plus, what's REALLY going on as Karl Stefanovic goes off air again: INSIDE MAIL

In our must-read Mail+ column, Steve Jackson and Peter van Onselen reveal what’s REALLY going on in the worlds of media and politics each week.

Offers roll in for Nine Radio 

Nine Entertainment is being inundated with multimillion-dollar offers for its prized talkback radio division – with one wild rumour even suggesting the network could eventually become a family-run enterprise. 

Inside Mail can reveal Nine has received a glut of unsolicited overtures for its radio business since parent company chief Matt Stanton indicated he was looking to streamline the country’s biggest media empire earlier this year.

ARN Media boss Hamish McLennan was the first to publicly declare his interest in buying Nine Radio, which owns and operates 2GB in Sydney, 3AW in Melbourne, 4BC in Brisbane and Perth’s 6PR, in January.

However, he lamented such a purchase would require the relaxation of federal ownership laws that prevent media companies controlling more than two radio licences in any given market. 

ARN already has two of Sydney’s biggest stations: KIIS FM, headlined by breakfast show stars Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, and Gold 101.7 (formerly WSFM), home to Amanda Keller and Brendan ‘Jonesy’ Jones.

Not to worry: in the past couple of months, numerous other would-be suitors have emerged, with Nine sources revealing several significant consortiums have now formally submitted multimillion-dollar offers for the radio network to Nine’s board. 

The most attractive bid so far is understood to have come from the fledgling Australian Digital Holdings media empire, which has apparently offered in excess of $35million to take the talkback stations off Nine’s hands.

If successful, it will continue a meteoric rise for ADH, which has been bankrolled in part by billionaire former media and casino proprietor James Packer.

The company started its young life as a conservative online digital news channel after being founded by chief exec Jack Bulfin in 2021 – only to go all analogue two months ago and snap up Southern Cross Austereo’s remaining regional TV licences in Tasmania, South Australia’s Spencer Gulf, Broken Hill, Mt Isa, Darwin and vast swathes of regional Australia for $6.35million.

The stations will be overseen by the outfit’s newly appointed director of television, industry mover and shaker and former Seven News Sydney boss Jason Morrison, when the keys change hands next month.

Inside Mail revealed earlier this year that ADH had also entered into a deal with right-wing media network Newsmax to bring the firebrand U.S. cable channel to Australia.

Although Newsmax’s American boss, Christopher Ruddy, announced the venture in January – and ADH’s website now redirects to ‘Newsmax Australia’ – the Aussie offering is still to launch, with some of the proposed local hosts moving on to other projects.

Former ADH host Chris Smith looked like a shoo-in… then he ended up replacing radio legend John Laws when he announced his retirement from 2SM last November.

Newsmax had also hoped to pick up axed Sky News host Erin Molan – and they came pretty close – only for her to instead sign on to host an Elon Musk-inspired current affairs show on X known as 69 Minutes (which apparently wants to be taken seriously despite its ridiculously juvenile name).

The ADH offer to buy Nine Radio would not only significantly expand the start-up’s media footprint, it would also see Morrison make a triumphant return to 2GB’s Pyrmont studios in Sydney’s inner-west.

The veteran news hound started his journalism career in the station’s newsroom as a cadet at the tender age of 17 back in the late 80s, and went on to host the outlet’s popular drivetime show for three years before defecting to rival 2UE.

However, a deal is far from a fait accompli. 

Inside Mail’s phones have been ringing hot with speculation Morrison and the ADH team are likely to face stiff competition from a range of potential rival bidders, with big names like WIN television’s billionaire owner Bruce Gordon, Seven West Media chair Kerry Stokes, multimillionaire adman John Singleton and celebrity super agent Nick Fordham all being bandied about. 

Adding a little familial intrigue, Fordham is not only one of the savviest media operators in the country, he also happens to be the brother of Nine Radio’s biggest star, 2GB breakfast show host Ben Fordham.

Just how much of this is grounded in reality and how much is simply wishful thinking remains to be seen – but what we do know for sure is that at least four offers have been formally submitted so far, and that a few other entities (and high-wealth individuals) have been carefully kicking the radio division’s tyres of late.

And they’ve plenty of time up their sleeve. 

We hear the Nine board has deferred exploring any offers for its radio network until it has finalised the sale of its 60 per cent stake in real estate listing business Domain to U.S. property giant CoStar as part of a proposed $2.8billion deal.

Indeed, word is would-be suitors will have to wait until at least October before they receive any indication of whether their entreaties will be considered.  

Of course, by then, having cashed in on the Domain deal, there will be little pressure on Stanton to offload Nine Radio at a discount and we predict anyone hoping to pick it up for a song will be sorely disappointed. 

‘It’s all a question of market value’

There has been plenty of chatter at Nine about Today show star Karl Stefanovic‘s Fiji break with wife Jasmine and daughter Harper over the Easter long weekend.

Now… let’s clear one thing up: Ask just about anyone in at Nine’s North Sydney HQ and they’ll tell you Stefanovic is one of the hardest-working journos in the game.

When he’s not waking up before dawn to front three-and-a-half hours of live TV each morning, he’s spending his spare time fronting 60 Minutes investigations and news specials. And, as if that’s not enough, he’s itching to do even more work at Nine, including his pipe dream of hosting a weekly late-night show.

So, Stefanovic’s work ethic is not in question… the only concern among Nine’s bean counters is whether his hard yakka justifies the $2.8million he’s raking in a year.

It’s a vexed question among Nine’s execs at present as they look to re-sign the long-standing network star to a new and more, er, economical contract before his current deal expires in the second half of the year.

The expression Inside Mail keeps hearing being tossed about is ‘market value’ – as in, how much would a rival network pay to take Stefanovic off the market if Nine failed to meet his salary demands… and where would the offer come from?

There’s long been speculation Karl could well reunite with his younger brother and former Nine stablemate Peter Stefanovic over at Sky News Australia, where he is known to be good friends with the network’s boss Paul ‘Boris’ Whitaker – though whether Boris could find enough change down the back of Sky News’s couch to cover the cost is another matter altogether.

Either way, as speculation about Karl’s upcoming multimillion-dollar negotiations runs rife, almost everyone at Nine seems to be busy reading their tea leaves and brushing up on the broadcaster’s history as they try to predict which way things will go.

Indeed, several insiders have been quick to point out to us that the first Today show frontman to take a family holiday during a federal election campaign was Steve Liebmann back in 2004, when he jetted overseas with wife Di and their two sons during the race that saw Liberal Prime Minister John Howard vanquish Labor’s then-Opposition leader Mark Latham.

By the end of the year, Liebmann was out after two decades at the helm, and replaced by none other than Stefanovic… who just last month became the second Today show frontman to take a family holiday during a federal election campaign… after, you guessed it, two decades at the helm.

Whether history repeats itself is anyone’s guess (though we think not). 

Of course, Karl’s contract isn’t the only one under the microscope in at Denison St.

Peter Overton‘s $900,000 gig as Nine’s Sydney news anchor is also up for renegotiation in 2025, while Georgie Gardner‘s $600,000 deal to read the news for just two nights a week in the Harbour City (yep) will be reviewed early next year. 

And again, we just keep hearing that same phrase over and over: ‘market value’.

An editor’s job on a deputy’s salary 

The glossy pages of our nation’s tabloid magazines are always full of the best celebrity feuds, scandals and drama – and, believe it or not, some of it is even true.

Still, even the front covers of Woman’s Day and New Idea couldn’t compare to the  scandals and drama going on inside magland’s famed Park St HQ at the moment.

Two weeks ago, we revealed Are Media (formerly Bauer Media, formerly the late Kerry Packer‘s money-spinning Australian Consolidated Press) had started axing some of the company’s top magazine bosses as part of a cost-cutting purge.

New Idea editor Karleigh Smith, TV Week editor-in-chief Stephen Downie, Who Weekly associate editor Naomi Toy and the digital managing editor for Woman’s Day, New Idea and TV Week, Elizabeth Barry, were all made redundant.

Now, just a quick reminder that a redundant position is one that is no longer needed or is superfluous to the operation of the business. Which we thought was a bit odd… because, traditionally, magazines need editors, right?

But maybe that’s just some of that ‘old school’ thinking we’ve been accused of having from time to time, and editors are actually just an optional extra these days. Who’s to say?

All we know for sure is that just one week after giving some of the company’s longest-serving and highest-paid editors the chop, Are Media was out advertising for new recruits.

Including (drumroll, please) at least one deputy editor.

The listing doesn’t disclose which magazine the deputy would be working on, instead suggesting it could be any one of them (or, indeed, all of them):

‘Are Media is Australia’s leading omnichannel content company… Our brands include The Australian Women’s Weekly, Better Homes & Gardens, Woman’s Day, marie claire, TV WEEK, New Idea, Now to Love, Australian Gourmet Traveller, BEAUTY/crew and ELLE.

‘The Deputy Editor plays a key leadership role in managing editorial operations and supporting omnichannel workflows.

‘This role is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day production of the weekly print magazine, ensuring content is delivered on time, to the highest quality, and aligned with the editorial vision.’

Now, two things.

First, we suppose it is fair to say Are Media is ‘Australia’s leading omnichannel content company’… because they’re the only ones banging on with this ‘omnichannel’ drivel.

Second, the job description, which continued with more detail about the requirements of the role, sounded very much like what an editor is required to do. 

In fact, it sounded very much like what the company’s fours newly redundant editors, until very recently, once did.

Could it be Are Media made experienced, well-remunerated editors redundant one week and advertised for cheaper replacements the very next? Surely not!

Still, we thought we’d best check and fired off an email first thing Wednesday… only for Are Media to give us the cold shoulder. Funny that. 

Of course, this is the sort of thing the journalists’ union used to fire up about… you know, back when they were more worried about fighting for journos’ rights and less about trying to exert control over some back-slapping media awards night.

Magland’s dirty dossier 

But, wait, as our favourite knife salesman-turned-journo and Caloundra Walk of Stars inductee Tim Shaw would say, there’s more!

When we told you Are Media was a bit of an omnishambles earlier this month, we had no idea how omni the shambles actually were.

We received a signed, sealed and delivered dossier straight from Park St this week detailing all the various open secrets at the joint – and some of them are surely bound to become the stuff of industry legend.

First up, we’re told one of Are Media chief Jane Huxley‘s faithful lieutenants has been causing major dramas amid claims she’s been endowed with ‘too much power’.

Insiders say she’s openly referred to as ‘The Flying Monkey’ throughout Park St (though surely not when she’s around) because she reports everything back to the boss.

What’s more, she apparently visits the company mailroom several times throughout the day and gleefully notes who’s receiving what.

Legend has it that on one such trip, The Flying Monkey noticed that Marie Claire magazine had received a package from Gucci. After reporting the high-end delivery to her master, she was allegedly told to retrieve it for ‘safe keeping’ – though what became of the Gucci gift, no one knows.

Speaking of gifts, we are reliably informed the mags’ beauty editors have been told not to open incoming beauty products anymore to test them. 

Instead, they all have to go to the company’s internal ‘beauty sale’ where they can be purchased by fellow employees at a knocked-down price.

The Flying Monkey, we’re told, frequently trawls the floors with a trolley calling out, ‘Anything for the beauty sale?’ while eyeing off staff members’ desks.

All proceeds from the sales are said to go to charity – which sounds noble enough. 

Still, we couldn’t help but think the magazines’ beauty product reviews were kind of, you know, ‘redundant’ if the magazines hadn’t actually reviewed the beauty products in question. 

But Are Media didn’t want to answer our question about this either.  

And the package policy doesn’t stop at beauty products. 

We’re told there’s also a new company edict that Are Media staff have to declare anything they’ve been sent that has a monetary value of more than $200.

Management then apparently decides whether or not staff get to keep the gift like some sort of corporate Father Christmas.

As if that’s not enough, unimpressed Park St insiders tell us they are one step away from being forced to ask their benevolent editorial overlords for permission to go to the toilet – and that they now have to beg for formal approval to leave the magazine building during office hours.

And, yes, you had better believe there’s a form for that.

We’re told those seeking to be unshackled from their desk to attend a daytime work event have to plead their case to managers by addressing the following criteria:

What is your reason for wanting to go? Is there an opportunity to turn attendance into commercial dollars? How much will the taxi cost? Time required in business hours?

Once again, Are Media didn’t want to comment when asked about this policy. 

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom in at Park St – the top brass at Are Media have also been imbuing their underlings with invaluable life hacks, we’re told.

One particularly useful tip came after staff were informed they needed to return to the office at least four days a week – no exceptions – upsetting a host of work-from-home mums at the company.

Fear not: Are Media’s director of content, Sally Eagle, apparently had some helpful advice on how to achieve the perfect work-life balance: ‘Just get organised!’

‘I’m a mum of four and I get up at 4am every day,’ she announced at one of the company’s ‘town hall’ meetings, according to our sources.

Inspiring stuff.

Young Liberal’s candid camera moment

A few weeks ago, we brought news to you of the eyebrow-raising antics of Young Liberals rising star Georgia Lowden.

The media adviser to Senator Dave Sharma was game enough to give us a fulsome response when we asked about the wisdom of posing in a Labor T-shirt at a party.

And it seems we are not the only ones to be on the receiving end of her openness.

On a stateside trip ahead of Donald Trump‘s landslide election last year, she was buttonholed by American satirist Lionel McGloin, whose schtick is to pose as a news reporter while tricking his gullible interviewees into guileless answers.

Wearing a ‘Harris 2024 Save Democracy’ tee – an odd choice for the head of Young Liberals NSW, but then she’s got form in that regard – Ms Lowden gave as good as she got when asked: ‘Who’s more attractive: working-class guys or upper-class guys?’

‘Both,’ she responded after a brief pause. ‘You can’t make me choose!’

Asked whom she would prefer to marry, Ms Lowden gave an answer that would make most Aussies proud.

‘Tradies get the ladies, so working class!’ she quipped.

Who said Liberals are snobs?

Sharaz a thorn in the government’s side… again

Brittany Higgins‘ husband David Sharaz might have copped criticism he was doing Labor’s bidding in the countdown to the 2022 election, but nobody could accuse him of doing the same this time around.

Back in Australia after a sojourn in France, the new father is now working for a PR company that recently helped draw attention to the lack of federal funding and support for people with stomas: a surgically created opening in the abdomen that allows bodily waste to be removed into a small bag.

More than 1,000 sufferers wrote to health minister Mark Butler asking for help last November and they didn’t even get a reply. Nothing, nada, zero.

We can reveal that once journalists started making enquires in response to agitating by Sharaz and Co., Butler’s office was suddenly interested in the issue (surprise, surprise) and all but begging those prepared to give critical quotes not to do so.

We assume the health minister’s staff agreed it wasn’t a great look having a story hit the headlines about their boss (and close Albo confidant) failing to respond to calls for help while the PM is busy on the campaign trail flashing his Medicare card around at anyone with a camera as if he’s some sort of saviour of the health system.

The Greens go raving mad

Reports the WA Greens were planning a late-night rave on Anzac Day drew swift criticism, for obvious reasons.

The backlash was so fierce that within hours the Greens had backflipped and cancelled the event.

You don’t often see the hard-left minor party give in to ‘mainstream’ outrage. Perhaps offending veterans was a bridge too far, even for them.

However, when it comes to Christians, not so much.

Their leader, Adam Bandt, is slated to headline a midnight rave in Melbourne later this week – on Good Friday, to be exact.

The invitation confirms they plan to keep it hush-hush, and Bandt’s headline act also doesn’t appear on the website for the Chapel St nightclub either from what we could see.

For the uninitiated, Good Friday is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death (thanks, Wikipedia).

Evidently, the Greens are more concerned about backlash from Anzac Day worshippers than Christians – who make up almost 44 per cent of our population, per the 2021 census.

At any rate, Bandt’s DJ skills at least give him something in common with our DJing PM Anthony Albanese.

It might even be a way for them to bond as they discuss Bandt’s wishlist of policies in the event the Greens support a Labor minority government after the election.

Truth about gravity-defying ratings 

Speaking of record spinning, Seven News boss Anthony De Ceglie and his Nine News counterpart, Fiona Dear, have both been busy spruiking the sensational success of their respective 6pm bulletins this week.

In fact, according to a story in The Australian on Monday, ‘the good news for broadcasters is that the evening bulletins have reversed the trend of declining free-to-air TV audiences, with the numbers up year on year, and some of the best ratings figures since 2022.’

‘In a time of world economic volatility, increasing natural disasters and political uncertainly, the increasing number of viewers for both 7News and 9News is further proof of the enduring strength of free-to-air news,’ De Ceglie opined.  

His boasts were then backed up by revelations Seven’s prime-time bulletins had attracted 836,592 viewers on average across the critical five-city metro market for the first 13 weeks of the ratings year, while Nine’s rival offering had pulled in 829,511. 

But hang on just a second…

That’s an odd humble brag from De Ceglie… because when Seven News claimed the ratings year in September 2023, it was attracting 873,000 viewers across the capital cities at 6pm compared to Nine’s 760,000… and that’s according to the network’s own press release (yes, we do read them).

That would mean Seven’s 6pm bulletins are actually down almost 40,000 viewers on average since De Ceglie and his ‘news in nappies’ line-up of child bosses took over from predecessor Craig McPherson… while Nine’s are up about 70,000 under Dear since she replaced former boss Darren Wick.

Like, we get why Dear would be bragging… but De Ceglie?!? What the actual…?

Indeed, the twist in fortunes was so pronounced, we punched the numbers several times in disbelief… before ultimately checking in with Nine’s chief ratings-watcher to see whether our maths could possibly be right, only for him to assure us: ‘Yes – that is all correct.’

In further bad news for Seven News’ hard-working journos, the network also looks destined to lose the five-city metro ratings for the first time in almost a decade this year, breaking McPherson’s unbeaten record in the timeslot while in the top job.

Little wonder Seven West Media’s omniscient chairman Kerry Stokes still considers McPherson ‘the best’ in the business.

Of course, full kudos to Dear. Many predicted the Nine News boss wouldn’t see it through the summer holidays given all the hurly burly of last year… but see it through she has and now it looks like she’s on the cusp of an historic ratings victory.

De Ceglie, meanwhile, has joined the short list of senior news execs who have decided it’s a good idea to have a bit of a getaway in the middle of the federal election campaign. 

We honestly don’t blame him for wanting to get out of Sydney for a bit over the holidays – besides, we hear the Margaret River is nice this time of year.

Hayes brings Zonfrillo widow scoop to Seven 

On the subject of news shows, we’re pleased to note the team at Seven are studiously reading Inside Mail and taking notes.

In February, we revealed former Nine presenter Liz Hayes had conducted ‘an extraordinary, unaired 60 Minutes interview with late celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo and his wife Lauren Fried’ five years ago.

We explained that former Nine chief ‘Hollywood’ Hugh Marks had permanently shelved the story, however, because Zonfrillo was on MasterChef at the time, and the Ten cooking contest was in a fierce battle for eyeballs against 60 Minutes.

Fast forward two months and we’ve learned Seven’s Spotlight has picked up on the idea and that Hayes, who is now a freelancer, is ‘midway through’ shooting a ‘guest story’ with Fried, which we understand will be broadcast the night after the election.

With Spotlight desperately needing to win every ratings outing they can, we’re glad to see they’ve been paying attention.

They should try doing a story on artificial intelligence next… oh wait, scrap that. That actually sounds a bit boring.

You get a debate! You get a debate! You get a debate! 

Inside Mail last week speculated that Seven had the edge in the race to lock down the final debate between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition leader Peter Dutton before the nation went to the ballot boxes on May 3.

We revealed Seven had been confident of winning the fight for the leadership face-off, with Albo particularly keen to tap into the network’s key Western Australian audience.

However, ultimately, we decided the contest was too close to call with the PM unlikely to want to alienate Nine by overlooking them entirely in favour of Seven.

And we were right… sort of.

In the end, Albo and Dutton agreed to do both – in the process checking off all the major broadcasters following their earlier appearances on Sky News and the ABC.

Nine will now host its debate next Tuesday, to be moderated by A Current Affair star Allison Langdon, before Seven’s respected political editor Mark Riley hosts the leaders’ fourth and final stoush the Sunday before the election, on April 27.

It remains to be seen whether they’ll have anything left to say to each other by then.

Still, we hear Riley worked tirelessly behind the scenes to secure what is likely to be the highest-rating debate given its proximity to polling day, while network guru Ray Kuka has been charged with turning it into a major event television – so expect fireworks!

Albo spreads it on thick 

In one of the few genuinely funny moments on the campaign trail this week, Albo weighed in on a Vegemite scandal (!?) from Canada (!?)

You probably could’ve got pretty long odds on those two playing a role in the election.

It came about because Canadian authorities tried to ban and seize a large stockpile of imported Vegemite set to be used by expat restaurant owner Leighton Walters whose Toronto café serves the iconic Aussie spread.

The details of the ban aren’t interesting. Nor was Albo’s glib defence of the food staple staying on the menu when he said: ‘I stand with the Aussie café owner.’

I mean, who the hell cares? 

The real story came when Albo tried to add flavour to his remarks by telling reporters: ‘I actually put a lot of Vegemite on my toast.’

How interesting. But, of course, any self-respecting Vegemite eater will tell you there is a right and a wrong way to serve the yeasty spread on toast.

And putting ‘a lot’ on is widely regarded as wrong. Both the everyman and the true gourmand agree less is more when it comes to Vegemite.

Voters are swayed by the most minor of transgressions. Will Albo admitting he’s one of those crazy people who spread Vegemite a centimetre thick on his toast each morning put people off?

Stranger things have happened.

Allegra’s election kick-off 

Eastern suburbs Teal MP Allegra Spender was looking less well-heeled than usual while out and about campaigning in Sydney’s affluent Double Bay on Monday.

Inside Mail spotted the member for Malcolm Turnbull‘s old seat of Wentworth pressing the flesh by the tree-lined locale’s ferry terminal about 7.30am as the neighbourhood’s city-bound workers made their morning commute.

After chatting politics with one potential voter, she kicked his dog’s tennis ball for it to chase – only for one of her cream-coloured Mary Janes to going flying along with it.

Fortunately, the pooch only had eyes for the ball and Spender soon regained her trademark composure… and wayward shoe. 

Daily Mail readers are an optimistic bunch

On Wednesday, Daily Mail Australia’s exclusive Ipsos poll revealed that Peter Dutton is more unpopular than Albo, and voters assume Labor will win the next election despite a majority of those polled also saying they think Australia is heading in the wrong direction.

Next week, there will be another exclusive poll with further information – so stay tuned!

But something that we didn’t report earlier this week as part of the poll was that when voters were asked to register their satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the respective leaders, we also broke those figures down to just Daily Mail Australia readers.

And guess what? You lot are more generous to both leaders than the rest of the voting public are. Albo was given a net satisfaction rating of minus four overall, but our readers were more generous than that, giving him a positive rating of seven: 42 per cent satisfied, 35 per cent dissatisfied.

While Dutton was given a lowly minus 20 net satisfaction rating by the wider public, according to Ipsos, Daily Mail readers have him a less embarrassing minus 10: 32 per cent satisfied, 42 per cent dissatisfied.

So give yourselves a collective pat on the back for being glass-half-full when it comes to the clown show that represents us in parliament.

As Willie Nelson once said: ‘Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.’

• Additional reporting by Jo Scrimshire