In this week’s column, a popular magazine gets new editors, an MP hits the ICAC’s effect on press freedom, and a hunt for the subjects of a mysterious photo uncovers a great yarn.

New editors for Hills magazine

The Adelaide Hills Magazine has lost its long-term editor Max Anderson.

Anderson has resigned after a successful run with the magazine, which won numerous awards under his editorship including a Walkley for journalist Nigel Hopkin’s piece from inside the Inverbrackie detention centre.

The editorship will be taken in-house by publisher Free Run Press, with Anthony Madigan and Sky Harrison sharing duties on the quarterly glossy. Harrison will continue editing Aspire South Australia, and Madigan will continue duties in charge of wine business magazine WBM.

Anderson leaves without any animosity – in fact, he’ll keep writing for the magazine.

“I took on editing the magazine after the third issue,” he said. “It’s a pretty substantial publication and, as I said to Anthony Madigan in April , after six years I was simply running out of steam.

“The team at Free Run has been associated with the magazine’s production from the start and they know it inside out. AHM is in great hands and I’ll be happy to continue writing for it.”

Southern Cross Austereo’s annus horribilus

Adelaide ratings out this week reveal the winners and loser in a brutal battle for radio listeners over the past 12 months.

It’s been a time of change, with FIVEaa bedding in a new breakfast team, Triple M switching its drive team to breakfasts, changes to the roster at Mix, and a transformation of SAFM into hit107.

A review of ratings over the past 12 months show positive results for ABC 891, Cruise, FIVEaa and Triple J.

Mix has come off the boil, although it has managed to retain its spot as number one Adelaide station.

For Southern Cross Austereo, however, the story is getting ugly.

SCA’s two Adelaide stations – Triple M and hit107 – are both heading in the wrong direction, despite numerous changes.

Early last year, Triple M was on the upswing, even challenging FIVEaa in the sports drive segment.

It swiched its successful drive team of Mark Ricciuto and Chris Dittmar to breakfasts – a move which hasn’t been greatly successful. Compared to the same survey period last year, the breakfast team is pulling virtually the same share and is in fifth place, only marginally ahead of Triple J.

In drive, the male-oriented rock station has slipped. In the corresponding survey period last year, Roo and Ditts were in front of FIVEaa and coming third in the shift with 11.5 per cent of listeners. This year, in the wake of Andrew Jarman’s crude on-air outburst, Triple M drive – now anchored by “Jars” and Dale Lewis – is pulling 8.4 per cent of listeners and languishing in sixth place, well behind FIVEaa and even being eclipsed by Triple J.

The performance of hit107 would be of even greater concern to SCA. The station was rebranded from the old SAFM call sign in spring after management decided the venerable brand had lost its zing.

But the rebrand has failed to make any impact – in fact ratings are sinking. Hit’s overall share is now 6 per cent – a full percentage point below SAFM’s share in the equivalent period last year.

More concerningly, the key breakfast shift is tanking. Last year, SAFM’s breakfast team pulled 6.5 per cent of listeners, which was a poor result for a commercial FM station. In the equivalent shift this year, hit107’s breakfast show is reaching just 5.3 per cent of listeners.

A slight glitch

Maybe it’s akin to a builder’s house being the worst on the street, but journalists can be notoriously bad at communicating.

Last Saturday night’s SA Media Awards were chugging along without too many glitches, until the time came to announce the big award of the evening – the Gold Award for journalist of the year.

Media Alliance branch secretary Angelique Ivanica was left in an awkward spot when, after a big build-up to the announcement, there was no envelope to be found on the podium.

After several plaintive cries (“Where’s the parchment!?”) went unheeded, she rushed off while the DJ cranked up the tunes.

A few minutes later and they had sorted themselves out.

The award eventually went to The Advertiser’s state political editor Daniel Wills.

Go here for the full list of winners.

Political correctness gone mad

It’s an enduring puzzle of the modern media that it is full of people lamenting the censorious hand of political correctness while simultaneously transgressing said PC rules.

And so it was this week when Cabaret Festival director Barry Humphries enjoyed a week of wall-to-wall media coverage in Adelaide.

Humphries repeatedly stated this week that political correctness is dampening free speech.

“You can’t really now describe the world as it is,” he lamented to ABC 891 this morning.

Earlier in the week, the theme was part of his rollicking appearance at the SA Press Club.

Humphries first acknowledged the traditional owners of the land (“the Polites family”) and then expressed regret that a comedian is no longer ‘allowed’ to portray people from other cultures and races.

Finally he was asked this question by Channel 7 reporter Andrea Nicholas, referring to Michael Parkinson’s 1982 interview with Humphries character Sir Les Patterson: “You were saying in your speech how you can’t call things what they are any more. Back then Sir Les said that the arts and the film industry were run by a ‘poofter mafia’ – his words not mine. Do you think that he would stand by those remarks these days?”

“I would,” Humphries responded. “They do rather a good job don’t they?”

Everyone laughed, uproariously. So much for the dead hand of political correctness.

Best brands for advertising

Roy Morgan Research and industry publication AdNews have released their annual report on Australia’s media and advertising industry.

The report shows which media brands that buyers, planners and marketers believe are the best for “audience delivery, targeting, and relationship building”.

The category winners will make many media organisations wince with jealousy:

Television: Seven Network
Magazine: Australian Women’s Weekly
Newspaper: Sydney Morning Herald
Online: Google
Outdoor: oOh! Media
Radio: Nova

Google, recently described by News Corp editorial director Campbell Reid as a conduit of evil, came out in front as “the most highly rated media company for professionalism, media knowledge, innovation, negotiation and collaboration”.

Naughty corner

A South Australian politician has finally taken the opportunity afforded by Parliamentary privilege to point out the concerning impact of the ICAC on press freedom in this state.

Liberal MLC Rob Lucas told Parliament on Wednesday that the ICAC had been investigating leaks from within government to journalists and MPs. He knew this first-hand because ICAC investigators came knocking on his door (he “politely” told them to “get nicked”).

“Many of us who supported the ICAC supported it on the basis that, essentially, it was there to root out corruption — I guess corruption in the form that most of us in everyday terms understood it. I guess many of us did not expect that the government would seek to use the ICAC in a very significant way to try and suppress the leaking of information which was embarrassing to the government and to ministers.

Above the bar in Rundle Street’s Exeter Hotel is a striking black and white photo of seven lads. They’re clearly standing outside the Exeter – but in a long-gone era: a ripped newspaper in the gutter; hand-painted signage attached to the shops down Rundle Street.

Veteran Adelaide journalist Lance Campbell was justifiably curious – each face is a fine-graded portrait of youth.

He embarked on an 18-month search for the boys in the photo, with little to start with apart from the name of the publican above the doors of the pub.

The result of his investigation uncovered mysteries, tragedies and one spectacular coincidence.

He’s written an article about his search for the lost boys in the June edition of SA Life magazine. Go and buy it – it’s a ripper.

Media Week is published on Fridays.