‘We’re not in fear’: Sarah Ferguson unfazed by Murdoch backlash after Fox News special and says more to come

The ABC reporter Sarah Ferguson swears she is “not in fear” of the backlash to her Four Corners report and promises “fun times ahead” when episode two of her expose of Fox News airs on Monday.

If the response from the Murdoch press to the first episode is any indication – there were 45 stories published across the media mogul’s local newspapers – Aunty should prepare for a second full-scale attack from News Corp Australia next week.

News’ most strident mouthpiece, Andrew Bolt, said the program Fox and the Big Lie showed that the ABC is biased and “obsessed with Murdoch, and especially with his Fox News and Sky News”. But Ferguson defends the choice of topic, saying “there are fewer more important stories to look at in America right now”.

“I just say this … episode one was good, episode two really heats up,” the Washington correspondent told broadcaster Virginia Trioli on ABC Radio on Thursday.

“Episode one was kind of laying out the landscape for how Fox got to this point. Episode two is where [we examine] the big lawsuits that are now under way in America against Fox for their [alleged] role in spreading ‘the big lie’.”

After days of criticism across all News mastheads – which the company says was not coordinated – and a legal threat from Fox News, Ferguson remains unfazed.

“We’re not in fear of anything,” she said.

“I rest very comfortably knowing this is very important … to attack Four Corners and the brave editorial stance of [executive producer] Sally Neighbour just seems to be way off the mark.”

Preemptive strike

Based only on a Four Corners promo, Fox News’ general counsel threatened legal action against the ABC on Monday, hours before the broadcast. The preemptive strike was accompanied by the publication in the Australian of Chris Kenny’s attack piece written before he had seen the program.

Dozens of articles later – from writers including Kenny, Bolt, Sophie Elsworth, James Madden, Miranda Devine, Gerard Henderson, Rita Panahi, Tim Blair and James Morrow – News Corp insisted there was no corporate plan to attack the ABC.

“What has happened is that the editors and journalists who watched the program chose to report and comment on its bias and obvious failings as a piece of serious journalism,” a spokesperson said.

The ABC revealed Fox News had been furnished with a detailed outline of the proposed program early and asked repeatedly to participate.

“Despite the decision not to participate in interviews, communication between Four Corners and Fox was extensive throughout the preparation of the story,” the ABC said.

“Fox was very helpful in providing footage and background briefings on material, including up to the night the program was being finished.”

Meanwhile Bolt has defended the empire’s right to be right wing.

“The Murdoch media, being privately owned, is entitled to be Right-wing, just as other privately owned outlets like the Guardian, Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Channel 10 are entitled to be Left-wing,” he wrote.

“But the ABC cannot accept this.”

An apology to Hannah Gadsby

The Advocate newspaper, owned by Australian Community Media, has apologised for historic homophobia in north-western Tasmania in a heartfelt editorial paying tribute to the Smithton-born comedian Hannah Gadsby, who received her honorary doctorate from the University of Tasmania this month.

“Our hearts burst as we saw her resonate with people all over the world with the release of her two Netflix specials, as she stood up with courage and grace for those who were marginalised, lonely and different,” the Advocate said.

“Our hearts sank as we realised that the many instances of homophobia, misunderstandings and bullying that became prime fodder for her comedy happened right here, among us.

“Just as Ms Gadsby is both proud and saddened by her experiences in her home town, perhaps we too can be both proud of the amazing achievement of one of our own, and sorry for the way she was treated while she was here.”

Media Watch leaves Janine Perrett impressed

After a three-week break to repair a broken hand and pelvis after being knocked off his bike by a car Paul Barry will return to the Media Watch chair on Monday.

The journalist who replaced Barry for two of those weeks, Janine Perrett, has given a fascinating insight into the way Media Watch and her former employer Sky News operates.

Perrett, who has been roundly applauded for her performance on the show Barry has hosted since 2013, was impressed by the rigorous factchecking and the lack of an agenda she found at the media program.

“I guess I’d sum it up as saying there is no agenda,” the former Nine and Sky broadcaster told TV Tonight. “People will never believe that. But watching it first-hand, it confirmed what I thought. They don’t have an agenda for anyone. Everybody is fair game. But fair is the word.”

Although she worked at Sky News Australia, Perrett says she was never part of the anti-ABC mob. “In fact, I used to say to certain people there that they suffered ABC-derangement-syndrome,” Perret said. “It was that bad. And sure, Media Watch is critical about the ABC where it’s wrong. That’s not to say everybody is perfect all the time.

“I always found it ironic that the biggest critics of Media Watch at Sky were the ones who put their hand up for the job if they thought it was available!” I wonder if she’s referring to Kenny who went so far as to offer to host when Barry was in hospital?

Pandemic opinions heat up

Regional newspapers in New South Wales and Victoria are coming out with arresting front covers and moving editorials as the coronavirus hits local populations hard.

As government data revealed Wilcannia is now the hardest hit area in NSW for Covid cases per head of population, the local paper The Barrier Truth declared on its front page that Wilcannia had been “abandoned”.

The paper took aim at deputy premier, John Barilaro, who was forced to apologise after comparing a funeral in Wilcannia – attended by about 300 people in compliance with the health orders at the time – to “the 16 dickheads in Maroubra” who spread Covid after having a party.

“It is not, as rumours suggest, the fault of the Indigenous people of Wilcannia, who for 18 months have been pleading for protection from the pandemic we all knew was coming,” the front page editorial said.

“That those false rumours have been given oxygen by the very politicians who have so failed the people of Wilcannia is a disgrace.”

The Shepparton News carried messages of support from leaders Scott Morrison, Anthony Albanese and Daniel Andrews and South Sudanese-born Australian professional footballer Alou Koul.

But not everyone was complimentary about the front page.

The Indigenous rapper Briggs, AKA Adam Briggs, a Yorta Yorta man from regional Victoria, called the paper out for its lack of representation.

“Shepparton has the largest Indigenous population in Victoria,” he said on Twitter. “How’s our representation on the front page of today’s paper?”

Shoulders tapped at the Australian

Seniority and performance it would seem are not enough to protect you when it comes to forced redundancies at the Australian.

Days after News Corp recorded record profits, marquee business columnist John Durie was informed over a Zoom call that his time on the paper was over. Sources say the call did not go well and Durie has since confirmed that “the timing was not mine”.

A former Australian Financial Review Chanticleer columnist, Durie covered the 1987 share market crash and the 2000 dotcom bust for the paper with distinction from 1999 to 2007 and later went on to join News Corp where he was a star attraction.

The Australian has been routinely tapping people on the shoulder for almost 10 years as it seeks to cut costs in its ever-shrinking newsroom. In the latest round at least 14 people departed, including the last of the staff photographers, Aaron Francis.