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Packer’s Nine now stone cold dead

By DOUGLAS FERGUSON
The author of “Who Killed Channel 9? The death of Kerry Packer’s mighty TV dream machine” is Gerald Louis Stone (pictured), an American born journalist. After migrating to Australia in 1962, he worked in news and current affairs, in both the print and broadcast mediums and both public and commercial enterprises.

Stone worked for two Packer organisations. He was the Nine Network’s News Director from 1974 -1976, Documentary Special Unit Producer (1976-1978), Executive Producer of 60 Minutes (1978-1989) and Australian Consolidated Press’s Editor-in-Chief of The Bulletin from 1995-1998.

Stone is a Non-Executive Director and Deputy Chairman of the Special Broadcasting Service. He is in the tenth year of his second five year appointment to that position.

The book was launched at 3pm on the 27th June 2007. The publisher is Pan Macmillan Australia of Market Street, Sydney. There was100,000 copies of the book printed, which was the largest print run for a non fiction title. It sold for $45.00 in hard copy. It has sold approximately 85,000 copies and is still available as a trade paperback from Pan Macmillan for $35.00.

It was released 18 months after the death of Kerry Packer and his son James Packer assumed control of Publishing and Broadcasting Pty Ltd (PBL Media); eight months after James Packer had sold 50 per cent of PBL Media to the private equity company CVC Asia; and less than one month after James Packer sold a further 25 per cent of a restructured PBL Media to CVC Asia.

It was published after a period of instability within the management of the Kerry Packer owned companies and continuing instability in the James Packer, CVC Asia owned entity. There were news reports indicating conflicts of direction within the companies between Kerry Packer and his son. It was believed that Kerry Packer had a deep affection for the television arm of his company, preferring ratings over profits and wanting it to maintain the Nine Network’s prestigious position in the market. It was believed James wanted the television component of the company to be treated like any other part, needing a feasible business model to produce profits.

The book also appeared to pinpoint a transformative moment in the media landscape that had been underway for more than a decade. Packer’s television network had been the most successful and aggressive in Australia but in the 1990’s audiences for television had been falling, threatening the flow of advertising revenue. There was a proliferation of media devices as alternative sources of information and entertainment became available to the public. Media enterprises had to respond to this changed environment to remain profitable. It was within that context the father and son management conflict existed and permeated the daily functions of the company.

The book’s contents expose the brutal corporate battle that occurred within the Packer-owned companies in the final years of his life and immediately after his death. There is devious, calculating and treacherous behaviour on display by different levels of management and by some of the most powerful people within the companies.

“Who Killed Channel 9?” reminisces about the Nine Network’s history, harking back to an era it refers to as “The Golden Age”, a period covering the late 1970’s through to the mid 1990’s. Stone recounts that this was a time where Packer would fund projects like the current affairs programme 60 Minutes with the simple and direct instruction;

“I don’t give a fuck what it takes…Just do it and get it right.”

The story is set against the backdrop of Kerry Packer’s health problems, in particular his severe heart and renal failures. It is in that context that John Alexander was appointed to the position of Head of PBL Media, with control of the television and magazine sectors, and David Leckie was dismissed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Nine Network.

The book is written as a narrative. The characters have their place within the story and are clearly defined in roles of good and evil. The former Chief Executive Officer from “The Golden Age” of the Nine Network is the “legendary” Sam Chisholm. The two producers of the successful reality renovations show “The Block” are the “brilliant” Julian Cress and David Barbour while John Alexander is “cruel” and “double-crossing” in his goal of overturning a culture and reducing costs; John Lyons is his “apparatchik” within Channel 9.

Revelations in the book start on page one with the quote from Kerry Packer on his death bed. His son James, who had just returned from holidaying in the Maldives to be with his father, said his farewells then left the room. Kerry was eased into unconsciousness by doctors. That was the morning of Boxing Day 2005. Stone quotes Packer as coming to and saying;

“Am I still here? How fucking long is this going to take?”

I asked Stone about the credibility of the quote and he told me;

“I’m quite confident in the sourcing. It came from one source who was in a position to know, was confirmed by another a la Watergate, by amazement that I had it, and has never been questioned or refuted by the Packer family.”

Other revelations that have never been disputed include John Alexander negotiating and signing Jana Wendt, in November 2002, to be the host of the Sunday programme, without the knowledge of the Nine Network’s Head of News and Current Affairs, Peter Meakin.

In the same month and year, John Alexander starting talking with the Seven Network’s David Koch to replace the Nine Network’s business reporter Michael Pascoe, again without the knowledge of Peter Meakin. Stone says Koch broke off negotiations because he couldn’t stomach how Alexander treated with contempt Pascoe’s reputation and performance.

In the Spring of 2002, John Alexander introduced Susan Bower to Kerry Packer with the aim of her replacing the Head of Drama, Kris Noble. Stone says Bower, a relatively junior producer on the successful series McLeod’s Daughters, came to Alexander’s attention because she was in a meditation class with his wife, Alice Pagliano. Alexander took this action without the knowledge of the Nine Network’s interim Chief Executive Officer, Ian Johnson, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, David Gyngell and Programme Director, John Stephens.

The revelations in the book about John Alexander give a strong sense of a one sided story. Quotes and information about Alexander seem to come from a secondary source. I asked Gerald Stone if he had interviewed John Alexander for “Who Killed Channel 9?” He told me;

“I didn’t seek an interview with JA (John Alexander) for these reasons. Most of the people I spoke to had a story about what they saw as his behavior or attitude towards them. That was their perspective and nothing he could say could possibly change that. In terms of the quotes attributed to him, they were usually confirmed by more than one source or fitted into a modus operandi described by more than one source.”

In a section of the book that details a court action taken by PBL Media against the former Head of News and Current Affairs Mark Llewellyn for breach of contract, Llewellyn’s sworn affidavit at the court hearing in June 2006, details a number of conversations between Llewellyn and John Alexander. While the claims were never tested in court, Stone says of the quotes in the book attributed to John Alexander;

“In the only case that his alleged words could be considered defamatory of him – the Mark Llewellyn affidavit, they were sworn testimony and never refuted by him.”

Stone also points to one of the perils of publishing as a reason for not interviewing John Alexander.

“There was also a potential problem I had to deal with all through the writing –the strong possibility of attracting an injunction simply as a nuisance action (that) the PBL executives could well afford. I did not want to alert them to the content unless I felt it absolutely necessary on grounds of fairness, which did occur in several cases I don’t care to elaborate on.”

There was a significant legal issue associated with the book involving the former Executive Producer of the Nine Network’s Sunday Program, John Lyons and the former Chairman of the NRMA board, Nicholas Whitlam. Lyons had interviewed Whitlam for the Sunday Programme and the interview won Lyons a Walkley Award for Broadcast Interview in 2001. Of that interview, Stone accuses Lyons of;

“…one of the worst examples of unfair reporting that I have seen in my 25 years in television.”

Stone detailed how one of Whitlam’s answers had been edited and taken out of context and without his stated caveats. Media reports immediately after the publication of “Who Killed Channel 9?” claimed Lyons believed he had been defamed and was threatening legal action. Lyons is reported as saying of Stone;

“… he hasn’t bothered to make a phone call. Don’t you at least think that he should have telephoned to ask me about the editing of it?”

There were also reports that investigative journalist, Chris Masters, had examined the unedited tapes, at Lyons request, and that he did not see any problems with how the story was edited. This was contested by the first Executive Producer of the Sunday, Allan Hogan, who wrote a letter to The Australian newspaper on the 2nd July, 2007 saying;

“Any reasonable person who examines the full transcript of Lyons’s interview with Mr Whitlam and compares it with what went to air, would have to agree with Stone’s description of it as unfair reporting. By unethically editing Mr Whitlam’s answers, Lyons falsely represented Mr Whitlam as a liar.”

On the same day, there were reports that PBL Media had a confidential settlement, out of court, over defamation action taken by Nicholas Whitlam because of the interview. On his official web site, Nicolas Whitlam uses Gerald Stone’s words from “Who Killed Channel 9?” to describe the “invented” interview and says that the defamation action was settled in February 2007, five months before the book was launched.

With this in mind, I asked Gerald Stone why he thought Lyons did not continue with his defamation threat to Stone. He answered;

“It would be wrong for me to guess why he didn’t sue. I could say because he knew he couldn’t succeed but that’s not necessarily true – he might just as well have felt it wasn’t worth the time and effort. He did have a lawyer send a couple of warning letters but didn’t pursue these. All I can say is that as a senior producer I have encountered numerous such examples of faulty and/or misleading editing and wouldn’t expect my reporter to argue with me about my direction to correct them – fair reportage is fair reportage.”

Stone said he was scared “Who killed Channel 9?” would be seen as a drama, a book of conflict between father and son and not a book about the media, the Packer dynasty and their place in Australian history.

I think it is both. By his use of narrative and strongly contrasting characters there is a thriller element to the story. Myth and nostalgia are embraced by fact and investigation.

The shortcomings of the book stem from Stone’s obvious affection for Kerry Packer. He said the book’s title referred to the spiritual death of Channel 9, the death of the passion of Kerry Packer.

However, there is enough evidence in the book to suggest that Packer was also complicit in the management upheaval and instability at the Nine Network. He sacked David Leckie, he hired John Alexander, he accepted Peter Meakin’s resignation and sanctioned deep staff cuts. Yet Packer is not treated as a villain in the narrative but as an extraordinary character, the silverback of his generation, a man to be admired.

This bias undermines the journalistic credibility of the book. In Stone’s own words, fair reportage is fair reportage and the death of Kerry Packer’s dream machine should have included more acknowledgement of the self harm that was inflicted.

Bibliography:

Affidavit of Mark John Llewellyn 23rd June 2006. 2006. Supreme Court of NSW. http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/aff21.pdf

Eddie ends bid to keep talks secret. 2006. Brad Norington and Jennifer Sexton. The Weekend Australian 1st July, 2006. http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;db=;group=;holdingType=;id=;orderBy=;page=;query=AuthorId%3A008QR%7CSpeakerId%3A008QR%7CReporterId%3A008QR%20SearchCategory_Phrase%3A%22media%22%20Author_Phrase%3A%22sexton,%20jennifer%22;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=

Fear and Loathing at the station Kerry built. 2007. Patrick Carlyon. Sydney Morning Herald, Business Day 29th June, 2009. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/28/1182624083183.html

Kerry Packer wanted son ‘boned’. 2007. Jane Schulze. Perth Now 28th June, 2007. http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/kerry-packer-wanted-son-boned/story-e6frg12c-1111113850858

Newlywed Packer rides out media storm with polo. 2007. Brad Norington and Peter Wilson. The Daily Telegraph 3rd July, 2007. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/newlywed-packer-rides-out-media-storm-with-polo/story-e6frez7r-1111113874651?from=public_rss

Nine in Whitlam payout: author. 2007. Brad Norington. The Australian 2nd July, 2007. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/nine-in-whitlam-payout-author/story-e6frg6nf-1111113866452

SBS Corporate. 2010. Gerald Stone – Non-executive Director and Deputy Chairman http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/aboutus/team/detail/id/332

Stone, G. 2010. Email interview with author. 21st May 2010. glstone@bigpond.net.au

Stone, G. 2007. Interview on Sunrise 15th July 2007. The Seven Network. http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;db=;group=;holdingType=;id=;orderBy=customrank;page=2;query=Content%3A%22gerald%20stone%22%20Dataset%3Apressclp,emms,radioprm,tvprog;querytype=;rec=4;resCount=Default

Gerald Stone. 2007. ABC 3rd July, 2007. http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/conversations/stories/s1968792.htm?sydney

The Packer toll. 2007. Margaret Simons. Australian Book Review November 2007. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~abr/Current/nov07simonsreview.htm

The poison, the pay cuts and the plan to sack Jessica Rowe. 2006. Lisa Murray. Sydney Morning Herald 1st July, 2006. http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/poison-pay-cuts-and-the-plan-to-sack-jessica-rowe/2006/06/30/1151174401419.html

Weir, J. 2010. Email interview with Jessica Weir, employee of Pan Macmillan Publishers. 19th May, 2010. Jessica.Weir@macmillan.com.au

Whitlam, N. 2010. Nicholas Whitlam the official site. NRMA Litigation. http://www.whitlam.com.au/news.htm

Who Killed Channel 9? Gerald Stone. 2010. Pan Macmillan Australia 18th May, 2010. http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/display_title.asp?ISBN=9781405038157&Author=Stone,%20Gerald

Who Killed Channel 9?. 2007. Matthew Ricketson. The Age 17th July, 2007. http://www.theage.com.au/news/book-reviews/who-killed-channel-9/2007/07/17/1184559776834.html

Who Killed Channel 9?. 2007. Ben Hills. Sydney Morning Herald 13th July, 2007. http://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/who-killed-channel-9/2007/07/13/1183833758824.html

Why is Chris Masters defending Lyons’ Whitlam interview?. 2007. Glen Dyer. Crikey 2nd July, 2007. http://www.crikey.com.au/2007/07/02/why-is-chris-masters-defending-lyons-whitlam-interview/

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