Bruce Lehrmann’s landlords and the economics of chequebook journalism

For others, cash pays for entry to these laborious to achieve. Prince Harry and his spouse, Meghan, bought their story to Oprah Winfrey and CBS for over $10 million in 2021, whereas Seven paid $1 million to interview Adele the identical 12 months, regardless of its journalist not bothering to take heed to her new album.

Nonetheless, whereas beforehand a surefire strategy to ship a rankings windfall, getting enough returns on big-money exclusives is now a a lot harder ask. Magazines can now not afford the posh, whereas tv “exclusives” are chopped, clipped and shared throughout social media inside minutes of broadcasting.

“The budgets have been larger as a result of the audiences have been larger, and the competitors was that a lot tougher, so there was a real market for these offers,” says Tim Burrowes, a veteran media watcher and proprietor of trade publication Unmade. “Now, there’s rather less competitors.”

Some topics nonetheless demand a excessive charge. In 2022, 9 paid $2 million to interview the dad and mom of Cleo Smith, the four-year-old kidnapped (and later discovered) in Western Australia, whereas Seven paid a possible sum of $1.5 million to Kathleen Folbigg, who was pardoned and launched from jail after serving 20 years over the deaths of her 4 youngsters.

The rankings in each situations have been subdued. 9’s interview netted an in a single day metro viewers of 750,000, whereas Seven’s had simply 343,000.

Seven’s two Lehrmann interviews netted metro in a single day audiences of 600,000 and 516,000. However Ackland says Seven’s lack of transparency concerning Lehrmann’s lodging raises a number of questions, notably over the motivations behind the fee.

“If he’s taking pictures a totally vapid interview for Highlight, I suppose a part of the deal can be some lodging throughout the taking pictures. However why put him up in Sydney for months on finish, even a 12 months?

“Renting a home for him or a flat or one thing is … tiddlywinks … it’s peanuts. That’s not going to pay the legal professionals, however it’s a type of chequebook journalism.

“With Folbigg, it was cash to assist get her life again collectively after jail, however with Lehrmann, what’s the cash for? That ought to have been disclosed,” Ackland says.

Lehrmann is now dealing with fees over a second alleged rape case in Queensland, which has come to gentle for the reason that interviews have been aired on Seven. Seven mentioned it was not conscious of this on the time of its take care of Lehrmann.

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So, why do the business networks maintain persisting with chequebook journalism? Burrowes says the lure of scoring unique entry and the potential of rankings success is a robust motivator.

“It’s enterprise, and rankings are enterprise. So when you suppose that you just’ll get an even bigger viewers shopping for in someone who wouldn’t converse in any other case, then generally that funding is value making.”

An promoting slot on a Sunday night time on Seven might fetch between $20,000 and $30,000, says Ben Willee, normal supervisor and media director at promoting company Spinach. Setting the charge can typically come right down to protecting somebody out of a competitor’s palms, although within the Lehrmann case, it seems Seven didn’t have any opponents.

“It’s a bit just like the AFL [broadcast rights],” says Willee. “They by no means get anyplace close to the sum of money again on AFL, however to not have it’s worse. Particularly when you’ve bought a giant present that week, it’s a good way to maintain individuals on the community.”

The trade-off will be backlash and dangerous PR, says Burrowes, ought to a business association with a controversial particular person come out, as within the Lehrmann occasion.

In the meantime, Ackland says it’s one other instance of Seven tangling itself up with the flawed crowd.

“It appears bizarre they seem like backing all these characters which can be utterly antipathetical to journalism, people who simply wish to sue journalists [and are] backed by the Stokes organisation,” a reference to the corporate’s involvement with disgraced soldier Ben Roberts-Smith.

Although for Seven, any such adverse PR doesn’t seem to stay. The market is used to it taking dangers, in accordance with a high monetary analyst, talking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the authorized case.

“Anybody who follows Seven West Media is aware of they arrive with a sure latitude, doing issues different public firms couldn’t justify,” the analyst says.

“Generally it’s a must to do wild and wacky issues” to win eyeballs,” says Willee, and with Seven’s billionaire proprietor, Kerry Stokes, nonetheless calling the photographs, he says the funding fundamentals of chequebook journalism simply can’t be replicated elsewhere.

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