Mick Millett, who has been Deputy Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald, has taken up a post as Director, Communications, at the ABC. In the ABC Corporate Structure this is a key role, and he moves in to it at a key time.
The job is both internal and external communications, but perhaps most importantly it involves liaison with the Federal Government. He takes up the post at a time when the ABC’s triennial funding submission is being considered, and controversies such as the A-Pac spectrum battle are both fresh and continuing.
Millett replaces Gary Dawson, who did the job through the years of the Howard Government, and who left late last year.
Apparently Millett told Fairfax management only this morning that he was not taking up the Canberra Times job, and was leaving the company.
It came as a shock for management, which perhaps explains the sparse, even grudging, nature of the announcement Acting Editor-in-Chief Philip McLean made a short while ago. (See previous post).
The equivalent announcement from ABC Managing Director Mark Scott is, predictably, more fulsome.
FYI…text of Internal ABC announcement
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that Michael Millett will be joining the ABC from 16 February as Director of Communications.
Michael has had an extensive career in Canberra as a political journalist and then as a senior media manager. He started his career with the Melbourne Herald before moving to The Sydney Morning Herald in 1989. Since then he has played a number of senior roles at the SMH including chief political reporter, News Editor and North Asia correspondent, based in Tokyo. He is currently the paper’s Deputy Editor.
As Director of Communications, Michael reports to me and sits on the ABC Executive. He is responsible for internal and external communications and will head our liaison with Canberra.
I am delighted we have been able to attract someone with Michael’s experience, understanding and skills into this vital role. I greatly value his tenacity, professionalism and his determination to work as part of a team committed to leading the ABC through a period of technological change and further strengthen its connection to all Australians. I am sure you will join me in making Michael welcome at the ABC when he joins us next month.
Mark Scott
Millett has been popular at the Sydney Morning Herald, and has done a lot of hard and thankless work through that publication’s multiple troubles in recent years.
In the end, he must have decided that being a Fairfax newspaper editor in the current climate, struggling with limited resources to manage decline, was not the best way to expend his talents and energies.
Which leaves the question – who gets the Canberra Times job?
Working on that one…
4 Comments
Regarding this post, and earlier posts on the importance of subbing, could Crikey please eliminate the use of “key” as an adjective?
It would be nice if writers took a moment to consider what they really mean – if they know.
When they write “key” this and “key” that, I doubt they know what they mean.
You might sneer, but this is a key issue for some key readers.
So stick the word up your keyhole.
You write that: ‘The equivalent announcement from ABC Managing Director Mark Scott is, predictably, more fulsome.’
‘Fulsome’ means ‘insincere’ and ‘gushing’ and is not a synonym for ‘glowing’ or ‘effusive’. If its near-universal misuse continues, dictionaries will need to be adjusted to reflect the degradation, which would be a pity.
(I’m assuming you didn’t mean to imply that Mark Scott was deliberately insincere?)
I stand corrected, Mish.
Mark Scott deliberately insincere? Heaven forefend. The main is the original straight talker. Plain and direct. Honest as the day is long. True to his word in every syllable. A paragon of honesty. Would rather die that utter a falsehood. Heroic in his commitment to honourable behaviour. Selfless. An idealist. Virtue unblemished. If only there was space to describe his every strength…………
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