Last year I watched on with tremendous sadness as many of my colleagues in the media industry lost their jobs.
Each week during the height of the pandemic in Australia there seemed to be more announcements about job cuts at some of our biggest media outlets and mastheads, including News Corp, the Sydney Morning Herald and of course Fox Sports.
For an industry that so many young people aspire to get roles in, this was really hard to watch. A lot of talented people lost their jobs last year, and many of them are still looking for work now.
During these job cuts I thought more broadly about the industry itself. I was fearful about what these cuts meant for the media landscape going forward and what message it would send to the next generation who are aspiring to get into sports media.
The message seemed to be: this is not a growing industry. Try something else instead.
In that context, with organisations having to make tough decisions about staff numbers throughout 2020, I found it extremely surprising to hear over the weekend that Fox League had made a decision to hire Ray Hadley.
It was a big announcement made during Magic Round, with Hadley set to appear alongside Ben Ikin and Paul Kent on NRL 360 each Monday.
I find this a baffling choice.
While Hadley is a skilled and talented broadcaster, I’m not sure what he adds to a panel show that for the most part is made up of men who look just like him and who hold similar views to him.
Where is the diversity not just in the type of person hired but in the viewpoints held by the people that appear on the show?
There were already criticisms of the show, including that most nights it seemed to be just a group of older white men yelling at each other. I’m not sure how Hadley will help to change that perception.
To me this is another example of a media organisation taking what they perceive to be as the safe option by hiring a known quantity instead of giving an opportunity to a new voice.
Does Ray Hadley really need more work? (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Over the last five years women in rugby league have certainly become more visible. We now have an NRL Women’s premiership, and players like Kezie Apps, Corban McGregor and Millie Boyle are household names. We see women like Kasey Badger and Belinda Sharpe officiating in the middle and on the sidelines. Women are involved in the administration of our game and are fans, members and volunteers.
In the media women are also well represented. Niav Owens works at NRL.com alongside women like Alicia Newton. Pam Whaley covers the game with dedication and talent at AAP, and women like Emma Lawrence, Danika Mason and Jelisa Apps are visible on our screens.
When it comes to women in the media, Fox League has also led the way with talent like Yvonne Sampson, Lara Pitt and Hannah Hollis.
But I would like to see much more of these talented women.
I don’t pretend to know the career aspirations of Sampson, Pitt and Hollis, but I certainly miss hearing their viewpoints on League Life.
This was a panel show hosted by Sampson with Pitt, Hollis and Jessica Yates. It gave these women even more opportunity to be heard and also to share their views on rugby league and some positive stories about what was going on in the game.
League Life was axed at the beginning of 2020, and since then there seems to be very few opportunities to hear these women share their opinions on the game, the exception being Pitt, who appears on NRL 360 each week and also on The Fan.
Decisions like the one to hire Hadley make me question just how committed to diverse voices Fox is.
I asked a similar question when I found out that the Australian government has given $30 million in sports broadcasting funding to “support the broadcast of underrepresented sports on subscription television, including women’s sports, niche sports, and sports with a high level of community involvement and participation”.
There has been very little detail provided about how this money has been spent, and while I applaud Fox’s decision to do a women’s sport ‘pop-up channel’ for one month a year, I question how they are spending their funding and whether more can be done to promote diversity and support women in sport.
With this decision Fox League joins a number of other organisations that are now giving Hadley a pay cheque. This is becoming far more common, whereby a small group of people seem to have jobs at multiple organisations, meaning the opportunities for new people to join the industry are dwindling.
I can’t help but wonder whether that opportunity or that pay cheque going to Hadley would have made much more of a difference to one of the many people that Fox Sports made the decision to sack last year.
Clarity
Roar Rookie
Judgement error.
Clarity
Roar Rookie
Where has he gone, been missing for a month. Probably still apologising for his Olympics rant, which was one of the most disgusting thing a person of his influence could ever say.
Clarity
Roar Rookie
Blocker is the greatest mind in the game according to Ray. That sums it up, makes more errors in commentating then a first year rookie.
Josh
Guest
Sounds like hardly anyone here know anything about rugby league or the history of rugby league. I’m big fan of both Hadley and Kent for the reason they don’t sit on the fence and if you if you believe they’re wrong you best have a good argument to defend yourself. I’m 26 by the way so the pathetic people who like to call someone a dinosaur or a boomer because they hold a different opinion will have to actually try once in their pathetic self entitled life, come up with a decent argument. Both kent and Hadley were the closest of friends of the late great and RIP Bozo Bob Fulton, now Bozo is one of if not rugby greatest man and if we are judging someone’s character why would Bozo be the closest of friends with these two man.
Fair Dinkum
Roar Rookie
Paul Kent tries to be a Shock Jock. Guess they think h needs help.
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
Gee Kerry tell us what you really think….and I thought I was a 60 year old cynic.Lighten up buddy
I avoid both Ray Hadley and Womens Rugby League. Both to me are a non-entity not worthy of my time.
Steven Harris
There you go Mary channel 9 news tonight not a male reporter in sight..Diversity must mean no men
criag
Roar Rookie
He’ll be there once a week – hardly full-time….same as Lara Pitt. I quite like the arguing amongst them…it’s quite comical (and happens often, so the argument that their viewpoints will be the same is perplexing). I don’t really care how old they are or what the colour of their skin is.
criag
Roar Rookie
I think it is a false assumption that middle-aged white men can't have vastly different opinions on rugby league, as the comical arguments that often occur show.
Kerry Hanson
Guest
Max . Mary is just so typical of generation f’d . They refer to anyone who disagrees as dinosaurs, and have a new outlook on life where age doesn’t equal experience. They have been brainwashed by the liberals into thinking they possess some magical powers , that they somehow gained through a lack of education and a lack of any real experience or sacrifice. They use a calculator to work out how many days are left in the week , not that it matters because the so many of them are still swinging from the end of the apron strings of the generation they resent so much . When I was still in my trade I refused to work with them , because they were generally disrespectful, lazy , had memories a goldfish would be ashamed of , and couldn’t understand why they had to listen to you , when they already knew it all . God help us as we are already seeing what a mess the world is becoming with these gullible self indulgent little tuurds calling the shots .
Gauss
Roar Rookie
As a Boomer I tend to be highly critical of Boomer mentality, but I think the oldies that contribute here are a pretty reasonable mob overall. Probs best not to generalise. Be better than Sue.
Gauss
Roar Rookie
Agree except on Andrew Moore. I reckon he's a cut above the rest of them.
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
You say to me “You’ve twisted the author’s point almost beyond recognition.” :silly: “women … have certainly become more visible … are involved in the administration … In the media women are also well represented … When it comes to women in the media, Fox League has also led the way” and “to hire Hadley make me question just how committed to diverse voices Fox is” … all from Mary’s piece. I twisted the author’s point?! “I didn’t read anything in there that suggested special concessions for young/female journos” You shoulda gone to Specsavers! :laughing:
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
I was aghast mesself – the entertainment industry signing up an entertainer?!?! How bizarre.
Bunnies1958
Roar Rookie
You may note that Alan Jones was very popular on radio, and consider whether that is a good indicator of a person's character. The cult of personality means jack to me as the people that make such dinosaurs popular are not the people that figure in my life. Probably impossible to do, but, if you could listen to some tapes of when he was a league caller your opinion may change, maybe not.
Bunnies1958
Roar Rookie
Crash, I'm a boomer and don't hold any of the traits that you so readily generalise are indicators of a whole generation. By the look of how you put down all boomers, you give an insight of what you may be like in later years.
Bunnies1958
Roar Rookie
Fox can hire who they like, anything associated with Murdoch is toxic anyway. As for Hadley's fair resume, he is one of the all times worse league caller with little knowledge of the game. His less than desirable characteristics have been well documented. Fox deserves him.
Bunnies1958
Roar Rookie
I watch the footy with the sound down so as not to hear Gould or Johns. All the ABC radio caller does is scream, so that's out. As for the various football shows, there's not enough time left to listen to journos who, from their opinions, have never played league in their lives. Bring on ther Roar.
GregM
Roar Rookie
"He’s been sued, censured, fined and suspended for a variety of things including fabiricating stories for outrage, breaching privacy regulations, defamation (many occasions), workplace bullying, etc" - & yet this counts for nothing and he is given a job on Foxtel! what a joke. In a typical gutter trash shock jock mentality Foxtel probably think that any press is good press.