Following a search to replace managing director and editor-in-chief David Anderson, the ABC has found its man right under its nose.
ABC Chair Kim Williams AM announced that former CEO of Nine Entertainment, Hugh Marks, who abruptly resigned in late 2020 following disclosure of his relationship with a staff person, will lead the broadcaster ‘into a new era of innovation and audience engagement’.
While filling in the time between his departure from Nine and this next big job, Marks was not only a “consultant” for Tennis Australia and the NRL, but also went on in 2022 to co-found a content studio, Dreamchaser, which was set up to partner in the creation of film and television.
In 2022, Hollywood Reporter announced that the ‘Australian startup studio’ had signed on three producer partners for new projects, including Emma Lamb (Married at First Sight) and Leigh Aramberri (The Voice), although no information about these partnerships or the projects themselves is listed on the Dreamchaser site.
When Marks and his co-chair, Carl Fennessy (Crackerjack, Shine production companies) launched Dreamchaser, they told IF Magazine they were “open for business to potential creative partners who may see Dreamchaser as the perfect place to realise their big ambition on that global content stage, so it’s an exciting time for us with lots of work to do and lots to do yet”.
The ABC highlighted Dreamchaser in its promotion of Marks’ experience in a broad range of media delivery, claiming that the company ‘partners with leading creators to develop, finance and produce premium content for global audiences’ — although no examples of this premium content delivery are cited by the announcement.
His almost six years as CEO of Nine Entertainment, which ended following gossipy reports – including paparazzi photos – of his workplace relationship, is summarised as him having ‘spearheaded transformative initiatives, including the landmark merger of Nine and Fairfax Media’.
Responses to the announcement on social media have predominantly referred to another hiccup in Marks’s time as Nine CEO — the revelation in September 2019 that Marks hosted a $10,000-a-head fundraiser for the Liberal Party at the Nine studios in Sydney.
Four years after Marks’s departure, in October this year, Nine Entertainment was the subject of a review into the culture of intimidation and harassment which revealed a ‘systemic issue with abuse of power and authority’.
The current acting chief executive said:
“While it is important that today all of us at Nine take a moment to reflect, we also move forward with a resolve to do better.”
Following the announcement of his appointment, according to the ABC’s release, Hugh Marks ‘expressed both humility and enthusiasm’.
Marks said:
“I look forward to working with everyone at the ABC as it continues to host and guide discussion on the issues of importance to Australia and lead in the delivery of quality, truthful, and engaging news, and premium content.”
Kim Williams noted in an email to staff that ‘David and Hugh will have an extended handover between them’. David Anderson was 18 months into his second five-year contract when he resigned in August, after a series of controversies, including a vote of no confidence by Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) union staff over pro-Israel editorial bias.
According to Williams, Hugh Marks’s engagement with editorial matters and with government policy will be “invaluable to the ABC”.
Rosemary Sorensen is an IA columnist, journalist and founder of the Bendigo Writers Festival.
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