Media Roundup: Social media ban misses milestone, ABC's impending job cuts, Bunnings tops trust charts and Aussie screen legend dies

Social Media

Social media age trial hits speed bumps, but stays 'on track'

The federal government insists its social media age trial is “broadly on track” despite missing a key milestone.

As Josh Taylor writes in The Guardian Australia, a report meant to offer insight into how best to keep under-16s off platforms has been delayed, pushing back a major deliverable from the UK tech firm leading the charge.

That firm, Age Check Certification Scheme, has only tested one form of age verification tech on children so far.

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Journalism

Aunty reshuffle raises job fears ahead of pay talks

ABC staff are bracing for possible job cuts after management unveiled a new operating model this week, just as incoming managing director Hugh Marks prepares to face his first major test with upcoming pay negotiations.

As John Buckley reports in Capital Brief, the restructure targets how support staff operate across the broadcaster, including budget handling, rostering and recruitment.

In a note to staff, Director of News Justin Stevens said the changes aim to fix fuzzy job descriptions and clunky processes, but didn’t rule out role impacts entirely.

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ABC News walks back Gaza baby starvation claim

ABC News has quietly corrected a major blunder after airing a wildly overstated claim that 14,000 babies in Gaza were at risk of dying from starvation in just two days.

As Patrick Hannaford and Max Melzer report on Sky News Australia, the figure, originally dropped by a UN spokesperson on the BBC, made its way across multiple ABC programs before the newsroom hit rewind.

It marks the 11th correction from the national broadcaster this month alone, with News Director Justin Stevens’ team conceding the statistic was “incorrect.”

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Brands

Bunnings still tops trust charts, but cracks are showing

Bunnings has once again claimed the top spot as Australia’s most trusted brand, but behind that glossy headline sits a growing undercurrent of consumer scepticism.

According to Roy Morgan’s latest Brand Trust update, the hardware heavyweight is facing rising distrust over its size, pricing and perceived profit-hungry behaviour.

According to Danielle Long in The Australian, the March quarter report, compiled by Roy Morgan’s Risk Lab, suggests Bunnings' long-polished reputation has been sliding for a while, well before that Four Corners exposé aired allegations of bullying and anti-competitive tactics.

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Apple set to ditch version numbers for annual OS rebrand

Apple is quietly prepping a major naming shake-up across all its operating systems, swapping version numbers for yearly labels in a move designed to clean up its branding chaos.

As Mark Gurman writes in the Australian Financial Review, instead of iOS 18, users will soon see “iOS 26” roll out, yes, a big numerical leap, but all part of the plan.

The update will apply across the board, with iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26 all landing at once.

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e.l.f snaps up Rhode as Hailey Bieber joins the billionaire club

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Germany eyes tech tax as Merz prepares for Trump meeting

Germany is floating a 10 per cent levy on tech giants like Google and Facebook, with new Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer accusing the platforms of "cunning tax evasion" and hinting at talks for possible voluntary contributions instead.

According to Sarah Marsh in the Australian Financial Review, the timing is bold.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to head to Washington soon for a sit-down with US President Donald Trump, who has previously warned against foreign governments tapping into American tech profits.

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Television

State of Origin opener smashes 2025 ratings records

NSW’s gritty win over Queensland in the State of Origin opener has not only fired up Blues fans, it’s claimed the crown as the most-watched TV event of the year so far, pulling in a total audience of 3.8 million.

Nearly a million viewers streamed the match via Nine’s 9Now, with OzTAM data showing 963,000 fans tuned in digitally.

As Sam Buckingham-Jones writes in the Australian Financial Review, it's a big leap from 760,000 last year and one of the largest live free-to-air streaming audiences ever recorded in Australia.

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Podcast

Podcasts go visual as YouTube takes the lead

The podcast world is shifting gears, with more shows embracing video and YouTube now claiming a billion monthly viewers for podcast content, smashing Spotify’s 100 million regular listeners and nudging ahead of Apple.

As Fiona Sturges writes in The Guardian, it’s no surprise Spotify is racing to catch up, with heavy hitters like The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy now dropping video versions of their shows.

Big names are jumping on the trend too. The BBC recently launched video editions of The Traitors: Uncloaked and Uncanny: Post Mortem, while Netflix is reportedly gearing up to enter the visual podcast arena.

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Publishing

Martha Stewart weighs in on Brooki v Nagi recipe plagiarism row

Martha Stewart, the queen of homemaking and cookbook legend, took a moment at Vivid Sydney to weigh in on the simmering spat between Nagi Maehashi and Brooke Bellamy.

Asked about recipe ownership and whether she’s ever had her recipes nicked, Stewart shrugged it off with a dose of seasoned wisdom: recipes are rarely anyone’s exclusive property, they evolve and get passed down through generations.

As Lauren Ironmonger reports in The Sydney Morning Herald, the row flared up last month when Maehashi accused Bellamy of swiping a couple of her recipes, including caramel slice and baklava.

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Vale

Liz Tomkins remembered as a trailblazer in Australian screen industry

Liz Tomkins, former Chair of Women in Film and Television Australia, has tragically died in a car accident.

As David Knox writes on TV Tonight, her passing on Monday has left the screen community mourning a passionate leader and beloved figure whose impact will be felt for years to come.

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