It was too restrictive for Murdoch’s Trump-friendly Fox News but The Australian newspaper broke ranks this week and signed on to the Pentagon’s prohibitive new press policy.

But after we asked The Australian’s editor-in-chief, Michelle Gunn, why her masthead’s correspondent agreed to the rules imposed by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, when they had been roundly rejected by Fox News, the publication backflipped.

The rules require journalists to pledge they will not obtain unauthorised material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official.

The New York Times, CNN, the Atlantic, the Guardian, Reuters, the Associated Press, Fox News and Newsmax all refused to sign this week but News Corp Australia’s national broadsheet joined Turkish state media, the Epoch Times and One America News in agreeing, as first reported by the Washington Post.

The Pentagon Press Association said the policy appeared to be “designed to stifle a free press and potentially expose us to prosecution for simply doing our jobs”.

A spokesperson for The Australian told Weekly Beast: “The Australian has reviewed the Pentagon’s new press rules and requirements. They raise serious concerns and place undue limits on press freedoms. Because of The Australian’s long-held position on independent journalism and press freedom, we have advised the Pentagon that we have revoked our assent.”

I Was Actually There features people who witnessed the black Saturday bushfires and the Whitlam dismissal. Photograph: ABCFactcheck fail

You’d think a TV series about historical events would make sure its historical facts are accurate. Facts like the date of the black Saturday bushfires in an episode revisiting the horrors of that day in 2009, when 173 people died.

But when series two of the ABC’s gripping eyewitness account show, I was Actually There, premiered last week some viewers noticed that the dates were wrong in the first episode. “The closing stats say the 28th Feb 2009. Should be 7th Feb,” one wrote on Facebook. Another said: “I hope, with respect, this is corrected. It was the worst time.”

Two days later the ABC published a correction and the episode was corrected. The ABC ombudsman noted that a viewer had complained and she had contacted the TV division.

But the next day came more corrections to the end cards. Episodes two and three also had errors. The program about the September 11 terrorist attack gave incorrect figures for the overall death toll of the World Trade Center attacks and the number of first responders who were killed.

The episode on The Dismissal referred to Gough Whitlam as having resigned as Labor leader after the 1978 election, when it was the 1977 election.

The ABC did not want to talk about how the multiple mistakes were made but, generally, when a program is an external commission it is the responsibility of the production house to factcheck.

The program was produced externally by Docker Media, the mob behind the award-winning You Can’t Ask That. Its executive producer, Kirk Docker, has been approached for comment.

Here’s hoping someone from the broadcaster’s news documentaries and specials unit, headed up by the former Australian Story EP Caitlin Shea, catches any howlers before they go to air. The new unit has been funded by internal cuts made in June by the managing director, Hugh Marks, including axing Q+A and the innovation unit.

A correction published after a front-page headline in the Sydney Morning Herald got the superannuation changes wrongNot so super

Speaking of corrections, the Sydney Morning Herald published a doozy on Wednesday after a headline on the front page of the newspaper said the opposite of what had actually happened.

The treasurer announced changes to his original plan to double the tax on super earnings to 30% for balances above $3m, dumping the proposal to target unrealised gains after sustained criticism from sections of the media, industry and politics.

The headline on the Herald’s report was: “Chalmers drops plans to index $3m super threshold.”

The correction said: “A headline yesterday in the Herald said ‘Chalmers drops plans to index $3m super threshold’. That is incorrect, Chalmers agreed to index $3m super index threshold.”

Money spinner

The Australian Financial Review has something in common with Sky News Australia. They both forked out tens of thousands for the privilege of hearing from a rightwing UK personality. It was revealed in April that Sky paid $52,000 to Nigel Farage for, among other things, lunching on camera with Peta Credlin.

skip past newsletter promotion

Amanda Meade’s weekly diary on the latest in Australian media, free every Friday

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Now it has been revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald that buried in the Guardian’s Boris Files is a detail about the former UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s 2023 tour of Australia. The AFR reportedly paid him $85,000 to speak at the annual AFR Business Person of the Year event, which included an interview on stage with Jennifer Hewett.

The editor-in-chief at the time, Michael Stutchbury, is on first-name terms with Boris, who went to Oxford University with his wife, the former Sky and ABC journalist Ticky Fullerton. She has spoken in the past about her friendship with Johnson when he was in the Oxford Union. The AFR’s events are, it has to be said, money spinners so the fee paid for the after-dinner speaker was well worth it. Its energy and climate summit this month will set you back more than $3,000.

Four Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal. Photograph: ABCPodcast sparks ABC investigation

The ABC is investigating the involvement of a Four Corners reporter, Mahmood Fazal, in an external podcast about underworld crime with the Melbourne producer Ryan Naumenko, who described himself as once having associated with the mafia.

The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald reported that a YouTube video by Naumenko in which he talks about Fazal has been deleted.

The Walkley award-winning journalist, whose latest Four Corners episode was about the sovereign citizen movement, got initial approval to take part in the podcast but it was withdrawn after the first episode contained gambling ads.

“Mahmood’s immediate manager endorsed him taking part in a podcast interview, based on the information provided to him,” an ABC spokesperson said.

“The interview did not receive final approval by the ABC as part of the external work guidelines. After the interview aired, which included gambling ads, his manager withdrew endorsement of the work. ABC management is looking further into this matter.”

Fazal is a former reporter for Vice and a former sergeant-at-arms of the outlaw bikie gang the Mongols, which he has written about for the ABC. He joined the national broadcaster as a reporter in 2021.

ABC casuals put on staff

More than 100 ABC workers who were on rolling casual contracts have been offered permanent employment.

The journalists’ union took action in the federal court this year, alleging that the ABC had contravened prohibitions in the Fair Work Act by placing a Play School producer on a series of fixed-term contracts.

The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance filed on behalf of the Play School digital producer Tom Scott in June.

The MEAA has told members that the ABC had started reviewing workers on fixed-term contracts, offering to convert several to ordinary ongoing employment. About 80 workers have so far secured new contracts.

The apparent sudden willingness to convert casuals to permanent contracts has also been sparked by the Labor government’s workplace reforms, which include a pathway for casuals to convert to a permanent role if they wish to do so.

The court case is expected to go to trial next year.