You either love or hate (or perhaps love to hate) controversial broadcaster Alan Jones, but this week The Daily Telegraph has made the shock decision to stop publishing Jones’ column, allegedly because he was no longer resonating with readers.
The news comes after weeks of anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown commentary from the broadcaster, including calling NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant a village idiot and slamming Australia’s leaders as a “disgrace”.
Ben English, The Daily Telegraph’s editor told Jones his column will no longer appear in the publication because it failed to resonate with readers, however, Jones vehemently denies the claims, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Earlier this month, Alan Jones’ fiery on-air tirade called for a suspension for all political salaries until the nation stops enforcing mandatory snap lockdowns. The controversial Sky News host went on to label New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s lockdown “gutless” and “fear peddling”.
While Jones is renowned for speaking his mind, it seems it may be causing tension within News Corp, with numerous of the companies newspapers promoting vaccination and criticising the recent protests in capital cities around the nation.
Jones usually publishes a weekly column in both The Daily Telegraph and The Australian, however, neither have appeared this week. The Sydney Morning Herald said News Corp declined to comment.
Jones, however, has confirmed the news and opened up about the cancellation of the column.
“If the argument has been it’s not resonating, I don’t have to defend myself,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday. “Have a look at Sky News YouTube, Sky News Facebook and Alan Jones Facebook and you can see. The same column that I write for The Tele goes up on my Facebook page.
“The public can check it for themselves. Thirty-five years at top of the radio and I don’t resonate with the public? Honestly.”
Jones also copped criticism earlier this month after he suggested the delta strain of Covid-19 was far less dangerous than the original virus. The veteran broadcaster was exposed on a Media Watch episode and Sky News were forced to correct the “misleading” data.
The cancellation of the column comes at a critical point for the broadcaster, as he approaches contract negotiations with Sky News ahead of a November end date.