News 111K views since yesterday

Media Watch traces 2GB's chocolate factory red-tape story to fire safety rules

Linton Besser's episode sets Ben Fordham's outrage over a Junee fine beside the council's account, then turns to Trump, Fox News and Russell Brand.

Channel:

ABC News In-depth Story of November 11, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of ABC News In-depth's most watched videos since yesterday, with 110,911 views.

Talkback host's tirade about red tape backfires | Media Watch

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

0:13Linton Besser examines coverage of the US midterms and Donald Trump turning against Fox News.
2:48Trump's phone interview with Fox, and reports that Murdoch-owned outlets are cooling on him.
4:55Ben Fordham's 2GB segment defends the Junee Licorice & Chocolate Factory over a $19,000 council fine.
6:11Media Watch reports that the council's fine followed a year of unresolved fire safety and certification issues.
9:51The factory's co-owner is shown in photo opportunities with Coalition politicians campaigning against red tape.
11:35After Russell Brand's conviction, the program examines how the BBC and Channel 4 promoted him and handled staff complaints.

Ben Fordham had a familiar story for his 2GB breakfast audience: a small family business in country New South Wales punished by bureaucracy. "The small family business has been handed a $19,000 fine. Can you believe this?" he asked, in audio replayed on the ABC's Media Watch.

The business was the Junee Licorice & Chocolate Factory, a tourist stop in the Riverina town of Junee. According to Media Watch, Junee Shire Council's own findings told a different story. The program reports that the fine came after a full year of unresolved fire safety issues and the use of a building without certification. Host Linton Besser's verdict on the regulations Fordham had railed against: "Oh, that red tape. The kind that prevents us burning alive."

Besser also points to photographs of the factory's co-owner, Rhiannon Druce, appearing with Coalition politicians campaigning against red tape. His case is not about the factory itself. It is that the station went to air with one side of the dispute before checking what the council had found.

That Australian segment sits in the middle of a wider episode. It opens with the US midterm elections, in which Democrats took both chambers of Congress, and with Donald Trump turning on Fox News. In a phone interview played on the program, Trump tells the network, "The Fox polls are terrible." Besser also cites a Financial Times report on Rupert Murdoch's media outlets cooling on the president.

The final part looks at Russell Brand, who was convicted of rape and sexual assault and sentenced to ten years and six months in prison. Media Watch examines how British broadcasters promoted him for years, including archival BBC and Channel 4 material and inquiries by both organisations into staff complaints that had been ignored. The episode closes by asking the industry to reflect on celebrating abusive behaviour in the name of comedy.

The chocolate factory segment generated much of the discussion beneath the video. Several viewers describe their own work in local government compliance or workplace safety, and others note that the factory welcomes members of the public. The upload has drawn about 110,000 views since yesterday, making it ABC News In-depth's most watched new video.

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The facts

Channel: ABC News In-depth
Subscribers: 2,470,000
Channel views, last 7 days: 10,018,307
Channel views, pace per day: 1,117,060 (on a normal day: 1,118,764)
Video published: November 10, 2026
Video views so far: 123,678 (less than a day online)
Video views, pace per day: 110,912

The numbers

The Media Watch episode is the channel's most watched new upload since yesterday, and it has drawn several times as many comments as its usual first day.

subscribers

2,470,000

no significant change in the last 7 days

total views

1,075,411,096

views per day

1,117,060

typical day: 1,118,764

the video

views

123,678

likes