Crown Casino Logies Twitter Gate Claims Journo Scalp

Think all of the excitement (and hype) had died down from the Logies held at James Packer's Crown Casino, down under in Melbourne, Australia? You know, the event where 'Underbelly' got killed in the awards department with a donut - nil.

Twitter Gate is in full swing with a journos' (aka "hack") outrageous (funny or sick) tweets raising the ire of the Crown Casino powers that be, celebrities and their agents. It's the talk of the Aussie media and gaming world, and the infamous tweets look to have overshadowed the plastic handcuff gossip. Media Man and Gambling911 take the probe, with just a touch of "poison pen" to Crown's Twitter-Gate...

Catherine Deveny has been culled as a columnist for The Age after a tidal wave of debate over her Logies night tweets.

Deveny used, many say, misused the popular social networking tool to proclaim remarks about celebs, media identities et al while the awards ceremony was in full swing at Melbourne's Crown Casino. The jibe at wildlife warrior princess Bindi Irwin looked to be the final nail in the coffin...

"I do so hope Bindi Irwin gets laid," Deveny tweeted.

The columnist cum comedian tried in vain to defend herself with "to expose celebrity raunch culture and the sexual objectification of women, which is rife on the red carpet".

Wait, there's more says our partner in crime Pluka Duck...

"Rove and Tasma look so cute ... hope she doesn't die, too,". McManus's first wife, Belinda Emmett, lost her battle with cancer a number of years ago.

Her response was not accepted kindly by follows and readers... with return fire worthy of the "casino war" between Crown and Sydney's Star City...

200 plus comments had been published since yesterday.

"It's a wonder how Catherine could still be employed following the comments about Bindi. It is abhorrent to make such comments, no matter what context is intended. Absolutely disgraceful Catherine, I wonder if such comments made against your children would be taken in humor?" tweeted AJ of Melbourne.

"Catherine, you've done yourself proud again. Exemplifying what the 'twit' stands for in 'Twitter'," from Steve of Melbourne.

The newspaper's Editor-In-Chief, Paul Ramadge, advised last night that Deveny would no longer write for the Melbourne broadsheet, which got the office and punters all chirpy.

"We are appreciative of the columns Catherine has written for The Age over several years but the views she has expressed recently on Twitter are not in keeping with the standards we set at The Age," Ramadge advised. Not to mince words he added...

"I came to the view that I didn't think Catherine was a good fit for The Age going forward," Mr Ramage told 774 ABC Radio Melbourne.

"The way she was positioning herself (in social media) was not in keeping with paper's standards."

Yesterday, Media Man 'Hack Of The Month' winner Deveny responded to her culling with postings on Twitter and Facebook, entitled "What a day! Boned", with links to a message on her personal website. Bonded is term for fired, made famous in Australia media land by media entrepreneur, broadcaster and host of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' host Eddie McGuire.

"What a day! I've been sacked from The Age," she penned.

"I've adored every moment of my time with The Age. The Age is the heart and soul of my city and Melbourne is the love of my life. Every column I have written for The Age was prepared like a meal for close friends. I am disappointed. To my beautiful readers of The Age, I will miss you. Can somebody write me a reference? "Dev x x".

The comments posted by Deveny on Twitter have been described as "offensive" and "vulgar".

Fellow comedian Wil Anderson's Logies tweets have also drawn heavy criticism.

The upskirt... er upshot is Deveny is history from Fairfax publication The Age. Return fire tweets continue against the comedian, and a bit of poison pen style journalism and hack jobs to her in kind. 

A Media Man insider whispered (not tweeted) "The Twitter flock has put white stuff on Deveny... no plastic handcuffs but the poison pens came back at her ten fold. Good on The Age for taking a stand.  It's a lucky thing for the offending columnist that Kerry Packer isn't still alive to give her a harsher treatment that what can be described. Operation Goanna would have been in full flight. Think 'that' scene from Casino the movie").

Numerous professional poker players have got in trouble with their poker table tweeting over the years. Poker tournament entities such as the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker have issued warnings to players about tweeting, both for in-play and post match tweeting. Bad eggs are not welcome in the great "sport" of poker.

Some of the world's leading online casino and online gaming brands (such as PartyGaming, WPT, Virgin Games - Virgin Casino, WSOP, Harrah's and Betfair) do have official Twitter accounts and they are eggs tremly careful of what comments they let fly into cyberspace.

Punters, er readers, with that issue dead and buried, tweet with caution, check your Twitter accounts for bird flu and mad cow, know the odds and have fun. We've got to fly.

*Greg Tingle is a special contributor for Gambling911

*Media Man http://www.mediamanint.com is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company.

*Media Man International Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mediamanint

*Casino News Media Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/casinonewsmedia

*The Media Man Twitter flock and Betfair Pink Pigeons contributed to this report. No birds, animals (or whales) were were harmed while researching

*The writer owns shares in Crown Limited