They love a stoush at News Ltd – particularly if it lines them up against those pinko latte-sipping elites who loiter around on social media sites pretending to be journalists. That’s one way to read the latest flare-up of hostilities between Rupert Murdoch’s hirelings and a broad cross section of Read more…
When the Sidney Lumet-directed satire ‘Network’ was released in 1976, the premise of the film – murderously cynical television producers exploit an emotionally unstable former news anchor and create reality television out of urban terrorism for cheap ratings – seemed like over-reach. Now, it looks uncannily prescient. In this, one Read more…
Photo: B.J. West In a speech in London recently, Rupert Murdoch – responding to the phone-tapping skullduggery of the News of the World – defended his organisation’s “uniquely vigorous” journalism in the UK. Anyone who has subbed a UK tabloid journalist’s copy will know that Fleet Street has always operated Read more…
Media Monopoly, by Wiretap Studios (Flickr) One ironic consequence of the new media age is that as the digital revolution threatens to splinter mainstream media businesses, the pressure for “consolidation” (read: concentration) grows around the world. It was a subject touched on by Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, in his 2010 Read more…
One big story this past week exposed the media’s love of pre-fabricated templates that save them having to ask uncomfortable questions or to think outside of cosy and familiar narrative frames. While Groundhog Day for many of us, these type of “stories” nevertheless are seized upon by a media that Read more…
While the news media globally is cutting back on its facility for covering international news, it is channelling increasing resources into opinion. The economic and cultural causes of this shift are well documented, including on this blog. But what is not often canvassed are the possible consequences – not just Read more…
“The Kevin Rudd era has begun. It is expected to last a long time. Rudd offers a new brand of leadership for Australia that breaks not just from John Howard but from Labor’s past. Rudd enjoys a big majority, an unqualified mandate, a growth economy, a Labor Party invigorated by Read more…
“We’ll build a world of our own that no one else can share. All our sorrows we’ll leave far behind us there.And I know you will find there’ll be peace of mindwhen we live in a world of our own.” — The Seekers When Julia Gillard recently embarked on her Read more…