With much of Australia’s ‘mainstream’ media at war with its critics on ‘social’ media, it’s worth reflecting on an observation from a journalist who was at the vanguard of breaking down the distinction between the two. In ‘Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now’, Alan Rusbridger Read more…
“The freedom had two sides to it. Sometimes a heavy, reptile hostility came off the sombre land, something gruesome & infinitely repulsive.”
– DH Lawrence, ‘Kangaroo’
At what point did Australia’s light on the hill become a rising stink from the basement?
Of course, there’s always been a whiff of bigotry and intolerance here. No country is immune from that. And few of us can claim to have never prejudged another on the basis of race. But recent events are genuinely disquieting for many people, particularly those from minority ethnic groups. (more…)
A consequence of the ’24/7′ news cycle is that everyone breaks their necks trying to be the first with news that’s going to break anyway. Witness the overkill coverage of the Rudd-Gillard spill. Perfect for live TV – a set piece in a confined space at a specific time and pitting warring protagonists in a showdown. Like a footy final really.
In the case of the spill, the result was never in doubt. It was only the margin. And once that was known, the big interest was in the demeanour of the key players afterwards. Still, that didn’t stop some of the networks from cranking up coverage from before dawn, which gave the on-screen pundits plenty of time to comment on the frocks and the build-up to the Oscar ceremony leadership spill. (more…)
What is it with the Australian parliamentary press gallery and its obsession with budget deficits? It seems every government initiative is met with questions about what it means for the Labor government’s election campaign pledge (extracted under pressure) to restore the budget to surplus within three years – as if Read more…
Oh, how familiar: Communications Graduate: “I want to be a journalist for the New York Times, interviewing the president, living in a Greenwich Village apartment and eating out at cool restaurants.”Wizened Old Journalist: “How about a job writing about pork belly futures for a trade magazine in Kansas?” And the Read more…
Australians don’t know who reports the news they consume and don’t care. At least that’s the conclusion of new research from Essential Media Communications, which found that outside the household names of Laurie Oakes, Michelle Grattan and Andrew Bolt,readers and viewers struggle to nominate a single journalist. To anyone raised Read more…
The union representing Australian journalists has released a report on the state of the profession. ‘Life in the Clickstream II: The Future of Journalism’ is the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s second such survey, updating an inaugural effort two years ago. For anyone familiar with the plight of the media Read more…
Untitled Implosion©Jim Kazanjian A deluge of hitherto secret diplomatic cables is one thing; telling the public what they mean and why they should care is another. Clearly, this is proving a challenge for the Australian media, who in comparison to their US and UK counterparts, are struggling for one reason Read more…
If politics is show business for ugly people, television journalism is politics for stupid people. At least that’s the conclusion one might reach after watching current affairs shows on the commercial channels. The performers huff and puff and the producers manufacture outrage, so that there is inevitably an inverse relationship Read more…
What qualifies people to describe themselves as journalists? Two major stories in the past week – Wikileaks in the global context and the #twitdef saga here in Australia – have given new impetus to a question that is being asked increasingly in both the mainstream media and digital media space. Read more…