Australia’s 2010 federal election showed up the bankruptcy of our two-party system in its capacity to deal with political challenges such as sustainability, climate change and our economic dependence on non-renewable resources.
More importantly, the election exposed the cosy relationship between the major political parties and an economically imperilled media dependent on manufactured conflict and tired he said-she said narratives to attract ears and eyeballs to its clients’ paid ads.
Even the ABC, without the pressures of advertising, seems to have succumbed to a pseudo-commercial imperative so that it editorially is focused more on speed, entertainment and unchallenged hyperbole than its traditional role of reporting facts in context.
Most worrying of all, the public broadcaster now routinely apes the ideologically-driven editorial direction and talking points of Rupert Murdoch’s sprawling empire, which controls more than 60 per cent of the metropolitan media in Australia.
None of this would matter much had the election not exposed the failure of the so-called Fourth Estate to play its role as a truth teller, as a force that strengthens and enriches democracy by keeping the citizenry informed about what those in power would prefer be kept secret.
This blog has been set up as a rallying point for those who want to change the media, to insist on better standards in journalism – including less spin, less noise, a greater attention to getting the facts straight and supplying proper context and a demonstrated commitment to serving the consumers of the news – not to the proprietors and politicians seeking to mislead and misinform the public in the service of their own interests.
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