Former editorial director of News Corp in Queensland David Fagan expressed both optimism and realism about the future of journalism in Australia when he addressed an audience of academics at Queensland…
Are Tony Abbott’s early ‘missteps’ on media management - which some have criticised him for - more about co-ordination than control?
AAP/Alan Porritt
Is Tony Abbott really trying to gag his ministers when, under the Howard government, he and his ministerial colleagues enjoyed relative freedom to handle media interviews and issue press releases? This…
Rachel Buchanan’s Stop Press is the latest addition to the growing list of publications about the death of newspapers and the transition to digital journalism.
AAP/Dean Lewins
Rachel Buchanan’s new book Stop Press: The Last Days of Newspapers is part of what independent publishing house Scribe calls the “Media Chronicles”: A series of first-person accounts about the dramatic…
Where will Rupert Murdoch’s influential broadsheet The Australian focus its agenda now that there has been a change of government?
AAP/Dean Lewins
How does a newspaper of strong ideological preferences - such as News Corp broadsheet The Australian - respond when there is a government in office that more closely shares its ideology than did the previous…
The ADF wants to fashion its own narratives about what its troops have achieved in Afghanistan.
Department of Defence
Last week, prime minister Kevin Rudd and opposition leader Tony Abbott opened the Australian War Memorial’s new exhibition, Afghanistan: the Australian Story. That public attention on the war is now shifting…
We take a closer look at the claim the prime minister has made on the Murdoch press in Australia.
“Mr Murdoch is entitled to his own view… he owns 70% of the newspapers in this country.” – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, press conference, 6 August. One of the more spirited discussions of the first week…
How much of a role did the media play in the political demise of Julia Gillard as prime minister?
AAP/Tony McDonough
An integral power of the media is that of portrayal: the act of determining how people, events, ideas and organisations are described to the public, and therefore how they are perceived by the public…
Australia’s media culture gets in the way of asking politicians serious questions about climate change.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Four months ago, the big media proprietors were fighting proposed federal government press reforms, arguing that “the press” needs freedom if it is to defend the public interest. But these arguments were…
UK news outlet The Guardian launched in Australia this week to much fanfare, but will its reporting hit the mark with Australian audiences?
The Guardian Australia
For many of us who have long read The Guardian online or, in my case, had the print edition delivered once a week, the Australian edition - launched earlier this week - is disappointing. But there is also…
Commercial interests intruding on business reporting is not new, but as newsrooms shrink, the pressure on fearless reporting grows.
Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com
Political forecaster Nate Silver’s excellent book The Signal and Noise explores living in an era of information abundance. Information is not in short supply, but how to interpret it accurately — as he…
The ABC will be left with significant holes in their schedule after the BBC signed a deal to share their content with Foxtel last week - will they fill it with more local content?
EPA/Andy Rain
The ABC’s 50-year TV partnership with the BBC is at breaking point after a landmark deal between the British broadcaster and pay TV provider Foxtel was announced last week. Under the new deal Foxtel will…
Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has made himself the centre of attention after the Hawks’ loss to Geelong last weekend.
AAP/David Crosling
Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says Hawks’ coach Alastair Clarkson should leave or be sacked at the end of the year. Angry at the Hawks’ seven-point loss to Geelong at the MCG on Monday – their…
Senator Stephen Conroy did not have a mandate for significant change.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Yesterday, communications minister Senator Stephen Conroy finally presented the government response to the Convergence Review and Finkelstein review. It is hard to know how many drafts of this long-awaited…
Australia’s newspapers took a very shallow view of the carbon price.
Beppie K/flickr
The Australian print media have been criticised for inaccurately reporting the carbon pricing mechanism (CPM), and in some instances for actively campaigning against the Gillard government. Research from…
Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has stepped up his criticism of proposed new media regulation.
AAP
Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull is overlooking critical issues of diversity and public interest in dismissing the need for further media regulation, say media experts. Mr Turnbull…
Most Australian newsrooms have a blokey culture argues Louise North.
Andy Piper
Australia’s media sector refuses to acknowledge there is a sexism in newsrooms, despite female journalists experiencing sexual harassment at a rate more than twice that of the general workforce, says Monash…
The ABC has been criticised for offering rolling 24-hour news, but chairman James Spigelman says the ABC must deliver a comprehensive service.
ABC
The ABC’s new chairman, James Spigelman, has rejected claims the broadcaster should steer clear of the audiences already served by commercial rivals, arguing instead that the commercial sector’s ability…