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Category Archives: Media
NOEL TURNBULL. Putting lipstick on a pig
The phrase putting lipstick on a pig is probably unfair to pigs. For a generation brought up on Miss Piggy it might even be incomprehensible. But it does sum up a public relations innovation which resulted in a man who … Continue reading
Posted in Media
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THE HON BOB CARR. Tribute to Graham Freudenberg.
The speech arrived on the Premier’s desk already clipped into the black leather folder. Did my staff realise that coming from the pen of the master and being a speech of welcome to a US President I would be disinclined … Continue reading
DUNCAN GRAHAM Focusing on Washington, glancing at Jakarta
The 17 April Indonesian elections and fallout could have been big news in Australia. According to some experts they should have been. Instead media consumers Down Under got more of US President Donald Trump’s distant domestic political shenanigans than they did of … Continue reading
Posted in International Affairs, Media
5 Comments
PETER MANNING. How ‘access journalism’ is threatening investigative journalism.
Mainstream journalists give us a never ending series of “exclusives’. They are usually from a source that wants easy publicity, usually a Minister. In the process the journalist becomes a ‘victim’ of the source.The inference is that if you don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Media
2 Comments
KIM WINGEREI The NBN is wrecking a whole industry
NBNCo is not just a costly technological failure, but a policy debacle that has cost Australias taxpayers billions of dollars that should have been better spent, as well as contributing to the severe devaluation of a whole industry.
STUART REES Slandering Assange, Conning the Public, Why This Process Must End.
On June 26 at the National Press Club, media bosses demanded greater protection for whistleblowers and journalists, yet in the treatment of journalist /whistleblower Julian Assange, mainstream media have colluded in slander promoted by the US, UK and Australian … Continue reading
Posted in Media, Politics
5 Comments
LAURIE PATTON. The Assange dilemma. What is journalism in the online age?
Julian Assange released bulk material, unfiltered and uncorroborated, via the Internet. If he had leaked it directly to the media outlets that subsequently, but selectively, published reports based on his WikiLeaks’ dumps he probably would not be in gaol facing extradition to the United States. … Continue reading
Posted in Media
4 Comments
KIM WINGEREI Independent media continues to grow
Independent media continues to grow. With 21.7% growth in online audience in the last quarter sites such as this are taking significant mind- and marketshare from the mainstream infortainment giants who continue to lose readers both online and offline.
Posted in Media
3 Comments
RAMESH THAKUR. Press freedoms: ‘No one is above the law’ is a slogan, not a policy
On the one hand, Australia lacks media protections of the type found in the US and Europe that enshrine free speech in human rights charters. On the other hand, we may well have more national-security and anti-terror laws than any … Continue reading
Posted in Media
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RICHARD FLANAGAN. The AFP media raids aim to suppress the truth. Without it we head into the darkness of oppression. (The Guardian 6.6.2019)
In March of this year police union leaders warned that the Australian federal police was losing “its independence and integrity and must be separated from Peter Dutton’s home affairs portfolio”.
Posted in Defence/Security, Media, Politics
9 Comments
NATHAN GARDELS. The Digital Curtain Descends (The World Post)
While China’s last few decades of “opening up and reform” welcomed foreign investment and the global integration of supply chains for manufacturing and export, it followed an “import substitution” strategy in the digital realm. This kept out the likes of … Continue reading
Posted in International Affairs, Media
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MARIAN SAWER. After Clive Palmer’s $60 million campaign, limits on political advertising are more important than ever (The Conversation)
Can billionaires buy elections in Australia? In the 2019 election, Clive Palmer demonstrated they can certainly flood the print media, airwaves, social media and billboards with advertising and have an impact on the results through their preferences and negative advertising.
PAUL BARRY. With pollsters and pundits getting the election result so wrong, how fair and balanced was Australia’s media this election? (Media Watch ABC 20.5.2019)
So how did the Coalition make it happen? And what effect if any did a partisan media have on the result? News Corp’s army of right-wing commentators barracked tirelessly for the Coalition throughout the campaign, warning the nation would be destroyed … Continue reading
Posted in Media, Politics
4 Comments
GRAHAM FREUDENBERG. Vale Evan Williams
No Australian adorned the professions of politics and journalism like Evan Williams. He was much more than a beautiful writer. He was a beautiful man, who brought a shining light and grace to thousands of lives. He died a few … Continue reading
Posted in Arts and Reviews, Media
1 Comment
LAURIE PATTON. It’s the vision, stupid! Why we need #BetterBroadband
While neither side of politics is saying much about our increasingly-maligned National Broadband Network during the election period, the fact is Australia is falling behind in the race to leverage the benefits – economic and social – of an emerging digitally-enabled … Continue reading
Posted in Media, NBN
2 Comments
BRIAN COYNE. The great fallacy of our neoliberal affluent times
Brian Coyne offers this addendum to what he wrote in response to Richard Cooke’s searing analysis of Rupert Murdoch and his publishing empire. It might be a difficult-to-appreciate observation for many in our world today:
Posted in Media
6 Comments
MUNGO MacCALLUM. Those who work for Murdoch know exactly what is expected of them.
It was in 1975 that the Murdoch bias finally pushed the dictatorial mogul’s journalists jacked up, and went on strike.
Posted in Media, Politics
5 Comments
ROD TIFFEN. These News Corp newspapers are first and foremost propaganda sheets.
It takes rare genius to provoke Scott Morrison and Andrew Bolt to express sympathy for Bill Shorten, but the Daily Telegraph managed it.
Posted in Media, Politics
8 Comments
TONY KOCH. For 30 years I worked for News Corp papers. Now all I see is shameful bias. (THE GUARDIAN 9.5.2019)
No editor I worked for would publish the rubbish they now produce. About six weeks ago I cancelled my subscription for The Australian newspaper after getting it for more than 30 years. As soon as this election is over, I … Continue reading
Posted in Media, Politics
4 Comments
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Why the Libs cannot be trusted with the ABC..
2 March 1996. Journalist: The commitment to maintain (ABC) funding in real terms … does that stand?Senator Alston (on behalf of incoming Prime Minister John Howard): Absolutely. 6 September 2013. Incoming Prime Minister Tony Abbott: .. and no cuts to … Continue reading
Posted in Media, Politics
2 Comments
WANNING SUN. Another Non-Story on China – An Example of Selective Framing
An ABC news story, ‘Chinese media mocks Australia and Prime Minister in WeChat posts’, fails to mention a few key points, and as a result, is potentially misleading, even confusing.
Posted in International Affairs, Media, Politics
2 Comments
JOHN MENADUE. News Corp – a rogue organisation (Repost from 21 September 2018)
Rupert Murdoch’s form in abusing power and finding truth hard to handle continues. ‘Turnbull has to go’ is typical behaviour for a man who has done more to damage democracy than any living media person . I worked with Rupert … Continue reading
Posted in Media, Politics
Tagged Bruce Guthrie, Carl Bernstein, Ed Milliband, Fox News, John Major, Ken Cowley, Matthew Freud, News-Corp., Rod Tiffen, Rupert Murdoch, Tom Watson
5 Comments
JOHN MENADUE. It is no surprise that News Corp is even less and less trusted.
American owned News Corp Australia is the least trusted media company in the country and is a cellar-dweller in the Reputation Index of Australian companies. Its behaviour in this election will ensure that it is even less trusted. Murdoch rewards … Continue reading
Posted in Media
10 Comments
BERNARD KEANE. The media has failed spectacularly on climate change (Crikey)
The media’s coverage of climate change in the election campaign has reflected the Coalition’s long-term strategy of denialism, rather than a desire for genuine scrutiny.
Posted in Environment and climate, Media
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IAN DUNLOP. Stopping Adani is a National Necessity, Economically, Financially and for our Survival.
Central banks, regulators and insurers are starting to acknowledge that the risks of human-induced climate change will have far greater economic and financial consequences than the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Likewise, global investors and corporations are finally accepting that climate … Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate, Media, Politics
6 Comments
ANDREW SALMON. South Korea unveils national strategy for 5G (Asian Times)
South Korea expects to create 600,000 new “quality jobs” by 2026 thanks to fifth-generation, or 5G, mobile technologies, and hopes to leverage its first-mover advantage in the sector globally, a senior government official said on Monday.
SCOTT BURCHILL: There are leaks and then there are leaks
The arrest of Julian Assange in London for his activities as head of WikiLeaks has renewed the public’s focus on the role of whistleblowers, and the prosecution of journalists who embarrass governments by exposing their lies, corruption and crimes.
Posted in Media
3 Comments
SAM BYFORD. Huawei chairman accuses American critics of hypocrisy over NSA hacks (The Verge 27.2.2019)
Huawei’s rotating chairman Guo Ping has gone on the offensive this week at Mobile World Congress, following continued pressure on US allies to drop the Chinese telecoms giant over national security fears.
DAVID MACILWAIN. Two Australians in trouble abroad.
The law to censor violent content rushed through Parliament last week connected dots between two Australians abroad, when Julian Assange was “extradited” from Ecuadorian territory, in London. I examine the linkages.
Posted in Media, Politics
2 Comments
BRIAN COYNE The genius of Rupert Murdoch and why we all need to pay attention…
This is in response to the recent New York Time’s commentary on the Empire of Rupert Murdoch, P&I 5th April. Murdoch’s insight has been passed to many of the publishers of commercial media and political parties. It has damaged society … Continue reading
Posted in Media
2 Comments