Media
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Desperate junta even more brutal – Asian Media Report
In Asia media this week: Myanmar recalls retired veterans. Plus: Race starts for Japan’s new PM; US Gaza stance an obstacle for AUKUS; Kolkata protests over gruesome rape-murder; China-Africa summit strengthens South-South ties; Pope’s Indonesia visit contradicts ‘clash of civilisations’. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
On X today: US Politicians launch a bill against China’s world leading genomics team and Andrew Wilkie addresses arms trade with Israel. Witness the devastation for a 13-year old in Palestine while Palestine takes its permanent seat in the UN General Assembly. Finally, a moment from the US presidential debate – Donald Trump and Kamala Continue reading »
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SBS television and ‘distressing material’
‘It may not reflect SBS standards and may contain distressing material’. So runs the warning on all news programs from overseas. Unfortunately, many other programs on SBS television make a mockery of this warning. Continue reading »
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Murdoch to Musk: how global media power has shifted from the moguls to the big tech bros
Until recently, Elon Musk was just a wildly successful electric car tycoon and space pioneer. Sure, he was erratic and outspoken, but his global influence was contained and seemingly under control. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
Taking just five minutes to scroll through X, these are the first five posts we witness, the stories often not picked up in our mainstream media. Continue reading »
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Media censorship or incompetence by the ABC and others?
Last week the ABC carried a story about the death of many Israelis on 7 October 2023 as a result of firing by Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships. Continue reading »
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Australian academic’s bid to be heard over Age claims dismissed
On 3 July 2024, The Age’s Chief Reporter, Chip Le Grand, emailed, called and sent a text message to my phone, posing a series of bad faith, disingenuous accusations and loaded questions which cast me as a “holocaust denier” and anti-semite. “October 7 denial, like holocaust denial,” Le Grand wrote to me, “has taken many Continue reading »
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The sound of enforced silence
Our censors, as the record shows again and again, have no special concern about acting in a serious manner. Power has no such obligation. Continue reading »
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Not all deaths at sea are equal
Dave Kellaway reports from Italy, and reflects on the media coverage of the sinking of the luxury yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily compared to the way the deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean are usually reported. Continue reading »
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Pearl or Irritation? The Kantian imperative and the case for dissent
The Pearls and Irritations platform, with its commitment to fact-driven critique, exemplifies dissent as a profound act of civic engagement. Immanuel Kant, the renowned Enlightenment philosopher, offered a powerful defence of this kind of loyal, evidence-based dissent. Continue reading »
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Israeli hostages, Palestinian prisoners: the worthy and unworthy
Israeli citizens’ demand to bring home an estimated 100 Israeli hostages still held captive by Hamas is assumed to depend on a Gaza ceasefire which would include a Palestinian prisoner release. Continue reading »
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Tucker Carlson and Jeffrey Sachs confirm mainstream Western media mostly a shabby cabaret
A recent, comprehensive social-media interview has provided an acute reminder of how hard it now is to imagine certain flagship, Western current affairs programs drowning their cherished war-drums in a lead weighted bag and applying themselves to investigating pivotal geopolitical challenges with intelligent thoroughness (as Four Corners can still manage (see:Inside Iran: The proxy war Continue reading »
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Confronting censorship: on media bias and the war in Ukraine
Editing a book about the media and the war in Ukraine taught me first-hand lessons about censorship. It also confirmed that the Western media’s pro-elite bias is as strong as ever. At an academic conference in Europe in the summer of 2023, I witnessed how several audience members shouted at one of the speakers. That’s Continue reading »
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Aiming for the messy truth: The first Australian journalist returns to China
Will Glasgow’s report from Beijing in the Weekend Australian of 24/25 August is cause for celebration. Since the last Australian journalist left China four years ago, reports on this most important neighbour and on matters of concern to both countries have been either second-hand or coming from non-Australian sources. Continue reading »
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Acclaimed journalist charged with ‘anti-semitism’
Mary Kostakidis, for years the face of television news in Australia as anchor of the SBS nightly broadcast, has been accused of supporting ethnic cleansing of Jews for two retweets about Israel’s war on Gaza, reports Joe Lauria. Continue reading »
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Dutton’s Trumpian certainties are swamping Albanese’s dithering
One full day during the Republican National Convention in the US last month was devoted entirely to the issue of crime. Under the title “Make America Safe Again”, it referenced a make-believe crime wave engulfing American cities. Continue reading »
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Anwar stands his ground on foreign policy – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Malaysian PM ignores Western critics. Plus: deadly attacks in impoverished Pakistan province; Myanmar trafficking syndicates now a global monster; Chinese spy-plane violates Japan’s air space; Zelenskyy plans peace summit in Global South; chance for Harris to change course on China. Continue reading »
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Authors who write with insight and experience
I read the daily Pearls and Irritations email without fail. Continue reading »
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Fiddling while the world teeters on the brink
We need a no-holds-barred attack on corporate power to meet global threats. Continue reading »
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Exiting Pax Americana could save our bacon
Ordinary New Zealanders and Australians have little idea about the momentous changes coming our way. For a couple of centuries we have been outposts of a Western empire that is losing its dominance of the region. Continue reading »
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A call to civil society: it’s time to reframe media policy
The health implications of media policy are wide-ranging but not usually front of mind in national debate, whether for governments, communities or even the health sector. Continue reading »
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ABC – Ignorant, fearful or biased journalism?
Having just read journalist John Lyons’ book Balcony Over Jerusalem, I’m acutely aware of the ways in which the pro-Israeli Lobby in Australia exerts its influence on the media here to disparage journalists and their work and to even try to have them removed from their positions, if this lobby deems there is adverse critique Continue reading »
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Artificial cleverness is polluting the essence of our humanity
Fakes, deep fakes, disinformation, lies and rumours pollute the internet, the legacy media and conversations. Some of these are not new, but their power is growing. Now we have a new contender, so-called artificial intelligence, interfering in our human experience. Continue reading »
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Emmy committee stands firm on Gaza journalist’s nomination
The call for Bisan Owda’s nomination to be rescinded was “an incredible testament to the threat posed by a single young woman with an iPhone,” said one author. Continue reading »
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Digital technology: blessing or curse?
The challenge we face with digital technology is not just managing it; it’s about what it’s doing to us. Continue reading »
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The ABC of telling tales
ABC chair Kim Williams reckons the Corporation should focus more on hard news than lifestyle fillers. While purging the pap, he might also look at how some stories get told, particularly to international audiences. Continue reading »
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UK and Hong Kong riots: similarities and differences
One would’ve had to have been living in a cave not to have been aware of the recent street violence in the United Kingdom. For those of us who lived through the riots here in Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020, there was an extreme feeling of déjà vu as we watched attacks on police, Continue reading »
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Court strikes again in Thai lawfare – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Another Shinawatra becomes PM in Thailand. Plus: Kishida ‘lost people’s trust’; Big losses as Asian Muslims shun KFC over Gaza; Manila reshapes its superpower ties; Gen Z revolution in Bangladesh; Racism a factor in Olympics row. Continue reading »
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Change on way? ABC reviews ICJ ruling
Major international media outlets face a dilemma over whether to adapt newsroom practices to the World Court’s judgment last month on Israel’s illegal occupation. Continue reading »
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How Rupert Murdoch helped create a monster – the era of Trumpism – and then lost control of it
You can’t help but feel sorry for Rupert Murdoch. Continue reading »
