Media
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MICHAEL THORN. Countering vested interests A REPOST
That corporations wield enormous power is not news. That this power is wielded to benefit the corporation and its agents is not news either. Neither is seeking to counter the power of these corporations by public interest organisations, like the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE). Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE – Our derivative white man’s media A REPOST
Politicians are continually blamed for their failures but our media is also responsible for the state of public discussion on important issues. This downward media spiral has been led by the Murdoch media’s abuse of power in the three major English-speaking markets – Australia, UK and the US. But other media, including the ABC is Continue reading »
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PETER BROWNE. Historian of the present.Ken Inglis
When I visited Ken Inglis early last month, a few weeks before he died, I found him engrossed in the day’s edition of the Sunday Age. It was perhaps eighty years since he’d begun reading the papers as a schoolboy in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Preston, and during that time he’d become one of Australia’s Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. Unpopulate or perish – revisiting the Whitlam decentralisation vision in a digital age.
On the 45th anniversary of the election of the Whitlam Government Laurie Patton reflects on a forward-thinking policy that deserves revisiting for a digitally-enabled world. Continue reading »
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IAN MACPHEE. A deeper view of the Rohingya crisis than media provide.
Since writing my blog on 13 October in defence of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (whom I will now only term Daw Suu) external media has continued its criticism of her for not condemning the military for its brutal attacks on Rohingya people in Rakhine state on the border of Bangladesh. As I stressed then, Continue reading »
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ALISON BROINOWSKI. If you want to know the truth
WikiLeaks continues to get up the nose of the media and security establishment. They will use a newly revealed proposal to make Assange Ambassador to Washington to make things worse for him. Continue reading »
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HENRY REYNOLDS. Beersheba and the Militarisation of Australian History.
The commemoration of the centenary of the battle for Beersheba illustrates many features of the progressive militarization of Australian history. No other aspect of our past attracts the lavish funding provided by the federal government. The cost of the commemoration must be considerable given the abundant travel grants and the funding of the new Light Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. How a rogue organization operates.
This week Crikey has been running a series, the Holy Wars on ‘How The Australian targets and attacks its enemies ‘This prompted me to recall my own experiences and earlier writing on how News Corp intimidates its critics and threatens and seduces governments. The way News Corp operates must be traced to Murdoch himself for Continue reading »
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RANALD MACDONALD. Open letter to Communications Minister, The Hon. Mitch Fifield
Can we just be serious just for a moment? Having read your piece in The Australian headed “Shrill Attacks on ABC Adjustments Are Hysterical, Unhinged” (9/10/17), I cannot believe that you, Minister, REALLY believe in what you have written. Continue reading »
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JULIAN CRIBB. Our Parliament: an unqualified failure for the future
Australian politicians have next to no qualifications or skills when it comes to deciding the focal issues of our time. No wonder the decision making of recent years has been so poor. Julian Cribb argues that a continued political bias against science, technology and education risks placing Australia among the also-rans of the 21st Century. Continue reading »
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ARTHUR STOCKWIN. Developments in Japan including threats to press freedom
Most international attention on East Asia today is sharply focused on North Korea’s nuclear and missile developments. But this does not mean that we can neglect the significant developments taking place in Japan’s domestic political landscape. Since winning the December 2012 elections, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has maintained a commanding majority in the national Continue reading »
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MICHAEL WEST. Why are we still pursuing the Adani Carmichael mine?
Why, if Adani’s gigantic Carmichael coal project is so on-the-nose for the banks and so environmentally destructive, are the federal and Queensland governments so avid in their support of it? Adani employs the lobbying firm Next Level Strategic Services.. The director of this lobbying firm is Cameron Milner,who was Bill Shorten’s Chief of Staff, former Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. The submarine mess that Pearls and Irritations has high lighted for 18 months.
At the National Press Club yesterday Mike Keating and Hugh White again drew attention to the very serious problems of our proposed submarine purchases. We will be following their addresses further. The following is a repost from December 16 last year. For eight months in Pearls & Irritations, Jon Stanford, Michael Keating, myself and others, have drawn Continue reading »
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PAUL BUDDE. Digital media and media diversity
The changes recently proposed to the Broadcasting Act will allow for a further concentration of media power in Australia. Continue reading »
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RANALD MACDONALD. Testing times for the ABC with a ‘competitive, neutrality enquiry’.
One of our most trusted institutions is under real threat- and, like Humpty Dumpty, once broken may never be able to be put together again. Continue reading »
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JOHN TULLOH. The female revolution at ABC News.
‘But the women (foreign correspondents) were (likelier than men) to be more thoughtful in looking at the wider context or human side of stories. In short, they were inclined to be nosier and would go the extra mile to pin down or dig deeper into an aspect of a story’. Continue reading »
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PAUL BUDDE. The end of the Foxtel wars
The announcement of the proposed merger of Foxtel with Fox Sport Australia, combined with Telstra’s agreement to dilute its shareholding in the pay TV operator, paves the way for the end of the Foxtel war between News Corp Australia (formerly News Limited) and Telstra. The decline in revenue and subscriber numbers will most certainly have Continue reading »
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RANALD MACDONALD. ABC deal comes back to haunt the Government (Episode Two).
Last week I began my summary of the Government’s complex negotiations aimed at getting its Media Reform Bill through the Senate with the words: “Make a deal for political expediency and then unforeseen consequences usually follow. The ABC and its future is not a ‘bargaining chip’ for the Government to use to pass legislation in the Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Pauline Hanson, Malcolm Turnbull, and the ABC – a Faustian bargain
Turnbull’s deal with One Nation, to require the ABC to be “fair and balanced”, looks innocuous at first sight, but if implemented it would see the ABC cast into the wasteland of moral relativism. Continue reading »
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PAUL BUDDE. NBN goes against the very principles of conservative government
That the NBN goes against the very principles of conservative government became very clear to me in my discussion with the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network. When addressing the various well-documented problems of the NBN the chair of the committee repeatedly mentioned in defence of the current multi-technology-mix MtM policy that many Continue reading »
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RANALD MACDONALD. ABC deal comes back to haunt Government.
Make a deal for political expediency and then unforseen consequences usually follow. Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Rent-seekers and the hollowing out of democracy (Repost 12/2015)
‘Rent-seeking’ is a term understood by most economists. It refers to the ability of powerful groups to extract special concessions and favours at the expense of the wider community. Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. The broadband debacle: NBN Co needs to eat its own dog food.
Whoever is in office three years from now will have the biggest ever infrastructure debacle on their hands if we don’t do something soon, writes Internet Australia’s Laurie Patton. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. A $30 million gift to the great rent seeker, News Corp.
Inevitably a scandal over $30 million of taxpayers money to Foxtel tended to get lost in the rush. But it remains a scandal nonetheless, especially when the government admits – no, boasts – that there is no record of the transaction; apparently the cash was simply handed over in a brown paper bag with a Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Murdoch’s Media Tax. (Reposted from 29/12/2015)
Rupert Murdoch complains that he faces unfair competition from a taxpayer funded public broadcaster like the ABC and SBS. Yet in effect, he imposes his own consumption taxes on consumers. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Conservatives set the rules but they keep breaking them. (Repost from 7 February 2017)
Many people around the world are concluding that the system is rigged in favour of powerful insiders who bend the rules. The populists – Trump, Farage, Le Pen and Hanson are adept at tapping into that disempowerment and the sense that the system is rigged against them. Continue reading »
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PAUL BUDDE. Mid-year NBN assessment.
The rollout of the NBN has been gathering pace, but many problems remain. Most of the issues mentioned below have been addressed by me at various Senate Inquiries over the last decade. The fact that they have not been addressed and/or resolved is an indication that politicians have so far failed to deal with them. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL THORN. The cricket pay dispute and how broadcast deals drive unhealthy product marketing
After the series of serious drug and alcohol incidents involving rugby league players and officials in May, some quite reasonably made the argument that sports that so closely embrace alcohol brands can hardly be surprised when the behaviour of players clothed in these brands act badly. This was cited in support of the argument that Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Rupert Murdoch’s abuse of power. (Repost from 7 August 2013)
Controlling 70% of Australia’s metropolitan newspapers, one would hope that Murdoch would exercise some responsibility in the use of that power. But none of that responsibility for Rupert Murdoch! Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. How Murdoch got a foothold in Foxtel. (Repost from 1 February 2014)
At the last election Rupert Murdoch showed how ruthlessly he plays the political game-a game that has delivered great commercial benefits for his organisation, not just in Australia but particularly in the US and UK. One example of favours delivered by governments is the way the Australian Government in 1995 secured an invaluable foothold for Continue reading »
