Disasters bring out the best and worst in us, magnifying both good and bad. Almost inevitably journalists will be condemned at some stage in covering disasters, especially when our initial shock wears off. It has been labelled disaster porn and few sectors of the media are spared, whether a camera crew chasing exhausted rescuers or newspaper photographs of dead or dying children. So how far should we go? Read More
An era of sorts ended in 2011 with the death of cartoonist Bob Browne, the creator of Mr Grass Roots, perhaps Papua New Guinea’s most loved comic character, “the social conscience of PNG”. Browne’s life and work could be read as an allegory of change in the Pacific. He came as a British volunteer in 1971 and stayed through thick and thin until his death. This was one of our best-read articles, proving journalism is about people. Read More
It’s not easy being a foreign correspondent in a crisis. They often find themselves part of the story they’re covering, so the secret is to be present but translucent, letting the story shine through their own experiences, offering their audience a guiding hand without their own voice overwhelming the narrative. Not all reporters do this well all the time and they fall victim to “look at me journalism”. Here’s a cautionary tale. Read More
When UK Minister Vince Cable declared war on News Corp, he was only playing catch-up, for Rupert Murdoch’s media empire had been at war with British, American, Australian and other governments for decades. The “Dirty Digger” is not into media ownership and empire-building for the public good or the sake of some higher moral principle. He does it for the power to make or break democratically elected governments. Read More
It’s 10 years since Wikileaks dropped its first load of explosive government leaks on the world and the ripples continue. Few WikiLeaks supporters really believe the world can exist if everyone is absolutely truthful with each other; some “economy with the truth” is needed to oil the wheels of diplomacy. They know. We know. Now they know we know. It’s a brave new world of diplomacy but please, kids, don’t try this at home. Read More
SBS was once renowned as “the many voices of one Australia”, but now it’s decided it doesn’t need as many in the actual building. It’s decision to outsource large parts of it’s world-famous Subtitling Unit is not just a sign of how far it has strayed from its multicultural charter but is also a clever way of chanelling taxpayer funding to the private sector. … Read More
Humour is a funny thing … and sometimes it’s not. Frequent high-profile blunders and controversial cases of misfired humour in the media have failed to remind us time-and-again how tricky humour – especially satire – can be. Now, ten years on from Channel Nine’s infamous “blackface incident”, have Australian broadcasters actually learned anything? … Read More
