Social media have become both a blessing and curse for traditional media but two recent cases at opposite sides of the world have shown that news managers have the ability to choose which they will be if only they have a better understanding of how social media policies relate to the ethics underpinning their core business, together with the nerve to apply that understanding when times get tough. Read More
It is the fate of all empires to be despised by their vassals. But that was before the Information Age. Now all bets are off. Now empires have the media tools to mould their image overseas while their foreign subjects can see right into the heart of their overlord’s domain. So why are Americans making such a mess of being a superpower? And what role do the media play in building a wall between the US and the rest of the world? Read More
With the continuing persecution of Julian Assange, one of our country’s and this century’s most famous whistleblowers, it is timely that all nations – but especially democracies – remind themselves that a whistleblower is not a traitor, just someone who sees something wrong, consults their conscience and exposes the wrongdoing contrary to the wishes of those with power to conceal it from their fellow citizens. Read More
Fake news has been around longer than news itself, but it took someone as influential and opinionated as US President Donald Trump to breathe new life into it. While critics say Trump’s “fake news” is simply news he dislikes, the issue has more profound ramifications for modern free-press democracies, making us question who and what we can trust. But all is not lost. Fake news can be conquered, especially if each and every one of us works on our Trust Chains. … Read More
Less than a week after SBS managing director Shaun Brown officially left the corporation’s Artarmon headquarters, one of his closest underlings, the head of SBS television and online content, Matt Campbell, announced he was quitting – the first of Brown’s executives to leave since new broom Michael Ebeid officially took over at SBS. Could this be the start of the much-anticipated shake-up of Australia’s multicultural broadcaster? Read More
White-anting started early for SBS’s new managing director Michael Ebeid – two months before getting his feet under his new desk in Sydney. Some saw his qualities and qualifications – including his Egyptian heritage – with trepidation or outright animosity. Some senior executives feared for their jobs or their easy life. It was not a good omen for a “new start” for Australia’s embattled multicultural broadcaster. Read More
Egyptian-born, Australian-raised Michael Ebeid is such a cleanskin he’s almost translucent. Yet he has been chosen to be the next managing director of Australia’s national multicultural broadcaster, SBS. Many people rise to senior public jobs out of left field, but there’s usually a trail of some sort. With Ebeid there’s not much. So is he the man who will provide the spark to reignite a passion for Australia’s once-loved SBS? Read More
We are now in the third decade of the 21st Century, so what has happened in the last 10 years? Certainly, had it not been for WikiLeaks, 2010 itself might have gone down as another forgettable year for media in Australia and around the world, few examples of great journalism, no breathtaking, game-changing technical innovations, not even any great “end-of-an-era” events at which we could pause and take stock. Read More
Cuts in SBS Television’s news staff could, ironically, signal Australia’s multicultural broadcaster is trying to get back on track. SBS TV News has been the darling of Managing Directors for many years, so to see it under the axe suggests something strange is happening at SBS. And on the general assumption that things cannot get any worse for the embattled broadcaster, anything – however strange – might herald hope. … 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
