Public Interest Journalism Foundation

Media leaders held to account

admin — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 05:25:06 +0000

In this session at the New News 2011 conference three Australian media leaders – Mark Scott (Managing Director, ABC), Greg Hywood (CEO, Fairfax Media) and Sophie Black (Editor, Crikey, pictured above) – answered questions from the public. They are joined by Kevin Rennie, whose question for the three media leaders via oursay.org received the most votes. Chairing the session was former broadcaster and one-time federal MP, Maxine McKew. A videocast of the session can be viewed here.

Swinburne’s Public Interest Journalism Foundation partnered with the Melbourne Writers Festival to present the New News conference, which asked the question: “What’s next for journalism?”

Why political coverage is broken

admin — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 05:01:46 +0000

Renowned commentator and journalism academic Jay Rosen delivered the keynote speech at this year’s New News conference, held on 26–27 August at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne. His theme: “How did we get to the point where it seems entirely natural for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to describe political journalists appearing on its air as ‘the insiders?’” According to Rosen, “Promoting journalists as insiders in front of the outsiders, the viewers, the electorate…. this is a clue to what’s broken about political coverage in the U.S. and Australia. Here’s how I would summarize it: Things are out of alignment. Journalists are identifying with the wrong people. Therefore the kind of work they are doing is not as useful as we need it to be.”

You can watch a videocast of his speech, Why Political Coverage is Broken, here and read the transcript here.

Swinburne’s Public Interest Journalism Foundation partnered with the Melbourne Writers Festival to present the New News conference, which asked the question: “What’s next for journalism?”

Photo: WayneKLin/ Flickr

New News 2011 conference

admin — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 05:47:30 +0000

The Public Interest Journalism Foundation will once again partner with Melbourne Writers Festival to present the New News conference. Speakers include Lindsay Tanner, Jay Rosen, Jo Chandler, Margaret Simons, Bill Birnbauer, Misha Ketchell, George Megalogenis, Matthew Ricketson, Shakira Hussein and Maria Tumarkin. There’s a mix of both free and ticketed events, asking “what works” in the digital age. Check out the program at www.mwf.com.au.

YouCommNews investigation: How much does ABCNews24 cost?

admin — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 02:44:33 +0000

What is the true cost of the ABC’s 24 hour television news service, ABCNews24? It is a question that has preoccupied ABC watchers for over a year now, since the service was launched. When the new channel was announced, ABC Managing Director Mark Scott was uncharacteristically cagey about how he had scraped together the money. He had, after all, failed to get the any more dough from government for the channel in the 2009 triennial funding round.

Funded through the Public Interest Journalism Foundation’s innovative crowd-sourcing site, YouCommNews, journalist Margaret Simons set out to find out exactly how much ABCNews24 is costing the ABC. Her report is online now at YouCommNews…