OK, we admit it: we thought the ABC’s decision to anoint The Chaser’s Julian Morrow as the host of this year’s Andrew Olle Media Lecture was a bit dubious. But we’re happy to admit we were wrong: Morrow did a great job, giving a surprisingly witty and insightful take on press freedom, censorship and media ownership.
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8 Comments
This appears to be the edited highlights. The full version is viewable on ABC iView, at least for a couple weeks. Plus there are, ahem, tools for downloading videos from iView for later consumption.
It was a cracker of a speech.
Especially considering that on the three previous years, the speakers were…
2006 Helen Coonan.
2007 John Hartigan.
2008 Ray Martin.
All three were deeply boring and depressing insults to the memory of Andrew Ollie.
So perhaps there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel for the ABC.
Hell, even Mark Scott’s closing words (not included on this clip) were actually funny and worth a listen. Perhaps he’s been taking “comedy lessons” from Julian.
Agreed, Paddy. One of the take-home quotes for me was: “Independence of ownership certainly helps, but independence is a state of mind, not a state of balance sheet.” Also the differentiation between the primary audience who might complain about a program (the people who actually watched it) and the secondary audience of confected outrage stirred up by talkback radio and the tabloids.
5 STARS from me.
What a delight to hear the intelligent synthesis of a position on freedom of expression , censorship and the general fabric of social outrage. all this in such witty clever & tough statements.
The real achievement here was to be able to address things which too often are not considered in any climate other than the too often confected outrage of the narrow small-minded in our midst.
Let’s have more insightful discourses & somehow expose the shock jocks 7 their ilk for the mindless rabble rowsers they are.
Thanks Julian Morrow. All is forgiven!
Good, really good
Agree with Stilgherrian - breaking up audiences into primary and secondary is useful and important. Also important was thinking of impact in terms of those directly affected, those with non-centrist views, and the majority with the live-and-let-live if you do-no-harm view. This lecture should be kept online permanently.
Am wondering to what extent his journo wife contributed to the text? If at all. And if so was she credited. Scott in his reply on radio broadcast Saturday next morning (?) was complimentary of her media role. Or was that a sly reference to the other half of the brains of the operation given the Chaser brand is close to stuffed what with the sophistry around primary and secondary audiences in the speech. A good speech no doubt but primary and secondary? Oh please.
Still they all deserve an OAM for their APEC stunt which was real politik at it’s brave best.
@Tom McLoughlin: Really? I actually thought the differentiation between primary and secondary audiences was one of the most insightful parts of the whole thing.
If people’s “loyalty” to specific news brands is decreasing, and increasingly they’re grazing for news from many disparate sources including through recommendations from aggregators and “friends” — as seems to be the case — then surely any media operation needs to look at the difference between how those two groups of people behave.
One chooses to consume your material every day. The other chooses to respond to how aggregators and “friends” have chosen to pass on the link. I reckon the two would behave very differently.
Also, do feel free to explain the logical connection in “The Chaser brand is close to stuffed what with the sophistry around primary and secondary audiences in the speech”. Eludes me.