April, 2011
Crikey Says: Smith goes in to battle
With Anzac Day looming, it seems a fitting time to re-examine our attitude towards and within the Australian Defence Force in light of the ADFA scandal.
Coming to grips with the trauma that is, in reality, news
I kept telling myself that I wasn’t the first journalist to experience trauma. And that this certainly wasn’t going to be the last time, writes Erdem Koc, who teaches journalism at La Trobe University.
Superinjunctions, phone hacks and WikiLeaks: media at the crossroads
Phone hacking, superinjunctions and WikiLeaks sum up the problems of the UK media — which are being replicated here. Forget about a statutory protection of privacy in this environment.
ADF into the heat of battle
Stephen Smith could be described as a brave man — even a hero — in the real sense of the words rather than the debased usage much of the media and many militaristic politicos have adopted.
Great Scott! China bans time travel movies
The Chinese government has responded to the growing popularity of time travel dramas by banishing them from screens. Why? Filmmakers are allegedly treating history in a frivolous way, China Hush reports.
When horrible dictators write horrible prose
Did you know that Muammar Gaddafi once wrote a children’s short story called The Astronaut’s Suicide? Or that Saddam Hussein dabbled in erotic allegorical fiction?
HuffPo freelancers refute the ‘free’ part
Huffington Post cost AOL $315 million earlier this year, yet the majority of its writers don’t earn a cent for their work. Now a group of freelancers have launched a class-action seeking compensation for their work.
Review: Simon Keck’s Can’t Get No (MICF)
Can’t Get No is everything Generation Y could wish for: an excuse not to get married, have kids and become the modern-day workaholic, writes Siobhan Argent.
Social media strategies in the age of the paywall
The launch of paywalls on news websites has changed the way social media strategists promote content. Mashable takes a look at the strategies employed by three American outlets.
podcast A conversation with Charlie Pickering
Charlie Pickering talks to Matt Smith about his show Rodeo, Burqa, Circumcision, about controversial jokes, what happened to the ‘rodeo’ and getting back to his comedy roots.
Pokies reform “un-Australian?” What a load of balderdash
Cut the crap about our “nanny state” and forget those ridiculous “it’s un-Australian” ads. There is nothing wrong with obtaining a card to set a limit on how much you’ll lose at the pokies, writes Greg Jericho.
Save the krill – kill the whales!
The cuddly little krill is a declining species with the voracious appetite of whales and seals a major factor in this threatened genocide, writes Richard Farmer.
Women have no place on the front line, right?
On the issue of women serving on the front line it’s been interesting seeing the media outlets on which the “old guard” have been forced to rely push their “women just can’t do it” line, writes Jeremy Sear.
Maley: Goldman hears the QE2 music stop
Risk assets, such as shares and commodities, were sold off heavily overnight, as investors worried about the damage that high commodity prices are inflicting on global growth, writes Karen Maley, of Business Spectator.
A hot pink climate no laughing matter
Do climate scientists have a sense of humour, asks author David Spratt?
healthcare Australia needs physician assistants. So why aren’t we getting them?
Professional self-interest is blocking introduction of physician assistants, writes Professor Peter Brooks, director of the Australian Health Workforce Institute.
An open letter to Andrew Bolt from a “half-caste” Kungarakan-Gurindji woman
Proud Aboriginal academic Sue Stanton writes about the recent Andrew Bolt case and how frustrating it is for someone who has spent their life fighting for Aboriginal rights.
Mental health: a continuing history of neglect
Chronic disease prevention is gathering increasing steam, at a national and international level. So why is mental health not part of this agenda? asks Richard Eckersley.
theatre reviews Madame Butterfly — Opera Theatre, Sydney
This all-Australian (well, almost) adaptation of Puccini’s tragic opera is every bit is, from the very first moment, a resplendent production. It’s subtlety meets high drama meets the aesthetically sublime, writes Lloyd Bradford Skye.
Media briefs: Assange verses Gillard … Leckie’s WAN spray … media shake-ups at SMH and Oz …
Assange’s News.com.au serenade to Gillard … Leckie’s “dopes and idiots” at WAN … Editorial shakeup in newspapers’ media sections … Egypt sentences blogger to three years …
Who you calling a human rights violator? China fights back
After criticism from the United States over human rights abuses and treatment of dissidents, China has fought back by publishing 7,500 words on human rights violations in the US, including racial discimrination and wrongful imprisonment.
Leckie to Warburton: ‘It’s sad, you’ve done a Gillard’
James Warburton’s 73-page affidavit paints a picture of an ambitious man, determined to get the top job at Seven or leave.
