Reuters to change route, from quick to contextedWith almost 3000 employed journalists, Reuters is one of the largest news organisations in the world. Under the direction of BusinessWeek veteran Steve Adler it is set to change direction from fast food style output to more focused, in depth coverage, reports Ken Doctor.
June, 2011
film reviews 
X-Men First Class movie review: surprisingly classy
The fifth X-Men movie X-Men: First Class treads the familiar ‘origins’ path, presenting new back stories for old characters. It is surprisingly good expendable entertainment: fast, sassy and occasionally innovative, writes Luke Buckmaster.
Ducking the main issue on hunting
Victoria’s 2011 duck shooting season finished this week. By allowing a twelve week season this year, the Baillieu government unnecessarily risked the future of our vital wetlands regions, writes Mark Argyle.
Tobacco Nanny, paternalism and public health
This week the tobacco industry launched a nation-wide media campaign in an attempt to stop the government introducing plain packaging tobacco products. Luke Buckmaster and Matthew Thomas discuss the parameters of paternalism and the nanny state.
podcast Canberra Calling: The Faulkner in the road podcast
This week, Crikey’s Canberra Correspondent Bernard Keane and Crikey editor Sophie Black analyse John Faulkner’s Wran lecture and what it means for the Federal Labor party.
WikiLeaks spokesman: Guardian, NYT wanted to rush war logs
The doyens of the mainstream media were the ones flirting with danger over Wikileaks material, not the site itself, Kristinn Hrafnsson reveals. Bernard Keane and Matthew Knott report.
Hands up who failed stats: Overland resigns
The Victorian Ombudsman has found that Police Commissioner Simon Overland was solely responsible for the release of assault statistics he knew were bodgie just before the Victorian election.
Hey Julia, guess who’s coming to dinner?
Gillard now gets to play Katherine Hepburn in a 2011 remake of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, as three same sex couples get a chance to ask her why she opposes their rights to legal marriage in the full glare of the national media, writes former Democrats leader Brian Greig.
Look beyond a carbon price and examine whether your cuts will count
The way in which the CPRS set both a cap above which emissions could not rise and a floor below which emissions could not fall was widely debated, if not widely understood, during 2009 and 2010. But those lessons need to be learnt again, writes Dr Richard Denniss.
What has the war on terror cost taxpayers, and did they get value for money?
Spending on the war on terror is higher now than at the height of 9/11 hysteria. Budget papers show the Howard, Rudd and Gillard governments have spent more than $15 billion on the war since 2001.
Alert the ACCC: Roxon’s alcohol floor price is a classic case of price fixing
Roxon’s plan to fix the floor price of alcohol means effectively the retail alcohol industry is going to be coerced into a massive cartel between itself and the government, writes Ian Hanke.
Guthrie warns new Melbourne Press Club president of rocky road ahead
Former Age, Sunday Age and Herald Sun editor Bruce Guthrie says incoming Melbourne Press Club President Mark Baker has an “enormous task ahead of him” to restore credibility to the media clique following two scandals in the past week that have cast doubt on its raison d’être.
Unequal opportunities for discrimination in Victoria
In the early hours of yesterday morning, state parliament — after an earlier hiccup — passed the government’s amendments to Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act reversing changes made last year by the Labor government.
My Cup Of Tea: The perks (and toner) corrupting arts administrators
Last week it was Film Victoria’s $45,000 party, this week Arts Victoria is under fire for a $40,000 printer toner bill. The perks, and increasingly corporatised arts funding, is corrupting the provision of cash.
Gruen: Carr, with the Greens, close the tax loopholes in R&D
Kim Carr announcement yesterday of cross-bench support for the government’s new R&D tax concession is an important win — for Labor and for innovation in Australia. The Greens have also chosen the right rather than the easiest decision, says Nicholas Gruen.
Come in Spinner: Yes, and no, the answer to many questions
The concept that many major questions need a yes and no answer can hardly survive in an environment in which three word slogans and invented narrarive are substituted for reasoned discussion and analysis.
Maley: political fiddling as Greece burns
Global financial markets were roiled overnight as Greece’s political situation deteriorated, fanning fears that the country will ultimately decide that defaulting on its debts is an easier route than ongoing austerity, writes Karen Maley.
Foreign ownership of Aussie land: the peril of selling the farm
Foreign government-backed companies have begun buying up farmland around the world, with Australia’s vast tracts of top quality primary production land a prime target.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Why was Rattner granted immunity from prosecution?
Crikey readers have their say.
Morning Market Report: Markets slump on bad news from Greece
Euro zone finance ministers failed to reach an agreement on a 2nd bailout and the Greek PM will form a new cabinet as he pushes for further austerity measures. Meanwhile there are riots in Athens.
Daily Proposition: a night of Russian theatre
The Russians are coming! Actually, they’ve already arrived. And they’re everywhere. Not in Soviet-era tanks, but theatrical garb. Two of the greats: Chekhov and Bulgakov.
Media briefs: The Oz goes Fairfax … local content quotas … ACCC’s media worry …
The Australian tells Fairfax how to do its job. Plus, Free TV Australia wants to loosen the Australian content quota restrictions placed on Australian FTA broadcasters and other media news of the day.
Political snippets: Leadership stories are just so much fun to write!
The headline was more dramatic than the story beneath it but we can expect to see more like it as this Labor Government stumbles from one absurdity to another.
Video of the Day: A link between climate change and natural disasters?
Recently the world has watched on with horror as tornadoes, fires, record floods and earthquakes have wreaked destruction across the globe. Are these events linked to climate change? This video op-ed, written by author Bill McKibben and narrated and illustrated by Stephen Thomson, raises some serious questions.
