There are three major problems confronting Australian journalism — and the good news about the media inquiry announced this week by Senator Stephen Conroy is that it contains a specific mandate to address each of them.
Articles by Eric Beecher 
Beecher: govt funding could stem loss of serious newspapers
What kind of democracy would we live in if it didn’t include the work of a thousand-or-so newspaper reporters and editors?
Beecher: logical for government to fund media diversity
There is no democratic or economic rationale to support suggestions that News Limited should be forced to divest any of its Australian newspapers.
The Power Index Why it’s in our interest to know who really runs Australia
In the lead-up to Monday’s launch of The Power Index, a new publication led by Paul Barry, from the makers of Crikey and Private Media, publisher Eric Beecher asks why we should all care about who the powerful are and what motivates their society-affecting decisions.
Beecher: from a burning platform, Fairfax had to take the plunge
The new leadership at Fairfax Media will attract fierce criticism over the announcement today of a recalibration of its flagship newspapers by sacking all their sub-editors. But they had to do something.
Beecher: Fairfax is sinking; a new captain alone won’t save it
Fairfax Media is arguably the most opportunistic company in Australia. Over the past decade, it has never lost the opportunity to shoot itself in the foot or to publicly showcase its dysfunctionality.
Beecher: dark side of journalism getting a foothold
To what extent should a journalist be prepared to compromise ethical standards in pursuit of a story?
The Australian’s grand obsession: itself
Not only is The Australian’s entrenched narcissism deeply embarrassing, it regularly undermines the paper’s otherwise legitimate credentials as a purveyor of serious journalism.
Beecher: Exhilarating iPad will help kill newspapers, not save them
Using the iPad to consume journalism is a thrilling experience. But, for the future of newspapers and old media, it also feels very much like a Hindenburg moment.
Beecher: Tabloid media laughing all the way to the pub on Campbell
The latest “debate” about media and privacy, triggered by last week’s television expose of NSW Minister David Campbell leaving a gay club, is a sham conducted by people who are paid extremely well to legitimise something that is nasty and indefensible.
Beecher: The iPad won’t save newspapers
The iPad is a wonderful device that will bring joy and utility to millions of people. But it won’t — and can’t — save the economic fate of newspapers.
Beecher: Why Murdoch defies gravity while other owners have to play by the rules
The fact that News Corp loses a great deal of money on its flagship newspapers doesn’t necessarily mean this is not a profitable formula.
Beecher: Kewell story the latest hit in the media’s celebrity crack fix
Without a constant supply of celebrities — the full array from actors to sports stars to politicians to wannabes — most of the popular media simply would not function, as demonstrated perfectly in the SMAge’s Good Weekend lift-out this week.
Beecher: Bingle and the bullying media no moral crusade
The media’s appalling behaviour in the Lara Bingle saga will only serve to strengthen privacy laws.
ABC chairman gives editorial independence a kick in the groin
With one speech, ABC chairman Maurice Newman has returned the national broadcaster to the days of having a politically interventionist board running a culture wars agenda.
Government’s FTA TV bonus could have better spent elsewhere
Last week, without any hint or debate, the federal Government dramatically changed the settings and priorities of Australian media policy.
Beecher: NYT to join the paywall brigade
The New York Times will introduce a charge for readers to use its website next year, heralding the most important development so far in the agonising who-will-pay-for-quality-journalism debate. The world of free journalism will never be the same.
Sorry Mike, but your integrity counts. We need to know
Like many politicians, Mike Rann has been perfectly happy to exploit his private life when it suited him. Yet the moment there’s a hint of sex, he suddenly demands silence.
Beecher: the choreograph of the commentariat
Synchronised indignation has been a trademark feature of the Australian media commentariat for years, writes Eric Beecher: the past week’s episode started with a stirring landmark speech about climate change by the Prime Minister at the Lowy Institute.
This is not the time for Mark Scott to build empires
Last week’s speech by ABC managing director Mark Scott advocates the creation of an expensive new ABC global television service as “an important way of putting Australian democracy on display”. But there’s a much more important place for the ABC to do that — at home, writes Eric Beecher.
Free Evening Standard: paywall waters muddied
Newspaper publishers everywhere will be avidly watching the London Evening Standard’s decision to drop its print paywall. Will free newspapers attract more advertisers?
Does Fairfax need a 67-year-old grocer at the helm?
Roger Corbett is poised to become Chairman of Fairfax. Does he honestly believe he is the best person to steer Australia’s venerable newspaper publisher through the most challenging period in its history?
Beecher: Walker squabbles while Fairfax burns
The feud between Fairfax Chairman Ron Walker and the Fairfax family is like watching a brawl between the captain and senior personnel on the Titanic, while the ship sinks and the crew jump for their lives.
Death of newspapers: it’s the advertising, stupid
Newspapers aren’t dying because readers are no longer buying them. The main problem is that advertisers, whose ads have always paid the cost of journalism, are deserting newspapers.
How to have your paywall and eat it too
Last week’s revelation that newspaper publishers are planning to ask readers to pay for online content has been greeted in many quarters as some kind of gigantic gamble. But where, precisely, is the gamble? asks Eric Beecher.
