The Melbourne University academic and Crikey contributor outlines a six-point plan for genuine media regulation in a submission to the Senate committee looking at Labor’s proposed reforms.
READ MOREArticles by Margaret Simons
Minimalist media reform that only starts the job
Some expected Stephen Conroy to do nothing on media reform in an election year. He’s done something — but it’s not much, and it may not pass Parliament anyway. The government’s minimalist approach fails to address convergence.
READ MORESimons on the compact Age: a shiny new face, but where’s the heart?
Margaret Simons reviews The Age as it ditches the broadsheet format for a compact future.
READ MORESimons: the view from inside an Australian hatchet job
Margaret Simons responds to articles in The Australian today criticising her reporting of the Cameron Stewart/Simon Artz affair in Crikey. She stands by her stories.
READ MOREWhat we know the government thinks on media regulation
Time is ticking for the government to act on media regulation. There’s plenty of talk inside the government but nothing concrete is emerging. Could it all be too hard?
READ MORE
Simons: how media perpetuate women’s silence
Men dominate the media, both creating it, and the people it covers. Is it any wonder it cynically dismissed Gillard’s irritation at sexism?
READ MORE
Chinese activate ‘zoushuangai’ media: will it free the press?
The Chinese media landscape is changing, exciting and worrying local journalists. Is the firm hand of government control easing as proprietors are told to embrace commercialism and Western practice?
READ MORE
The fact is, one size doesn’t fit all platforms
As today’s news media executives deal with agonies of the present, there are unexamined claims that get thrown around and fond hopes and cost exigencies that are misprepresented as bright new ways forward.
READ MORESimons: in a paywalled world, it won’t be what’s new but what’s valued
Content behind the paywall, whether it is analysis or news, will have to be born of journalists who take the time to understand context and nuance rather than rely on traditional values.
READ MOREThe free-fall of Fairfax: only our news appetite will save it
What are the possible futures for Fairfax Media, following the latest lurch in what the company points out is the biggest restructure in its history?
READ MOREHow do we defend editorial integrity in the post-industrial age?
The situation of Fairfax Media, with three editors standing down in one day, make this a good time to think carefully about what journalists mean by editorial independence.
READ MORESimons: the bottom line … news or profitability?
There is a respectable point of view among those who analyse media businesses that the smart thing to do for serious news journalism is move to the political right.
READ MOREIdiot’s Guide to the Convergence Review: public and community broadcasting
The Convergence Review gives non-commercial media, including the ABC, SBS and community broadcasters, a nice deal on spectrum, the suggestion of access to more money, and a pat on the back for doing a good job.
READ MOREIdiot’s Guide to the Convergence Review: content standards
How does the Convergence Review balance its deregulatory vibe with its assertion that content standards are still necessary, because the community expects them and because failing to restrict access to some content can do harm?
READ MORESimons: review says Finkelstein got regs diagnosis right, prescription wrong
The Convergence Review Report has effectively concluded that Ray Finkelstein got the diagnosis right but the prescription wrong when he recommended statutory regulation for news media.
READ MOREIdiot’s Guide to the Convergence Review: the principles
So the Convergence Review report is big — very big, in number of pages and in implications.
READ MOREThe Oz sued for defamation by former OPI employee
The Australian and reporter Chip Le Grand are being sued for defamation over a series of stories published last December in which a former Office of Police Integrity manager was accused of bullying.
READ MORENew Kid on the Block: a True approach to music
Collapse Board, a music website, is this week’s entrant in Crikey’s occasional series New Kid on the Block.
READ MOREPress Council, richer but disunited, still the best regulatory option
After long and delicate negotiations, it was announced Australia’s major publishers had agreed to greatly increase the funding for the Australian Press Council.
READ MORESimons: journalism teachers have earned a place at the table
In a world increasingly driven by media, knowing how media works and how to make media content is an important set of understandings for any citizen.
READ MORENew Kid on the Block: it’s the Renew kid on the block
RenewEconomy is an online-only niche publication that has as its tagline “tracking the next industrial revolution”. It’s the latest New Kid on the Block.
READ MOREJournalism education honour roll: why teaching media matters
Graduates from journalism and media and communications courses are no longer confined to wannabes and to the latest generation. And they do find jobs — all over the place.
READ MORE
Newspaper site paywalls: dribbles of gold, not rivers
The grand experiment on erecting paywalls for news content online took another step yesterday, with News Limited releasing figures — sort of — for how many people have signed up for digital subscriptions to The Australian.
READ MORENew Kid on the Block: Mackay gets its own show and Tele
Everyone from the Prime Minister down was praising the launch of The Mackay Telegraph, a hard-copy giveaway with a 25,000 print run and available online.
READ MORENew Kid on the Block: a Broadsheet approach to lifestyle online
Broadsheet aims to be THE guide to “where to go out on a date, where to buy a pair of jeans, where to eat well and have good coffee” in Sydney and Melbourne. It’s another media New Kid on the Block.
READ MORE
