Why I quit my job as a national newspaper editor to be a bloggerWhy would any self-respecting journo leave their job as an editor at one of the US’s largest national newspapers, the LA Times to work for media gossip site Gawker? To be part of the nation’s “cultural conversation”.
Media / Journalism
Crikey Says: Clash of the media titans at Media140
A certain slack-jawed wonderment ran around the room at yesterday’s Media140 conference in Sydney, when a senior News Ltd journalist rose to spruik the vested corporate interests of her employer…
Wankley Awards: Photo galleries of drunk people at the Melbourne Cup
Apparently people get drunk on the public lawns at the Melbourne Cup. Who knew? There is no news in this, just a ritualised annual tabloid photo-gallery parade of shame, vulnerability and intrusion. But try telling that to the Hun.
Stilgherrian: What do journos do better, exactly?
The “bloggers vs. journalists” debate is stupid, says Stilgherrian: of course journalists are better at journalism — they’re the ones doing it. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other important roles people can play in the broader media community.
The ABC plans for world domination
Yesterday, ABC chief Mark Scott announced the broadcaster’s plans to become a global media force. Is the ABC pitching to become a propaganda arm of the Australian Government? asks Karl Quinn; and is that really something taxpayers should be funding?
Crikey Says: All locked away in our digital ghettoes
With the decline of the mainstream media, we’re also losing something social media cannot provide. What about the viewpoints that we don’t want to hear, but should?
The ABC needs a Pacific Solution
Mark Scott is pitching for a dramatic expansion in the ABC’s international presence, but Australia just isn’t enough of a cultural heavyweight to compete with America or the UK. Why not focus on the Pacific region, where we actually have some cultural credibility?
The science of Chinese whispers gone wrong
It all started when Reuters published a story about the positive cognitive effects of bad moods. Too bad the “study” doesn’t exist and neither does the journal it reportedly comes from, says science blogger Michael Slezak.
Interest rate horse puns: their cups runneth over
The priceless coincidence of two major news events occurring within an hour of each other yesterday had the nation’s top journalists jockeying relentlessly in their favourite pursuit: tenuously-linked punnage.
How to save business media: more sex and cow farts
Business magazines are going bust and Stanley Bing knows why: they’re full of boring rich farts. Time for less “what old guys are thinking” and more “what young people are doing”.
Keane: Glenn Milne is a grub
In the weekend’s Sunday Telegraph, Glenn Milne reported a relationship between two MPs. This isn’t even news to Canberra insiders, says Bernard Keane, and it shouldn’t be news for anyone: there is no public interest.
Matt Preston to stop writing restaurant reviews
MasterChef’s break-out star, Matt Preston, plans to give up writing time consuming restaurant reviews, in favour of advancing his new-found career as a celebrity foodie, according to today’s Oz Media Diary. Did anyone say “flavour-of-the-month”?
The Sarah Palin vs. Levi Johnston media wars
While we mourn the Balibo 5, who remembers the Saigon 4?
The story of the five Australian journalists killed in Balibo, East Timor, in 1975 has received plenty of attention from politicians and the media. So why does the slaughter another group of Australian journalists, during the Vietnam War’s Tet Offensive, still go untold?
Moses is definitely a follower
It’s another Aussie journo Twitter spat, this time between the ABC’s Mark Colvin and Fairfax’s Asher Moses over a rocket ship and showing pictures on the radio.
Talking the Town: Ray Martin’s book launch
Last night we time-travelled back to a kinder, gentler time, at the launch of Ray Martin’s autobiography, complete with an introduction from Sir Michael Parkinson and music by Geoff Harvey.
The Press Council enters its Disney era
The funding of the Australian Press Council has been under debate lately, and the incoming head, Julian Disney, says the body needs secure and long-term funding.
Hoaxes: sometimes we lie in wait for them
Chastising the media for reporting the balloon boy story in the US or attacking the guerrilla tourism marketing campaign involving a fake Danish single mother won’t prevent hoaxes such as these from occurring, writes Simon Caterson.
Future of the ABC: less broadcaster, more webmaster
The shift in the ABC’s Arts programming from TV and radio to the web heralds a much larger metamorphosis for the broadcaster, in which the web is its primary form and other mediums just exist to feed it content, writes Karl Quinn.
Hooray for cliché!
Leave clichés alone! says James Parker (especially that little viral YouTube classic): adages, catchphrases and idioms go viral for a reason, and writers should use them with pride.
rumour 
Which high-profile war correspondent is also a spy?
Three anonymous military sources have separately claimed that a high-profile journalist currently working in a war zone is also a secret agent, according to Gawker.
Chairman of Australian Press Council calls for accountability
Ken McKinnon, the departing boss of the Press Council, is criticising the media for failing to live up to its own rhetoric on ethics, privacy and independence. Namely, the Utegate scandal and fake Pauline Hanson nude photos.
New Matilda / Monday, 2 November 2009
Newspaper editors’ new schtick appears to be giving column inches to commentators whose words are controversial, but intellectually barren, says Jason Wilson. It may pull in more readers, but ultimately, it damages the masthead.