In one corner, Foxtel chief Kim Williams arguing for de-regulation of the TV industry. In the other corner, ABC’s Kim Dalton. The umpire? Stephen Conroy.
Media / Journalism
Journalists adrift: the reporting of Black Saturday
Journalists covering the Black Saturday bushfires lacked ethical guidelines, and were left to find their own way through the dilemmas and traumas of reporting Australia’s worst peace-time disaster, according to a new study.
media death watch 
The axe drops at the Associated Press
Heads have begun to roll at US-based newswire service the Associated Press, as the agency attempts to cut its costs by 10%.
Why we need an R18+ classification for video games
Australia remains one of the few first world countries to lack an 18+ classification for video games. By restricting a large portion of the gaming market, we become victims of media censorship, says Joel Vaughan.
CNN journalist: Detained in China over Obama tshirt
CNN correspondent Emily Chang tells of being detained for two hours by Chinese police after she bought a souvenir tshirt featuring Barack Obama in a Red Army uniform.
PODCAST: What’s next for the ABC?
An interview with the ABC’s director of news, Kate Torney, on the brave new future of our national broadcaster as it steps up its presence in the online world.
graph pr0n 
A timeline of global media scares
From Y2K to swine flu, the biggest media scare stories of the past decade and the amount of panicky press they received, laid out in graph form. Who knew asteroid collisions were such a frequent and ongoing threat?
Mexico’s media bloodbath
Mexico is now the most dangerous country for journalists in the Western Hemisphere, with 12 reporters, photographers, editors and radio hosts murdered in 2009 alone, many for covering the country’s brutal and bloody drug wars.
Meet the man who beat Glenn Beck
Fox News commentator Glenn Beck recently tried to sue Isaac Eiland-Hall, a 34-year-old IT student and the owner of a website called GlennBeckRapedAndMurdered AYoungGirlIn1990.com. He lost.
The future of journalism? Actual journalists
For all the discussion from Australia’s best media minds about the future of news in this country, few are offering any grand ideas on how to fund real quality, investigative journalism, says Marni Cordell.
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.
Andrew Ross-Sorkin: the journalist king of Wall Street
Andrew Ross-Sorkin has built a business journalism empire around his New York Times column, but many of his colleagues think his reputation is undeserved. New York Magazine meets the man behind the column inches.
Crikey Says: Fairfax MIA on book imports
While The Australian afforded the issue of book reform appropriate and extensive coverage this morning, the Fairfax broadsheets were missing in action. It’s an absence Australian public life can ill-afford.
Headlines first, research second: how the news really gets written
How do newspapers write those “latest trend” features they’re so fond of? Gawker provides an insight straight from the NYT: devise the “trend” yourself, then find some subjects who fit the mold.
Why you should never piss-off a sub-editor
Newspaper The Toronto Star recently announced it would be outsourcing some of its sub-editing work. So the paper’s disgruntled subbies have taken a red pen to the publisher’s internal memo announcing the move, proving exactly why they’re needed.
Vaccinating against the power of The Google
These days consumers have access to a wealth of health information. So why would they listen to a journalist? Well, The Google doesn’t know everything, writes Nick Miller. Factual analysis is worthy too.
Summer in November at the ABC: it just shouldn’t happen
Mark Scott has the well-supported ambition of making the ABC into something more than just a national broadcaster. It is starting to happen in some bits, but in others it resembles a sheltered workshop. Part-time current affairs is no longer good enough.
Russian police officer exposes corruption via YouTube
A Russian police officer has been sacked after posting a video on YouTube exposing police corruption. Given what happens to many investigative journos in the country, we’d say he got off lightly.
Video of the Day: The future of News: an interview with Rupert
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch sits down with Sky News to discuss Google, paywalls, financial regulations and the future of newspapers. Watch out for his bagging of Mark Scott, public broadcasters and Barack Obama…
Video of the Day: Julian Morrow’s Andrew Olle Media Lecture
The Chaser’s Julian Morrow delivers this year’s Andrew Olle Media Lecture, offering a surprisingly witty and insightful take on press freedom, censorship and media ownership.
We are all polling experts now
The most plausible conclusion from recent polling is that last week’s Newspoll is an outlier, says Tobias Ziegler — but that hasn’t gotten in the way of a media narrative that says Rudd took a hit in the polls, most likely over asylum seekers.
What if News Corp is the media’s last hope?
Playing “stacks on Rupert” for trying to make money from online content is the media’s latest favourite game. But at least he’s trying, says Neil Walker. Scary as it sounds, News Corp is possibly every other media companies’ best hope at survival.
Why I quit my job as a national newspaper editor to be a blogger
Why 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”.
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…
