Uncovering election coverage

Media coverage in Australia of the US presidential election and of the Voice referendum in October 2023 offer some pointers to what we might expect during next year’s federal election campaign.

Remembering George Negus

George Negus, who has died at the age of 82, will be remembered as a giant of Australian television and current affairs.

The men who killed the news

A new book examines the way modern media and technology moguls have dismantled journalistic ethics in pursuit of personal profit and undermined democracy itself.

Better politics requires better reporting

If politics really is to be done differently, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised, then the way politics is reported will need to be done differently too.

How the media lost the election

While the Murdoch press campaigned stridently for Morrison, the rest of the media failed to cover the election properly, focusing on meaningless photo-ops with the leaders rather than the issues they didn’t want to talk about – such as climate change, integrity, local concerns and women’s issues.

News Corp walks a delicate line on COVID politics

Decision makers within News Corporation are now fighting among themselves over how its platforms should position themselves in response to the worsening COVID crisis in New South Wales.

Free speech and the internet

While the media face some extremely difficult decisions in today’s operating environment, they do not need to burden themselves with the belief that every decision not to publish is the violation of an inviolable right.

Lies, obfuscation and fake news make for a dispiriting – and dangerous – election campaign

The integrity of Australia’s electoral processes is under unprecedented challenge in this federal election, and the campaign has already been marred by fake news and the political exploitation of social media falsehoods.

Why the ABC must stand firm against threats to its independence

Editorial independence does not mean giving journalists licence to broadcast or publish whatever they want or to avoid accountability for their mistakes. It means encouraging journalists to tackle important stories regardless of what people in power might think.