Rollerball

The late, great, Norman Jewison’s 70s science fiction film ‘Rollerball’ depicted a United States in which a handful of massive, unaccountable corporations controlled all information – is this dystopian vision becoming reality?

AI in the news

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society has called for increased investment in research, evaluation tools and infrastructure to address emerging challenges of generative AI and automated decision-making in the news and media industries.

Taking the good news with the bad

Doomscrolling endless bad news on your phone can poison your mood and your faith in humanity, but interspersing a few happier stories can restore your spirits as well.

Yours in the Pacific

The Australian government is moving fast to reset relations with Australia’s Pacific partners, including a larger Pacific role for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Is News Corp bad for democracy?

A strong regulatory code to ensure that news media cover a wide range of political perspectives, assess them independently, and promote informed public debate would usefully complement restrictions on any one company being allowed to dominate the market.

Reporting on China, not from China

For the first time since 1973, the Australian media has no foreign correspondents in China—a consequence of the Chinese government’s decision to drown out all critical voices, both foreign or domestic.

A lifeline for Australian media?

Cash strapped Australian media companies have been thrown a lifeline through a new draft code which allows them to bargain – individually or collectively – with Google and Facebook to be paid for the content they provide.

Another blow to media diversity

AAP has been a bastion of regional coverage, and a vital infusion into increasingly stretched newsrooms. This voice will disappear in June, further diminishing media diversity in Australia, as less original factual news will be produced.

A win for free speech?

New proposals for media reforms will make it harder for people to successfully sue a news organisation for defamation.

The fracturing of our media and our community

The decline of traditional media has removed control of the news from a handful of moguls, but they’ve been replaced by tech-giants and algorithms which damage society’s ability to hold a shared conversation.

Australia’s media should reflect its cultural diversity

As we face a growing tide of unregulated hate speech, the role of the media is crucial in normalising diversity and demolishing the “othering” of difference that divides us. So how is the Australian media faring in the diversity stakes?

Australians turn their back on the news

A new survey suggests that Australians are less interested in news and consume less of it than people in similar countries. Two thirds of Australians have no interest in politics at all. What are the consequences of this growing apathy for Australian public debate?