Category Archives: Media

The death of newspapers: does it matter?

Posted on March 26, 2016 by Ken Parish

With Fairfax culling 120 journalists (in the wake of previous mass redundancies), Murdoch/News apparently contemplating more cuts, and newspapers in general losing money hand over fist, some pundits are suggesting that Fairfax at least is likely to stop publishing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Media, Politics - national | 9 Comments

Is Julian Assange about to get arrested? And what then?

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Paul Frijters

Queensland boy Julian Assange seems set to walk out of the Ecuadorian embassy soon, hoping that the announcement by the UN human rights panel on the arbitrariness of his detention will protect him from being arrested. The baseline scenario is … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Ethics, History, Information, Journalism, Law, Libertarian Musings, Life, Media, Politics - international, Society | 28 Comments

Don’t mention the war causation (the thoughts of Annabel Crabb)

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Ken Parish

The Twittersphere was abuzz with pointless debate a couple of weeks ago when Annabel Crabb had a televisual meal with Coalition hardman Scott Morrison on her perniciously vacuous program Kitchen Cabinet.  My own views about that controversy are well encapsulated … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Politics - international, Uncategorized | 23 Comments

Gotcha Journalism as bullshit: Propaganda v anti-propaganda

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Nicholas Gruen

[O]ne does not go about identifying the weaknesses of what another person says in order to prove that one is always right, but one seeks instead as far as possible to strengthen the other’s viewpoint so that what the other … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, Media | 22 Comments

Performing expertise: Getting drawn into the showbiz

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Nicholas Gruen

In an earlier post I’ve talked about how ‘performing’ government drives a range of pathologies – in the case of the post I was suggesting it generates a kind of soft-secrecy. But it drives other pathologies – like bullshit. I put … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Economics and public policy, Media | 1 Comment

Calmly considering ABC cuts

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Ken Parish

The announcement by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the ABC’s budget will be cut by $50 million per year for the next five years has generated predictable kerfuffle in mainstream and social media circles. Whether it will have any real … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Politics - national | 49 Comments

Turnbull

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Ingolf

Following David’s excellent post on the NBN, a somewhat related aside. Malcolm Turnbull was interviewed on AM yesterday about the NBN review, followed by a brief minuet around some current political dramas. What a contrast. By comparison, his colleagues still … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Politics - national | 19 Comments