Australian Media Reform and the Need For Decency

Australian politics huh? Can’t live with it, past the beer nuts.

Yesterday the Prime Minister was called a “Moll” during parliament question time in the House of Representatives and today we have the charming front page of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph in which Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy has been compared to Stalin, Mao and Castro among other despots.

Why? Because the government formally responded to the Convergence Review and Finkelstein Inquiry, which was commissioned by the government during the height of the Leveson Inquiry into the media in the UK and the shocking revelations that were camet to light during that investigation.

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8 Podcasts You Must Listen To

Podcasts have brought a new level of democracy to media production. Anyone with a laptop, microphone and a bit of passion can now broadcast themselves to a global audience.

Podcasting is still very much in its infancy, only really commencing in 2005. Today there are over 240 thousand podcasts in the iTunes store alone. Despite this podcasts are still largely unknown by the general public and remain a niche in the overall media landscape.

That it is why it is incumbent on those of us who have seen the light to spread the word. So here are 8 Podcasts that you should listen to in no particular order of preference.

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The BBC does it again – filth and corruption at the Olympics

The BBC has uncovered a plot to fix boxing matches in the 2012 Olympic Games. Good old ‘Auntie’ nailed the international soccer organisation FIFA ahead of our bid to bring the World Cup to Britain which effectively lost us the bid. They’ve timed it right this time by exposing corruption long AFTER we won the bid to host the games…

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All you need is hate

The Beatles famously sang “All you need is love…” well if you’re looking to be a successful media proprietor, shock jock, political pundit or dare I say blogger you need more than just love. No, to get your voice heard, your print read, you need another thing, you need hate.

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Murdoch Holds Himself to a Lower Standard

For anyone who saw Rupert and James Murdoch’s testimony to the culture select committee of Parliament on Tuesday saw a tired and withering performance by the patriarch of a media empire that is under attack from all sides.

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News of the World phone tapping scandal “gift that keeps on giving” for Rupert Murdoch

British tabloid newspaper News of the World has once again been thrust into the spotlight over a phone hacking scandal that seems to be linked with more high-profile targets by the week. Recent revelations relating to the 2002 murder of two schoolgirls, true or false, threaten to further strengthen the newspaper’s already vice-like grip on the national media

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Continued Existence of World Baffles Believers

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The Gigg’s up, Ryan: MP makes mockery of super injunction

House of Commons MP John Hemming has named Ryan Giggs as the footballer at the centre of a gagging order placed upon the national media. That Giggs took out a super injunction isn’t a new accusation, as hundreds of thousands of Internet users have been circulating bawdy jokes regarding the Welshman, who is alleged to have indulged in extra-marital activity with former Miss Wales Imogen Thomas, for almost two weeks now.

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Super Injunction - Super Stupid

I learned a new term last week. "Super Injunction." This is not anything I've ever heard of in America and I have to say that its meaning is as silly and juvenille as the name sounds. "Super" in front of anything to me takes away from the seriousness of a word. But apparently in the U.K. it's a serious thing. So serious it's hilarious. 

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