The Save Our Voices campaign argues that existing media rules are “squeezing the life out of our regional TV networks”. But the real story is more complex. Reform is necessary, but so too is local content.
Public broadcasting is a lot more than a safety net for commercial market failure.
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Community TV in Australia is under threat because of plans to hand over extra broadcast spectrum to the commercial networks. But they don’t even need that spectrum to test any new technologies.
The new season of Game of Thrones signals entertainment companies are getting used to the idea that piracy comes with success. The trick is to loosen fans’ wallets a little down the line.
Sex isn’t the issue – we should object when TV programmes try to sell us anything.
Jon Stewart’s tenure at The Daily Show may ultimately be remembered more for how he skewered the mainstream media than for the laughs he generated.
Jason Reed/Reuters
Jon Stewart’s Tuesday night announcement that he’ll be leaving the Daily Show garnered an audible cry of disbelief from his live studio audience. Stewart himself was visibly emotional: “What is this fluid…
Miriam O'Reilly, who successfully sued the BBC for age discrimination.
Yui Mok/PA Archive
I have spent the past 20 years researching and writing about women in the media. This was initially sparked off by how I was reported on when I stood as a councillor, with more attention paid to my Doc…
Spot the difference! Oh, wait…
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
The UK’s broadcast regulator Ofcom recently released a draft ruling that the Green party lacks sufficient support to qualify as a major party. This could give mainstream media the excuse they were searching…
Television audiences may be fragmenting, but sport happens in the moment and demands instant – and lucrative – congregation.
EPA/Fernando Bizerra Jr
Just before a critical World Cup game against Spain in Rio de Janeiro, scores of ticketless Chile fans broke into the expensively rebuilt Maracana Stadium at its least secure point – the media centre…
The public’s active participation in society is considered vital to a functioning democracy.
Patrick White
The National Commission of Audit - released on May 1 – recommends slashing all community broadcasting funding in Australia. For some, this is a logical response to the nation’s need to collectively “shoulder…
There’s a case to make for public service broadcasters’ role as a preventative health initiative.
Joe 13
Due to Australia’s small population and high concentration of few media voices, public broadcasters play a pivotal role in shaping the media ecosystem and cultural landscape. With the ABC and SBS under…
Jeremy Hunt: enthralling evidence at Leveson inquiry.
Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
After News Corp’s failed bid to purchase 100% of BSkyB in 2011 the question of who makes the decisions about media ownership – and how we can ensure there remains a strong and vibrant plurality of competing…
Charming, dissolute, devious: Guy Burgess.
PA Archive
Guy Burgess was, at various times and often simultaneously, a radio producer for the BBC, an informer for MI5, a propagandist for MI6, a diplomat for the FBI and a spy for the KGB. In the book which I…