Prime minister Kevin Rudd and opposition leader Tony Abbott faced off tonight for the third time in the 2013 election campaign at the Rooty Hill RSL Club in Sydney’s western suburbs. In the town hall-style…
For a moment there, the world turned upside down. All over Australia, people thumbed their nose at Saturday routines. Housework was ignored, gym classes were abandoned, shopping left undone. A few cheeky…
Everyone knows that the World Cup is a media event, before it is anything else. And, as Australian scholars have explained, we also know that digital media have transformed how sport is played and consumed…
I’ve written about Ian: the ordinary bloke who stole the show at the final people’s forum by flustering Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd, and enraging the watching audience all at the same time. At face value…
World Cup 2014 has aired ominous reservations about the impact of the tournament on social justice in Brazil. Many worry that the poor will pay for the event long after the final whistle, when global eyes…
Tonight ABC2 airs I am a Girl. Rebecca Barry’s documentary introduces us to six young women from around the world. They hail from Cambodia, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, the USA and Australia…
As first round matches end, it seems we’re in for the best World Cup in living memory. The games are scintillating. The media coverage of events on and off the pitch is unparallelled. And new refereeing…
The dreadful death of Jacintha Saldanha after she transferred a prank call from 2Day FM to a fellow nurse is a harrowing example of the hurt that can be caused when ordinary people get caught up in media…
It’s tempting to wonder whether Channel Nine’s “Be Surprised” slogan, heralding the return of Big Brother, is intentionally ironic. After all, its producers are proudly offering nothing new. Speaking to…
Last week, a number of Adelaide’s pubs were exempted from local licensing laws. The reason? To cater for early morning World Cup games. Sizing up this decision, it’s worth bearing three things in mind…
I write about media users and the politics of popular culture, and have published on topics such as media violence, political celebrity, reality television, youth, media sport and binge drinking. My new…
