In 2005 the road film Transamerica, directed by Duncan Tucker was released. It was a controversial film for its time simply for telling a trans story on the big screen. A complex transsexual character…
Starting with Karl Marx, many thinkers have pointed out that the creative potential of the capitalist economic system comes at a cost – the lack of inherent ethical scruples to limit the inexorable logic…
If you want to capture a lasting image of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation at the height of its powers, it might be a good idea to take a screen-shot of the homepage of the ABC’s website. But do…
Chris Lilley has long been a high maintenance love object. Last night, the first episode of Jonah From Tonga was broadcast on ABC1. Critics have had an easy time finding humour in socially “well-placed…
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…
Hear ye, hear ye across the land! Chris Kenny is definitely NOT a Fido fiddler! Remember, he is definitely NOT a Fido fiddler. So sayeth – sort of – Justice Robert Beech-Jones in his judgment this week…
ABC TV’s The Vagina Diaries investigates the worrying trend for increasing numbers of labiaplasty procedures being performed in Australia. Labiaplasty is a surgical procedure to remove or reduce the labia…
Television is always located somewhere, even if the place is imaginary. And programs such as Dr Who move effortlessly between real and imagined worlds. Once, mid-Pacific (or mid-Atlantic) was a term for…
I admit it; I loved Ja'mie: Private School Girl. The new comedy series, which premiered last night on ABC1, fed all my prejudices and biases, unconscious or otherwise. The show’s writer, Chris Lilley…
Neil Levy, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
We live in an age of great public fascination with minds and brains; books about brain plasticity, for instance, regularly make the bestseller lists. This fascination is not merely the product of our thirst…
The ABC’s 50-year TV partnership with the BBC is at breaking point after a landmark deal between the British broadcaster and pay TV provider Foxtel was announced last week. Under the new deal Foxtel will…
While the federal election is still months away, issues of health funding are already dominating the news. A Grattan Institute report released yesterday, for instance, noted the greatest budgetary pressure…
On ABC TV’s Four Corners program last night, Paul Nicolaou, chief executive officer of Australia Hotels Association New South Wales, dismissed claims that alcohol is fuelling late-night violence, arguing…
Can a floundering relationship be saved in eight weeks using “science”? Premiering tonight, the new ABC series Making Couples Happy sets out to answer this very question. The show follows four “ordinary…
Across Australia tonight, thousands of Australians will aim their tweets at the ABC’s flagship forum Q&A in an attempt to get some brief screen-time on the program. Joining with their tweeps, they…
The ABC has found itself caught up in a copyright debate after it forced the removal of an application that enabled people to download and watch programs offered on its iview service. The Python-iview…
ABC’s Four Corners recently aired a controversial documentary (The Autism Enigma) on how gut bacteria might affect autism. Here we review some of the science surrounding what it suggested caused autism…
Shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull says the ABC will take on a crucial role as a source of well-funded, independent news as the nation’s biggest newspapers continue their demise. Mr Turnbull…
Ullrich Ecker, The University of Western Australia and John Cook, The University of Queensland
Last night’s ABC documentary I Can Change Your Mind About Climate was about two people — conservative former politician Nick Minchin and youth activist Anna Rose — exposing themselves to information that…
Last night the ABC premiered the fascinating documentary “I can change your mind about climate”, in which Nick Minchin, the recently retired Liberal senator, and Anna Rose, the co-founder of the Australian…
Professor of Bioethics & Medicine, Sydney Health Ethics, Haematologist/BMT Physician, Royal North Shore Hospital and Director, Praxis Australia, University of Sydney
Professor - Emerging Technologies (Stem Cells) at The University of Melbourne and Group Leader - Stem Cell Ethics & Policy at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne