Of the many media organisations making the transition towards digital, the ABC is one of the most advanced. So in the face of a $254 million budget, or “back offices” cut, as Communications Minister Malcolm…
Fairfax Media’s full-year results are out, and they confirm at least one thing: the company is still a digital media wannabe. Its digital first strategy is yet to deliver, with the company still heavily…
Two decades after Auty and Mikesell coined the phrase, the “resource curse” remains a constant theme of environmental analysis. Whenever we watch a film or listen to a record, we are connected to natural…
The journey of whistleblower website WikiLeaks was traced by, among others, Professor Gerard Goggin, chair of the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney. In an analytical narrative…
Is analogue better than digital? Is digital better than dialogue? Though the source of much heated debate, it would seem digital is now virtually unstoppable. There’s not going to be any 35mm film at the…
In 1997, Douglas Rushkoff boldly predicted the emergence a new caste of tech-literate adolescents. He argued that the children of his day would soon blossom into “screenagers”, endowed with effortless…
The Guardian and The Washington Post have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their work in bringing to light documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. It is fashionable…
The push towards online over print was confirmed in an extraordinary 24 hours, which saw three major media groups take radical action to pursue a web-first future. In the UK, Tony Gallagher, editor of…
I spent most of 2013 living overseas and from afar Australia’s beauty and its fault lines came into sharp focus. In my reading I found myself searching for insight, and three Australian stories stood out…
Teenagers get a bad rap for zoning out on their iPods at every given opportunity, but they may not be the unsociable narcissists they are often portrayed as. In fact, they are often skilled users who manage…
At first glance, the British news industry looks to be in trouble. With editors in the dock, a fraught new system of regulation, and declining newspaper circulation, it’s easy to panic about the trajectory…
From more than one perspective the New Daily, Australia’s latest online news provider, couldn’t have a better chance of survival. With Bruce Guthrie (ex-Herald Sun and Age editor) as editor-in-chief, Daniel…
Digital life now begins before birth, with excited expectant parents sharing ultrasound images of their unborn babies online. But your digital life also continues after you die, and can come in handy in…
The Washington Post’s purchase by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos is the latest example of a new generation of internet moguls spending big on pet projects. It was also revealed this week that Google…
Right now if you want to know where you are, your smartphone map will tell you instantly. But these technologies only exist because of the efforts of 18th century geographers, explorers, astronomers and…
It’s estimated that in 2011 a truly staggering 1.8 zettabytes of digital information was created. Or to put it in more meaningful terms, that’s 57.5 billion 32-gigabyte iPads full. Recent articles about…
Fairfax reporters will be expected to file stories throughout the day into an internal “wire” that will hold copy for use on any platform - print, online, tablet, social media and mobile, under a blueprint…
In the swathe of important debate that’s occurred in the last week about the massive changes underway in the Australian media, there’s a piece of the puzzle that’s been ignored. Indeed, it’s a piece that…
Andrew Holden, editor of Christchurch’s The Press, will move to Melbourne to take the reins as editor-in-chief of The Age ahead of a major restructure at Fairfax Media, the company has announced. He will…