tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/from-the-conversation-87323/articlesFrom The Conversation – The Conversation2021-10-25T04:32:56Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1689312021-10-25T04:32:56Z2021-10-25T04:32:56ZThe Conversation Yearbook 2021: the essays that put us on the map in our first 10 years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423699/original/file-20210928-28-1jbjikg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C12%2C1339%2C1111&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>Let’s face it: a chasm separates the experience of reading on a screen and giving yourself over to a good book. That’s why, to celebrate the first 10 years of The Conversation, we’ve collected 50 of our best written pieces into a special volume titled: <a href="https://bit.ly/2Wgug0I">No, You’re Not Entitled to Your Opinion: And 49 Other Essays That Got the World Talking</a>.</p>
<p>The collection spans global news over the past decade including Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and the #metoo and Black Lives Matter movements, as well as timeless and powerful essays that put The Conversation on the map.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1443000061366050823"}"></div></p>
<p>These engaging articles have been drawn from every edition of The Conversation around the world. They will stick in your mind and provide insight into the major events and ideas of the past ten years.</p>
<p>Readers of The Conversation get 20% off by using the code CON20 <a href="https://bit.ly/2Wgug0I">at the checkout</a> (valid until December 30).</p>
<h2>Join us in your closest capital city</h2>
<p>We’ll be hosting four book launches this year and we hope to see you there! </p>
<h2>Adelaide</h2>
<p>Join Jane Howard, our Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture, and a panel of Conversation experts: <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alice-gorman-4234">Dr Alice Gorman</a></strong>, internationally recognised leader in the field of space archaeology (Flinders University); <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/adrian-esterman-1022994">Professor Adrian Esterman</a></strong>, Chair of Biostatistics and Epidemiology (University of South Australia) and <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rick-sarre-22428">Rick Sarre</a></strong>, Emeritus Professor of Law and Criminal Justice (University of South Australia) as they discuss the highlights and lowlights of 2021 and take an expert punt at what 2022 will hold.</p>
<p><strong>Where:</strong> This event will be presented LIVE in the University of South Australia’s Allan Scott Auditorium in partnership with The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre.</p>
<p><strong>When:</strong> 6.00pm, Thursday 4 November 2021</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.unisa.edu.au/connect/hawke-centre/events-calendar/theconversation/">Tickets here
</a></strong></p>
<h2>Canberra</h2>
<p>Join <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michelle-grattan-20316">Michelle Grattan</a></strong>, Chief Political Correspondent at The Conversation and <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-martin-682709">Peter Martin</a></strong>, Business and Economy Editor, as they as they discuss the highlights and lowlights of 2021 with <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/caroline-fisher-264724">Dr Caroline Fisher</a></strong>, Associate Professor, Communication, News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra.</p>
<p><strong>Where:</strong> Online</p>
<p><strong>When:</strong> 12.30 pm AEDT, 10 November 2021</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qO251xwxQEubHvsvj0x_gA">Tickets here
</a></strong></p>
<h2>Hobart</h2>
<p>Join a panel of Conversation experts: <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/henry-reynolds-426386">Henry Reynolds</a></strong>, one of Australia’s most recognised historians; <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/greg-lehman-18970">Professor Greg Lehman</a></strong>, a well-known Tasmanian art historian, curator, essayist and commentator on identity and place; and <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-bowman-4397">Professor David Bowma</a></strong>, an expert in pyrogeography and fire science, in a broad-ranging discussion about the events that shaped our nation with <strong>Dr Natasha Cica</strong>, honorary professor at the Australian National University.</p>
<p><strong>Where:</strong> RACV Hotel, 154-156 Collins Street, Hobart</p>
<p><strong>When:</strong> 5.30pm Wednesday, 17 November 2021</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.fullersbookshop.com.au/event/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-and-49-other-essays-that-got-the-world-talking/">Tickets here
</a></strong></p>
<h2>Brisbane</h2>
<p>Join The Conversation Australia & New Zealand’s Executive Editor, Liz Minchin as she discusses the year that’s been with <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/martin-crotty-416928">Associate Professor Martin Crotty</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-ellerton-8574">Dr Peter Ellerton</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ella-donald-453941">Ella Donald</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Where</strong> LIVE at Avid Reader Bookshop, 193 Boundary Street, West End or Online</p>
<p><strong>When</strong> 6.30-7.30pm Tuesday, 25 November 2021</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://avidreader.com.au/events/the-conversation-yearbook-panel">Tickets here</a></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168931/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
To celebrate the first 10 years of The Conversation, we’ve collected 50 of our best written pieces into a special volume. Get 20% off your copy today.Alexandra Hansen, Deputy Editor and Chief of Staff, The Conversation AUNZLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1575932021-03-23T06:09:45Z2021-03-23T06:09:45ZThe Conversation story: celebrating 10 years of news from experts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391045/original/file-20210323-19-rkejh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C323%2C3982%2C2167&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Conversation Australia + New Zealand's Editor Misha Ketchell (left) and CEO Lisa Watts (right).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penny Stephens</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the first whispers started to circulate about The Conversation I was working behind the scenes for Media Watch on ABC TV. It was late 2010, and media circles were buzzing with gossip about a mysterious new project involving journalists and academics. At the time its name was circulating in pitch documents, but it remained a closely held secret.</p>
<p>In just 10 years, The Conversation’s unique approach of publishing news analysis written by experts has taken off across the world, with teams in the US and UK, France, Spain, Africa, Canada, Indonesia and New Zealand. It reaches more than 30 million users each month and employs more than 100 journalists. On the Australian and New Zealand edition alone, we reach 12 million readers each month. </p>
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<p>Back in the early days success on that scale was unimaginable. My daily work at Media Watch involved picking apart poor unethical reporting on national TV, a very good way of making enemies of former friends, and keeping the ABC lawyers busy.
The job also provided a clear view of systemic problems in the media. I spent countless hours on the phone to experts who had been burnt by their contact with parts of the media. </p>
<p>Sometimes there were honest mistakes. But often academic work was distorted by reporters who had an agenda or simply wanted to sensationalise. Many highly regarded experts were scared off by these experiences and vowed they would never work with the media again. Sadly, many withdrew from public life.
Then, one day late in 2010, I got a call from Andrew Jaspan, a former editor of The Age who had recently departed Fairfax and now was working at Melbourne University with the Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis. </p>
<p>We met for coffee and he put a proposition to me: what if we could find a way to get more experts involved in public debate? There is a massive amount of expertise locked up in universities that no one is able to access. All that was needed was a key.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390803/original/file-20210322-17-gz21qy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C923%2C565&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390803/original/file-20210322-17-gz21qy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390803/original/file-20210322-17-gz21qy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390803/original/file-20210322-17-gz21qy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390803/original/file-20210322-17-gz21qy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390803/original/file-20210322-17-gz21qy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390803/original/file-20210322-17-gz21qy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Conversation’s original team, March 2011.</span>
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</figure>
<p>The idea couldn’t have come at a better time. I was sick of picking apart other people’s worst work and keen to do something more constructive. Jaspan recounted a conversation he had had with the Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty. Doherty had grown frustrated with being misunderstood and misreported in the media. He’d said, “What if instead of a journalist sitting across the desk firing questions at me, I had someone working with me to help me get my ideas out in a way everyone can understand.”</p>
<p>Jaspan and his co-founder Jack Rejtman took that idea and ran with it, securing seed funding from Melbourne University, Monash University, University of Western Australia, UTS, the Federal and Victorian governments, CSIRO, ANU and the Commonwealth Bank. What if the whole university was treated just like a newspaper newsroom, staffed by academics instead of reporters? The faculties mapped pretty well to the common newspaper sections or journalist rounds. The faculty of medicine could cover health, architecture would be relevant to what newspapers call urban affairs, law would relate to crime and justice.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391034/original/file-20210323-23-1hoyexo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391034/original/file-20210323-23-1hoyexo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391034/original/file-20210323-23-1hoyexo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391034/original/file-20210323-23-1hoyexo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391034/original/file-20210323-23-1hoyexo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391034/original/file-20210323-23-1hoyexo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391034/original/file-20210323-23-1hoyexo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Conversation Australia + New Zealand’s Chief of Staff Alexandra Hansen leading a conference for staff and donors in 2019.</span>
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</figure>
<p>The magic of the idea was each academic would be paired with a professional editor who would work with her or him to develop their work and present it in a form that would make sense for curious audiences. No jargon, no acronyms, just really informed analysis, research and commentary delivered directly to a public crying out for something more than a steady stream of bad tabloid puns and morning TV giggles.</p>
<p>Jaspan appointed me to run the newsroom and I left the ABC. Within three months we had put together a team of 12 journalists to launch the project. We were joined by a crack team of web developers and Lisa Watts, an experienced media executive. After a fair bit of debate we settled on a name: The Conversation. </p>
<p>A few weeks later I was kneeling on the floor of a cramped office helping screw together the Ikea tables that would become our newsdesk. We had enough funding to last three years and figured that would be long enough to see if the idea had legs.
It was a big leap of faith. We had the entire team of 12 editors sitting around the table phoning academics trying to rustle up stories. “I’m from The Conversation … no, you won’t have heard of it, we haven’t launched yet … would you like to write an article? Could you file it by 4pm today?”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391030/original/file-20210323-13-1d3iil9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391030/original/file-20210323-13-1d3iil9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391030/original/file-20210323-13-1d3iil9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391030/original/file-20210323-13-1d3iil9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391030/original/file-20210323-13-1d3iil9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391030/original/file-20210323-13-1d3iil9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391030/original/file-20210323-13-1d3iil9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Conversation’s UK staff celebrating the opening of their London office in 2013.</span>
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<p>The Conversation launched in March 2011 and immediately everyone crowded in front of a Google Analytics screen like frozen campers warming our hands at a fire. At first there was little encouragement, just a few dozen readers at a time. Over the following days each story was getting a few hundred readers. Then one got more than a thousand. </p>
<p>It wasn’t long before we started to get “viral” hits. One of the first was from the Deakin University philosopher Patrick Stokes. He wrote <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-9978">an article under the provocative heading “No, you’re not entitled to your opinion”</a> arguing that climate science deniers did not have an absolute right to have misinformation widely disseminated by the media. In a few weeks the article got 50,000 readers. Then 100,000. Today it has been read more than 2.5 million times. </p>
<p>When we launched The Conversation we made a decision that everything we published would be free to other media outlets to republish. The idea was to rebuild trust between experts and the media and help academics be heard, so it didn’t matter where their work was being read. Soon the Nine newspapers, SBS, The ABC and dozens of others were picking up many of our best pieces. Then something appeared in The Washington Post, then the New York Times.</p>
<p>Jaspan was intent on global expansion. He secured funding and soon found journalists he could work with to launch local branches of The Conversation. In 2013 The Conversation launched in the UK, led by Stephen Khan, a former foreign editor at The Guardian. It wasn’t long until there were teams in the US, then France, Africa, Canada, Indonesia, Spain and New Zealand.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391026/original/file-20210323-15-q6biet.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391026/original/file-20210323-15-q6biet.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391026/original/file-20210323-15-q6biet.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391026/original/file-20210323-15-q6biet.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391026/original/file-20210323-15-q6biet.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391026/original/file-20210323-15-q6biet.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391026/original/file-20210323-15-q6biet.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Conversation’s Australian and South African staff celebrating the launch of TC Africa in 2015.</span>
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<p>In just 10 years The Conversation has gone from an Australian startup to a global network of more than 100 editors. The audience is huge. In 2020 Conversation articles attracted more than 743 million reads globally. It is particularly strong among digitally-savvy younger readers with more than half the audience under 44.
The Conversation now receives support from several foundations and funding from almost all the universities in Australia and New Zealand. Each year it seeks donations from readers and in 2020 more than 20,000 people made a contribution. </p>
<p>The Conversation is still a little way off being a household name, but it is a runaway Australian success. It has provided an effective way for many experts to share their ideas publicly, and many who have done so have gone on to build big media profiles. The standard of editing is consistently high – one prominent academic, Dennis Altman, said it’s among the best he has experienced in a long career as a public intellectual.</p>
<p>The Conversation is an idea ahead of its time, fighting fake news for years before Donald Trump first uttered the term. In its short life it has made a significant contribution to the health of our media, checking facts, correcting misinformation and providing a steady stream of reliable content from experts so readers can be better informed about the complex issues we face.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391035/original/file-20210323-13-1tljfai.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391035/original/file-20210323-13-1tljfai.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391035/original/file-20210323-13-1tljfai.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391035/original/file-20210323-13-1tljfai.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391035/original/file-20210323-13-1tljfai.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391035/original/file-20210323-13-1tljfai.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391035/original/file-20210323-13-1tljfai.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cartoon rendering of The Conversation’s team by Multimedia Editor Wes Mountain.</span>
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<p><em>Correction: This article has been updated to include a more comprehensive list of seed funders. A sentence about global expansion has been edited to improve clarity.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157593/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In just 10 years, The Conversation has garnered the second biggest global audience reach of any Australian media company, behind only News Corporation.Misha Ketchell, Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1429022020-07-17T04:44:45Z2020-07-17T04:44:45ZLive-streamed events: watch top thinkers explore how the dramatic upheavals of 2020 have changed our world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348074/original/file-20200717-17-1t7plqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C0%2C650%2C439&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SLQ</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In January 2020, Australia went from battling one of its worst bushfire seasons ever to preparing for COVID-19 to hit its shores. What ensued was crisis: a pandemic, political upheaval, a biodiversity crisis, an international human rights movement, global recession and localised emergencies dwarfed by a world spinning on an axis of turmoil.</p>
<p>In a series of live events, leading thinkers and contributors to The Conversation examine perhaps the most significant and punishing year of the 21st century so far. Watch them below. </p>
<h2>Borders and the pandemic</h2>
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<p>Watch Stan Grant (journalist and Vice Chancellor’s Chair of Australian-Indigenous Belonging at Charles Sturt University), Hugh White (Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at ANU) and Dennis Altman (Professorial Fellow in Human Security at La Trobe University) in a wide-ranging discussion about how the pandemic has changed our world: from China/America power shifts to Black Lives Matter; from the future of universities to tower blocks and inequality. </p>
<p>Chaired by Paul Barclay, presenter of ABC Radio National’s Big Ideas. </p>
<p>Presented in partnership with The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, UniSA.</p>
<h2>Cook revisited</h2>
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<p>Captain James Cook arrived in the Pacific 250 years ago. Over the years, retellings of his voyage aboard the Endeavour have compressed history into a palatable whitewashed narrative for mainstream Australia. Watch Professor Kate Darian-Smith, Associate Professor Kate Fullagar and researcher and filmmaker Alison Page, a descendant of the Walbanga and Wadi Wadi people of the Yuin nation, as they revisit Cook’s arrival. Bringing fresh perspectives to Cook’s journey through the Pacific and his interactions with Indigenous peoples, our panellists reveal and reflect on the perspectives of our shared history. </p>
<p>Chaired by Paul Barclay, ABC Radio National Big Ideas. </p>
<p>Presented in partnership with the State Library of Queensland. You can find all The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/cook250-78244">Cook 250 coverage here</a>. </p>
<h2>#BlackLivesMatter in the Asia Pacific</h2>
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<p>For West Papuans in Indonesia and Indigenous Australians who live within systemic racism and oppression, #BlackLivesMatter resonated deeply. Join Elvira Rumkabu, lecturer of international relations at Cenderawasih University, and Eddie Synot, a Wamba Wamba First Nations person and the Centre Manager of the Indigenous Law Centre at UNSW, to learn how racism and discrimination continues in Indonesia and Australia and how this global movement should force us all to confront past and current injustices. </p>
<p>Chaired by Prodita Sabirini, Editor at The Conversation Indonesia.</p>
<h2>Crisis and denial</h2>
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<p>What do climate deniers, anti-vaccination activists and COVID-19 conspiracy theorists have in common? Why are they so resistant to “facts”? Watch research psychologist and former politician Carmen Lawrence, social scientist Julie Leask and cognitive scientist Stephan Lewandowsky as they explore why myths and misinformation can be so compelling, who benefits from spreading misinformation, and how we can change people’s minds. </p>
<p>Chaired by Misha Ketchell, Editor of The Conversation. </p>
<p>Presented in partnership with The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, UniSA.</p>
<h2>From the ashes: Australia re-imagined</h2>
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<p>Last summer’s bushfires left Australia profoundly changed. Lives and homes were lost; almost 13 million hectares of bush was incinerated. Food and fuel systems broke down, and even city-dwellers choked on toxic smoke. From this tumult and devastation, what new vision will emerge? How have the fires forced us to rethink ourselves, our communities and our relationships with nature? </p>
<p>Watch social scientist Petra Buergelt, animal ecologist Dale Nimmo and planning expert Barbara Norman – whose family lost a home in the fires – as they explore what will rise from the ashes in the months and years ahead. </p>
<p>Chaired by Nicole Hasham, Environment + Energy Editor at The Conversation. </p>
<p>Presented in partnership with National Library of Australia. Find all The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/biodiversity2020-87602">bushfire recovery coverage here</a>. </p>
<h2>The domino effect: climate change and pandemics</h2>
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<p>The COVID-19 crisis is deeply connected to the climate and biodiversity crises. All animals harbour viruses and other pathogens, and when environmental pressures force them into contact with humans, the results can be catastrophic. Environmental damage can also make humans more susceptible to the effects of infectious diseases. </p>
<p>Governments have demonstrated they can take immediate, radical emergency measures, which go beyond purely economic concerns, to protect the wellbeing of all. And yet, despite widespread acknowledgement that climate change and other environmental effects of the pursuit of economic growth are a global emergency, the world has largely failed to address them. </p>
<p>Watch infectious disease and environmental health experts Dr. Jean-François Guégan (Director of Research at IRD, France), Fiona Armstrong (Executive Director and Founder of Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA)) and Dr Natasha Chassagne (Adjunct Research Fellow, Swinburne University, Centre for Social Impact) as they discuss why, for humans to survive, it is critical to connect human health, civilisation and the natural systems on which we depend. </p>
<p>Chaired by Misha Ketchell, Editor of The Conversation. </p>
<p>Presented in partnership with The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre UniSA and The Embassy of France in Australia, as part of the French Australian Conversations (FAC) series.</p>
<h2>2020: The year that changed us</h2>
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<p>How hopeful should Australians and New Zealanders be about COVID-19 vaccines becoming available in 2021? And what do we need to learn from 2020 and this pandemic as we speed towards the new year?</p>
<p>Watch the University of Queensland’s Professor Paul Young, one of Australia’s top virologists and co-leader of the UQ vaccine project, and the University of Otago’s Professor David Murdoch, a clinical microbiologist and infectious diseases physician, who has consulted for the World Health Organization, as they discuss the path beyond COVID. </p>
<p>Chaired by Liz Minchin, Executive Editor of The Conversation. Also featured is Molly Glassey, the editor of The Conversation’s new book, <a href="https://thamesandhudson.com.au/product/2020-the-year-that-changed-us/">2020: The Year That Changed Us</a>.</p>
<p>Presented in partnership with Brisbane’s Avid Reader bookshop.</p>
<h2>In conversation with Michelle Grattan</h2>
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<p>2020 has been a year of profound upheaval in many arenas, but few have been as dramatically impacted as federal politics. From the creation of National Cabinet to record stimulus spending, old norms were rapidly abandoned as political parties and their leaders have confronted an unprecedented set of circumstances. </p>
<p>Watch Michelle Grattan, Chief Political Correspondent at The Conversation, as she unpacks the year that changed us with Dr Caroline Fisher, Associate Professor, Arts & Communication News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra.</p>
<p>Presented in partnership with the National Library of Australia.</p>
<h2>People, power and photography</h2>
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<p>Critic Susan Sontag famously argued that “without photographs, there is no war”. With smartphones and the internet so readily accessible, photography has become a democratic way to hold power to account, ignite change and raise awareness.</p>
<p>Photographs have tremendous power, serving as witness to atrocity, injustice and shared humanity. In 2020 alone, Darnella Frazier sparked public outrage and ongoing mass protests by bearing witness to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department officers. Horrifying images of bushfires led to an outpouring of support. Amateur photos of coronavirus patients and empty toilet paper shelves made the pandemic real. Citizen witnesses kept Black Lives Matter protesters safe. </p>
<p>Watch Dr Cherine Fahd, Senior Lecturer, School of Design, University of Technology Sydney; Professor Jane Lydon, Wesfarmers Chair in Australian History, University of Western Australia; and Dr Chris Salisbury, Research Associate, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland, as they discuss the power of photography and how we can all be agents of change.</p>
<p>Chaired by Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor of The Conversation.</p>
<p>Presented in partnership with the State Library of Queensland.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In this series of live events, leading thinkers and contributors to The Conversation examine what might be one of the most significant and punishing years of the 21st century so far.Molly Glassey, Digital Editor, The ConversationSusan Hornbeck, Strategic Partnerships Manager, The Conversation Media GroupLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1422922020-07-08T19:53:37Z2020-07-08T19:53:37ZJoin us for #BlackLivesMatter in the Asia Pacific – a free, live-streamed event<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346276/original/file-20200708-3999-oipx94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C359%2C1189%2C838&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Live on YouTube from 3pm WIB, 5 pm WIT, 6pm AEST today (Thursday, July 9). Use <a href="https://youtu.be/bJTWnyxPL28">this link</a> to watch.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>For West Papuans in Indonesia and Indigenous Australians who live within systemic racism and oppression, #BlackLivesMatter resonated deeply. </p>
<p>Join Elvira Rumkabu, lecturer of international relations at Cenderawasih University, and Eddie Synot, a Wamba Wamba First Nations person and the Centre Manager of the Indigenous Law Centre at UNSW, to learn how racism and discrimination continues in Indonesia and Australia and how this global movement should force us all to confront past and current injustices. </p>
<p>Chaired by Prodita Sabarini, Editor at The Conversation Indonesia.</p>
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<p>Elvira Rumkabu is a lecturer of international relations at Cenderawasih University based in Jayapura, Papua. She completed her Master’s Degree at the Australian National University. Her areas of expertise are conflict resolution, peace studies, and Papuan politics. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346277/original/file-20200708-43-1n01dp2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346277/original/file-20200708-43-1n01dp2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346277/original/file-20200708-43-1n01dp2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346277/original/file-20200708-43-1n01dp2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346277/original/file-20200708-43-1n01dp2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346277/original/file-20200708-43-1n01dp2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346277/original/file-20200708-43-1n01dp2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346277/original/file-20200708-43-1n01dp2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Elvira Rumkabu.</span>
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<p>Elvira is a member of the Academics Forum for Papua Peace (FAPD), a forum established by Indonesian lecturers to initiate conflict resolution and peacebuilding in Papua. </p>
<p>She is actively involved in the Peaceful Papua Lobbying Team, initiated by the Democratic Alliance for Papua (ALDP). </p>
<p>Elvira has written about issues relating to the conflict in Papua in a number of publications. She has also spoken about conflict resolution in Papua, racism and marginalisation, and women, peace and security in national and international forums.</p>
<p>Eddie Synot is a Wamba Wamba First Nations person who writes about Indigenous experience at the intersections of law, culture and society, exploring how these different fields impact upon and affect different representations of Indigenous peoples. He is an Indigenous academic lawyer and researcher and the Centre Manager of the Indigenous Law Centre at UNSW. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346278/original/file-20200708-23-h8ktek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346278/original/file-20200708-23-h8ktek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346278/original/file-20200708-23-h8ktek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346278/original/file-20200708-23-h8ktek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346278/original/file-20200708-23-h8ktek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346278/original/file-20200708-23-h8ktek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346278/original/file-20200708-23-h8ktek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346278/original/file-20200708-23-h8ktek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Eddie Synot.</span>
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<p>Eddie has worked in Indigenous higher education providing support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students studying at Griffith University through the GUMURRII Student Support Unit. Eddie is also currently completing his PhD with the Griffith Law School focusing on a critique of Indigenous recognition and the liberal rights discourse of Indigenous recognition. </p>
<p>Eddie has also taught Indigenous Studies and Law at Griffith University, teaching Reconstructing the Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal Political Histories, Contemporary Aboriginal Issues and Property Law 1. Join us tonight for #BlackLivesMatters in the Asia Pacific – a free, live-streamed event from The Conversation</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142292/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
For West Papuans in Indonesia and Indigenous Australians who live within systemic racism and oppression, #BlackLivesMatter resonated deeply.Molly Glassey, Digital Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1411992020-06-22T23:19:30Z2020-06-22T23:19:30ZOur articles are free to republish to ensure quality information is available for all<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343342/original/file-20200622-55001-1jta4dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=204%2C557%2C5259%2C3080&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Barrett/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One thing you might not know about The Conversation is we publish our work under a “Creative Commons” license so anyone can republish our articles for free. </p>
<p>Why? Because we want quality, fact-based information to reach as many people as possible. We want our authors to have the largest possible audience to share their knowledge. And we want Australian media to publish trusted content with high ethical standards. Giving our articles to other publishers is one way we can contribute to a robust media, and that’s especially important given the current devastating landscape of cuts and closures.</p>
<p>You’ve probably read a Conversation article elsewhere – on the ABC, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Guardian, CNN, The New Zealand Herald or Australian Geographic – not realising it was one of ours (at the bottom it will often say: “this article was originally published on The Conversation”). </p>
<p>Our republication network delivers us a massive readership of 26 million article views each month, and that’s on top of the 11.5 million readers who access our content directly.</p>
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<p>We believe the free-flow of information is more important than clicks. Quality information shouldn’t be behind paywalls, locked away in ivory towers, or guarded by vested interests. It should be available to all.</p>
<p>I’m telling you this because we’re getting near the end of our annual donation campaign and more than 17,000 people have made a contribution to support what we do. To those people, thank you. When <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/">you donate to The Conversation</a>, you’re investing in the production of quality information for millions around the world. (And if you’d still like to <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/">donate</a> it’s not too late.)</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
We publish all articles under a “Creative Commons” license. This means any news organisation, blog, website, newspaper or newsletter can republish our pieces for free.Misha Ketchell, Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1384112020-05-26T22:59:40Z2020-05-26T22:59:40ZWe need good information to make decisions, especially when things go wrong<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337530/original/file-20200526-106811-1l6t5n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=193%2C246%2C3300%2C1776&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Conversation's management accountant, Suji Gunawardhana.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penny Stephens</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A fortnight ago, two Conversation authors <a href="https://theconversation.com/that-estimate-of-6-6-million-australians-on-jobkeeper-it-tells-us-how-it-can-be-improved-137237">ran the numbers</a> on JobKeeper. They were puzzled at how the government came up with the estimate that 6.6 million workers would get the wage subsidy. Based on the best information they had, Professors Roger Wilkins and Jeff Borland wrote that only three million workers would qualify. </p>
<p>This week the federal treasury massively revised the estimated cost of the JobKeeper program and admitted their blunder. </p>
<p>This is where The Conversation is so valuable. Our academic authors provide clarity and insight into the policy and discussions shaping our nation - armed with the latest research and decades of knowledge.</p>
<p>Take Adjunct Associate Professor Karleen Gribble. In November last year, at the height of the bushfire season, Dr Gribble wrote with her colleague Nina Jane Chad on how to evacuate a bushfire with a baby. <a href="https://theconversation.com/evacuating-with-a-baby-heres-what-to-put-in-your-emergency-kit-127026">The story </a> revolved around one central piece of advice: what to put in your emergency kit. The article was shared by the Red Cross, national media and thousands of families during the bushfires. Dr Gribble said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the most significant impact so far is that VicHealth has now updated its official guidance on emergency kit items for babies – based on our Conversation article.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Conversation provides a direct line from experts to those who need expertise. You get to see the ideas before they’re part of a broader public discussion. In Dr Nicole Lee’s case a Conversation article led to changes in the law:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>After a series of Conversation articles on methamphetamine, a large NGO invited me to help them and Vietnam’s government develop a new approach on drug treatment. I met with government officials, who signed a memorandum of understanding about changing their laws. Now there will be more interventions to help people, rather than just putting them in detention centres.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These types of stories are common. In the past year, The Conversation Australia published more than 3,700 authors. Of these, 66% were contacted by media for follow up, including interviews on TV, radio, online or print.</p>
<p>Some 9% were contacted by government, 22% were invited to speak at conferences or contacted for research collaboration, and 14% were approached for business consultation. </p>
<p>The Conversation isn’t just a news site. We care less about clicks than we do about making a real difference, and that’s why we need your help. A donation from a reader like you can help create more impact. If you’re able, please give a <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/au">one-off</a> or <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/au?frequency=monthly&amount=30">monthly donation</a> – it’s a direct investment in experts and the impact their trusted knowledge can have on society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Conversation isn’t just a news site. We care less about clicks than we do about making a real difference.Molly Glassey, Digital Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1387732020-05-19T10:53:37Z2020-05-19T10:53:37ZThanks to The Conversation’s authors, for going above and beyond<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335948/original/file-20200519-83397-ul3zsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5991%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Right now, many people around the world are looking at New Zealand and Australia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-may-well-be-able-to-eliminate-coronavirus-but-well-probably-never-eradicate-it-heres-the-difference-137991">responses</a> to COVID-19, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/world/australia/new-zealand-coronavirus.html">wishing</a> they lived here. </p>
<p>Of course, it helps that we have big “moats” around our countries. But on both sides of the Tasman, we’ve been lucky to have good people giving clear, evidence-based advice – and politicians who heeded those experts in time. </p>
<p>Here at The Conversation, our COVID-19 authors have often also been key advisers to the New Zealand and Australian governments: people like University of Otago professors <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-baker-169808">Michael Baker</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nick-wilson-133898">Nick Wilson</a>, UNSW Professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/c-raina-macintyre-101935">Raina MacIntyre</a> and Monash University Professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/allen-cheng-94997">Allen Cheng</a>, to name just a few.</p>
<p>As editors, we’ve seen authors putting in long days in research labs, hospitals or teaching online from home, often while juggling kids, before writing into the night for The Conversation. Like us, they believe knowledge needs to be shared freely and in plain English, with as many people as possible. </p>
<p>That’s what The Conversation was created to do as a not-for-profit publisher. And thanks to our Creative Commons model of publishing, everything we do can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/republishing-guidelines">republished</a> for free by other media worldwide. </p>
<p>This COVID-19 pandemic has shown just how essential our university and research sectors are. Knowledge is powerful, and can save lives. So to all our authors – not just the public health experts, but everyone who’s worked with us in recent months, on everything from <a href="https://theconversation.com/nz/topics/covid-19-82431">COVID-19</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/nz/topics/climate-change-27">climate change</a> and more – thank you.</p>
<p>The Conversation only exists because of the generous support of our New Zealand and Australian <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/partners">university and strategic partners</a> and you, our readers. If you can, please consider giving a <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/au?utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AU+Donations+May+2020&utm_content=write-off">voluntary donation</a>. And if you already have, thank you for making our work possible.</p>
<p><em>Stay in touch with The Conversation’s coverage from New Zealand experts by signing up for our <a href="https://theconversation.com/nz/newsletters/new-zealand-weekly-58">weekly NZ newsletter</a> – delivered to you each Wednesday.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138773/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Behind the scenes, authors have put in long days in research labs, hospitals or teaching online from home, often while juggling kids – before writing into the night for The Conversation.Liz Minchin, Executive EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1385112020-05-12T23:53:51Z2020-05-12T23:53:51ZWhat is public interest journalism? Providing reliable information to those who need it most<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334533/original/file-20200512-82393-gudie8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=251%2C356%2C3243%2C1964&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penny Stephens</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before the arrival of the internet, most journalism was produced in pretty well-off advertising businesses. The proximity of money and public interest journalism was often a source of tension, but rarely rupture. Every now and then you’d read something about the public’s right to know and sardonic journos would moan that “serving the public interest” really meant filling spaces between ads.</p>
<p>Advertising doesn’t pay any more – or more accurately it pays the likes of Google, Facebook and almost no one else. Space for “content” online is endless, but so is the torrent of misinformation. Cleaved from the funding it needs to survive, journalism has been freed to rethink what serving the public interest actually means.</p>
<p>At The Conversation we have given this a lot of thought, in part because we do journalism so differently. We only work with academic experts. We prize accuracy and trust above all else. We aim to serve our readers by giving them quality information with no other agenda than helping them be better informed.</p>
<p>This doesn’t always involve reporting on a high-profile court case or investigating corruption, as vital as that work is. Good information about nutrition is vital to deciding what to buy at the supermarket. Good information about how COVID-19 spreads is vital so people know how to protect themselves and each other. We know the damage that can be done when bad information spreads about a topic as important as vaccination.</p>
<p>So here’s my definition of public interest journalism: providing reliable and accurate information to those who need it most. At The Conversation it could be an article modelling the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, or the latest research on endometriosis. At the Sydney Morning Herald it might be a political column or an investigation of public corruption.</p>
<p>Because we see serving the public interest as being the core of what we do, we make sure everything we publish is free. In fact, we give our work away to other media outlets. We want to support a healthy media ecosystem and ensure expert research and analysis gets the biggest possible audience.</p>
<p>We think this is the right approach, but it does have one drawback: it makes it harder to fund our work. This is why each year we turn to readers and ask those of you who value our work to make a contribution.</p>
<p>If <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/au">you can donate</a>, please do so, and thank you to all the wonderful and public-spirited readers who have already donated.</p>
<p>And to the dozens of people who got in touch in recent days to say they love reading The Conversation but aren’t able to donate – no worries and you’re welcome. It’s great you value our work, especially now we’re finally out of the business of filling spaces between the ads.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138511/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Journalism has been freed to rethink what serving the public interest actually means. At The Conversation we have given this a lot of thought.Misha Ketchell, Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1375992020-05-05T00:23:04Z2020-05-05T00:23:04ZThe Conversation needs your help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332226/original/file-20200504-83721-nny5t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=147%2C319%2C5316%2C3317&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Barrett/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today we launch our <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/au">annual donations campaign</a>, inviting those who value our work to give. This year things are a little different. In recent weeks, several media outlets have been forced to make cuts or close. Like many others, we are staring down the barrel of a funding shortfall. </p>
<p>The Conversation will get through this, but <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/au">only with your help. </a></p>
<p>Our mission is to provide free access to trusted information. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, this has never been more important. In the past month our audience has doubled and our articles were read 26 million times. This demand will continue over the coming months as we increasingly turn to academics – epidemiologists, immunologists, scientists, health workers, economists – for solutions on how to recover and rebuild. </p>
<p>Every day our editors work with researchers to tackle the big issues vital to our future. We work with climate scientists, cultural critics, educators, historians, political scientists, technologists, and anthropologists to name just a few. Right now we are developing a major editorial series with experts leading the effort to rebuild biodiversity in the wake of Australia’s catastrophic bushfires. All these leading academics share their knowledge selflessly to improve society and protect our way of life. </p>
<p>If you’ve ever thought about donating, <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/au">please make it this year.</a> With your support, all our work can remain free to read, share and republish. In this way we ensure we don’t end up in a world of information haves and have-nots.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137599/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
With your support, all our work can remain free to read, share and republish.Misha Ketchell, Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1364002020-04-15T06:26:25Z2020-04-15T06:26:25ZThere’s a good chance you’re new to The Conversation – here’s how we deliver news differently<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327956/original/file-20200415-153341-193ti6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C0%2C3500%2C2321&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Conversation's Politics + Society team, in a time before coronavirus. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penny Stephens/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than 20,000 new readers have signed up to this newsletter in the past six months, which means there’s a sizable bunch of you who haven’t been reading The Conversation for very long. Hopefully you’ve been enjoying our evidence-based journalism powered by experts. But you may not know much about the approach that underpins our work, so I want to take just a few minutes to explain.</p>
<p>The Conversation was founded in Australia in 2011 – by a visionary newspaper editor Andrew Jaspan and co-founder Jack Rejtman – and it is based on addressing what economists would call a market failure. We get the bulk of our information from media outlets that give too much space to vested interests and opinionated blowhards who don’t know what they are talking about. Yet there are thousands of clever and highly educated people working in universities from whom we hear too little.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320030/original/file-20200312-116261-a6ugi0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=2" alt="Sign up to The Conversation" width="100%"></a></p>
<p>There are many reasons for this unfortunate situation. The media <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-some-australian-media-are-failing-us-on-coronavirus-135550">tends to favour </a>loud voices and cheap drama, and it too easily falls prey to disinformation and spin. To be offered a public platform you need a set of communication skills that many academics don’t naturally possess. The media market often selects for unimportant qualities – such as a loud voice and a thick skin – rather than real expertise.</p>
<p>Yet clean information is as important to democracy as clean water is to health. If we are going to make sensible decisions about the key issues of the day we need to have the best data and the latest research at our disposal. Ideally we’ll have an expert by our side who can explain complexity in plain English. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">We work a little differently to other news sites.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The Conversation was founded to provide this service. Articles on The Conversation are commissioned and edited by journalists but written only by academic experts. They provide analysis and research and basic explanatory content to arm you with the knowledge you need to make up your own mind. The Conversation has no ideological or editorial agenda, other than to bring you the best of what is to be found in universities in Australia, New Zealand and around the world.</p>
<p>Over the past nine years we’ve learnt there is a huge appetite for this work. Colleagues have set up Conversation teams based in Africa, France, UK, Spain, Indonesia, Canada, US and New Zealand. All the work we do is free to read and free to republish so it can reach everyone looking for quality information.</p>
<p>We do this to help academics share their expertise and to support a healthy media ecosystem in a time of attacks on press freedom and an existential challenge for media businesses. It seems to be working. COVID-19 has brought a big spike in traffic to news websites and many of those readers are coming to the expert analysis from The Conversation. </p>
<p>Last month our audience in Australia and New Zealand doubled to more than 26 million reads to Conversation articles, on our site and via republishers. To give you a rough idea of where this sits in the Australian media scene, <a href="https://twitter.com/earleyedition/status/1249857194876473344">the March Nielsen figures</a> had the ABC on 15.2 million reads and The Guardian on a record of 11.6 million reads.</p>
<p>If you’re new to what we do, thanks for reading and please tell your friends about us. As a not-for-profit news organisation we rely on donations from readers, so please consider <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/au?frequency=monthly&amount=30">making a donation</a> if you can.</p>
<p>Most importantly, stay safe, stay home and keep seeking information from sources you can trust.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136400/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
If you’re new to The Conversation, welcome! We produce news a little differently to other news organisations, but only in the best way.Misha Ketchell, Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1359542020-04-08T22:54:17Z2020-04-08T22:54:17ZCould coronavirus bring back our faith in experts?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326691/original/file-20200409-18056-1cj2hx2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=65%2C47%2C3928%2C1946&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation/Wes Mountain</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In recent years an ugly hostility to experts has become entrenched in public life. Populists like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson have defined themselves in opposition to elites, gaining high office while pouring scorn on anyone who actually knows what they are talking about. British politician Michael Gove stated it baldly when he said the public was sick of experts. </p>
<p>Across the world the level of aggression directed at climate scientists has been frightening. Academics, public servants, judges, scientists, meteorologists and health officials have all become used to being traduced where once they might have been respected for their unique skills and knowledge.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320030/original/file-20200312-116261-a6ugi0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=2" alt="Sign up to The Conversation" width="100%"></a></p>
<p>Australia too has been infected by anti-intellectualism, a powerful undercurrent in Canberra. Late last year the government announced a shake-up of the public service aimed at busting the “mandarin” club. Deriding research projects funded by the ARC and NHMRC has long been a staple of tabloid resentment. As I write this universities are struggling to find friends in government, despite the urgency of their research work and a predicted loss of up to $4.6 billion in the wake of COVID-19, which will severely curtail our research capacity.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/without-international-students-australias-universities-will-downsize-and-some-might-collapse-altogether-132869">Without international students, Australia's universities will downsize – and some might collapse altogether</a>
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<p>But things are changing quickly. For weeks now we have barely seen the prime minister without Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy by his side. Writing in the Nine newspapers this week, the journalist Peter Hartcher posed the important question of whether COVID-19 could be a circuit-breaker for populism founded on hostility to experts.</p>
<p>The political calculation used to be that the public will tolerate it when experts get rough treatment. But now we’re being told, quite rightly, that we are in this together. </p>
<p>And who will solve our problems now? Medical researchers, epidemiologists, immunologists, economists, psychologists, legal scholars, sociologists. In a word, experts.</p>
<p>The Conversation was created in 2011 to build a bridge between academic experts and the broader public. For the past nine years we’ve been working with the world’s best academics, bringing you their groundbreaking research and drawing on their expertise to help explain the big issues and news events of our times. </p>
<p>Despite a large and appreciative audience, we’ve always been swimming against a tide. But it’s turning, and the research and expertise found in Australian and New Zealand universities couldn’t be more essential.</p>
<p>Now is the time to get behind the experts: debate them, critique them, respect them, value them. It’s what The Conversation has always done, and what we will continue to do as we look to our brightest thinkers to map a future after COVID-19.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Now is the time to get behind the experts: debate them, critique them, respect them, value them.Misha Ketchell, Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1339272020-03-17T08:15:02Z2020-03-17T08:15:02ZWe’re bringing you the best information we can on Coronavirus – at a safe distance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320977/original/file-20200317-60910-172btac.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1292%2C776&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Photo taken during The Conversation's daily Zoom-facilitated quiz. </span> </figcaption></figure><p>As many of us retreat to the relative safety of our homes – hopefully now replete with toilet tissue – I thought it might be useful to share a little of how the team behind The Conversation is navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>From today we have asked staff at The Conversation to remain at home to aid social distancing and slow the spread of the virus. Despite this change, everyone is working longer and harder than ever to bring you reliable information from academic experts. </p>
<p>Since the outbreak we’ve published more than 90 evidence-based articles. They have been read more than 4.1 million times and shared widely on social media and republishing sites such as ABC, ScienceAlert and The Guardian. These numbers are very encouraging, but they’re not even close to being the most important measure of what we do. </p>
<p>Our only editorial mission is to ensure you have the best possible information. That’s why in tomorrow’s newsletter we have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-distancing-can-make-you-lonely-heres-how-to-stay-connected-when-youre-in-lockdown-133693">very pertinent article</a> on how to survive social distancing without becoming lonely and <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-distancing-can-make-you-lonely-heres-how-to-stay-connected-when-youre-in-lockdown-133693">analysis of New Zealand’s $12 billion economic and health package</a> from three leading economists.</p>
<p>In recent times we have published articles on everything from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-flatten-the-curve-of-coronavirus-a-mathematician-explains-133514">maths behind flattening the curve</a>, to <a href="https://theconversation.com/8-tips-on-what-to-tell-your-kids-about-coronavirus-133346">practical advice for parents of young children</a>, to analysis of the longer term <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-accelerating-a-culture-of-no-touching-heres-why-thats-a-problem-133488">social</a> and economic impacts. We have also produced a <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-and-covid-19-your-questions-answered-by-virus-experts-133617">video of experts</a> responding to dozens of questions from you. In fact our most useful articles usually stem from questions you’ve asked – if you’ve got any more please email them to: assistant@theconversation.edu.au</p>
<p>All this work is part of a broader effort by The Conversation’s global network which has published more than 350 articles in four languages that have attracted more than 33 million reads. If you’d like to find out more about this global coverage the best place to start is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-weekly-expert-analysis-from-the-conversation-global-network-133646">terrific weekly round up</a>, this week written by The Conversation Africa’s Health + Medicine Editor Ina Skosana.</p>
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<p>The strength of our passionate and dedicated network is also important as our team moves into a period of working without face-to-face contact. We are relying more than ever on Zoom meetings for video conference calls and communication technology like Slack and the telephone. The editors have been sharing photos of their home work spaces (way too neat) and we’ve set up a regular meeting for our daily quiz and a <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0ypRouzcfsM2JhPmqjef8K?si=izohDSL1RnCL2tkV7SOpoA">Spotify playlist for working-from-home</a>. We are very keen to avoid social distancing turning into social isolation. </p>
<p>If you value what we do there are a few ways you can help us. Please share articles you find useful and encourage friends to <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-1%5D">sign up to the newsletter.</a> Please comment on our articles and send us your questions. And if you can, please join the thousands of people who support our mission with a <a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/au?frequency=monthly&amount=30">monthly tax deductible donation </a> – no amount is too small. </p>
<p>Mostly importantly, stay safe, be kind to yourself and others, and if you are working from home remember that pyjamas are never suitable work attire, especially after 10am.</p>
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All Conversation staff are now working from home to aid social distance. Regardless, we’re working harder than ever.Misha Ketchell, Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1334402020-03-11T03:46:53Z2020-03-11T03:46:53ZFrom the editor: get your coronavirus analysis and advice direct from the experts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319777/original/file-20200311-116287-1ywvs2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The global coronavirus crisis has presented the world’s leading media outlets with a unique reporting challenge: how to cover a complex and evolving pandemic in a way that is accurate, transparent, up-to-date and does not cause undue alarm.
How can this reporting reflect the available information and still be useful enough to inform the very real decisions we all face, from whether to cancel our travel plans, or buy extra toilet paper, or let our kids go to school or wear face masks?</p>
<p>And if we get all that right, how can we make sure people know that we have trustworthy information, reporting and analysis that is significantly more reliable than a Tweet or a Facebook post, or a doorstop comment by a politician? How can we help people know what to trust and better identify what might be misinformation?
This is where The Conversation offers something unique. We only work with academic experts who are writing in their area of expertise. We have access to more than 90,000 of the world’s top academics, many of them immunologists or epidemiologists at the forefront of the global response to COVID-19.</p>
<p>These academics are paired with professional editors who operate in separate teams in nine countries across the world and publish in four languages: English, French, Spanish and Indonesian. Everything we publish is written by an expert and carefully checked by an editor. And if any errors do slip through that process we are absolutely committed to correcting them prominently and promptly. </p>
<p>That’s how we ensure that even as the virus spreads we aren’t contributing to a secondary infection of misinformation. So far this year our global academic network has produced dozens of invaluable articles from leading experts free to read and free for other media outlets to quote and republish. </p>
<p>Early on in the outbreak, one of Australia’s leading infectious disease experts explained<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-does-the-wuhan-coronavirus-cause-severe-illness-130864"> how the virus actually causes illness</a> and why that could lead to death in some people. Some of our leading scientists working on a vaccine explained why its production would take so long. And we had a group of experts e<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-why-the-who-says-a-coronavirus-vaccine-is-18-months-away-131213">xplain why it was toilet paper,</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-people-stockpiling-toilet-paper-we-asked-four-experts-132975">not beans or rice, that was being stockpiled by panicked shoppers.</a></p>
<p>We’ve published so much on COVID-19 we’ve decided it’s time we gave you a little more help navigating to the articles you most need. </p>
<p>This week we’ve launched a regular weekly update of our coverage that will be written by one of our global team of Health Editors. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-latest-a-weekly-update-from-the-conversations-global-network-of-academics-133294?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20March%2010%202020%20-%201557514885&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20March%2010%202020%20-%201557514885+CID_eb7a311851edff2b771f83aad3c57074&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=a%20weekly%20international%20roundup">first was written by UK Health and Medicine Editor Clint Witchalls.</a> He provides a great summary of how the situation has evolved and says the easiest way to stay abreast of our global coverage is to keep an eye on our daily newsletter where we’ll feature these weekly global wrap-ups, or on our <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/covid-19-82431">dedicated COVID-19 page. </a></p>
<p>Please tell your friends about us so <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-1?utm_campaign=System&utm_content=newsletter&utm_medium=TopBar&utm_source=theconversation.com">they can sign up too.</a> And in the meantime wash your hands regularly, only follow bona fide advice, and don’t worry too much. A leading microbiologist at the University of Navarra in Spain <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-ten-reasons-why-you-ought-not-to-panic-132941">says we have never been more prepared to fight a pandemic. </a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133440/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
How can we help people know what to trust and better identify what might be misinformation?Misha Ketchell, Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1328752020-03-03T05:22:09Z2020-03-03T05:22:09ZAAP closure is the end of an era for unsung heroes of journalism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318251/original/file-20200303-18308-1rskw5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4580%2C2980&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dylan Coker/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australian Associated Press will close on June 26 this year after its two largest shareholders, Nine Entertainment Co and News Corp, decided to end long standing arrangements to cut costs. 180 journalism jobs will be lost. </p>
<p>I learnt about this, I must admit, from a report in The Age online, but in days past this is the sort of news that would have been covered by AAP. The loss of this highly regarded news service is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-closure-of-aap-is-yet-another-blow-to-public-interest-journalism-in-australia-132856">major blow for Australian journalism</a> and a nail in the coffin for a world in which facts and evidence matter. </p>
<p>Many people outside thinning ranks for Australian journalists will have little idea of the extent to which AAP photographers, editors and reporters have been the media industry’s engine, but I do.</p>
<p>AAP journalists are unsung heroes of journalism. When I worked for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in the early 2000s, I used to check my ropey shorthand of press conferences against AAP and often unearthed embarrassing errors, sometimes ones that would have got us sued. </p>
<p>A good AAP photo often meant the difference between a page one lead or writing for the spike. AAP also regularly broke major news with coverage that would lead all the newspapers and TV news bulletins. </p>
<p>At Nine newspapers, the sub-editors would often cross-check my work against reporting from AAP, making corrections and adding vital additional information. Sometimes AAP would get a credit for this contribution, but often not. It’s telling that in four years of closely critiquing Australian journalism at Media Watch I can’t remember coming across a single substantial error that was the sole fault of AAP.</p>
<p>Now all this careful work will stop, another victim of the new world created by Facebook and Google in which attention is all that matters and truth is a virtue sometimes paid in lip service but never dollars.</p>
<p>Now there will be fewer reporters, fewer photographers, fewer sub-editors and no AAP. A whole vast enterprise of accuracy and reporting has been shuttered by foreign-owned digital platforms that obliterated the line between fact and fiction, and made a killing in the process.</p>
<p>Every honest journalist in Australia today should feel guilty about the way we have secretly relied on AAP. We almost never gave it enough credit, but nor are we to blame.</p>
<p>As long as disregard for facts remains the zeitgeist there will be no role for the likes of AAP and no money to pay for this work. As editor of The Conversation I hope audiences are coming to understand that truth, accuracy and transparency really do matter. The growing audience for our work that pairs journalists with academic experts is cause for hope. </p>
<p>But there is still a long way to go and in the meantime I hope the 180 talented AAP editors, photographers and reporters find new homes where their skill and diligence is truly appreciated. </p>
<p>And this time around, I hope they get proper credit for their work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132875/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Journalism in Australia has long relied on the AAP, without giving it credit.Misha Ketchell, Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1293022020-01-05T18:48:22Z2020-01-05T18:48:22ZMaking sense of Australia’s bushfire crisis means asking hard questions – and listening to the answers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308510/original/file-20200105-11904-tr74t9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4755%2C3182&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When the immediate threat of this bushfire crisis passes, many questions will remain. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bushfires plunder lives and landscapes in myriad ways, but they often start the same way. A bright morning suddenly turns to night. Ash flutters down from the sky, propelled ahead of the roaring fire front. An awful red glow slinks over the horizon.</p>
<p>When I awoke in the NSW south coast town of Bermagui on the last day of 2019, I should have twigged straight away. At 8am the sky was a gruesome orange-black, the surrounding bush freakishly quiet. Our mobile phones had no signal. Outside, my car was coated in soot.</p>
<p>We knew fires were burning more than 100km up the coast at Batemans Bay, but Bermagui had seemed a safe distance away. Suddenly, it wasn’t.</p>
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<p>Fire was bearing down on the seaside town, <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6561329/residents-evacuate-to-beaches-as-south-coast-fires-pose-serious-threat/">burning so fiercely</a> it created its own thunderstorm. Residents evacuated to the beach after emergency text messages at 4am, but with our phone service down we’d slept on, oblivious. When my partner and I woke and worked out what was happening, we too bundled our bewildered young son into the car and fled.</p>
<p>Of course amid the devastation wrought this fire season, a disrupted holiday is nothing to complain about. Bushfires have decimated huge swathes of Australia this fire season, taking with them, at the time of writing, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/04/australia-fires-death-toll-rises-and-six-people-missing-as-pm-calls-in-military">23 lives</a> and more than 1500 homes. </p>
<p>Thousands of holidaymakers in NSW and Victoria were <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/families-stuck-in-mallacoota-after-navy-ships-discouraged-children-under-5-20200104-p53otm.html">stranded for days</a> in towns with <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/australias-apocalyptic-bushfire-towns-go-into-panic-stations-as-supermarket-shelves-are-cleared-petrol-stations-run-dry-water-supplies-are-contaminated-and-communities-struggle-without-power/ar-BBYwcd7">dwindling food</a> and <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6564632/fuel-shortages-slowing-bushfire-evacuees/?cs=14231">fuel </a>supplies. Some were forced to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/01/malua-bay-fire-survivors-tell-how-1000-people-lived-through-a-night-of-flames-on-nsw-beach">shelter on beaches</a>, dodging embers and watching flames creep ever closer. And we cannot forget the animals – <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/01/03/a-statement-about-the-480-million-animals-killed-in-nsw-bushfire.html">millions have been killed</a> this fire season, or will soon die from lack of food or shelter.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308511/original/file-20200105-11951-1ss7i8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308511/original/file-20200105-11951-1ss7i8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308511/original/file-20200105-11951-1ss7i8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308511/original/file-20200105-11951-1ss7i8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308511/original/file-20200105-11951-1ss7i8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308511/original/file-20200105-11951-1ss7i8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308511/original/file-20200105-11951-1ss7i8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Firefighters battle flames encroaching on properties near Termeil on the NSW south coast, where lives and homes have been lost.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-bushfire-and-holiday-seasons-converge-it-may-be-time-to-say-goodbye-to-the-typical-australian-summer-holiday-129337">As bushfire and holiday seasons converge, it may be time to say goodbye to the typical Australian summer holiday</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>With all roads out of Bermagui closed, we spent New Year’s Eve at a local club hastily converted into an evacuation centre. Many evacuees were from the nearby fire-hit town of Cobargo. Some knew the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-31/father-and-son-patrick-and-robert-salway-die-in-cobargo-bushfire/11835194">father and son</a> who died after staying to defend their property. Many would presumably soon discover their own homes were gone. They watched, hands over their mouths, as the club’s giant plasma screens beamed images of their once-charming town, now a jumble of rubble and corrugated iron.</p>
<p>We lay our doonas down between rows of poker machines and lined up for dinner with hundreds of other evacuees. Food supplies in the town had already run short – the shelves of the local Woolworths were all but empty. To feed the hordes, volunteers began rationing dinner portions to just half a sausage and a slice of bread. They had no idea where tomorrow’s meals would come from.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308514/original/file-20200105-11946-on1wvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308514/original/file-20200105-11946-on1wvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308514/original/file-20200105-11946-on1wvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308514/original/file-20200105-11946-on1wvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308514/original/file-20200105-11946-on1wvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308514/original/file-20200105-11946-on1wvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308514/original/file-20200105-11946-on1wvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Empty shelves at Woolworths’ Bermagui on the morning of December 31, after residents were evacuated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nicole Hasham</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All this raises inevitable questions. To what extent is climate change driving these fires, and how much of that is Australia’s fault? Do we need a permanent, paid rural fire-fighting force to deal with this “new normal”? Are our fuel, food and communications systems resilient enough to cope with these disasters? And how do we deal with the deep anxiety these fires provoke, on both a personal and societal level?</p>
<p>Over the coming days and weeks, The Conversation will examine the tough issues emerging from this crisis. Our authors, experts in the field, will cut through the political spin and information barrage to help you understand this national disaster, and what it means for our future. </p>
<p>Today, the University of Tasmania’s David Bowman examines whether it’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-bushfire-and-holiday-seasons-converge-it-may-be-time-to-say-goodbye-to-the-typical-australian-summer-holiday-129337">time to ditch the traditional summer holiday</a>, when thousands of people head to bushy areas in peak bushfire season. And while the fires absorb our attention, Monash University’s Neville Nicholls <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-bushfires-are-horrendous-but-expect-cyclones-floods-and-heatwaves-too-129328">reminds us</a> that cyclones, floods and heatwaves are also likely this summer. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308512/original/file-20200105-11929-1o23zqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308512/original/file-20200105-11929-1o23zqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308512/original/file-20200105-11929-1o23zqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308512/original/file-20200105-11929-1o23zqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308512/original/file-20200105-11929-1o23zqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308512/original/file-20200105-11929-1o23zqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308512/original/file-20200105-11929-1o23zqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The aftermath of fires at Cobargo, near Bermagui, where buildings were destroyed and two men died.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sean Davey</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>On New Year’s Day, the wind having blown the fires away from Bermagui, officials opened a road out. They warned us to leave before conditions changed again. We had just under half a tank of diesel, and neither Bermagui nor the next town, Tarthra, had supplies. We drove on. No diesel at Bega either, until a local told us of a truck station on the outskirts of town where we filled up.</p>
<p>The trip home was slow and smoky, and phone reception patchy. We tried to buy a paper map in case of detours, but no service stations stocked them. It struck me how vulnerable we are to technology and transport systems that can so easily fail us.</p>
<p>Our three-year-old son grasped little of what was happening. I suggested a game of I-Spy, but it was soon abandoned – the smoke haze meant there was nothing much to see. We drove through blackened landscapes where sheep wandered paddocks with the wool burnt off their backs. My son, sensing the mood, asked why his dad and I were so quiet.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308515/original/file-20200105-11900-15npdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308515/original/file-20200105-11900-15npdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308515/original/file-20200105-11900-15npdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308515/original/file-20200105-11900-15npdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308515/original/file-20200105-11900-15npdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308515/original/file-20200105-11900-15npdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308515/original/file-20200105-11900-15npdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Smoke haze in Canberra from the South Coast bushfires has pushed air quality to extremely hazardous levels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the days after we arrived back in Canberra, air quality was more than <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6562383/air-quality-in-parts-of-canberra-20-times-above-hazardous-level/">20 times above hazardous levels.</a>
Shops and swimming pools were closed, and mail deliveries were cancelled. A woman reportedly died from respiratory distress after exiting a plane to a tarmac filled with smoke. Babies were <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/ginarushton/baby-delivery-canberra-bushfire-smoke">born into smoke-filled hospital theatres</a>; their parents despaired at what the future holds.</p>
<p>When the immediate threat of these fires has passed, many bigger questions will remain. The Conversation will continue to bring you the responsible, evidence-based journalism you need to be properly informed. Thank you for your continued support.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-monitor-the-bushfires-raging-across-australia-129298">How to monitor the bushfires raging across Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129302/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
We escaped through blackened landscapes where sheep wandered paddocks with the wool burnt off their backs. My three-year-old son, sensing the mood, asked why his dad and I were so quiet.Nicole Hasham, Energy + Environment EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1291362019-12-19T01:13:13Z2019-12-19T01:13:13ZWhy are public pools important in Australia? For our #myfavouritepool series, we’re asking you<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307835/original/file-20191219-11939-m1s6xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C7%2C2552%2C1908&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If public pools matter to you, tell us why on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #myfavouritepool. This is Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool at Woolloomooloo Bay in Sydney.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrdan/3241065353/in/photolist-i3xxQD-griREH-iyDjVu-29WoVE1-7neiQu-3gRKtu-4kti3q-4bkYro-d5zfro-4bkYt5-4kpfG4-9CwaNm-BRrWBX-7Wp2Ns-aTx5G-4fSZNB-5WpiP8-7n8Jc-6eHeik-pyqA33-6V9YjC-29WpDUG-8UQtz5-4wg25-2a1EVP2-6G5yK-27fMNzh-7ujoe">Flickr/Dan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Public pools occupy a special place in the Australian consciousness. They’re the site of swimming carnivals, splashy fun on long, hot school holidays, a cool spot to catch up with friends or the place for slow, meditative laps. </p>
<p>They’re also places of protest and a flashpoint for social inequality – not everyone has easy access to a local public pool. </p>
<p>Over the coming weeks, we will be publishing a series of stories on why public pools matter - to the economy, to social well-being and to our shared history. But we’re also keen to hear from our readers.</p>
<p>Why are public pools important to you? Share your thoughts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #myfavouritepool and we’ll keep a running record of your contributions here. </p>
<p>Don’t forget to <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-1">sign up to our daily newsletter</a> so you don’t miss a drop of precious pools coverage, and we’ve collected our pools articles in a list at the end of this story. </p>
<p>Other stories in this series:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-timeless-appeal-of-an-ocean-pool-turns-out-its-a-good-investment-too-127912">The timeless appeal of an ocean pool – turns out it’s a good investment, too</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/take-a-plunge-into-the-memories-of-australias-favourite-swimming-pools-128928">Take a plunge into the memories of Australia’s favourite swimming pools</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/for-many-a-pool-swim-is-an-australian-birthright-lets-make-it-easier-for-solo-parents-to-claim-it-128305">For many, a pool swim is an Australian birthright. Let’s make it easier for solo parents to claim it</a> </p></li>
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<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1207883218310975490"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129136/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Over the coming weeks, we will be publishing a series of stories on why public pools matter - to the economy, to social well-being and to our shared history. But we also want to hear from you.Sunanda Creagh, Senior EditorMolly Glassey, Digital Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1290732019-12-18T05:05:55Z2019-12-18T05:05:55ZFrom the editor: don’t believe the cynics, your trust in us shows facts still matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307620/original/file-20191218-11939-zuhwt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=116%2C364%2C5059%2C3080&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From the whole team, thank you for your support; we couldn't run this unique project without you. </span> </figcaption></figure><p>As this tumultuous and fascinating year draws to a close I want to take a minute to thank you for reading and supporting The Conversation. Your interest in the work of academics published here is a personal vote for facts and evidence, and the entire team working here is deeply grateful for it.</p>
<p>There are plenty of cynics these days who want to tell you that we live in a post-truth world, that facts are in retreat. But you, and the flourishing of The Conversation, are living proof that isn’t true, and it need not be our fate. </p>
<p>In 2019 our expert articles attracted more than 380 million reads across the globe. In Australia more than 100,000 people subscribe to the Conversation’s daily email. Thousands of media outlets regularly republish our work because they value the rigour of our non-partisan approach to sharing the best evidence and thinking on any topic. </p>
<p>At The Conversation we only publish academics who are writing in their area of expertise and know what they are talking about. We aim to be unbiased and we ask all authors to fill in a disclosure statement to identify any potential conflicts of interest. We only ever publish with one goal, and that is to inform. </p>
<p>Our mission is to democratise knowledge, to redistribute information from those who have it to those who need it most. We pursue this work with vigour and never deviate from our goal.</p>
<p>So thank you for supporting us with your attention and for so many of you with your financial giving too. This year more than 10,000 people made personal donations to The Conversation, and that money helps us continue our work. </p>
<p>(If you want to join this growing army of TC supporters<a href="https://donate.theconversation.com/au?amount=30&frequency=monthly"> you can do it here.</a>) </p>
<p>But most important, and most inspiring, is the fact that you care enough to want to know more and seek out information from quality sources you can trust. Thanks for placing your trust in us whether you are an author, a university, a reader or a donor. We value it, we know it is precious, and we will do everything in our power to live up to it. </p>
<p>Have a lovely relaxing break and may you flourish in 2020.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
‘Tis the season to thank you, our readers. We value you, we know you’re precious, and we will do everything in our power to provide you with trusted information.Misha Ketchell, Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1278132019-11-26T04:46:30Z2019-11-26T04:46:30ZPerth readers: join us in conversation on humanity vs. the internet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303657/original/file-20191126-112517-swmk9n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C40%2C762%2C358&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Michael Hopkin will lead a discussion on how the changing digital landscape is affecting our lives. </span> </figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/humanity-vs-the-internet-is-it-time-for-a-reboot-tickets-81645954247">Join us in Perth for our live in conversation event</a>, <strong>Humanity vs the Internet: is it time for a reboot?</strong> The Conversation’s Science and Technology editor Michael Hopkin will be joined by Edith Cowan University’s Associate Professor Paul Haskell-Dowland and Professor Lelia Green to discuss how a changing digital landscape our lives. </p>
<p>We will also officially be launching The Conversation 2019 Yearbook. </p>
<p><strong>When:</strong> Tuesday 3 December</p>
<p><strong>At:</strong> 5.30pm drinks and canapés for a 6pm start</p>
<p><strong>Where:</strong> Roundhouse Theatre, Edith Cowan University, 2 Bradford Street, Mount Lawley </p>
<p><strong>Cost:</strong> $25 (includes a complimentary copy of our 2019 Yearbook, RRP $19.99)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/humanity-vs-the-internet-is-it-time-for-a-reboot-tickets-81645954247">Buy your tickets today. </a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127813/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Join The Conversation live in Perth.Molly Glassey, Digital Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1270982019-11-15T04:31:32Z2019-11-15T04:31:32ZThe Conversation Yearbook 2019: celebrate with us and grab your discounted copy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301894/original/file-20191115-47128-nfuqut.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=77%2C65%2C3694%2C1928&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Conversation's Deputy Health Editor, Phoebe Roth, and Assistant Editor: Technology, Noor Gillani, agree this is the must-have read of 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wes Mountain/The Conversation</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A little bit of authority goes a long way in an opinionated world. That’s why we’re releasing a collection of some of the year’s most insightful evidence-based journalism from our newsroom: <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/the-conversation-yearbook-2019-paperback-softback">The Conversation Yearbook 2019, edited by John Watson</a>.</p>
<p>In it Australia’s most erudite thinkers share expert analyses of the issues that shaped the nation in 2019. The Conversation Yearbook has become an annual bestselling collection that navigates fake news and shouty views and offers a fresh perspective on the fundamental issues.</p>
<p>Buy your copy using the promo code THECONVERSATION30 <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/the-conversation-yearbook-2019-paperback-softback">at the checkout</a> (valid until November 19).</p>
<h2>Join us in your closest capital city</h2>
<p>We’ll be hosting four book launches this year, with one very special Curious Kids event in Brisbane.</p>
<h2>Melbourne</h2>
<p>Join Michelle Grattan and Amanda Dunn in conversation about the year that was in Australian politics.</p>
<p><strong>Where:</strong> Glyn Davis Building (MSD), Masson Road, Parkville</p>
<p><strong>When:</strong> 6pm Wednesday, November 20 2019</p>
<p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/an-evening-in-conversation-with-michelle-grattan-tickets-77950737755">Tickets here
</a></p>
<h2>Brisbane SOLD OUT</h2>
<p>Bring your young ones along for a creepy crawly Curious Kids event at Avid Reader!</p>
<p><strong>Where:</strong> Avid Reader bookstore, West End</p>
<p><strong>When:</strong> 9.30am Sunday, December 1 2019</p>
<p><a href="https://avidreader.com.au/events/creepy-crawly-curious-kids">Tickets here
</a></p>
<h2>Perth</h2>
<p><strong>Where:</strong> Roundhouse Theatre, 2 Bradford Street, Mount Lawley</p>
<p><strong>When:</strong> 5.30pm Tuesday, December 3 2019</p>
<p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/humanity-vs-the-internet-is-it-time-for-a-reboot-tickets-81645954247">Tickets here
</a></p>
<h2>Sydney</h2>
<p>Join Michelle Grattan and Peter Martin in conversation about the year that was in Australian politics.</p>
<p><strong>Where</strong> Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Road, Glebe </p>
<p><strong>When</strong> 6pm for 6.30pm start Tuesday, December 10 2019</p>
<p><a href="https://gleebooks.worldsecuresystems.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=319144">Tickets here</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127098/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
This collection has become an annual bestseller, navigating fake news and shouty views and offering a fresh perspective on the fundamental issues. Get your copy today.Molly Glassey, Digital Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.