Nicomedia

Not because I don’t admire the show.

Tonight’s guests have Denton’s measure. He is famous for coaxing skeletons out of the closet. I’d say the celebrities invited on the show stay up late the night before practising their secrets in front of the mirror. I think it is great that Denton is getting out at the top of his game.

Tim Minchin made a cheeky mock confession of adultery. Chris Masters pinpointed those moments of honesty as the core of Denton’s passion for interviewing.

It was brilliant to see footage from Masters’ old stories, ten and 20 years old - about the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, corruption in QLD and genocide in Rwanda. Masters’ piece-to-camera in Rwanda shown tonight is a classic example of frank and moving journalism that can push an audience along to at least a small understanding of a terrible event that feels like a world away from Australia.

Chris Masters speaking with Richard Fydler on the Convesation Hour 

At the end of July when I heard Antony Funnell sadly reflect on the end of Channel Nine’s ‘Sunday’ program, I probably reflected to myself that The Media Report was safe at least. Not so.

The Media Report has been an invaluable resource for my studies and its axing leaves a gaping hole in media analysis on Australian airwaves.

I was listening via podcast by the way.

It is clear that convergence is the way of the future. The Internet, considered apart from commercial considerations (if that is possible), is the most exciting thing to happen to the media since the printing press. I find it a shame, albeit a necessary one, that the biggest dilemma media companies face is how to make money from this new medium.

Newspaper websites are perfectly placed to cater to an audience that wants ‘convenient news’. While it is true that audiences are fragmenting, it doesn’t have to be at newspapers expense. People value the credibility that comes with established mastheads such as The Australian and The Age, and are likely to go to these sites when they want information they can trust. Those who want media – television, radio and newspapers – to exist just as they did before the World Wide Web are going to be disappointed however. There has to be change, and flexible newsrooms will be the most successful at adapting to the new technology on offer.

These issues and more were discussed by a panel – The Australian’s Campbell Reid, ABC’s Mark Scott, Max Uechtritz and Roy Greenslade, moderated by Sky News’ Helen Dalley – at the Walkley Foundation’s “Future of Journalism” conference earlier in the year, aired on ABC Radio National’s Media Report.

One solution put forward on how to fund quality journalism is commercial diversification – The Guardian and the  Washington Post are examples of publications – the premier mastheads of the companies behind them – that do not run at a significant profit and are subsidised by other investments. Max Uechtritz also suggests that video could become a big earner for media organisations once they learn how to utilise it fully (like the BBC is endeavouring to do).