Don’t take journalism for granted, you’ll miss it when it’s gone

Like most industries, news has been at the mercy of COVID-19, the axe brought down on hundreds of jobs across our two major news publishers, Nine and News Corp, leaving the profession close to life support.

Newswire Australian Associated Press (AAP), a trusted source of unadorned, factual reporting over an impressive 85-year history, was saved from closure in June, while local and regional press has been almost entirely wiped out by the COVID meteorite. Channel 10 announced mass job cuts as recently as today.

The ship had been sinking for the industry some time before the pandemic; the effects were always going to be devastating when a tsunami struck. Declining print sales and TV audiences in a digital world controlled by tech giants has left news providers struggling to evolve at the pace of their algorithmic masters.

The current situation is bleak, while the prognosis is gloomy indeed. Research has shown that unlike those that came before them, younger generations are far less likely to seek out traditional news, more, they expect it to come to them.

The study found that young people are more individualistic with their news consumption, desiring content that:

  • You should know (partly)
  • Is useful to know
  • Is interesting to know
  • Is fun

The growing disconnect with traditional media lies in its heavy weighting towards what it believes ‘you should know’. Of course, online journalism has tried to cater to different needs and as a result will often face invective for the cheap story lines; “how is this journalism?”, is one we’ve all heard before. There is seemingly no perfect, winning formula.

The individualistic point is important because it suggests they also absorb news in the way they want to read it – editorially tailored to resonate with their own outlook.  This is a concerning trend, reflecting a society increasingly dividing more sharply down tribal lines.

Within these political tribes is a suspicion, even an outright rejection, of any story appearing in a publication with an editorial stance that is at odds with one’s views.

This is a dangerous precedent, because it allows power to exist without functioning accountability. It allows despots to cry, “fake news”, when their incompetency and chicanery is exposed, their supporter base buys it and doubles down. The cycle repeats and over time a civil society erodes.

Of course, the media is not totally exonerated. There are times when editorial stances harm the accuracy of reporting so much it might as well be party propaganda. Paul Murray of Sky News’ interview of US President Donald Trump a case in point.

However, if there is one thing 2020 has highlighted, it is the essential role a free press plays in a functioning democracy.

Look around the world and there are countless examples where the fourth estate has held power to account and reported in the public’s best interest.

ABC’s COVID reporting has been a trusted source for us all throughout the pandemic. Its role in broadcasting vital information during the bushfires was crucial in allowing people to be informed and aware of imminent danger. For some, when digital and telecommunications failed in heavily impacted areas, ABC local radio was the only way to access timely information and helped people survive.

The Age’s undercover recording of Victorian Labor Minister Adam Somyurek organising branch stacking brought down a malign political force.

Those who saw Jonathan Swan’s interview of Donald Trump last week witnessed the first robust, sit down interview of Trump’s presidency. It would be not be hyperbolic to suggest that interview will have an impact at the polls this November.

In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief advisor Dominic Cummings, a sort of Rasputin-like figure, was found to have broken his own government’s lockdown laws by completing a 400+ mile round trip back to his hometown.

What was remarkable about this story was the way it was covered. The Guardian ran an exclusive in the morning, Conservative Party MPs came out to defend Cummings in the media and social media throughout the day, unknowing that The Guardian had collaborated with the Daily Mirror who then released its own story with further evidence in the evening. It was poetic justice for a man in Cummings who has routinely bullied and threatened the media. The public opprobrium at Cummings’ behaviour was ferocious, the mendacity of a government that has shown gross incompetency throughout the pandemic ruthlessly exposed.

We should celebrate our free press and call it out when it steps out of line, but remember it is there to protect us from the coercive powers of the state and business.

It should trigger alarm bells when the federal police raid the offices of ABC as they did last year. We cannot allow the free press to be compromised and bullied like it has in places like Turkey, Hungary and China, the list goes on.

So, we urge you to support the news industry through this difficult time. Buy a newspaper, subscribe and next time you think to yourself: “how dare they ask that question of my leader in the middle of a pandemic?” Remember how easily great democracies can sleepwalk into tyranny, just turn to history for a lesson in how that pans out.

 

Miffed by MIFF

I have a bone to pick with MIFF. For all its claims to inclusivity there is a distinct underrepresentation of dogs on this year’s program.

This of course, triggers flashbacks to last year’s disaster, when, dappered up in a bowtie and fedora, I walked the red carpet only to be rebuked by an usher who told me dogs weren’t allowed at the Forum Theatre.

Luckily, this year’s incarnation is entirely digitised, meaning I can enjoy the films from the comfort of my living room.

So, last night, intending to do just that, I perused the program. I was in a Red Dog mood. Any true story comedy-dramas celebrating the fearless loyalty of dogs? No. Okay… how about something lighter, an Airbud type flick. Any sport-dog films starring handsome golden retrievers? No. Fine. Surely, they have a few dogumentaries… but no. Not one dogumentary.

For such an acutely curated program I find the lack of dog content puzzling? Even cows get some shine – Kelly Reichardt’s auterestic meditation on friendship on the American frontier, ‘First Cow’ stars a cow and holds the prestigious opening night screening. I’ve heard it’s an intimate, tragic portrayal of the emergence of capitalism in America, but that it contains no dogs.

Then there’s Lawrence Michael Levine’s psychodrama, ‘Black Bear’ – starring Aubrey Plaza. I’ve heard its a genre bending reflection on art and authorship and assume that it features a bear, but still, no dogs.

There are close to 70 feature films on the lineup, as well as 44 short films and a dozen world premieres – all harnessing the power to captivate and inspire Australia, in what has been a harsh, pandemic inflicted winter. Yet dogs seem decidedly absent from proceedings.

I promptly did some research and to my expectation there are no dogs on the MIFF board.

So, since my emails requesting that they consider me as a board member have been ignored, I’ve decided to start my own film festival, one dedicated to dogs.

PAWS – Pets All Want Screentime, will premiere next year.

No hard feelings towards MIFF of course. Maybe one day we can partner up? In the meantime, I’m looking forward to watching the Australian Premiere of ‘Corpus Christi’, an Oscar-nominated thriller that tells the story of an ex-con impersonating a priest in a small town in Poland. Although it doesn’t seem to contain dogs, it does sound quite cool.

To view the MIFF program and contact the team about the lack of dogs, visit their website here.

 

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