Interactivity is considered one of the defining features of the online experience, yet the reality of most media consumers today is one defined by interpassivity. And it presents a serious challenge for those of us engaged in online journalism.

A couple of weeks ago, ABC’s Jonathan Green wrote an article about journalism. In it, he claimed that ‘journalism is a trade in which personal conviction is one of two things: an irrelevance or a death sentence. Journalism tainted by conviction just isn’t. That’s the simple truth of it.’ I suspect among many journalists there is a seductive appeal to this kind of claim. They like to think of themselves as dispassionate and objective, pursuers and reporters of Truth.

By now, oceans of ink have been spilled over the decision against Andrew Bolt. In commenting on the case, I would like to draw out some relevant issues that I think have not been adequately discussed. As I have repeatedly written at ABC Drum and elsewhere in defence of Bolt’s right to be disgusting, I’m […]

Glenn Milne, regularly published pontificating about his numerous anonymous sources, lowered the bar of journalistic standards yet again yesterday when he filed An ALP insider’s open letter to Julia Gillard at ABC’s Drum. The piece consists of an introduction by Milne, followed by an unsigned open letter to Julia Gillard from an anonymous Labor party […]

While many voices are currently being raised in Australia in defence of WikiLeaks, it has its critics. Luke Walladge, for example, describes Mr Assange as a ‘dangerous anarcho-Marxist with paranoid tendencies’. WikiLeaks is an ‘agenda-driven group of deceptive megalomaniacs’, and ‘the latest disclosure of information has the potential to disrupt the diplomatic processes that help […]

Jesus, what a can of worms. If it were scripted from Hollywood with Brad Pitt in the starring role you wouldn’t give it a second look. It’s not just the embassy cables themselves of course, but the accompanying furore around Julian Assange’s imminent arrest on sexual assault charges, not to mention the calls for his […]

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have just released their 2010 report ranking countries on press freedom. Rwanda ranked 169 out of 178. In this election year, they dropped 12 places from last year, making them the third lowest African country on the list. Unsurprisingly, the government isn’t happy. The Information Minister has labeled the report as […]

When Norman Finkelstein was denied tenure at DePaul, a number of academics held a forum, ‘In Defence of Academic Freedom’. By far, the most brilliant speech was by philosophy Professor Akeel Bilgrami. He explained his view, which I’d long held intuitively: that it is the responsibility of the intellectual to be unpopular. I can find […]

‘[W]hat bothers me,’ wrote Christian Kerr in last week’s Australian in regards to the outing of Grog’s Gamut author, Greg Jericho, ‘is that someone seriously expected they could stay anonymous online in this day and age.’ Clearly, Kerr reads a different internet to the average reader. Or there’s a mysterious social order he’s aware of […]

Andrew Bolt is not happy with what I wrote in response to the suicide of Josefa Rauluni. He says I’m either a ‘liar’ or ‘simply ignorant’. I wrote that our politicians and corporate media peddled hatred and fear against asylum seekers, which created the conditions that caused Rauluni’s death. I made up a megaphone speech, […]

I have an article up at Drum about all of the above: How has the online temperament of news changed journalism? In Katrina Fox’s article on objectivity, transparency and advocacy in journalism, “What’s your bias?”, Marcus O’Donnell, lecturer in journalism, explains: [O]bjectivity was a trust mechanism we relied on in media that didn’t do links. […]

Reporting Conflict: new directions in peace journalism Johan Galtung and Jake Lynch UQP Most of us are familiar with media treatments of wars with a focus on violence, and winners and losers. Jake Lynch and Johan Galtung call this the ‘low road’ of war journalism. They contrast it with the ‘high road’ of peace journalism […]

Murdoch wants to put our news behind a paywall, beginning with The Times and The Sunday Times, via a new payment model supposed to kick in in the very near future. Doubtless this is something he’s been planning since his first forays into the internet – like the purchase of MySpace – proved financially fruitless. […]