Category: Articles

Civics and the Media

The introduction to an article in the May 2016 edition of Policy Quarterly, co-authored with Dr Peter Thompson of Victoria University of Wellington, that explores the challenges facing news media in meeting the civic needs of society:

Restoring Civic Values to the News Media Ecology

The emergence of converged digital media platforms has seen a proliferation of new services, but also a disruption to value chains and business models, especially in a small, highly deregulated media market like New Zealand’s. Although consumer choice has expanded in some respects (e.g. subscriber video on demand via smart tablets), this does not fundamentally alter the information needs of citizens if they are to participate in a democratic society. Although digital media also provide spaces for citizen journalism and informed blogging, these complement, rather than replace, mainstream news production.

The full article is available at http://igps.victoria.ac.nz/publications/files/67dc16ba25a.pdf

Trust ownership and the Future of News: Media moguls and white knights

This article was written for the Walkley Magazine October 2014

The Australian one-dollar coin is a symbol of mainstream media ownership. On one side are the crown-owned public service broadcasters and on the other are one very large and several smaller corporate kangaroos.

On the face of it, the coin analogy seems obvious because news media are seen to be either in the hands of the government or the property of profit-seeking private enterprise. But how many sides does a coin have? Continue reading “Trust ownership and the Future of News: Media moguls and white knights” →

Journalism’s Road Codes

Journalism’s Road Codes: The enduring nature of common ethical standards.

Published in Pacific Journalism Review 18(2) October 2012.

Introduction

Journalistic principles and codes of practice are manifestations of a desire to be seen as socially responsible. Just as shared practices contribute to the defining characteristics of an institution, so too, do shared desires. Hence journalistic ideals contribute to the news media’s institutional character. Common institutional settings can be applied across those publications that harbour aspirations to produce serious journalism, but the publications within that grouping are not identical. Each has its own characteristics within the general framework. Continue reading “Journalism’s Road Codes” →

No-one died covering celebrity news

The UNESCO World Press Freedom Day address

AUT University 6 May 2014

[This address was published in Pacific Journalism Review 20(2) Nov. 2014]

Note: Click on images to enlarge

Let me begin by putting New Zealand domestic journalism in context. None of the 11 journalists and three citizen journalists killed so far this year, according to Reporters Without Borders, died in New Zealand. None of the 165 journalists and 165 Internet citizens languishing in gaol is in a New Zealand prison. The greatest risk a journalist faces in New Zealand is an invasion of her workplace privacy[1] (Andrea Vance) or his reputation being called into question by a state agency[2] (Jon Stephenson). Unless you are a journalist working on [the consumer affairs tv show] Fair Go you are unlikely to be dealt a bloody nose. Continue reading “No-one died covering celebrity news” →