News in freefall

To me, the New News conference at MWF 2011 reverberated with anxiety. Packed sessions were dominated by knitted brows and pensive looks. Conversations on stage shone with a cheery veneer, but frustration gathered steam as the sessions wore on, and between the huffs and puffs of disagreement, the cracks would start to show.

It’s not hard to see why. Journalists, editors, and media professionals of all kinds these days exist on the edge of a precipice. It has been this way for a while now – so long, in fact, that it feels like permanent teetering. Journalism was never a particularly lucrative career, but with ‘old’ media under increasing threat and ‘new’ media paying a pittance, if that, one can forgive news professionals for feeling a little bit stressed. Recent restructuring and mass layoffs at Fairfax, further job cuts at News Ltd, dramatic slumps in print news circulation and ballooning public apathy towards politics, industry, international affairs and the other domains of ‘serious’ reportage just increase the sense of vertigo. It’s a hard time to be a journalist in Australia.

In many ways, what’s happening to newspapers and news media more generally in Australia cannot be extricated from the political interests of those who control it. The issue of how the media intersects with and shapes politics in Australia and around the world – one of the most interesting questions raised during last year’s conference and discussed at length – has never been more crucial. It might seem audacious to a casual observer for mining magnates with such obvious conflicts of interest to actively and unashamedly try to buy their way onto the boards of a major newspapers in order to have editorial influence. Yet corporations with such vested interests in government policy and practice have been controlling our mainstream media for years.

In my opinion, the current state of the news media is yet another example of broader social and structural problems that go beyond just a failure to understand or adapt to what is no longer ‘new’ but rather ubiquitous technology. But what can we do about it? How do you protect media workers’ rights in an industry that relies increasingly on user-driven and unpaid content? How do we respond to this as individuals and as a community? What are the options for people who engage with news media and what are the options for writers, publishers and broadcasters? What’s the role of the ABC and independent grass-roots organisations in an industry dominated by corporate-driven publication and broadcast?

These are just some of the questions that need to be asked, and answered, sooner rather than later. And if you’re not involved in the conversation yet, now is a pretty good time to dive right in.

 

The New News Conference is on again at MWF 2012. Guests already announced include Margaret Symons, Chris Uhlmann, Tim Dunlop and Derryn Hinch. You can book a dedicated New News pass now or keep an eye out for the Program Launch on 20 July. These sessions sold out speedily last year so if you’re keen, book early.