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Conroy's All Or Nothing Media Reforms

Yesterday, Stephen Conroy announced an ultimatum: if his media reforms aren't accepted verbatim in parliament, he'll dump the lot. Is there anything in the package worth defending, asks Wendy Bacon.

Effective media accountability does not have to threaten journalists' independence

Journalists, especially those from News Ltd, and right wing commentators promote the illusion that the Australian Gillard Labor government is threatening to 'regulate' the media in response to rigorous scrutiny of its performance.  It has even been suggested that the Australian Labor Party is bullying News Ltd which is by far the most powerful media owner in this country.

War-Weary Journos Must Return To Battle

As if job cuts weren't enough, Rinehart's raid will inhibit the culture of journalistic independence that exists at Fairfax. Wendy Bacon on why journalists must speak out to protect their profession.

Questions for the CEO of News Ltd - they remain unanswered.

As the phone hacking scandal blew up in Australia where News Corporation controls 70% of the metropolitan audience in the most concentrated media in the developed world, News Ltd CEO John Hartigan assured the public that nothing so heinous as phone hacking would ever happen in Australia. There was no evidence to doubt his word, but it seemed to me that each media context was different. News corporation is a integrated global company. Some stories got by phone hacking by News International were certainly published here. There were also other questions to which it would be useful for Australia readers to have answers.