Opinion | Features
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  The TV Week Logie Awards, a celebration of Australian television, is a wild and colourful beast.
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  ABC International has reasons to be proud of its recent deal to provide ABC content in a long-term partnership with China’s second biggest broadcaster Shanghai Media Group writes Wanning Sun, in this cross posting from The Conversation.
  ABC International has reasons to be proud of its recent “landmark” deal to provide ABC content in China.
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- Answers for Adam: Why do agencies struggle to build their own agency brands?
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- Media agency remuneration: It's the smaller nimbler agencies which will thrive
  As huge changes blow through the Australian media agency landscape Nikki Retallick argues the smaller more collaborative companies will be the ones to thrive. It’s a great time to be in the Australian ad industry. The winds of change are blowing. With the recent launch of Department212 and the success of earlier start-ups such as Bohemia, there’s some real momentum towards the rise of the independent, performance-based media agency. The big agencies are starting to follow suit, having seen the ‘race to the bottom on price’ hit their bottom line. It’s all about delivering measurable value now and being able to move the dial on the clients’ business.
- Content marketing moves to centre stage
  Last night ANZ launched one of Australia's biggest branded content plays to date. Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes was at the launch. It took a few minutes too long last night for it to dawn on me why there was a jazz band in the corner of the room at ANZ's Melbourne conference suite. Blue Notes - gerrit? And what last night's event did make clear is that the opportunities of that developing subset of branded content, brand journalism, are beginning to dawn on local brands.
- Answers for Adam: Is reality TV the way to tackle climate change?
  Recently there was another report from the scientists of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) telling us that climate change (what used to be called global warming) is upon us and there are real changes happening now (I bet I’ve lost several readers already!) The scientists are urging us to heed their warning and change our behaviours, yet we ignoring them in droves. Even though information they are giving us is dire.
- The Tele's textbook example of how to run a winning newspaper campaign
  The Daily Telegraph has delivered a great piece of old fashioned campaigning journalism, argues Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes Back when I worked in newspapers, I was taught that if a newspaper is going to embark on a campaign, it has to pass three tests.
- Piracy: At least the Lannisters pay their debts
  Following a series of special reports on piracy on Mumbrella this week Foxtel's Bruce Meagher explains why the company is airing Game of Thrones as it is. Much has been made in the past few days of the fact that fans of Game of Thrones are unable to acquire the series through services other than Foxtel until after the final episode airs. Unfortunately, there has also been much misinformation about how Foxtel is making Game of Thrones available to the public.
- Why hard-to-win awards are good awards
  This year's Mumbrella Awards are going to be tougher to enter than ever before. Which makes winning one worth even more. As the call for entries goes live, Tim Burrowes explains the changes for this year. Please don't hate me. I hear a common complaint about some industry awards, and I'm afraid it's mostly my fault.
- Encore Score: The newsreaders
  With the battle for early evening eyeballs increasingly important for commercial TV networks Amanda Meade looks at the numbers to see if the most popular newsreaders are the most watched. Despite dramatic changes to the media landscape in the past ten years, the traditional 6pm commercial news bulletin on free-to-air television remains a key building block in a network’s schedule - get it right and you can carry big audiences over to your primetime shows. Some bulletins have even expanded from 30 minutes to an hour in the main markets of Sydney and Melbourne.
- Answers for Adam: Should PR agencies and creative agencies be combined?
  This week Adam Ferrier asks whether PR is starting to mean everything and nothing, and whether it is any different from traditional advertising. I've been thinking about the PR industry lately and where PR fits in the broader communications landscape. I've thought about it a lot, and worked with most models from integration under one roof to partner agencies, and a few things in-between.
- Australia's class system of brands
  After a rare business class flight, Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes argues that brands may miss opportunities when staff treat customers according to their perceived value. So over the weekend, I finally got to make the metaphorical left turn getting onto a Qantas flight. And it was everything I could have wanted.
- Answering Adam: Agencies need ideas as their engine
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Freemasons to launch their own TV series

A TV series that reveals the inside story behind exclusive men’s club the Freemasons is to run on Victorian community channel C31 next month.

The series – called Freemasons: The Inside Story - aims to expose the myths associated with the fraternity, look back at its history and ponder the role Freemasonry plays within the community, according a press release from the group.

The series is to be presented by 3AW radio presenter Wes Turnbull.

The 26-part series, created by Melbourne-based production company Fuzzy TV, will run in 30-minute episodes from Monday 4 March.

February 12th, 2013 at 2:00 pm

Comments

Billy C
12 Feb 13
7:14 pm

I hope the Goat Riding will be RSPCA approved.

Slabber
13 Feb 13
4:29 am

Yes Billy, don’t worry – you’ll keep your job.

G. Austin Hamilton
13 Feb 13
11:49 am

Its time we came out of the closet, II hope your show is a sucess. I have been a masob for over sixty years. Good Luck

Miadhachain
13 Feb 13
2:38 pm

Sadly, Channel 31 doesn’t show out in the rural areas of Freemasonry Victoria.
What action will be taken to remedy this problem?

Kav
13 Feb 13
5:08 pm

This reminds me of…

“Who keeps Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do, we do”

Ryan McLeod
13 Feb 13
8:15 pm

Fantastic! I hope they discuss the wonderful charity work they do.

Arthur Ray Dickson
14 Feb 13
2:00 am

I wish we would do something like that in the states. Most people dont realize how much philanthropic work we do in our communities.

Simpson jackson
14 Feb 13
2:07 am

It probably won’t be seen here in the US, so will they try to market it to aa broadcasting company over here. Or will a DVD become available for purchase, so brothers everywhere can purchase a copy. I’ve been a mason for 1 year and I would love to learn all I can about our Fraternity.

Phillip Brown
14 Feb 13
5:03 am

Will it show in America

tv viewer
14 Feb 13
7:19 am

interesting stuff.

I am looking forward to this promotional video!

Uk mason
14 Feb 13
8:24 am

Hope the producers portray the honest image and don’t use it as a tool to further their careers. Do you think it will make it to the uk?

Stu
14 Feb 13
12:20 pm

As an Aussie Mason, I would say “exclusive” is an incorrect description and this gives us some insight into the problem.

At a time when Freemasonry prospered, the organisation could afford to be exclusive and secretive.

Then, a generation became jaded and Masons’ sons weren’t joining anymore. The secretive ways of Freemasonry raised questions about what they got up to behind closed doors – they must’ve been up to something sinister, or else what is there to hide? Catholics weren’t welcome, boys-only clubs were no longer acceptable and Masons were spending too much time being Masons rather than being family men.

There now exists a generation gap and the aging population of Masons gets frighteningly smaller by the day.

In the face of extinction, Masons have been forced to open their doors more freely, which they have been doing for years now. They are no longer exclusive and they are certainly not secretive. Their inner-goings-on are freely available to non-members, online or at any Grand Lodge, at least in countries where its operation is more widely accepted (the US, UK, Australia and others). In Lodge, I sit beside Catholics, Muslims, Jews and anyone else that doesn’t belong to one of the main religions but has their own belief about something bigger. There are active appendant masonic bodies for women. And you can even spot a Mason on the street, with ease: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddM7kJ9xQfA

Despite progress made, the problem is, the voice of Freemasonry had withered at a time when people had already made up their minds about Freemasonry – Masons weren’t large enough in number to counteract negative perception by their good deeds or by the reversal of their secretive and exclusive ways. Freemasonry became irrelevant to society and so how do you change perception among an audience that isn’t even paying anymore attention or when your voice is no longer loud enough? I don’t mean to suggest brands win by shouting loudest or by shouting at all; I’m merely making a (probably obvious) point that it’s more difficult to engage a stand-offish audience then when working off a clean slate.

As for this TV series, well I think it’s a great initiative – I believe any mass exposure of our good deeds, is positive exposure for an organisation struggling to stay relevant and for an organisation that does not and cannot extend a direct invitation to join.

The only thing I would’ve done differently is waited a little longer to launch the series. A side note, but in the pipeline is the film adaption of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, which tells a story about Freemasonry to mass audiences. It’s a sensational story but at least more people would be paying attention. Perhaps then the TV series would make more traction, if only a little.

Richard McLelland
18 Feb 13
12:01 pm

Regarding rural & regional broadcasting of Channel 31…that’s a Federal Gov issue. C31 wants to extend its reach to the whole of Victoria and has requested the Senator to seriously consider. But this doesn’t appear to be a priority, particularly now an election has been called! To be fair it will take some careful planning and possible restructuring of the Community TV (CTV) sector to enable all cap city based CTV stations to broadcast into their respective state regions. But agree, it should be done!

Matt (SA)
26 Feb 13
12:26 am

As the coverage of community tv is limited, I’d suggest making it available on the web once it’s gone to air. Can’t hurt, it will reach more people again that way.

Eh?
26 Feb 13
9:36 am

What on earth is C 31? Is it on Foxtel?

Andrew
6 Mar 13
8:42 pm

Can we see it on foxtel? my house isnt wired for proper cable