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Opinion | Features
Whose views skew the news? Media chiefs ready to vote out Labor, while reporters lean left
Most journalists lean left-of-centre, says Folker Hanusch of the University of the Sunshine Coast, in a post first published on The Conversation.Most Australian journalists describe themselves as left-wing, yet amongst those who wield the real power in the country’s newsrooms, the Coalition holds a winning lead.
But while the media’s political leanings will no doubt be debated in the lead-up to September’s federal election, our study has also found other largely unscrutinised biases remain – particularly whose views disproportionately shape the news.
It's time for a new New Wave in the film world
Government funding bodies are lazy and decadent, says industry veteran Michael Thornhill but in a piece that first appeared in Encore, Ed Gibbs begs to differ.I vividly remember the time I first saw Animal Kingdom, David Michod’s breathtaking labour-of-love feature debut. The press screening was half empty, despite the film winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance just months earlier, in 2010. Yet its superb performances, stylistic flourishes and overall polish left me speechless. Could this really be a feature debut, an Australian one at that, I wondered, almost out loud? It seemed too good to be true.
Going cold turkey on an agency addiction
Life is sweet for freelance writer Max Kitchen, but in a feature that first appeared in Encore, he admits his struggle against returning to the agency fold.I’ve never taken heroin. But I suspect if I had, the temptation to try it again would not be too dissimilar to the lure of returning to agency life.
Can sport save Ten?
First there was the Grand Prix. Next came the reported $500m bid for cricket rights, then Ten secured the 2014 winter Olympics. So, can sport save the ailing network? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen investigates.The television sports rights bidding process is a bit like a game of poker.
Check, fold or bet. Those were the options for the Ten Network last week when it had to finalise its bid for the cricket rights.
Andy Lark: good for the marketing of marketing
I can still remember the first story I wrote about Andy Lark, when it emerged that he was to be the new chief marketing officer of CommBank.
It was immediately clear that Australia was about to meet an interesting marketer, one who blogged and tweeted and thanks to his time at Dell in the US was digitally savvy. Even two years ago, that was a big deal. The fact that he also had a stint in public relations gave him an absolutely intriguing background before he even arrived.
Storming the media barricades - advice for young journalists
This week Mumbrella’s Nic Christensen, who began his career four years ago, gave the keynote address to would-be journalists at the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s Student Day. This is an edited version of his speech.Good afternoon, I can remember distinctly the last time I was in this room.
It was 2009 and I was sitting where you are. I’d come to this event, a friend and myself — from memory we sat up the back — and I can remember at the time wondering if I’d ever get a job as a journalist.
It was only four years ago and then as now getting a job was ultra competitive but I’m not sure there was quite as much media ‘doom and gloom’ as there is now…
Paywalls will help fund campaigning journalism
In this guest post, News Limited’s group editorial director Campbell Reid responds to the views of ninemsn’s Hal Crawford that the company’s push into metered paywalls is about data rather than dollars.Hal Crawford is both right and wrong in his article which argued that our digital subscription plans are all about the data.
Fake it 'til you make it... as a features editor
Cosmo’s Kate Leaver tells us how to bluff it in her job in a feature that first appeared in Encore.What do you do, as a features editor?
Really, play with words and ideas all day. At any one time, we’re working across three issues of the mag – getting one on its way to the printers, pooling all the words together for another, and planning the issue after that. It’s busy but it’s a pretty magnificent process.
Savage counsel - JFDI
Hi Chris,I run a medium-sized agency that is doing pretty well. As the leader, I am finding my workload just seems to go up and up. I am struggling to stay motivated and particularly to tackle the bigger and tougher challenges I have to face every day. How do I keep up the energy when there just seems so much to do? How do you do it?
Productive, successful executives are those able to consistently tackle difficult and big challenges. It’s a constant struggle for me so I know how you feel. How do the successful leaders do it?
Q&A with Brett Clegg
Brett Clegg, group director – business media, Fairfax Media, in a Q&A that first appeared in Encore, on the journo who refuses to work with him – his wife.Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
Hard to go past Rupert Murdoch. He controls the single largest and most diverse portfolio and is intent on leveraging its scale (and, of course, influence). He’s an innovator and his will to win is obvious to all.
The experiential experience
Anyone can throw up a tent in a high-traffic area and harass the general public, but what does it take to pull off an effective experiential event? In a piece that first appeared in Encore, Matt Smith investigates.A television commercial can easily be muted and ignored, but try ignoring a purring, squirming cat in your arms. That was the experience awaiting passers by in Sydney’s Martin Place in October last year when Mars Petcare built Whiskas Kitten Palace.
The News Limited paywall isn't about revenue. It's about data
In this guest post, ninemsn’s editor in chief Hal Crawford argues Fairfax Media and News Limited’s new paywalls won’t draw much revenue, but will generate data. And they’re late to the data party.When I first learned that ninemsn’s major digital competitors Fairfax and News Ltd were going to introduce paywalls across their mainstream properties, I was excited.
Every obstacle thrown in the way of their audiences is an opportunity. People hate friction and anything that makes life difficult on a rival site is a chance to get them on yours.
Is this the worst time to be a journalist?
With scores of redundancies in 2012 and a mass exodus of experienced journos, is this the worst time to be a journalist? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen asks the question.In June last year a tsunami of redundancies began to sweep across Australia’s media landscape. They came in a series of waves and in the 12 months that followed, an estimated 1,200 journalists departed the mainstream media.
Are you a conscious leader?
As the advertising and marketing industry struggles to address the issue of rocketing rates of staff churn in their businesses, Slingshot CEO Simon Rutherford argues that today’s ‘conscious leaders’ should be more focussed on creating ‘staff wellness’ in order to deliver high performing teams and healthy profits.
A conscious leader believes the business has a greater responsibility towards the community it operates in. To ensure sustainable long-term profits, people must come first. Awareness, trust, authenticity, transparency, 100% responsibility, connection, compassion, and love: these are the tools of the conscious leader.
Suits: less popular than pest controllers
Advertising suits have a thankless job that is currently being eroded by the changing industry says Naren Sanghrajka in a piece that first appeared in Encore.Not in my wildest, craziest nightmares would I ever have thought I’d say this. But I’m going to. Being a bean counter is far more appealing than starting as a suit in advertising. There it is. I said it. I actually said those words.
Yes, it’s incredibly depressing. But it’s true.
Scientific proof that newspapers are better than McDonald’s, Google or Nike
Regular readers will already be aware that Dr Mumbo is a big fan of The Newspaper Works’ light touch approach to gently promoting the medium’s positive atttributes.
So he commends the video that the industry body has uploaded to YouTube revealing details of its latest research, and the graph that apppears at about the one minute mark.
It would seem that newspapers are better than Nike, McDonald’s, Holden, Target and Microsoft. And are streets ahead of Google and YouTube. And if you keep watching the graph, newspapers gradually soar even further ahead with every moment that passes.
With science on newspapers’ side, it’s hard to understand why anybody thinks that papers have a problem.
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Comments
3 Mar 10
10:44 am
‘conducted with over 1000 Australian residents’. Woah. Even closed panel survey methodology can do better than that.
3 Mar 10
10:52 am
Not really sure why/how they can compare “print media” to an actual company / brand. A newspaper is hardly “a brand”. Apples and oranges.
Also, wasn’t this the same propaganda machine that released some erm..”propaganda” of dodgy, supposed testimonials, that were in actual fact, possible answers from the survey.
Smacks of desperation.
3 Mar 10
12:08 pm
Agree with Foobar – some pretty illoogical comparisons here.
Disagree with Tim1 – no amount of sample can rectify shonky research or analysis…and since when is 1000 a small sample size?
3 Mar 10
1:25 pm
I just love the irony in that they’re using youtube to prove how relevant newspapers are.
3 Mar 10
1:49 pm
I still hate the VO talent they’ve used.
3 Mar 10
1:50 pm
Which is a shame as the content and graphics are pretty good otherwise. I like my newspaper more than a big mac and more than a pair of shoes. Why is that such a stretch?
3 Mar 10
1:54 pm
Scott, 1000 as a sample size is tiny in the Experiean Hitwise context – 3 million plus Australians a day from memory.
Then of course there’s Google, whether trend or keyword anlaysis.
Both are much larger datasets, sampled more often and from actual use – consumer demand – as opposed to (potentially) leading questions. I know which I’d bet on.
Agree re the apples and oranges too. I don’t look to Nike for reportage or analysis.
3 Mar 10
1:58 pm
cmon guys surely we have better material than this lazy print/newspaper bashing
3 Mar 10
3:18 pm
The research results seem to merely indicate that newspaper BRANDS are ‘reputable’ and ‘dynamic’.
And we want to question that finding?
Next research will show that the ABC is more ‘impartial’ than other TV and radio stations and we’ll all be gobsmacked. Not saying that some newspapers don’t push an agenda, but surely ‘reputable’ is one area where newspaper brands SHOULD have it over other media?
3 Mar 10
3:55 pm
does Dr Mumbo always talk about himself in the second person?
should we call for help?
3 Mar 10
4:18 pm
@Tim1 True, those provide larger sample sizes, but I’m not sure they fit the bill when looking to measure sentiment, trust or other emotional connections to brands/mediums (the argument of whether these are useful measures or not in this case aside).
Think you put it rather well with your point about (potentially) leading questions. Just make sure your research is good in the first place and your sample size of 1000 should be plenty.
3 Mar 10
10:27 pm
@ Foobar, seems a surprise you don’t think a newspaper has a brand. Of all digital brands I’d have to say newspaper brands are one of the strongest online and offline brands. Their problem is getting the same revenue out of the same brand on a different platform.
3 Mar 10
10:35 pm
Agree with Scott on this one. I’ll take a well constructed representative n=1,000 over an n=3,000,000 which excludes half of Australia any day.
Disagree with Foobar “A newspaper is hardly a brand”. Hello. Someone put the lights back on please! New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Times, Pravda, Sydney Morning Herald … none of those are brands? Give me a break!
4 Mar 10
3:05 pm
some heads need to be pulled out of bums here.
Foobar – the fact that you don’t understand that newspaper mastheads are brands revokes your license to comment on this thread
There’s also no irony in using youtube to advertise newspapers. Newspapers have advertised radio for years. Outdoor advertises newspapers. Other media are used to advertise media.
not every consumer in the world is a 22 year old egotist who has seen little more of life than what’s showing on his/her monitor for 23 hours a day
4 Mar 10
3:21 pm
True, newspapers are brands, but i don’t think this research is served all that well by comparing the generic term ‘newspaper’ with more specific brands like nike, google etc.
Maybe the research question wasn’t asked that way, but that’s the way it’s being presented for mine.
4 Mar 10
3:26 pm
Sven. Are we still talking about this? It was sooo yesterday. I’m guessing you still get the paper delivered to you daily?
What is a newspaper? It’s a delivery vehicle for “news” (I use the term loosely) and advertising. That’s hardly a brand. Even if you want to use the word in its literal sense, you can’t then go and compare SMH to Starbucks/Nike – they’re not even in the same ballpark.
4 Mar 10
3:40 pm
Sven – harsh but fair … and it gave me a chuckle.
Foobar. May I ask the question, “what is Google”? To use your line of ‘reasoning’, it is merely a delivery vehicle for a “search”. So that makes Google NOT a brand either? By extension you are saying that what is probably the fastest growing brand in the world is not a brand? That is just plain illogical.
And Scott, I agree if they lined “newspaper” up against “Nike” or “Starbucks” they have mixed’n'matched categories with brands which is an absolute no-no! They either have to ask “newspapers” against “television”, “coffee”, “sports shoes” (all categories) … or “SMH” up against, “Nine”, “Starbucks”, “Nike” etc (all brands).
Maybe The Newspaper Works or their research agency can clarify the way the questions were presented to the respondents.
4 Mar 10
4:06 pm
Brand – n. 1. a. a particular make of goods. b. an identifying trade mark, label, etc.
Surely being able to articulate a preference for one thing over another naturally generates distinctions i.e. identifying marks or labels. If someone enjoys reading a newspaper over eating a Big Mac then that has to be a higher preference for that brand.
Sorry Foobar, I wont be buying your brand
4 Mar 10
4:11 pm
Hi anonymous (comment 10),
Dr Mumbo tells me that he generally prefers the second or thrid person but never the first. He’s a very odd man.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella