Media Alliance: Enough about the paywalls, let’s get back to the journalism

Tim Burrowes

December 10, 2010 3:40

Life_in_the_clickstream The outlook for journalists is improving, but Australia is failing to debate how the ethos of journalism can be maintained, a new report from the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance warns.

In the foreword to its new report Life In The Clickstream, the Media Alliance’s federal secretary Christopher Warren warned against only discussing the monetisation of online content. He said:

“To focus exclusively on business models is to miss the main point: obsessing about whether or not paywalls will work, or whether cornering various lucrative, but narrow, niches such as legal affairs or higher education will replace lost revenue ignores the most important question our industry is facing.

“How can we ensure that journalism’s core functions will be maintained: holding the powerful accountable for their actions, providing a voice for those who otherwise have no power and ensuring that our political servants fulfil the pledges they make to us when we elect them to office?

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.

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1 COMMENTS

Say it aint so. 12 Dec 10

Oh Yes. Indeed. And we see the MEAA contribution at the Walkey Awards night. A hoot.
Kindly advise the MEAA that the poop deck is under water and they are the not the musicians of choice for this paying customer on this version of the Titanic.

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