News.com.au launches interactive map of political power to mark Gillard coup anniversary
News.com.au has claimed a digital journalism first with the launch of an interactive map that shows how political power is distributed within Australia’s federal cabinet.
Called Cabinet Confidential, the map is a visual representation of the relative clout of Australia’s top politicians, the factions they belong to, and how they are politcally aligned.
The chart was launched to coincide with the anniversary of Julia Gillard’s rise to power as prime minister.
“If anyone wants a handle on the relationships between members of cabinet, there are really only two options: read a long and dour piece in a newspaper, or watch Lateline. This doesn’t need to be the case. Cabinet Confidential allows you to get perspective on the people who make decisions that affect every person in Australia, every day, and it’s in a format that makes it a bit fun too,” explained News.com.au’s editor Paul Colgan.
The concept was developed by News.com.au’s creative editor – a new role created last year – Lincoln Archer, working with national political editor Malcolm Farr, along with in-house designers and developers.
Colgan said: “One of the things that the news media rightly gets accused of is not harnessing new technology enough to improve storytelling. The creative editor role is there to address that. We pull together journalists, designers and developers to produce rich content that interests and excites our audience of young Australians.”
Cabinet Confidential shows news.com.au’s efforts to innovate in digital journalism, Colgan added, pointing to an application that shows readers how local businesses were affected by the GFC in their area.
Is this a news site, or an opinion page, even a gossip page dressed up with new media? It’s hard to tell the difference anymore, but it would be nice if your new ‘creative editor’ actually showed some journalistic integrity in this tabloid style assessment of the government in power. In the end, it’s important to recognise that governing is not a game, and shouldn’t be treated as one, as if has a very substantial effect upon the lives if the citizens of this country.
By the way, when will Fairfax be coming out with the interactive ‘inside scoop’ on the Opposition and the Independents? Maybe that one could be called Zoo Media?
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Sorry Reg to hassle you but i think you’ve totally missed the point of what News.com.au has done here.
Should they post up a 25 page article for users to scroll through or should they keep doing what they’r doing.
Create interactive news pieces for a medium that allows this……if you want to read an article please feel free to buy the paper, clearly you use the internet so maybe you should embrace what it can do too.
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The point J, is the one that you’ve missed I’m afraid. I was not and will not critique their desire to give us the news via new media channels, to the contrary, any clever way of delivering the news to more people in a manner that allows greater interactivity is a very good thing, but my criticism was of the content of the site, not the form. Their Cabinet Confidential is all about opinion and most of it conjecture and gossip as to how the power relationships are formed within the government, which means essentially the Labour Party. Not a hint of hard news, verified by sources and most of it very catty, making the relationships seem petty and small, further undermining our opinions of public officials, and where is the same for the Liberals, the Nationals, the so called Opposition in a balanced critique?
What people need to hear, what most want to hear are not the intricacies of the relationships of power, how the game of politics is played, but what our political leaders are doing to further the agendas of the people, the hard issues of government and how we’ll be affected. Paddy Chayefsky’s ‘Network’ lampooned the disintegration of media news to crass entertainment in the mid-seventies, but even he would have a hard time fathoming the latest offering from Fairfax some 35 years later, and they’re not even the hardcore Right in Australian media. Imagine what will be coming next from the Murdoch papers.
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Hey Reg I just want to say on behalf of everyone reading your comments that you’re an absolute wanker. (Tim I think my slightly abusive comment can be justifiably published in this instance, thanks mate).
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Cute graphic but so lightweight that it could float away in the breeze. More importantly, it wasn’t really very interesting either.
Still, it’s the thought that counts I guess.
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That’s right, Johnny. Abuse the writer, not the idea expressed. who’s the real w*nker, then, eh?
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Sorry Johnny, you’re the wanker for deigning to speak on behalf of anyone other than your uneducated self.
Reg is right. Innovative use of new media by traditional media titles is welcome providing it (at least) aspires to journalistic standards that we, as citizens of a democratic state, have every right to expect.
However, there’s little worth celebrating when it’s simply being used as modern partisan propaganda.
If this political / fourth estate stuff is too difficult for you can I suggest turning your focus back to improving your high score on Angry Birds?
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Come on, admit it, news.com.au may as well post a page 3 girl on its site. Reg is on the mark
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You speak for everyone of Mumbrella’s readers do you, Johnny? Kind of delusional don’t you think? ‘Wanker’, now that is the kind of intelligent, articulate response, we’d expect from a presumably grown man who still calls himself Johnny, just like his Mom used to when he was a wee tike.
If you have something to say little John, then step right up and let us read your thoughts, but ad hominem attacks are really just the resort of a limited capacity to speak intelligently, and besides, when did ‘wanking’ become a bad thing? You do it don’t you, little man?
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Not much to this, so Little Dick will think it is fantastic. Meanwhile, the gold-plated CMS keeps on not keeping on.
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