Margaret Simons on Media

Category Archives: media ethics

Back to Blogging, Mark Day and Stale News

September 14, 2009 – 9:54 am

The Australian’s media commentator Mark Day has a shot at Crikey in his column today. Now I quite like Mark Day. He can be a bit of a fossil, but his media commentary is almost always well informed and often astute.  He also has that laid back “it’s all bread and circuses” air that washes [...]

By Margaret Simons | Comments (2)

Slowly, Slowly. Softly, Softly. There Goes ACMA.

March 24, 2009 – 10:15 pm

A while ago now I reported on one of the rare cases where the Australian Communications and Media Authority had actually used its powers to make a finding against tabloid tv current affairs shows. The main issue, as I saw it, was slowness. It had taken almost three years from broadcast to finding.
Well, today ACMA [...]

By Margaret Simons | Comments (2)

My Correspondence with News Limited’s Greg Baxter – Some New Tidbits

March 17, 2009 – 2:05 pm

Over the last few days I have been having some back and forth email correspondence with News Limited’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Greg Baxter, concerning my reporting of the plans to change the way News Limited produces its features.
The correspondence mainly concerns his complaints and my responses, but it has also included a few things [...]

By Margaret Simons | Also posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

A Critique of Hartigan

March 17, 2009 – 10:23 am

Peter Timmins is a consultant who works on Freedom of Information and privacy protection issues. He was also Deputy Chair of the Independent Audit of Free Speech in Australia that kicked off the Right to Know campaign, spearheaded by News Limited’s CEO, John Hartigan.
For these reasons, as well as the cogency of his arguments, his [...]

By Margaret Simons | Also posted in news limited | Comments (0)

Pauline Hanson and News Limited

March 16, 2009 – 4:55 pm

I’ve been frying other fish for the last two working days, so can only now sit down to write about the Pauline Hanson photos. In the meantime, it has emerged that the photographs might not even be of her.
It has also been suggested that she leaked them.
None of that matters, really, when it comes to [...]

By Margaret Simons | Also posted in news limited | Comments (12)

The Media and Public Health

March 4, 2009 – 9:00 pm

Inside Story has  a long and confronting story by freelance journalist Melissa Sweet about how the paradigms of the newroom distort coverage both of public health issues in general, and Aboriginal health in particular.
Inside Story, regular readers will recall, is the newish online publication that has managed to strike up a hard copy publication deal [...]

By Margaret Simons | Comments (1)

Nine News in Trouble with the Regulator

February 24, 2009 – 4:59 pm

Its not often that the Australian Communication and Media Authority throws its weight around on issues concerning commercial television and journalism ethics.
Today is an exception. ACMA has found that Channel Nine broadcast racist material in a news item about changes to the baby bonus scheme aimed at parents with gambling and addiction problems.
The ACMA report [...]

By Margaret Simons | Comments (0)

The Washington Post has a new Ombudsman

February 22, 2009 – 12:41 pm

The Washington Post has a new readers’ ombudsman, Andrew Alexander. You can read his first column here.
He says:
As The Post’s new ombudsman, I am its internal critic. My job is to represent the interests of readers, hold The Post to high standards and explain its inner workings to an often-suspicious public.
If I do my job [...]

By Margaret Simons | Comments (0)

Bushfire Media Coverage – How do We Report Trauma?

February 19, 2009 – 11:28 am

I wrote a post a while ago asking how journalists should report trauma in the wake of the bushfires. I have more to say on it in the Crikey e-mail later today, including some disturbing reports of media intrusion and the line being pushed too far. I also have some things to say about Ross [...]

By Margaret Simons | Also posted in media futures | Comments (3)

Press Council Adjudications

February 16, 2009 – 12:02 pm

The Australian Press Council has released its adjudications for February – just two of them, with a win for The Age against a complaint brought by federal MP Michael Danby, and a loss for the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader over a complaint brought by the mother of a young man who died tragically.
The [...]

By Margaret Simons | Comments (0)