Margaret Simons on Media

Category Archives: media ethics

How Should We Report Trauma?

February 12, 2009 – 11:47 pm

How should journalists cover the aftermath of trauma? What do we do now, after all the photos, the survivor stories and the hero stories from the weekend’s bushfires have been done, and done, and we need to move on without pretending that it is over?
Can Jeff jarvis help? Is there a Googly way of doing [...]

By Margaret Simons | Comments (5)

The Axe Falleth on the Plagiarisers

February 11, 2009 – 7:44 pm

Last Monday the ABC’s Media Watch had a nice little plagiarism “gotcha” under the title “Thou Shalt Not Plagiarise”. It concerned Ron Bainbridge, an evangelical preacher who writes a regular column in the Albany, WA, local newspaper. Bainbridge, it emerged, had been lifting the lot from a fellow evangelist, Dr Rubel Shelly, President of Rochester [...]

By Margaret Simons | Comments (2)

ACMA May Take Action Against Alan Jones

February 10, 2009 – 1:13 pm

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is reviewing last night’s Media Watch program and will “consider” whether it is necessary to take action over Alan Jones’ promotion of David Jones.
Following my previous post about Media Watch’s latest “gotcha” in the never ending cash for comment affair, a spokesman for ACMA has provided me with the [...]

By Margaret Simons | Also posted in Australian Broadcasting Corporation | Comments (1)

Ouch. The Journos the Advertisers Conned

February 6, 2009 – 2:24 pm

The advertising agency Naked has taken out a full page ad naming the media outlets and journalists it managed to con with a YouTube video ad that pretended to be a genuine love story. Mumbrella has the wrap.

By Margaret Simons | Comments (0)

More on Backman

February 5, 2009 – 8:44 am

A bit more on the Backman controversy coming in the Crikey email today.

By Margaret Simons | Comments (2)

A Leak From The Age

January 29, 2009 – 3:01 pm

UPDATE: They’ve flushed it.
Oh my goodness me. Take a look at the front page of the Age website.
The story is about Google having to (ahem) wipe a picture of a man sitting on a backyard dunny from its Streetview service. But The Age hasn’t wiped it! The Age has splashed it! (Puns intentional).
The story reveals [...]

By Margaret Simons | Also posted in fairfax | Comments (2)

Remember Allan Kessing? He’s off to the High Court.

January 27, 2009 – 11:55 am

Remember Allan Kessing? He was the former Customs officer accused and convicted of leaking a report on airport security lapses to the Australian newspaper. The pursuit of Kessing was an unedifying episode from the days of the Howard Government.
In December last year he lost an appeal against his conviction. The latest news is that he [...]

By Margaret Simons | Also posted in censorship | Comments (4)

Backman DOES NOT Blame the Subs

January 23, 2009 – 12:32 pm

As reported in the Crikey e-mail today, Michael Backman has written to Jewish community leaders apologising for the distress caused by his controversial column, published in The Age last Saturday. Backman says in his letter of apology:
I can now see that some of the forms of words used did not adequately explain what I intended [...]

By Margaret Simons | Also posted in cock-ups | Comments (42)

The Michael Backman Column: Weird and Unpleasant Happenings at The Age

January 21, 2009 – 12:29 pm

UPDATE: The Michael Backman column has been removed from his website. His Wikipedia entry has been recently edited, and his Facebook page seems to be missing.
I was out frying other fish yesterday so did not catch up with the controversy consuming The Age newsroom until late afternoon. This morning as I ring around, it is [...]

By Margaret Simons | Also posted in fairfax | Comments (91)

Journalists Conned by Advertisers

January 21, 2009 – 9:36 am

The media has been had – again – by a stunt in which an advertising agency posted a fake YouTube video. In the video, designed to promote Witchery, a girl pretends to be hunting for a man who left his “really nice” jacket behind in a cafe.
It was reported as a genuine news story by [...]

By Margaret Simons | Comments (4)