I watched the TV broadcast last night and it was excellent, read the trasncript or listen to it if you can. So funny how I could see some of the UTS Journalism staff in the audience though. John Doyle was very insightful as well as witty- you could see he was a bit nervous though I reckon, but it was excellent.
One of the things mentioned that I thought was particularly important was the future of our ABC. I don't know if people are aware, but the ABC is facing review (more information from MEAA about it all:
http://www.alliance.org.au/ourabc/), and it has faced such massive cutbacks under the current government. ABC and SBS are really the only very high quality outlets for Australian news left. Also Radio National is the only radio station in this country with such a diverse range of strong news and interest programs. The demise of Australian Drama, as highlighted by Doyle, has a lot to do with ABC funding cuts, and it is a tragedy. We really need a strong ABC in this country in order to continue quality news and current affairs (Four Corners, Foreign Correspondent, Stateline, Lateline, ABC News, not to mention ABC Radio) and coverage of Australian cultural events (such as Sunday Arts). Because if the ABC doesn't show it, nobody else will. The truth is that this stuff does not make money, but it is hugely important for Australian democracy and society. SBS is good as well, but it doesn't have the capacity to produce the same amount of quality programs, but Dateline and Insight are excellent.
But I loved John's digs at some of the previous speakers, especially his attack on ACA and TT. I think it was interesting because it didn't just look at the media, he made some commentary on the world that the media is currently situated in.
