The state of our media

Saturday, 16 March 2024
3:00 pm 4:00 pm

Darley Smith Building 1 Darley Road Manly, NSW, 2095 Australia (map)

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If journalism is the first draft of history, what will it say about the state of the media? Disinformation, propaganda, social media (the peoples’ soapbox), and artificial intelligence pose mounting threats to journalism and genuine, accurate, quality news. The Australian media landscape is in a state of perpetual transformation, driven by technology, changing audience behaviours, and global influences and influencers. We talk with four people who know more than most.

Tracey Kirkland and Gavin Fang, both journalists with the ABC, take us behind the scenes of Australia’s media organisations to give a first-hand perspective on the operations of the fourth estate, especially as it applied in reporting on the COVID pandemic.
Michael Gawenda has had a 40-year career in journalism and, amongst other things, is a former editor-in-chief of The Age.
Walter Marsh is a freelance journalist who writes and reports for a wide range of media with a unique insight into the making of the Murdoch empire.

In conversation with Michael West.

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Gavin Fang is Editorial Director of the ABC and is one of Australia’s most experienced news executives, with 25 years in print and broadcast journalism.

Michael Gawenda is one of Australia’s best-known journalists and authors. In a career spanning four decades, he was a political reporter, a foreign correspondent based in London and in Washington, a columnist, a feature writer, and a senior editor at Time Magazine.

Tracey Kirkland has spent more than 30 years as a journalist writing for broadcast and print. During COVID, she was the ABC’s national news-gathering editor.