Search our site:
Climate change. Pandemics. Peak oil.These days, many of us have grimly accepted the fact that the human species is hurtling towards oblivion – if not in our lifetime, in that of our children or…
In 2009, young Australian traveller Jock Palfreeman was found guilty of the murder of Andrei Monov. Monov was the son of a family well connected in the Sofia legal fraternity. Palfreeman claimed he w…
In this very special event, two generations of Australian reportage royalty come together, as the world- renowned Helen Garner interviews Anna Krien, one of the brightest writers of her generation…
Privacy in the digital age is a hot-button issue, from WikiLeaks to who owns your Facebook photos. With Liberty Victoria, we present a hypothetical discussion encompassing the church, child abuse…
Jill Stark, a Sunday Age writer specialising in alcohol and public health issues, came to write her first book, High Sobriety, after one big night too many. On January 1 2011, she woke up with the…
2012 was a bad year for the print media. What Queen Elizabeth might call an annus horribilis. So, after a year packed with announcements of staff layoffs at Australia’s major newspapers, it’s nice…
The ‘I’ word was once taboo in journalism – but these days, the ‘I’s seem to well and truly have it. The online age has heralded the rise of the celebrity journalist: ‘personalities’ with…
As the Communist Party of China’s 18th National Congress oversees the biggest leadership transition in decades, Sally Warhaft catches up with China watcher and correspondent John Garnaut to examine t…
There’s a huge public appetite for non-fiction storytelling in all its forms, from literary and political essays to the shelf-filling genre of memoir, and the much-maligned reality TV.This is a…
There’s a huge public appetite for non-fiction storytelling in all its forms, from literary and political essays to the shelf-filling genre of memoir, and the much-maligned reality TV.This is a…
In the fight against the Japanese during World War II, the most disturbing events endured by the Australian soldiers occurred at Sandakan, in North Borneo.Join Sydney-based historian Paul Ham, as he …
Today’s American media is sharply divided along left and right political lines, with little room in the middle for the objective news and current affairs that was once the norm. From Fox News to The…
David Marr’s Quarterly Essay on former PM Kevin Rudd marked the beginning of the end. Was it a well-timed coincidence, or a body blow he never recovered from? Now, Marr turns his pen to…
David Marr’s Quarterly Essay on former PM Kevin Rudd marked the beginning of the end. Was it a well-timed coincidence, or a body blow he never recovered from? Now, Marr turns his pen to…
India observers, devotees of immersion journalism and lovers of good writing agree: New Yorker staffer Katherine Boo’s account of life in a Mumbai slum is the best book about India in decades. The…
India observers, devotees of immersion journalism and lovers of good writing agree: New Yorker staffer Katherine Boo’s account of life in a Mumbai slum is the best book about India in decades. The…
India observers, devotees of immersion journalism and lovers of good writing agree: New Yorker staffer Katherine Boo’s account of life in a Mumbai slum is the best book about India in decades. The…
Ita Buttrose is, as she says, experiencing something of a renaissance, in the wake of the ABC TV biopic Paper Giants.‘A lot of the things I’ve done through Paper Giants are now back in the public…
It’s a manic Monday indeed for all Australians interested – or invested – in the future of local journalism, with Fairfax announcing sweeping changes to its business model. Nineteen hundred jobs…
Australia seems gripped by a fever of disenchantment. We’ve escaped from the world financial crisis with barely a scrape, yet we rail at the prime minister, whinge about minority government and…
Masha Gessen is the author of a controversial new biography of Putin, The Man Without a Face. She has also written extensively on the lives and roles of women in contemporary Russia. Sheng Keyi’s…
Walkley-award-winning investigative journalist Nick McKenzie has been to the frontline of Australia’s real-life assault on organised crime, reporting for Fairfax and ABC’s Four Corners. The Sting
From Breaking Bad and The Wire to home-grown drug drama Underbelly, we couldn’t be more fascinated by the war against drugs. Walkley-award-winning investigative journalist Nick McKenzie has been to t…
More than half of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims, and 60% of the world’s Christians, live along the ‘tenth parallel’. This latitudinal line, spanning the globe ten degrees north of the equator, is t…
On 22 February 2012, Kevin Rudd announced his resignation as foreign minister. The news, along with his challenge of Julia Gillard in an attempt to wrest his old job back, has dominated the media…
Foreign correspondent Kim Barker’s personal account of reporting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, The Taliban Shuffle, is a fiercely honest – and occasionally hilarious – dissection of the absurdities…
Foreign correspondent Kim Barker’s personal account of reporting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, The Taliban Shuffle, is a fiercely honest – and occasionally hilarious – dissection of the absurdities…
A Columbia Journalism Review feature called ‘Confidence Game’ has taken up the case for newspapers. Dean Starkman argues that a group of intellectuals he calls the ‘Future of News’ group, or “FON…
In his latest book, The Psychopath Test, British sleuth and documentary maker Jon Ronson comes across the influential psychologist who developed the industry standard ‘psychopath test’ and who is…
Canadian journalist Jay Bahadur visits Australia for the Wheeler Centre and the Brisbane Writers Festival to discuss his book Deadly Waters, an exploration of the world of Somali pirates, with…
Eva Gabrielsson, the widow of Swedish crime writing phenomenon Stieg Larsson speaks about his life, his writing and his legacy. Gabrielsson is joined by ABC Melbourne’s Jon Faine.Eva, an architect…
As part of the 2011 Melbourne Writers Festival, a two-day conference called ‘New News’ was held at the Wheeler Centre last weekend. The keynote speaker was Jay Rosen, who chairs the journalism…
Iconic Australian literature doesn’t come much more iconic than For the Term of His Natural Life, the quintessential convict tale. We remember its author: journalist, poet and novelist Marcus…
One of the world’s largest and most powerful media dynasties threatens to unravel after a scandal that has veered from high to low drama and back again. Join a panel of leading media commentators…
One of the world’s largest and most powerful media dynasties threatens to unravel after a scandal that has veered from high to low drama and back again. The scandal may well permanently reshape the m…
When News International announced that the disgraced News of the World would be printing its final edition last Sunday, they sent in two senior editors. Their brief was simple: scour every last line …
Obviously we’ve all heard that it’s end of days for old school print media, but where does that leave journalists?Each month at the Wheeler Centre, two writers discuss the points of difference and…
By now we’ve all heard the end-of-days lament for old-school print media, but where does that leave journalists? Mary Delahunty and Jane Sullivan explore the relationships between their past and…
“The two key rules that now govern the practice of Australian politics are: (1) look like you’re doing something; and (2) don’t offend anyone who matters.”In 2010, one of the Wheeler Centre’s most…
Without exception, the biggest news story to close out 2010 was the rise and rise of WikiLeaks. As cable after cable appeared in the world’s newspapers, and the governments of the globe dissembled…
Murong Xuecun is a leading independent writer living in China. He won the 2010 People’s Literature Prize for his most recent book The Missing Ingredient but was not allowed to deliver a speech at…
The twitosphere is abuzz about the sale of the Huffington Post news website to America Online, or AOL. AOL was of course one of the world’s biggest companies when it bought Time Warner at inflated…
If you’ve been looking at the newspaper and thinking you could do a better job then Schmedlines could prove to be the perfect distraction.The idea is simple: get a real news story with a weak…
Coming from his final 7:30 Report, Kerry O'Brien has been honoured at last night’s Walkley Awards. O'Brien was awarded the Walkley for journalistic leadership as well as the prize for best interview …
Yesterday ABC Managing Director Mark Scott gave a keynote address extolling the virtues of Twitter as journalism tool and arguing against paywalls.“Lock yourself away – out of the conversation, out o…
US-based magazine Cooks Source has reproduced an article by Monica Gaudio without her permission, according to the blog How Publishing Really Works.Gaudio was informed by a friend that her 2005…
Click to see the full video “As an online journalist, pressing the publish button is just the start,” Sophie Black told us on the Lunchbox/Soapbox as she…
Crikey editor Sophie Black Dwarf’s penis gets stuck to vacuum cleanerThat was the headline that made me hate the internet.Were you one of thousands of readers that clicked …
News got cheap on the internet – some would say free, but not Crikey editor Sophie Black. In this Lunchbox/Soapbox she doesn’t shy away from the worst of the web but looks to those moments when…
The 24 hour news cycle and the rise of online journalism has many critics. Sophie Black defends the role of the web in telling us about current affairs and the issues of the day.Lunchbox/Soapbox is …
Anna Krien, author of In the Woods, audits the deathbed health of our newspapers, lobbying for a diagnosis that doesn’t shy away from tough love.Krien critiques assumptions about the veracity and…
Hot on the heels of the most bemusing Federal election in history, this very special post-election edition of Lunchbox/Soapbox features veteran of the Canberra press gallery George Megalogenis…
Blogger Fatima Malik Mark Latham reporting for 60 minutes is an attempt to bring American-style shock jock journalism to Australia which is more obsessed with personality…
Paul Keating never left anyone wondering about the real Prime Minister and he shared his opinions on privacy laws at a Melbourne University last night.Lateline reported that Keating’s serve on the…
New Matilda announced today it will stop publishing after 25th of June. The online magazine has been creating content since 2004 and has built the careers of writers including satirist Ben Pobje and …
One of Australia’s most experienced female journalists, re-tells her experiences of reporting from boxing to Russian politics.
From Pacific Solution to Oceanic Viking: in a special Overland event, legendary journalist and raconteur Mungo MacCallum discusses what we might expect from Labor on refugees.
Who better than historians to uncover the true identity of the city?SBS-TV’s Sam Pang chair’s this backward-looking dig into Melbourne’s past with panel members Robyn Annear, Peter McPhee, Jane…
George Megalogenis discusses the Kevin Rudd Performance Index, arguing that perhaps, “if the prime minister said less, we’d remember more.”Megalogenis asks how well are citizens really well served…
Meanjin editor Sophie Cunningham guides the opening event in this series, exploring what reading might be like in fifteen years time.Joining the discussion are Sherman Young, academic and author of…
Journalist Mark Danner talks to the ABC’s Fran Kelly about reporting and writing on foreign affairs, politics and war for over 25 years.
A panel of top journalists and ethical thinkers, including Paul Chadwick, Mark Danner, Gay Alcorn and Tony Coady, under the guidance of former Age editor and CAJ director Michael Gawenda, tease out t…
