Media Files is produced by a team of journalist/academics who have spent decades working in and reporting on the media industry.
They’re passionate about sharing their understanding of the media landscape, especially how media policy, commercial manoeuvres and digital disruption are affecting the kinds of media and journalism we consume. The media is evolving rapidly, as new platforms and trends come and go. As old media empires collapse, new ones are forming. But the need to protect diversity, public interest journalism and public broadcasting has, arguably, never been greater.
Catch Media Files each month for discussion about the key issues and ideas facing this vital industry.
Internet sabbaths and surveillance capitalism in the COVID-19 era: William Powers on what’s changed since Hamlet’s Blackberry
Journalist and author William Powers talks with Media Files about taking an internet sabbath, how the media covers tech and what's changed since his book Hamlet’s Blackberry was first published.
26 Aug 2020
‘Suck it and see’ or face a digital tax, former ACCC boss Allan Fels warns Google and Facebook
Tech giants don't like Australia's plan to force Google and Facebook to pay for news, to fund public interest journalism. But the government may well respond with a digital tax, says Allan Fels.
11 Nov 2019
Media Files: Media companies are mad as hell at tech giants and don’t want to take it anymore. But what choice do they have?
No wonder that, according to a new international survey, media companies are increasingly unhappy with their lot. In this episode we hear from the survey's author, Robert Whitehead.
19 Sept 2019
Media Files: investigative journalist Bastian Obermayer, who led the Panama Papers tax exposé
Today we meet Bastian Obermayer, the Pulitizer prize-winning journalist who led the Panama Papers investigation into global tax evasion.
6 Aug 2019
Media Files: ACCC seeks to clip wings of tech giants like Facebook and Google but international effort is required
In Dickens' era, international copyright law developed from a worldwide effort to deal with a global problem. Is it time to tackle tech giants the same way? A journalist and a media owner explain.
4 Jul 2019
Media Files: Washington Post weather editor Jason Samenow on how weather coverage is evolving – and building audience growth
The Washington Post's weather editor explains how digital media changed the way we connect to the weather, and why it's wrong for weather editors to leave climate change out of the discussion.
20 Jun 2019
Media Files: Australians’ trust in news media is falling as concern over ‘fake news’ grows
A recent survey found Australian news consumers are the 'lightest' news consumers out of 38 countries, use fewer sources to access news and are more likely to subscribe to Netflix than news.
4 Jun 2019
Media Files: Investigative reporter Louise Milligan on Cardinal Pell and redactions in the Royal Commission’s report
When the royal commission handed down its massive report in late 2017, several sections were redacted until after any legal proceedings against Cardinal Pell were concluded.
13 May 2019
Media Files: Facebook’s Mia Garlick on #Ausvotes2019 and how Australian MPs use social media
Today's Media Files podcast examines the role of social media in election campaigns, including the spread of 'fake news' and foreign political interference.
23 Apr 2019
Media Files: Investigative journalist Adele Ferguson on the ‘disappointing’ banking royal commission and how she works with whistleblowers
Today on Media Files, it's journalism versus the big banks. We're hearing from Adele Ferguson, the celebrated journalist who many credit as the driving force behind the banking royal commission.
21 Mar 2019
PODCAST: Pell trial reporters, a judge and a media lawyer on why the suppression order debate is far from over
On the day George Pell was sentenced, several experts with wide-ranging experiences of suppression orders discussed how they affect the public’s right to know and whether the laws should be reformed.
6 Dec 2018
Media Files: Covering Trump, funding news and the rise of impunity. The Guardian’s Kath Viner on the big media stories of 2018
In conversation with Andrew Dodd, Andrea Carson and Matthew Ricketson, The Guardian's editor-in-chief discusses the big stories of 2018 and what she sees as the major challenges of 2019.
1 Nov 2018
Media Files: What does the future newsroom look like?
We often hear about media companies shedding staff and revenues, but is there hope? We ask the man with a mission to launch 100 media start-ups in three years: what does the future newsroom look like?
10 Oct 2018
Media Files: Guardian Australia’s Katharine Murphy and former MP David Feeney on the digital disruption of media and politics
Today on the podcast we're talking filter bubbles, fake news, opinion vs fact. Media Files asks two experts how the media and politics influence each other - and why that's causing concern.
24 Sept 2018
Media Files: ABC boss Michelle Guthrie sacked, but the board won’t say why
ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie was sacked today, despite being less than halfway through her five-year term. The major question is: why? Today on the podcast, we explore the possibilities.
19 Sept 2018
Media Files: On the Serena Williams cartoon – and how the UK phone hacking scandal led to a media crackdown in South Africa
The news of Mark Knight's Serena Williams cartoon broke while we were at a conference in South Africa. We showed it to some local academics to gauge their reactions. And journalist and researcher Glenda Daniels explains how the African National Congress government reacted to the UK phone hacking scandal.
5 Sept 2018
Media Files: Spotlight’s Walter V. Robinson and the Newcastle Herald’s Chad Watson on covering clergy abuse - and the threats that followed
In this episode, we hear from Walter V. Robinson on how the Boston Globe Spotlight investigation into clergy abuse began, and from the Newcastle Herald's Chad Watson on how his paper covered abuse.
31 Aug 2018
Media Files: What does the Nine Fairfax merger mean for diversity and quality journalism?
Eric Beecher of Private Media, Stephen Mayne of the Mayne Report and ABC finance presenter Alan Kohler join Andrew Dodd and Andrea Carson to discuss what the Nine Fairfax merger means for quality journalism.
24 Aug 2018
Media Files: a new podcast from The Conversation
Media Files is a new monthly podcast, featuring discussion between media researchers, experts and working journalists on the big issues in the media landscape today.
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