A University of Melbourne debate next week addresses the question of what should follow the political fiasco of the Australian government’s apparently abandoned media reform bills.
Director of the university’s Centre for Advancing Journalism Margaret Simons will moderate a panel debate on April 10. Participants are Julian Disney, chairman of the Australian Press Council, and Jonathan Holmes, presenter of ABC TV’s Media Watch programme.
A flyer poses some of the questions to be addressed: “Depending on who you talk to, either a major threat to freedom of speech has been averted, or real problems in the way journalists do their work remain largely unaddressed.
“Meanwhile two major government inquiries have been held into media regulation. Was it all a waste of time? And what happens now?
“Will attempts to reform the Australian Press Council continue, or will the country's major media publishers backslide now the pressure is off?”
The panel debate – at 6.30 pm on Wednesday, April 10 – is organised by the university’s Centre for Advanced Journalism. Venue is Theatre A of the Elisabeth Murdoch Building, The University of Melbourne in Parkville.
Admission is free, but organisers say bookings are essential.
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