Jason Whittaker
Fielding inept, no matter spelling
Steve Fielding is an incompetent legislator, blinded by personal prejudice and laughably ignorant of some of the very weighty issues he must sit in judgement of. But of course, criticism of the man who puts Family First is never taken as read. It leads to my all-time favourite excuse for political ineptitude – that of elitism. To knock Fielding, the argument goes, is to dismiss the contribution of those not blessed with tremendous intellect or afforded higher education. Merely bullying from the nasty latte-sipping intellectuals who think they’re better than everyone else.
For true Grace, mags still rule
An exhausting number of words have been written on the future of journalism in a digital age, but little has been made of what sort of future art and design has in the seemingly inevitable online convergence. The wonderful new documentary The September Issue brings into sharp focus the real art of magazine production in danger of being lost.
A social cost to our choking cities
There is a significant economic and social cost in traffic congestion. A lack of planning, and more importantly, a lack of long-term vision, is condemning our rapidly-growing population centres to the same choking fate as many in Asia. What do we want our cities to look like in a decade?
Forget marriage, it’s in the vows
Like many political debates, the outcome is less important than the debate itself. And like debates on all the other progressive issues in society, the ones that so rile and consume conservatives, the issue of gay marriage once again got hijacked. The words used in the debate – and the words that weren’t used – were much more hurtful.
How Bartlet made me an idealist
The juxtaposition between the fictional White House of The West Wing and the real-life geopolitical events played out on the news stoked a burning cynicism of the political process. More than that, it planted the seed of romantic idealism of how the world should work that continues to nag me every day.
A symbolic step means so much
Today we celebrate another ‘birthday’ of our reigning monarch. The old biddy turned 83 in April, in fact, but generously gives us a June holiday each year. It is an annual reminder of the really big symbol the country has been on the verge of adopting for over a decade yet can’t quite make happen. It is a symbol, yes; tangibly immeasurable in its impact like most. But it is a symbol so brilliantly bright as to potentially embrace all Australians under one flag like nothing before.
Punch no knockout for journalism
The Punch – News Limited’s brave foray into stand-alone online publications – will “celebrate journalism”, according to its mouthpiece David Penberthy. And it does all this, remarkably, without actually doing any journalism itself. Well, thanks for the invite, but I don’t feel the sense of celebration.
MY10: Songs that make me sing
I love lists. I like reading them; I like comparing them; I like compiling them. I recognise they’re entirely silly and offer no real use to anyone, but I love them all the same. And music is, as Julie Andrews would sing, a very good place to start. Here, in particular order, are the ten songs that make me sing.
Precious PR and how it can harm
The remarkable thing about marketing people I’ve found in five years of business journalism is so many of them are amazingly ignorant of just how news media works. And even if they aren’t, they believe their position affords them the right to demand journalists say and do things in the interests of their brands. I find the attitude completely extraordinary.
Google should search for fix, too
I am loath to support anything Rupert Murdoch says or does. His contribution to journalism as it stands is hardly impressive. But he’s right for questioning Google and its legally-questionable, commercially-shortsighted rip-and-read model of news delivery.
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