Fourth Estate

As the year draws to a close, Fourth Estate indulges in the requisite navel gazing, with a review of 2017's top stories. Sit back, pour yourself a stiff drink and enjoy. Hosted by Olivia Rosenman and Jason L'Ecuyer. Music by Broke For Free, Poddington Bear, and Dlay.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We speak to the team behind El Chigüire Bipolar - or the Bipolar Capybara - about their satirical news website that won this year's Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. The site uses humour to comment on Venezuela’s current political and economic turmoil, and to promote real and independent news that won’t be found in the country’s state-owned media. With Elio Casale (Founder) and Jesus Roldan...

We take a fine-toothed comb over the biggest restructure in the ABC's history and consider whether the digital news media industry is teetering on the edge of collapse. With Emily Watkins (Crikey), Ketan Joshi (CSIRO Data 61) and Karl Quinn (Fairfax). Hosted by Olivia Rosenman.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Waleed Aly on about the Australian media's diversity problem and the democratic deficit when media excludes a large portion of the society its supposed to serve. Aly spoke at the official launch of Media Diversity Australia, an organisation for a media that looks and sounds like Australia.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to be human in the digital era? And to be Australian?  We spoke to the 2017 Boyer Lecturer, Professor Genevieve Bell, about how we live in world ruled by data and algorithms. We asked if there are any technological solutions to fake news (there are!) and if being Australian in this globalised, online world even matters. Bell is one of the world's top technologists and the head of...

The government’s media reform bill finally passed the Senate on September 14, after months of negotiations with cross bench senators. Communications minister Mitch Fifield says the reform will strengthen Australia’s media industry and secure local journalism jobs. But not everyone is convinced. And what about Facebook and Google?  We sat down to discuss it with Ben Eltham (New Matilda), Margaret S...

We sat down with two important personalities in the Australian podcasting world - Michael Mason,  ABC Director of Radio, and Rob Loewenthal the founder of the podcasting platform Whooshkaa. The ABC has a new $1 million fund just for podcasts and Whooshkaa is working on new technologies including personalised podcasts. Hosted by Olivia Rosenman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/...

Jenn White, host of the recent podcast Making Oprah and anchor on WBEZ Chicago, stopped by the 2SER studio to talk podcasts, public media and the future of on-demand audio. Hosted by Olivia Rosenman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Broadcast from the Walkley's 2017 Storyology conference, host Olivia Rosenman spoke with a panel of four of the world's top investigative journalists about how they decide which topics to pursue and whether the end always has to justify the means in an era where resources are tight and investigative reporting is expensive. With Aaron Glantz, senior reporter with Reveal from the US Center for Inves...

Andrew Quilty has covered Afghanistan since late 2013, when he arrived to work as a photojournalist just as NATO troops were beginning to withdraw.  In the four years since, he has captured the ongoing conflict there with stunning photography that documents the trauma of a 40 year war and the impact of extremist groups and foreign forces in the country. His work won him the 2016 Gold Walkley for E...

At the beginning of this week legendary Football commentator and journalist Les Murray passed away, this episode of Fourth Estate is dedicated to him. Myles Houlbrook-Walk spoke to Tracey Holmes and Andy Paschalidis, two of his colleagues and venerable journalists in their own right, about the man and the legacy that he leaves behind. He will be sorely missed by a nation now enamored by the game h...

Miles Herbert sat down with American academic and journalist Jeff Jarvis from Buzzmachine and the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism as well as Derek Wilding, the Co-Director of the Centre for Media Transition from the University of Technology Sydney ahead of the Centre's launch earlier this week.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Olivia Rosenman speaks to Michael Jensen, one of the authors of the 2017 Digital News Report about gender and news. This year is the first time the report has examined how gender effects the way we engage with news, including where we consume news, what news we consume, and the reasons that we avoid news. Olivia and Michael discuss the findings in the report, including some surprising results...

Sky News' late night line up is filled with hard right commentators and some people are worried that the network is moving towards coverage like Murdoch's US news network - Fox. Plus we discuss the recent changes to the Walkley Awards and ask if the foundation is still relevant. And we consider a new TV show called Common Sense and ask if it should be prescribed viewing for all pollies and journos...

Nick Enfield is a professor of linguistics at the University of Sydney, and head researcher at the Post Truth Initiative. Enfield has gathered a team of researchers including data scientists and software developers to create a 'bullsh*t detector' hoping to stop the spread of fake news, lies, and propaganda. Miles Herbert sat down with Nick to discuss how we should navigate this current political c...

John Eligon is the New York Times race reporter based in Kansas City, Missouri. Host Olivia Rosenman spoke to Eligon about his collaboration with ABC Foreign Correspondent, Through American Eyes, that aims to get an outsider take on race relations Australia. Eligon's impressions and observations from his trip around the country, from Sydney to Kununurra, Brisbane to Murray Island, make for thought...

How did Red Symons and Mia Freedman make such a mess and was the response overblown or fully justified? Plus we examine the government's proposed media reform package that's stuck in the Senate and ask if it will save Channel Ten. And finally we take a look at the NYT Australia article that ruffled some feathers in the world of arts and culture. With Arvind Hickman (AdNews Australia), Isabel Lo (M...

Controversy abounds this weeks as a scientific study on endometriosis prompted outrage in the media and online. But was it justified? Plus we examine the latest appointment to the Australian Press Council - Carla McGrath - and the response in News Corp Press. Finally, we look at conversations about male privilege in the media and an upcoming debate on Triple J's Hack asking if it even exists. With...

In the last of our Sydney Writers Festival specials, we spoke USA National Public Radio Shanghai Correspondent Rob Schmitz. Host Olivia Rosenman met with Rob Schmitz to discuss how to report on China's economy when the country's leading politicians admit GDP figures are mostly 'man-made' and why Rob has higher hopes for Chinese millennials than American. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

Mikhail Zygar is a veteran Russian journalist and the author of a new book that gives unprecedented insight into the inner workings of the Russian government. Host and Executive Producer Olivia Rosenman spoke to Mikhail Zygar while he was in Sydney for the Writers Festival about what it's like to be a journalist in Russia and if there's any hope of restoring a functioning political system. Learn m...

In another of our Sydney Writers Festival special podcast extras, producer Jessica Smalley spoke with Desi Anwar, Indonesian columnist, senior anchor, journalist and the host of Insight with Desi Anwar on CNN Indonesia. Jessica and Desi spoke about communicating Indonesia to the western world, political correctness and reporting across two languages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...

This week on Fourth Estate, Mariam Cheik-Hussein spoke to Sebastian Mallaby from London about how the media should report economics, how journalists can fairly criticise the Trump presidency without feeding into his supporters belief that the system is against them, and more. Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul Volcker Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Wa...

This week on Fourth Estate, Olivia Rosenman spoke to veteran journalist Tracey Spicer about her new book, The Good Girl Stripped Bare. The book chronicles Spicer's experience of sexism and misogyny in the media industry, which culminated with her being fired, via email, two months after the birth of her second child. She had worked for Channel Ten for 14 years. Fourth Estate is produced by 2SER 10...

This week on Fourth Estate, producer Jessica Smalley sat down for an in-depth chat with Ky Chow, ABC Journalist and Communications Director for Media Diversity Australia, to discuss why an organisation that promotes diversity in Australian Media is still needed in 2017. Fourth Estate is produced by 2SER 107.3 radio in Sydney and is broadcast across the Community Radio Network in Australia. Learn m...

Listen in to this special podcast extra with three Fairfax journalists who are on strike following Wednesday's announcement of the cutting of 125 editorial jobs. With Lucy Cormack, Han Nguyen and Eryk Bagshaw. Hosted by Olivia Rosenman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices