Fourth Estate

According to a study by the International Journal of Press/Politics, male political journalists based in Washington DC only reply 8.5 per cent of the time to female political journalists. Why is it that female journalists are less influential on Twitter than men in Washington DC and does this relate to a bigger picture here in Australia? Plus, we discuss the Sarah Huckabee Sanders fine-dining deba...

This edition of Fourth Estate looks at if the ABC will and should be sold, was Michelle Guthrie's speech enough to change the political narrative on the ABC. We also look at the state of digital media in Australia and is the media to blame for the poor relations between Australia and China. To discuss all this we have our host Peter Fray speaking with Quentin Dempster (New Daily) , Sarah Vogler (C...

This edition of Fourth Estate looks at suggested changes to defamation law including should our corporations being allowed to sue. We also look at trust and the media and Bill Shorten promises to restore ABC funding. To discuss all this we have our host Anthony Dockrill talking to Dana McCauley (The Australian), Olivia Willis (ABC) and Rachel Eddie (The New Daily). Learn more about your ad choices...

This edition of the Fourth Estate looks at the ABC and the Government in a tangle over the 6th complaint in 5 months. China gives the cold shoulder to our journalists. Foreign Espionage bill may be getting closer to coming into law so what does this mean for Australian journalists. Barnaby Joyce's much hyped paid interview fails to set the ratings on fire. To discuss all this we have our host Pete...

This edition of Fourth Estate looks at Barnaby Joyce's paid interview on Ch7, Facebook blocking the Cancer Council from taking out ads for bowel cancer, Roseanne Barr blowing up on twitter and how the Logies my have got it wrong on Don Burke. To discuss all this host Anthony Dockrill was joined by Gina Rushton (Buzzfeed), Emily Watkins (Crikey) and Michael Owen (The Australian). Learn more about y...

This episode is all about some of the Australian media's favourite targets: China, the banks and journalists. To discuss the current trends in how the media is talking about our foreign relationships, the banking royal commission and more, host Peter Fray was joined by Emma Alberici (ABC), Chris Kenny (Australian) and Ben Eltham (New Matilda). This episode was produced by Ninah Kopel in the studio...

Described as the worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996, murders in Margaret River have dominated this weeks’ media. So did journalists do the story justice, or overstep the mark? Plus Facebook shut down around one billion fake accounts in six months. But has it won back any support for the social media platform? And the Royal wedding is around the corner. But do we care? To di...

Debi Cornwall calls herself a conceptual documentary artist, and has come to Australia to share her collection ‘ Welcome to Camp America: Inside Guantánamo Bay’ at Head On Photo Festival. Her work takes you inside the U.S. Naval Station in Guantánamo Bay, revealing a side of life on Gitmo you may not have seen before. But when the line between art and real life is blurred, how much can we learn th...

The 2018 budget will bring $84 million worth of cuts to the ABC over three years. So is this a big deal for the national broadcaster? Plus the  draft law that could see Australian journalists locked up for 20 years, just for doing their job.  And the sex column in a college paper that ventured into the realm of academic advice and rubbed some people the wrong way.  Andrew Fowler ( Author and ex AB...

The 2018 budget has been released into the world, and brings bad news for the nation’s public broadcaster. The government will freeze indexation of the ABC from July of 2019, which is set to cost the broadcaster $84 million over three years. To understand what this might mean for how the ABC operates, Peter Fray caught up for a coffee with Professor Ed Davis, President of the NSW and ATC committee...

Will Osman Faruqi and the ABC's mysterious new Buzzfeed-style "vertical" spark more inquiries by senate estimates? The story that sparked Fairfax's big Anzac retraction treads the line of misplaced facts and myth-making. And Labor senator Kimberley Kitching may have hitched up some Russian twitterbot followers but exactly whose stalking horses are they? Alex McKinnon (Saturday Paper), Sam Langford...

He won a Pulitzer Prize for his photography of the violence during Charlottesville race protests, but now he works in a brewery. So how can we keep talented people in journalism? Plus Anzac Day has come and gone, but what message did it leave behind? We also look at the abortion story Mamamia got wrong and whether they were right to pull it. All this and more discussed by our panelists Miranda Dev...

Gabriel Sherman is author of the New York Times bestselling biography, 'Loudest Voice in the Room' , about Fox News founder Roger Ailes. He is also a Vanity Fair special correspondent, and previously was national-affairs editor at New York Magazine. He’s heading over to Australia soon for Sydney Writer’s Festival where he will join panels discussing how the news has changed and the Murdoch media e...

A cut and paste incident has lost a Daily Mail journalist their job, but is the C-word a sackable offense? Plus, the South Australian Government is planning a new shield law to help journalists protect their sources. And Greg Hunt tries to reverse the roles of ministers and media. To discuss these issues and more, we were joined by Alex Bruce-Smith (Pedestrian TV) , Paul Wallbank (Mumbrella) and S...

The Cambridge Analytica saga continues as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faces the US congress. But is it too late to say sorry? Plus ABC boss Michelle Guthrie fronts Senate Estimates again and in the spirit of Zuckerberg, takes the blame for the corporation’s recent editorial mistakes. We also discuss the two journalists awaiting a formal hearing in a Myanmar prison. And MPs in Lycra: is the media...

This is an extended version of a discussion with Libby Hogan, a multimedia journalist on the ground in Myanmar. With host Ninah Kopel, she discusses the dangers of hate speech on social media and what needs to be done to address it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stories are emerging about the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar last year, and Facebook’s role in facilitating the spread of hate speech. Should the platform be doing more to intervene? Plus, we discuss the question that hijacked cricketer Steve Smith’s press conference. And the Nine network has lost their Commonwealth Games accreditation, but is the system irrelevant to begin with? To discuss these iss...

Tracey Spicer has launched the Now Australia campaign, which aims to tackle sexual harassment and abuse in Australian workplaces. So what role does the media have to play? Plus, Mark Zuckerberg has responded to the Facebook scandal, promising to do better. Is it too little, too late? Also on the show, the media is buzzing about Malcolm Turnbull’s 29th negative Newspoll. Will number 30 lead to the...

As the world reacts to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, we look at the lessons to be learned from the group’s data mining mistakes and ask if it’s time to get off Facebook. We also discuss the Sunrise segment that had Australia up in arms and Indigenous rights groups accusing the show of racism. Plus we look at the cake that didn’t sit so well with ABC Audience & Consumer Affairs. To discuss these...

The ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, hates journalists and is over the mainstream media. We discuss his hawkish remarks and consider whether there's any truth in them. Plus we ask if anyone's listening to Miranda Devine's new podcast. And we look at the role of a Gender Editor and talk about whether Australian newsrooms need them. With Misha Ketchell (The Conversation) and Nick O'Malley (Fairfax)....

We're marking International Women's Day with a special interview with Jane Gilmore, founder of The FixedIt project. FixedIt takes a red pen to headlines about violence against women and children to correct those that blame the victims for the violence enacted against them. Jane Gilmore's work shines a light on the way the media's focus on the victims of violence, rather than the perpetrators, sust...

Our panel considers the ACCC's Digital Platforms Inquiry, including the threat of criminal charges if the tech giants don't comply. Plus, did Kylie Jenner really wipe $1 billion off Snapchat's worth? And finally, some good news for a change. We look at a new initiative from the Guardian focusing on solutions to the world's most pressing problems. With Arvind Hickman (AdNews), Rob Stott (Junkee Med...

This week the panel takes a look at the saga of Emma Alberici's story on corporate tax and whether the ABC bowed to the government by taking it down. Plus we discuss what happened when Twitter users impersonated journalists after the Florida high school shooting and how ill-equipped Twitter is to stop the spreading of doctored photos.  Finally, the panel talks about Vice Media in the wake of sever...

The New York Times subscription revenue has hit $1 billion, but will Australian news media ever reach this level of support when 90% of Australians say they are very reluctant to pay for news? Plus we look at the outcome of the Senate inquiry into the future of public interest journalism and consider the pros and cons of delivering news via sms and instant messaging apps. With Sarah Whyte (ABC), C...

Our first show back for 2018 kicks off with a discussion about the ethics of reporting politicians' private lives in the wake of the Barnaby Joyce story. The panel then takes on the government's proposed changes to national security laws and what they mean for journalism and free speech. We rounded out the episode looking at Facebook's latest attempts to fight fake news and the murky market of onl...