On May 2, someone leaked the first draft of a US Supreme Court decision proposing that the historic ruling in the case Roe v Wade be reversed. Justice Samuel Alito’s draft decision, if adopted, would mean American women no longer had a constitutional right to abortion. The reaction was immediate and frenzied. The overwhelmingly left-liberal Read more
Outgoing Labour MP Clare Curran says she is afraid an MP will kill themselves before the news media takes a serious look at itself. She said political reporting had evolved into a level of commentary that was destructive, and while MPs were reflecting on their own culture, she hoped the media would too. “What is Read more
New Zealand recently launched a government safety campaign that provides content to help parents to protect children from pornography on the Internet. It gained positive attention this month through a video ad about Internet pornography, using their motif of every parent’s worst Internet nightmare knocking on their front door. “What is interesting about the New Read more
The New York Times published a piece last week called “The Data of Hate.” Much of the data came from Stormfront.org, which Times contributor Seth Stephens-Davidowitz called “America’s most popular online hate site.” It was founded in 1995 by former Ku Klux Klan leader Don Black. The frightening thing is that 76 percent of Americans Read more
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ve commented once or twice or 429 times about how the Catholic Church around the world, and in Australia and New Zealand in particular, often fails to adequately communicate the message of Jesus Christ to the faithful, not to mention to non-Catholics. It’s hardly a view Read more
On Thursday the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (EFKS) launched radio and TV outlets in Apia. EFKS media opened with 80 percent coverage of the country. “We hope to have complete coverage in three months,” says Chairman of the General Assembly, Rev. Elder Tautiaga Senara. Both the radio and TV outlets will be under the Read more
In one of the last acts of his pontificate, Benedict XVI gave an address to the clergy of the Diocese of Rome on the Second Vatican Council. In the address he drew a distinction between what he termed the Virtual Council, or Council of the Media, and the Real Council or Council of those who actually produced Read more
As I was looking for a lens through which I could frame a 2012 retrospective editorial, a colleague asked me to recommend a good article on the topic ‘the media and the vulnerable’. Looking at our archive, I discovered this was a constant throughout the year. Still current is the fallout of actions of 2DAY FM employees Read more
Margaret Sullivan now wears the public editor hat at The New York Times and with a recent ombudsman column took on a huge media problem: False balance aka false equivalency. False balance reports are those that appear fair because they have two sides, except that one side reflects neither knowledge nor a right to speak. Reports on Catholicism are especially vulnerable Read more
A man walks into a bar is the opening line of a joke. A man walks into a movie theater is the opening line of a homicide investigation. This is the hottest summer in recorded Colorado history. There are forest fires in the mountains. There is gunfire in the city. On the morning we awoke Read more