October 4th 2006

How much can we trust what we see, hear or read in Australia? Daily we are bombarded with sensational news reports, editorial commentary and highly edited imagery that we are told is an accurate and truthful portrayal of events. But who is watching the self-styled media watch dogs and what forces are at work that determine what is presented as the truth?

This free public lecture examines how far the news and current affairs industry had come in shaping our attitudes, fuelling our fears and guiding our politics. It will also question the future of our traditional news media in an age of alternative new media, a shrinking world and growing conflict.

Peter Manning
Peter Manning joined UTS in 2001 as an adjunct professor after a distinguished 30-year career in Australian journalism. He has been Seven Television Network Head of Current Affairs. During the 1980s Peter was Executive Producer of ABC Four Corners. In 2004 he became a senior lecturer in journalism in the UTS Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He has just published his latest book Us and Them which reveals the negative and unbalanced portrayal of Arabs by Australian new media.

Resources

• talk
• flyer (PDF 52k)
• audio recording (MP3 25MB)

UTSPEAKS: is a free public lecture series presented by UTS experts discussing a range of important issues confronting contemporary Australia