Getting it right - in war, law and business

The dramatic developments we’ve seen in the Middle East over the last fortnight have tugged at the already stretched resources of news organisations here in Australia, as well as overseas.  

At the most obvious level, this affects the capacity of our newsrooms to cover breaking stories and analysis of events in the conflict zones and other international locations as well as the emerging impact here in Australia. It also goes to disagreements about the way in which the conflict is covered, with the latest report from the ABC Ombudsman showing that coverage of the Middle East and the Bondi Terror attack featured prominently in a sizable increase in complaints in the second half of last year. And as Media Watch showed this week, the volume and nature of AI-generated mis- and disinformation by and about Iran is extremely concerning.  

In our newsletter this week, guest contributor Florencia Melgar – Editorial Standards Manager at SBS – reminds us of the importance of verification, not just to counter disinformation, but also to raise standards more generally. Florencia describes the developing trend for balance to replace accuracy, “as if unverified claims were factual counterpoints”. I continue this theme by looking at the complications surrounding the latest adjudication from the Australian Press Council and the deluge of commentary from The Australian opposing it. Monica then examines the alarming emergence of news as a loss leader at The New York Times.  

And then there are the topics we’re not covering this week. Given the explosion of commentary on Kyle and Jackie O, we’ll wait for news on the aspect that interests us most: what’s happening with ACMA's proposed enforcement action over previous breaches of the commercial radio code. And the observations we promised on an event to celebrate the work of retiring UTS Professor of Law, David Lindsay, will appear in our next newsletter. 

Read the newsletter.