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Is it time for more Media Watch?

In 1989 we had Media Watch for 15 minutes. In 2011 we still have 15 minutes in a 24/7 news cycle. It's time to double the dose.

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“We’ll be back on your screens in February,” Media Watch‘s Jonathan Holmes said last night. “Until then, keep well.”

But wait?

Who’s going to watch the media for the next three months, Jonathan?

We’ve got a Media Inquiry; a Convergence Review; a tender for the Australia Network that’s just been thrown out the window; the ACCC is investigating the Austar takeover; there are claims of networks making deals with a boy in Bali; investigations into pokies comments during the NRL; paywalls going up; the ABC backing out of miniseries funding; branded entertainment invading primetime; the government is crying foul over a news outlet’s agenda; Actor’s Equity is protesting government plans to allow more foreign actors here; The Australian hates the ABC; SBS is crying poor, Kim Kardashian is everywhere; Eddie is everywhere; Weekend Sunrise goes to blackout, everyone has an ‘Exclusive’ on A Current Affair and Today Tonight -and dear God, Kyle and Jackie O. are coming back to the box.

Won’t somebody think of the children?

I think Media Watch does a great job: fearlessly ‘righting’ wrongs, including on your ABC, and asking questions that others won’t.

Every week I tune in to see Jonathan Holmes straddle a line between defender of the public and smug English teacher. He’s a pretty perfect mix of information and entertainment, and sometimes he’s even downright cool (PWNED! being a great example).

But we have so much media hitting us everyday that the 15 minutes they have had since 1989 now falls short of the brief.

It’s too brief, Auntie.

Media is on our television, newspapers, radios, it’s on our desktops, mobile phones and iPads. We are simultaneously bombarded, entertained, informed, opinionated and confused. We are no longer content to be spoon-fed like we were in 1989. Media Watch, Frontline and the internet changed all that.

Each week the show is lucky to tackle three topics. Between television, radio, print and online that leaves a lot of material on the cutting room floor.

There just isn’t time to interview any of the key decision makers as Holmes has previously done with Mark Scott (ABC), Chris Mitchell (News Ltd) and Greg Hywood (Fairfax).

Since The Hamster Wheel has come along it’s pretty clear there is plenty of extra content to address, albeit with a comedic punchline.

ABC has an entire channel devoted to News so surely there is room to create a long-form version of the show that delves deeper into some of the week’s issues? And yes, I realise ABC News 24 has come in for a hiding from Holmes.

Even SKY Business has a half hour weekly show, MediaWeek, and while it doesn’t take the tone of ‘watchdog’, it’s never short of topics to discuss and guests to feature.

Here’s just a few topics that could have been tackled recently in a longer form show:
– WIN TV screens Sydney’s Nine News into Victoria
– Govt puts TV licence review on hold
– ACMA survey says we prefer overseas dramas
– Screen Australia survey says we prefer local content
– Coding a one hour show as two shows to get ‘higher ratings’
– Should digital channels have local content quotas?
– OzTAM plays hard on publishing of ratings data
– Analysis of Screen Australia’s 2010-11 Drama Report
– Has SBS paid too much for the World Cup rights?
– Sunday Night says 15,000 people die in a Mexican city every year -was it one “0” too many?
– Seven stops Packed to the Rafters mid-season again
– Why didn’t ABC give Margaret & David a full hour to celebrate 25 Years?
– Ita Buttrose’s ex suing ABC over Paper Giants portrayal
– Today screens old Beyonce footage after misleading publicity.

And that’s just for Television.

If we add Radio, Print and Online there’s a mountain of material that just doesn’t make it to air.

I want better of my Media Watch because I sure don’t feel I’m getting it from the official media watchdog, ACMA.

It’s time to respond to the 24/7 news cycle with a bigger platform and ABC News 24 is the place to do it.

55 Responses

  3. @DavidO “From what I’ve heard, they have a surprisingly small pre-production staff”

    Holmes: “We have six well-paid journalists working on 2000 words a week. We have three full-time researchers, a producer, a story editor and executive producer.” (Green Guide, Age, 27 Oct 2011)

    And Holmes left himself out of the list. They could easily do a lot more, a lot longer.

    I would think the Australia Network debacle would keep them busy for most of their ‘working year’ but they’ve hardly touched it. Let alone the other major issues facing the media. Didn’t Doug Cameron (senior Labour faction leader) a few days ago call for the media inquiry to be expanded into to control the Murdoch because they present a “threat to democracy”? No – nothing to see here – move on. Happy holidays Media Watch!

  5. I agree. I had to laugh at all the commercial journalists attacking ABC journalists for being lazy and living off the tax dollar for starting holidays this week, when the reality was they’re all unemployed and have to reapply in January. It’s about saving money. Typical ACA types couldn’t even do some basic research before throwing out accusations. Maybe if they did some proper work throughout the year, they’d deserve a 3 month break too.

  7. There’s definitely enough content to fill 30 minutes but I think the show itself needs a slight revamp. I think they spend too long on some topics – often they’ve said what needs to be said in the first 2 minutes, and the rest seems to be technical filler unnecessary to a wider audience. Perhaps their research staff is not big enough, but the Hamster Wheel guys seem to find a lot more material in the same amount of time each week.
    I also don’t see why they frequently focus on international media (English papers etc) when there’s so much to talk about here in Australia.
    Still, it’s a great, necessary show, and with ACMA being so toothless the threat of public humiliation via Media Watch is about the only thing that keeps the media on its toes.

  10. @Knowfirst- “Limited News”. Love it.
    @tom tom – Commercial television is just that these days – endless commercials. No longer the max. 12 mins/hr. So-called “current affairs” is tabloid trash on constant recycle. Then again, that seems to be the garbage that ACA and TT watchers want. News Limited papers are trash. Made-up stories (Bali boy “deal”, e.g.) and constant government-bashing and concocted “stories” quoting “unamed sources”. No longer “news” papers.

  12. Completely agree. This is something I’ve been thinking of myself.

    They could keep the 15 minute Media Watch on ABC1, but also have a longer programme on News 24 each week. It could include some of the material that could not fit into MediaWatch, a summary of the news in the media for the week, and an interview or two with leading media figures. It would cost the ABC very little to produce as they already have all the people necessary gathering far more news than they have time to cover for MediaWatch.

  13. I think Media Watch is one of the best shows on the box. I never miss an episode. While I would love to see MW become a 30 minute show, I don’t see it happening. From what I’ve heard, they have a surprisingly small pre-production staff (including researchers etc) and reading Jonathan Holmes’ tweets reveals how he spends days putting together the script each week.

    If the ABC gave MW a serious budget increase, they could probably go to 30 minutes a week, otherwise we’ll just have to be satisfied with 15.

  14. Media Watch is must watch for me and yes I think it should be at least half an hour. They could then allocate 10 minutes each week to covering the radio, TV and the print media.

  16. Would love to have the airtime doubled, but let’s not forget the enormous amount of work that goes into the behind-the-scenes production – procuring of clips, letter-writing and responding, legal involvement and, not forgetting, the post-production of those wonderfully banal voiceovers! I agree David, that ACMA is beyond weak (almost useless). May Media Watch’s good work continue evermore.

  21. Disagree. I think they struggle for content most nights. And from reading Holmes’ tweets, I’m getting annoyed by the pattern he’s showing against News Ltd and commercial television.
    The show is sometimes good but often not, and at times it looks like the ABC has simply set itself up a little editorial program where it can preach what it believes is right and wrong.

  23. i completely agree! the show needs to be 30 mins long each week – and it needs to be on at least 10 full months. not 9. but i would keep it on ABC1 – it will get a larger audience than on News24…and it deserves a large audience.

  24. Absolutely totally agree. A weekly ongoing long-form version is required in such a busy, volatile media environment. Perfect for ABC News 24.
    It’s still only early November. Why are ABC1’s Monday night shows finishing already? To give us more Christmas shopping time?

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