The dismissal of old media??
On the 9th and 10th of November, I had the great honour of being on a panel at this years ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) Broadcasting Conference which was held in the Australian capital, Canberra.
ACMA (a federal authority) was recently formed on 1 July 2005 by the merging of the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) and Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) and is responsible for the regulation of broadcasting, radiocommunications, telecommunications and online content in Australia.
To be asked to speak on a three person panel on the topics of podcasting and blogging in front of some of the most senior decision makers in the Australian media sphere from both the government and a number of public and private broadcasting organisations was a great opportunity to spread the word about podcasting and blogging…two of the biggest technologies that are re-shaping the traditional media world.
What surprised me about the whole conference was how many people knew about podcasting (and The Podcast Network) and also how many times in was mentioned in other sessions/panels…it was even mentioned in the opening keynote which was given by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan.
Over the two day conference I had a constant stream of people who came up to me and wanted to know more about podcasting and TPN…the interest was amazing. A number of people also came up after the panel I was on and congratulated me on TPN and our success in developing one of the worlds best podcasting organisations out of Australia.
The details of the panel i spoke on were as follows:
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Blogging, podcasting and searching are elements of the ‘many-to-many’ communication revolution. How big is the revolution and what are the effects? Will take audiences and advertising revenues from existing media, or are they expanding the pie? Do bloggers and podcasters change the landscape so much that existing rules (content regulation, ownership limits) no longer make sense? Can the new participants be regulated? If so, should they be regulated?
With Trevor Cook, Director Jackson Wllls Morris, John Battle, Head of Compliance, ITN, Senior Fellow, CMCL, University of Melbourne, and Mick Stanic, Co-founder of The Podcast Network
The regulation of news and current affairs in a ‘distributed’ media environment
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The panel ended up being a big discussion between Trevor, John, the audience and myself on primarily podcasting, TPN and the regulatory issues that podcasting and blogging may face in the future. There was a video camera pointed at the stage (and the red couch we sat on) so hopefully i can source the footage and link to it.
I have to thank Trevor Cook for inviting me onto the panel and Michael Gordon-Smith (one of the organisers) for having faith that a little old geek, blogger and podcaster like me could say something that would interest the Australian media and broadcasting elite.
I was a bit worried about how interesting the whole conference was going to be considering it was aimed at the “old media world”, but it surprised me how fascinating the two days were…hopefully i will get invited back next year and be able to update them on how the whole “new media world” is going.
But…today, its the 11th of November, the day after the event and I am kicking myself on a missed opportunity…it’s the 30th anniversary of the Whitlam Government dismissal. Before i explain why i am kicking myself…here is a bit of background on the dismissal for thse non-Australians out there.
The dismissal was the most dramatic event in the history of the Australian federation. For the first time, an unelected vice-regal representative had removed from office a government which commanded a majority in the House of Representatives.
On Tuesday November 11th, 1975, the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Mr Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister and appointed Mr Malcolm Fraser as a caretaker Prime Minister.
Having had an interest in the dismissal and being a fan of Gough Whitlam for a long time, i missed a great opportunity to use a modified version of the famous quote (Real Video version and Real Audio version) that he used on the steps of Parliament House shortly after he was dismissed…“Well may we say god save the Queen…because nothing wil save the Governer-General”
My version would have been something like - “Well may we say god save TV…because nothing will save Radio” ;)