Media Watch (TV program)
| Media Watch | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Media analysis |
| Directed by | David Rector |
| Presented by | Paul Barry |
| Theme music composer | Roi Huberman |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Tim Latham |
| Running time | 15 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format |
576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 8 May 1989 – 6 November 2000 8 April 2002 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Media Watch is Australia's most-watched media analysis television program currently presented by Paul Barry for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The program focuses on critiquing the Australian media.
It played a key role in revealing the unethical behaviour of radio talkback hosts, which became known as the "cash for comment affair" and was the subject of an investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Authority.
Media Watch is a 15-minute program which identifies, investigates and examines instances of what the program determines to be failings in news coverage by Australian media outlets. The series features a single host speaking directly to camera, detailing a mix of amusing or embarrassing editing gaffes (such as miscaptioned photographs or spelling errors) as well as more serious criticism including media bias and breaches of journalistic ethics and standards. Over the years, the emphasis has shifted towards the latter.
Although most episodes of Media Watch focus on any recent incidents of media misconduct, episodes sometimes focus on a single issue of particular importance (for instance, media coverage of a recent election).
Stuart Littlemore was the inaugural host of Media Watch and remains the longest-running host to date. Following his nine-year tenure, various other journalists have hosted the program. Paul Barry, who previously hosted the program in 2000 and for a brief period in 2010, resumed hosting duties in 2013.
In 1999, the program revealed that influential talkback radio hosts Alan Jones and John Laws had been paid to provide favourable on-air comment about companies such as Qantas, Optus, Foxtel and Mirvac, without disclosing these arrangements to listeners. It also persistently criticised the then Australian Broadcasting Authority (superseded by the Australian Communications and Media Authority in 2005) as impotent or unwilling to regulate broadcast media, and to properly scrutinise figures such as Jones and Laws. The revelations won Media Watch staffers Richard Ackland, Deborah Richards and Anne Connolly two Walkley Awards: the Gold Walkley, and the Walkley for TV Current Affairs Reporting (Less Than 10 Minutes). In 2004, Media Watch played a major part in forcing the resignation of ABA head David Flint, after it was discovered that Flint had sent Jones admiring and effusive letters at a time when the ABA was investigating Jones concerning further cash for comment allegations. The reports won Media Watch another Walkley, TV Current Affairs Reporting (Less Than 20 Minutes) to staffers David Marr, Peter McEvoy and Sally Virgoe.
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