[csaa-forum] Douglas Kirsner @ Monash, 14.7, talking about the ABC

[Dimitris Vardoulakis]

The next speaker at the Communications and Media Studies research 
seminar series will be professor Douglas Kirsner (Deakin University)

*Bias and Culture: Reforming the ABC*

Cultural issues go to the root of what is wrong with the ABC. The major 
problem is the conformist culture of the institution. The fact that the 
one program on the ABC that challenges the orthodoxy by exploring 
conservative and liberal views is called 'Counterpoint' tells the story 
of the ABC's virtual political monoculture. A cultural and value 
perspective sets it far apart from the major political parties and most 
of the Australian population. Katherine Betts has termed a 'new class' 
whose object was not old wealth but instead 'the Australian mass, and 
its materialism, racism, sexism, and insularity'. The 'knowledge-class', 
which includes ABC journalists, is an important segment within the new 
educated class who have more distinct values that increasingly set them 
apart from business and the general community. Examples will be given 
with comparisons with the BBC. Cultural change in the ABC is essential 
for it to fulfill its own charter of balance, impartiality and diversity.


Time: July 14, /, //2 to 3.30 pm//
/Place: /Burchill Room// (Clayton Campus, Performing Arts Complex Bld.68)
/The campus map is available here: 
http://www.monash.edu.au/campuses/clayton.html


Everyone welcome!

-- 

Dimitris Vardoulakis
School of English, Communications and Performance Studies
Communications and Media Studies
Building 11
Monash University
Clayton, Vic, 3800
Australia

Tel: +61 3 9905 2442
Fax: + 61 3 9905 2135
www.arts.monash.edu.au/ecps/communications/staff/dimitris-vardoulakis/

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