I have no idea what is happening around here...

October 1, 2006 1:54 AM

Is there an outlet for intelligent news and analysis for Australian politics?

[This is for Mrs. qwip] Are there sites online, or publications that give a non-tabloid presentation of issues in Australian politics? What is the "paper of record" here? US examples would be The Nation, New Republic, the Economist, even the New York Times (thought not the Op-Ed).

The formats found so far are a bit lacking in substance (Sydney Morning Herald, Telegraph, The Age). Bonus points for online publications.

What's out there that smart people recommend for a reading source? Or does nothing happen in Australia worth reporting?

posted by qwip to society & culture (20 comments total)

South Sea Republic is an Australian political blog with a focus on constitutional stuff.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:02 AM on October 1, 2006

>Or does nothing happen in Australia worth reporting?

That's a little insulting, and more to the point, illogical. Just because events don't get the reporting they deserve, doesn't mean they aren't worth reporting.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 3:07 AM on October 1, 2006

Late Night Live on Radio National will get you up to speed. Their Canberra correspondent also writes for Crikey.com.au which might be the on-line publication you're looking for.
posted by grahamwell at 3:18 AM on October 1, 2006

From the way you've phrased your question I'm assuming that you are new to Australia, especially because of the last sentence.

The Fin Review (aka the Australian Financial Review) is probably the most intelligent of the daily newspapers, and it doesn't just focus on finance/business. Unfortunately it's not really available online.

I'm surprised that you lumped the SMH and the Age (together known as the Smage, because a lot of the articles are the same) in with the Terrorgraph, every edition of which is its own special form of atrocity. I don't think they're too bad - and they're certainly a lot smarter and more broadminded than The Australian, which is just as pompous and jingoistic as you'd expect from a serious 'paper of record' whose News Ltd management officially aims for a 12-year-old reading age.

Crikey has gone way downhill since Christian Kerr took over from Stephen Mayne and a lot of it is subscriber-only, but it's not too bad sometimes anyway.

OnlineOpinion looks interesting, but I haven't spent much time there myself.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:18 AM on October 1, 2006

Although it is a Murdoch publication, The Australian is pretty good (although I'm realising now just how many features are lifted straight from The Guardian). I also like the Fin Review, but I recommend that with the proviso that 'economics is a social science'. You may feel differently.

Green Left Weekly occupies the far left of the Austalian newspaper spectrum, but it can be histrionic at times.
posted by goo at 3:19 AM on October 1, 2006

(Oops pressed submit too soon).

A really important factor to remember is that Australian media ownership is really, really concentrated - all but two of the major dailies are owned by one of two companies, News Corp and Fairfax, so the articles and styles of reporting are similar in different papers.
posted by goo at 3:24 AM on October 1, 2006

Oh, and don't forget The Chaser. Pity they don't have a printed edition anymore, but you can watch parts of their TV show here.

This explains a lot about the problems of the Australian media.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:28 AM on October 1, 2006

Newsvine might be just what you need.
posted by geekyguy at 3:43 AM on October 1, 2006

I agree with grahamwell. It's ABC News (online, TV, Radio) you need, not newspapers.

Start with AM, PM, Radio National Breakfast, The World Today, Lateline, The 7.30 Report, Four Corners. A lot of the shows can be watched or listened to online and there are tons of podcasts.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 4:47 AM on October 1, 2006

What AmbroseChapel just said, but I must add that The Age is actually quite a decent paper, so I'm not too sure why you lumped it in with the Telegraph?
posted by PuGZ at 1:40 PM on October 1, 2006

There is one good reason for reading The Australian though - to find out in advance what unimportant distraction the Government will be pushing next week. If, for example, the opinion columnists are bemoaning the price of cheese on Monday, by Wednesday that'll be the topic dominating the letters page, and on Thursday or Friday it'll be the editorial subject - and, you can bet, the subject of a quip by the PM in time for the Friday TV news, a doorstop or radio interview ready for analysis on the Sunday morning political shows, and probably the subject of a promised ACCC investigation or Senate enquiry by the following Monday.

Apart from that, the Fairfax papers are far superior to anything from the Murdoch stable, and the Fin. Review is, despite the name, a remarkably good and well-balanced read - something I, as an approaching-middle-age leftie, once thought I'd never say. I give it a miss on their "CEO hagiography" Friday, though.

I've never read the Daily Telegraph - too far north for that one to permeate - though, if you can compare it to a Murdoch paper and still consider each edition a "special form of atrocity", I feel more sympathy for Sydneysiders now...

And definitely the ABC & SBS news & current affairs shows. Lateline & The 7:30 Report are the standouts for TV current affairs, while Insight is often a good forum discussion of long-term or emerging issues. Hell, even TripleJ - nominally the 'yoof' radio arm of the ABC - has good and interesting discussions scattered throughout the day.
posted by Pinback at 5:01 PM on October 1, 2006

AmbroseChapel, please take my comments - and particularly the last sentence with a modicum of humour.

Yes, we are new to Australia. Sydney specifically (my profile describes this and links to more about the same). No offense meant and none should be taken.

It was definitely a snark on the fact that a lot seems to go unreported - or at least reported only in the most superficial way in a lot of the news here. It's the same issue in the US, but there are more fringe sites and papers that pick up the slack - or so it seems. Hence the question about where to find the similar fringe in Australia.

Sorry if I offended and hope it doesn't lead to a derail. I think the comments on the fact that there are really just two publishers has a lot to do with it.

Thanks for the answers so far everyone. Will investigate and reply more.
posted by qwip at 5:03 PM on October 1, 2006

The ABC does news analysis well, but their actual newsgathering skills are woeful (especially on a local level - at least that's what I've found in Vic, WA and NSW ) - and it's worth bearing in mind that, despite constant denials, the ABC does have a left-leaning bias (not unwelcome here, where almost everything else is at least slightly right-leaning).
I also second the Fin Review as a source of "meatier" articles - the politics are sometimes questionable, but there's more "quality" journalism in the Fin Review than in pretty-much all the other dailies put together.
posted by bunglin jones at 5:20 PM on October 1, 2006

Australia is a bit like Canada in that things are pretty well organised and it just isn't that exciting.

You might want to check out the Bulletin, it's a magazine that also contains stuff from Newsweek but has some analysis on Australian politics.

South Sea Republic's blogroll may put you on to more stuff about Australia. John Quiggin is interesting on occasion.

Trying a free subscription to Crikey may be worthwhile. It's a lot of gossip and stuff that wouldn't make it into more careful media, but it is amusing.
posted by sien at 5:30 PM on October 1, 2006

Something no-one has yet suggested is The New Matilda.

I agree that Crikey has turned into Christian Kerr's own personal blog lately, but interesting things still appear now and again. Great to keep an eye on around election time.

Apart from that, yes, AM, The World Today, and PM on ABC Radio National / Radio Australia will tell you everything you want to know on a national level.
posted by Jimbob at 5:39 PM on October 1, 2006

Ah, forgot to mention Australian Policy Online, a sort of bloggy round-up of various government reports and submissions with opinion & commentary on the side - and, yes, a social / lefty bent.
posted by Pinback at 6:00 PM on October 1, 2006

Good summary folks!

for online blogs, the selection of links in the sidebar at johnquiggin.com catch many of the major policy debates:
#
Australian Political Blogs (Plogs)

* Armagnac'd
* Australian Libertarians
* Bahnisch, Mark
* Barista
* Bartlett, Andrew
* Catallaxy (Jason Soon and others)
* Club Troppo (Ken Parish and others)
* Corr, Robert
* Currency Lad
* Daily Flute
* David Horton
* Dunlop, Tim
* Gianna
* Goonan, Hammy
* Guido
* Lambert, Tim
* Leigh, Andrew
* Loewenstein, Antony
* Palmers Ozpolitics Blog
* Polemica
* Sabhlok, Sukrit
* Sauer-Thompson, Gary
* Sheil, Chris (on hiatus)
* Smart, Helen
* South Sea Republic
* Weatherall, Kim
* Westbrook, Ian
* William Burroughs Baboon
posted by wilful at 7:11 PM on October 1, 2006

You could also check out:
+The Monthly, Quarterly Essay, Griffith Review and Arena for more indepth comment and analysis.
+The Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, The Wire and 2SER 107.3FM
+Hack and John Safran on JJJ
+Some of the smage and news.com.au blogs are worth a read, too. Particulary, Jack Marx, a cracker of a read most days, Radar on Aussie pop culture, Matthew Moore on FOI and Gary Hughes at News on crime.

Oh, and also on Aunty, Insiders. And not just 'cos I dig Barrie Cassidy.

Part of the reason the smage is a bit lite, I should think, is because of last year's massive redundancies at Fairfax. The weekend versions are a bit meatier, as is the Weekend 'Straylian.
posted by t0astie at 11:25 PM on October 1, 2006

[From Mrs. qwip] Thanks everyone. This provides a wealth of new sources to check out. Why didn't we ask sooner?! Mostly just want to understand deeper dimensions of politics and current events and be more informed about the place we're living in. It's hard to assimilate to a new culture when you don't really understand what's going on. Had noticed some substance in the Fin Review, but thought I might be imagining things.
Love the news programming on SBS and ABC, but rarely watch TV news as reading is the preferred medium. I appreciate all the web and print resources-- certainly enough to keep busy reading for the near future. Cheers.
posted by qwip at 3:45 AM on October 2, 2006

The Concatenate is the Australia-wide big brother to the Canberra-specific The Riot Act.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 11:53 PM on October 2, 2006