Bridget Griffen-Foley

From Tit-Bits to Big Brother: A Century of Audience Participation in the Media

This article explores the connections between reality television and older print and electronic media formats. It surveys the history of audience participation in the media through a series of case studies drawn from Britain, Australia and the United States: periodicals featuring significant contributions from their readers in the 1880s; confessional magazines in the 1920s; mass-market women’s magazines during the inter-war years; talkback radio since the 1960s; and the emergence of ‘real life’ media genres in the 1980s and 1990s. The article argues that media producers have, for more than a century, been blurring the notion of the passive media consumer.

A “Civilised Amateur”: Edgar Holt and His Life in Letters and Politics

Now largely forgotten, Edgar George Holt (1904–1988) was a leading journalist and public relations officer in the middle decades of twentieth–century Australia. This article examines his prominent journalistic career in the 1930s and 1940s, his presidency of the Australian Journalists’ Association, and his work as the Liberal Party of Australias public relations officer from 1950 to the early 1970s. The article explores the evolution of his cultural and political views, considering how a literary aesthete and poet came to be at the forefront of the 1944 newspaper strike and then an important player in Australian conservative machine politics and the emerging industry of political public relations.

Tour More Points Than Moses': Dr. H. V. Evatt, The Press And The 1944 Referendum

During his subsequent judicial and political career, Evatfs behaviour was to indicate both a liberal acknowledgment of the need for the freedom of the press, and an astute recognition of the role that the media could play in conveying his policies to the electorate and in generating his public image. While commentators have frequently referred to the complexities of Evatfs personality and the inconsistencies seemingly inherent in his policies,3 it has only recently been recognised that Evatfs views on, and relationship with, the media constitute a common, complex and not always subtle thread throughout his life. Peter Crocketf s observations about Evatt and the press are, however, fleeting, and related to the authors perverse psycho biographical theories.4 Dr. Evatt is perhaps best remembered for his activities as Minister for External Affairs from 1941 to 1949 and for his leadership of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) during the turbulent 1950s. At the time of the 1954 Royal Commission into Espionage and the sensational ALP Split of 1955, Evatt was subjected to relentless ridicule and criticism by the Australian press. Even a cursory glance at the editorials and cartoons of the day engender an image of a shambling wreck of a man, a desperate, paranoid and dangerous communist sympathiser who was leading his Party, and his country, into the wilderness.5 And yet, in 1940, Evatfs decision to resign from the High Court Bench to successfully contest the seat of Barton had been met with almost universal acclaim; newspapers had portrayed him as a martyr-like figure relinquishing a brilliant judicial career in order to serve his country at a critical time in her history.6

Entangled Media Histories: a response

This commentary responds to the research report by Marie Cronqvist and Christoph Hilgert on the value of transnational and transmedial approaches in media historiography. It reflects on my introduction to the concept of ‘entangled media histories’, and its potential application to the study of the history of media in Australia and the Asia-Pacific as the field continues to grow in the region, as sketched out in the piece. It considers the value of the historiographical approach to the Asia-Pacific, and also some of the challenges, principally language barriers, and including the national construction of many digital and other media history resources.

BROADSHEETS, BROADCASTS AND BOTANY BAY: History in the Australian media

The “Australians and the Past” survey in the late 1990s showed that the vast majority of people gained their principal historical understanding from some form of entertainment across their lifetime. For over a century the media has been a key source in the development of Australians’ historical understanding and historical consciousness. This article explores some of the many ways history has been presented by Australian journalists and other media practitioners, focusing on the press and radio, since World War I. The article surveys the coverage of the 1938 sesquicentenary of the British settlement of Australia, history pages in Australian newspapers, and an unusual historical newspaper published in 1948–9. It traces how the emergence of the Australian Broadcasting Commission and commercial radio during the interwar years created a new outlet for popular historians led by Frank Clune and distinguished professors such as S. H. Roberts. In doing so, it considers the role of journalism, and the media more generally, in creating a national narrative around Anzac Day; recognising indigenous dispossession; and facilitating the emergence of Australian public historians and intellectuals.

Digging up the past: Frank Clune, Australian historian and media personality

Frank Clune (1893–1971) was a prolific author and the most popular Australian historian of the first half of the twentieth century. This article surveys Clune’s relationships with his ghost-writer, P R Stephensen, and with a later mentor, Justice J V Barry, along with Clune’s role as a press and radio personality in mid-century Australia. In doing so, it reflects on Clune’s mission to popularise Australian history and open up sources for its study, touching on Clune’s occasional reflections on indigenous history, and the critical reception of his work. This article has been peer-reviewed

2010 Henry Mayer Lecture Voices of the People: Audience Participation in Australian Radio

John Laws famously labelled his commercial radio talkback program, and its genre, ‘dial-in democracy’. Amongst the mellifluous tones of Laws and ‘Andrea’, the gravelly rasps of Brian White and Derryn Hinch, and the impatient injunctions of Alan Jones and Howard Sattler have been the voices of countless ‘ordinary’ Australians. Here, I consider how voices of ‘the people’ have been heard in Australian print media outlets, led by The Bulletin, since the nineteenth century, and on Australian radio since the 1920s. The discussion moves from community singing to radio clubs, programs like Voice of the People to Australias Amateur Hour, and of course to talkback. Along the way, it reflects on issues such as the flow of ideas and influences between Britain, the United States and Australia; the ways in which notions of the public and the community have been deployed by commercial radio managements and interpreted by broadcasting regulators; and how listeners and callers – like some regular writers of letters to the editor – can emerge as media identities in their own right.

Diary of a television viewer

In 1974, Melbourne teenager Jennifer Sketchley started keeping a daily diary. It continued until 1985, describing everyday life as a schoolgirl, leaving school at the age of 16, studying by correspondence and entering the workforce. She was happiest watching films and television, with her diary recording what she watched from morning to night. Sketchley’s diaries provide an intimate insight into the television habits and preferences of one Australian. This girl-centred article frames this unique record within the context of her family circumstances and within the field of girls’ media studies. It examines the everyday practice of an active television consumer and fan, engaging with programmes (especially Star Trek) and television periodicals, and seeking comfort and community.

Book Review: The Routledge Companion to British Media HistoryConboyMartin and SteelJohn, The Routledge Companion to British Media History, Routledge, Oxford, 2015, ISBN 9 7804 1553 7186, xvii+610 pp., US

No. 155 — May 2015 casting of the production team, Rohitashya also provides a brief sketch of the Indian consumer market post-liberalisation. His description of the ‘changing India’ is mixed with his own attempt to identify himself in the present globalised country, as India in his memories is different – an unglobalised nation. Chapter 3 discusses the visual techniques, such as the role of imageries, location, settings, shots, cinematic techniques, realism, Indian arts and aesthetics, that are used in the commercials to convey the Indian identity and ethnicity. The ‘dialectic between the old and new’ (p. 97) is made clear by comparing and contrasting the visual appeals of the commercials discussed, and highlighting the ethos of commercials. The issue of self-expression (p. 97) is discussed by analysing the cricket-themed commercial in Chapter 4. Rohitashya analyses how the production houses use the relevance of the international game, cricket, in contemporary India to convey Indian identity. The core idea discussed in Chapter 5 is the role of women in commercials. As well as the portrayal of female characters in commercials, the role of women in production houses and the advertising industry is discussed. From the alpha female to aesthetic appeal, ‘a plurality of aspects’ of female identity in contemporary Indian society has been touched upon by the author. The final chapter is a synthesis of the author’s discussions of ‘old and new Indian identities’ (p. 136), presented via a television commercial lens. Rohitashya also discusses the role and efforts of the commercial filmmakers in mediating to communicate a ‘pre-constructed’ message and grabbing the attention of the audience by creating a ‘spectacle’ (p. 148). Although Rohitashya is successful in making his observations clear with a few selected commercials produced in India, as he himself admits, these are not actual representation of the commercially produced India, and the book is only his observations of contemporary India. This is a wellstructured and well-written book (with a glossary of terms) for readers interested in analysing identity, aesthetics and cinematic influences in Indian television commercials. However, the footnote: ‘Name withheld on request’, which appears multiple times in a page (and even in Notes and References), whenever people are addressed by their designation − could have been avoided with a common reference at first occurrence, as the details of commercials are mentioned and speakers could easily be identified by the industry insiders. −P. Padma Priya, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University

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When radio broadcasting developed in Australia in the 1920s, business and government interests consciously referenced developments in the United Kingdom and the United States. Australian broadcasting aspirants relied on the precedent set by the two countries, while arguing for a uniquely Australian solution that improved on the two models. What emerged was a hybrid, with a public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), funded by listeners’ licence fees, and a commercial sector reliant on advertising revenue. The former was generally viewed as modelled on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the latter on the commercial broadcasting system in the United States. By 2010 the ABC had four national radio networks, and Australia had around 270 commercial radio stations. This article surveys American influences on the development of commercial radio in Australia. There are many possible aspects to a full consideration of this topic: the role of American advertising agencies in Australian radio; the influence of audience research and ratings practices in the US on Australian broadcasting; similarities and differences in networking models in the two countries; Australian debates about the foreign ownership of commercial radio stations; and connections between the Federation of Australian Radio Broadcasters (FARB) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in the US, and the Australian Broadcasting Control Board (ABCB) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US. Other issues for exploration might include the flow of broadcasters between Australia and the US; the transcription industries in the US and Australia; and the penetration into Australia of American, or American-inspired, serials, quiz shows and talkback radio. This article will provide a brief overview of the emergence of a dual broadcasting system in Australia, and the role of advertising agencies and networks in Australian