Mitchell Hobbs

Public Contest through the Popular Media: The Mining Industry's Advertising War against the Australian Labor Government

This article explores the ‘mining tax ad war of 2010’, which contributed to the removal of a first-term Labor prime minister and shaped Australias Minerals Resource Rent Tax. In particular, it examines the uses, ethics and consequences of advocacy advertising, which is an under-explored aspect of communication power. The article identifies advocacy advertising as an increasingly prevalent technique used by corporations and lobby groups to influence public policy in Australia. In conclusion, the article focuses on the regulatory environment for such campaigns and the areas of future research that might help to safeguard democratic practices. 本文讨论了2010年的矿税广告战，该战把第一任期的工党领袖拉下了马，并造就了澳大利亚矿产资源租赁税。作者特别分析了广告宣传作为一种没太被研究的通讯权力的用途、伦理和结果。本文指出广告宣传日益成为公司和游说集团用以影响澳大利亚公共政策的流行工具。作者最后集中讨论了这类竞争的管制环境，以及有助于保护民主实践的未来研究领域。

Liquid love? Dating apps, sex, relationships and the digital transformation of intimacy

In Liquid Love Zygmunt Bauman argued that the solidity and security once provided by life-long partnerships has been ‘liquefied’ by rampant individualisation and technological change. He believes internet dating is symptomatic of social and technological change that transforms modern courtship into a type of commodified game. This article explores the experiences of users of digital dating and hook-up applications (or ‘apps’) in order to assess the extent to which a digital transformation of intimacy might be under way. It examines the different affordances provided by dating apps, and whether users feel the technology has influenced their sexual practices and views on long-term relationships, monogamy and other romantic ideals. This study shows that dating apps are intermediaries through which individuals engage in strategic performances in pursuit of love, sex and intimacy. Ultimately, this article contends that some accounts of dating apps and modern romantic practices are too pessimistic, and downplay the positives of ‘networked intimacy’.

Youth, Social Media, and Cyberbullying Among Australian Youth: “Sick Friends”

Cyberbullying is a relatively recent phenomenon that can have significant consequences for young people’s wellbeing due to the specific technological affordances of social media. To date, research into cyberbullying has been largely quantitative; thus, it often elides the complexity of the issue. Moreover, most studies have been “top down,” excluding young people’s views. Our qualitative research findings suggest that young people engage in cyberbullying to accrue social benefits over peers and to manage social pressures and anxiety, while cultural conventions in gender performance see girls engage differently in cyberbullying. We conclude that cyberbullying, like offline bullying, is a socially constructed behavior that provides both pleasure and pain.

‘You’re all a bunch of pinkos’: Rupert Murdoch and the politics of HarperCollins

News Corporation is one of the most closely studied international media conglomerates, headed by the world’s most famous media proprietor. Yet, despite its prominence in the academic literature, little attention has been paid to the company’s book publishing operations. This article seeks to rectify this oversight. It investigates some of the more controversial book deals made by HarperCollins, outlining a partisan publishing pattern that conforms to Murdoch’s proclivity for conservative politics.

The sociology of spin: An investigation into the uses, practices and consequences of political communication

This article explores the uses and consequences of political communication in Australia. It considers the different types of government ‘spin doctors’ and explores the dimensions of the ‘Australian public relations state’. The article then examines the relationship between the media, political communication and democracy. It subsequently develops a typology of overt and covert practices that suggests that there should be an analytical and ethical distinction between ‘spin’ and ‘political communication’. The article concludes that media advisers are ‘key activists’ within the public sphere and that good political communication gives people the capacity for informed citizenship. Ultimately this discussion demonstrates that political communication has both democratic and anti-democratic aspects, and it offers a conceptual framework for exploring communicative practices and their consequences.

Fighting for Coal: Public Relations and the Campaigns Against Lower Carbon Pollution Policies in Australia

This chapter explores the public relations strategies used by the mining and energy lobby to defeat climate change policy agendas with which they disagree, and discusses three Australian case studies where these strategies were implemented to maximum effect. The first concerns the Labor government’s attempt to implement a carbon emissions trading scheme, while the second case study explores the ‘charm offensive’ run by the mining and energy sector to cultivate strategic alliances and allies to prevent future legislative challenges. The third case study concerns a second Labor government’s efforts to implement a carbon tax and the mining industry’s powerful backlash against it. Together, these case studies demonstrate that the mining and energy sector uses a ‘reward and punishment’ strategy that can make it difficult for governments to enact legislation to reduce carbon emissions.

Stifling dissent: the Murdoch press and its campaigns against its ‘critics’

ABSTRACT In 2014, Nick Davies, the investigative journalist responsible for uncovering the News of the World phone-hacking affair, argued that Rupert Murdoch’s global media conglomerate News Corp actively seeks to intimidate its critics into silence. This article provides an Australian case study on News Corp’s representation of scholars and commentators the company seemingly identifies as adversaries. Content analysis of Murdoch’s national broadsheet newspaper The Australian reveals patterns of negative campaigns against several of Australia’s most prominent media and communication researchers. Outside of academia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s television program Media Watch and its host Paul Barry have also received aggressive and ad hominem coverage, so too has the Australian Press Council, the press’s self-regulator and its former Chair, Julian Disney. These negative campaigns by The Australian amount to the mobilisation of ‘flak’ against critical perspectives and perceived enemies and is part of broader ideological contest labelled ‘the culture wars’. This execution of media power risks engendering a ‘chilling effect’ upon academic freedom and media scholarship, where researchers might choose to self-censor their activities rather than risk adverse representations of their character, ethics, and research.