Kerry O’Brien @ UQ

Posted on | March 31, 2005 | No Comments

Responsible Journalism

Friday 15 April 2005
2:00-5:00pm
The Innes Room – Bldg 21
UQ Student Union Centre

Presented by the School of Journalism and Communication and the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies at The University of Queensland.

This keynote address by Adjunct Professor Kerry O’Brien will be followed by a discussion moderated by Professor Michael Bromley, the School of Journalism and Communication, UQ, with:

Lee Anderson, Director, Channel Nine News
Bruce Grundy, Journalist-in-Residence, School of Journalism and Communication
Amanda Newberry, General Manager, BBS Public Relations

Abstract

This is not an exercise in painting all journalists as white knights and all the media minding industry as the black knights. There is a legitimate and practical interface between the two that can facilitate good, honest journalism. Equally there is legitimacy in the various institutions of society—public and private—in protecting themselves against incompetent, inaccurate, lazy, or dishonest journalism. But I believe the balance is increasingly and unhealthily out of kilter in the way the game is played today; weighted towards the information managers and away from the information gatherers.

This isn’t just about journalists gathering basic, practical information and disseminating it in a way that helps keep society going. At the heart of what we’re about is the burning need to scrutinise. It has been said many times before: Power corrupts. The more power accrues, the greater the temptation and opportunity for corruption of one kind or another to occur. It’s often a subtle process, and as the wisdom goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s not some kind of warped prejudice or paranoia on my part: History is littered with examples, including recent history.

The bottom line is that we do need to remind ourselves from time to time that there really is a noble cause along with the excitement; the adrenalin; the travel if you’re lucky; the glamour if you can find it; the meeting of all those interesting people. It’s telling the stories of our society; it’s plotting our path through history; but importantly, it’s keeping the system honest.

Kerry O’Brien has recently been appointed Adjunct Professor in the
School of Journalism and Communication at The University of Queensland.

More information about the event can be found here.

Category: Events

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