gatewatching

I’m packing up my cubicle at Gatewatching HQ today, getting ready for the big move to Sydney for the new job at GetUp!
I’m excited about the new challenge, but it’s a sad moment, and the conference that Axel’s been liveblogging here has been, for me, an occasion to catch up with the colleagues who have [...]

Gary Sauer-Thompson alerts us today to a very, very peculiar piece by David Burchell on something he calls the “political blogosphere”. Burchell’s version doesn’t much resemble the one I know. I’ll quote a little:
At other times it seems the wheels of the political blogosphere are greased with the oil of personal vitriol.
Indeed, on one view [...]

I have been posting like a madman today because I saw how close we were to the magic milestone of 100 posts this morning. Yay.
Time to take stock. My favourite moments and biggest retrospective lulz on the way to this landmark include being “Blaired“, “Bolted” and “Parished” all in the space of a week. Awesome. [...]

There’s not a lot of detail on the programme at this stage, but the MEAA and the Walkley Awards are co-hosting a conference, “Public Affairs in the Age of Rudd“, in Canberra on the 19th and 20th of August. If it’s anywhere near as stimulating as the the “Future of Journalism”, it’s bound to be [...]

This is a follow-up to the other day’s post, and the first of two that nicks stuff from the always stimulating Tree of Knowledge
Via TOK comes some advice from Todd Zeigler on John McCain’s “spread the word” campaign, which has been seen by bloggers as a toolkit for outright trolling. (Go to the [...]

Journos get a bit of stick in the blogosphere sometimes, but it’s worth remembering that their job requires bravery. Especially in areas afflicted by authoritarian governments, corruption or civil disorder, they often risk their lives simply by doing their jobs. Graphic proof is available on this interactive map from MSN which shows where and when [...]

Editor and Publisher today has a report (worth reading in full) on Nielsen data suggesting that some high-profile newspapers and broadcasting news brands are far outstripping Google news in terms of unique traffic. The New York Times is the leading newspaper by traffic, and MSNBC and CNN Digital Network are in the top five. The [...]

Tonight’s 7.30 Report story about the disproportionate impact of high fuel prices in the Torres Strait was excellent. While a lot of the coverage of rising energy prices has concentrated on impacts on metropolitan commuters, and the he-said she-said antics of Governments and Oppositions on who’s to blame, this showed us how much is at [...]

Newspoll Tuesday has become a bit of an occasion in the Australian blogosphere. The influence of the pseph bloggers, the moments of antagonism between the blogosphere and the Oz last year, the motivation to enter into further fruitful dialogue with Dennis Shanahan, and the urge to take Dr Nelson’s temperature have meant that most of [...]

Today’s Crikey carries a story about the NAB (or rather a PR firm representing them, Cox&Inall) spamming Australian blogs with promotional comments. Rather than impotence treatments or naughty pictures, this spam (posted on sports blogs) was inviting blog readers to enter a promotion being run for the bank. The story is behind the Crikey paywall, [...]