Stand-up or lecture
October 9, 2005Comedian John Doyle (Roy & HG) had some pretty feisty things to say about the state of the Australian media in his Andrew Olle lecture.
Declaring at the outset that his journalistic credentials were “none” ….He railed against proposed changes in media ownership laws that would allow players to own radio, newspapers and TV in the same market.
He also called for more funding for ABC drama, and criticised media companies for focusing their spending on improving systems of delivery.
“In the end, delivery and delivery systems are meaningless. Content is all that matters. Rubbish is still rubbish, be it on an old 21-inch black-and-white HMV or in high definition through the digital set-top box.”
Doyle said the only places to find diversity were at the ABC or SBS. The commercial news services were exact copies of each other, he said; he had seen Seven’s Today Tonight and Nine’s A Current Affair air the same story at the same time on the same night.
In the end its hard to argue with these broad brush conclusions but why was he up there in the first place. It doesn’t help our understanding of what’s happening in the Australian media to have a comedian with no qualifications get up and make a series of generalisations. Using Doyle as a brand personality to give this lecture is indicative of the very lack of serious news and current affairs culture that he is decrying.
Andrew Olle probably liked a laugh but if the lecture in his honour is supposed to be about the media why not get someone who knows what they are talking about.
