A US allegation that China conducted a secret nuclear test was widely reported despite clear evidence to the contrary, highlighting how security claims are too often treated as facts before they are proven. (more…)
Category: Media
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An incomparable job, an honoured place as Founder
John Menadue, and the late Susie Menadue, did an incomparable job in conceiving, establishing, growing and nurturing Pearls and Irritations as a brave and independent alternative to the conformity of Australia’s legacy media. (more…)
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Message from the Editor-in-Chief
Pearls and Irritations is entering a new phase, with Editor-in-Chief John Menadue stepping back from day-to-day leadership and new appointments strengthening our future. (more…)
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The meteoric rise of UpScrolled (and the Australian media’s silence about it)
An Australian social media platform surged to millions of users amid global concern over censorship and Gaza. Yet its rise has been largely ignored by Australia’s media.
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Best of 2025 – How media coverage helps normalise the far right
Media coverage does more than report on the far right. Through language choices, sensationalism and false balance, journalism can help shift racist politics into the mainstream.
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Best of 2025 – US-China power shift: a G2 world – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Trump hints at changing great-power relationship. Plus: Beijing wresting control of the global narrative; Myanmar’s scam centre raids dismissed as a smokescreen; Prabowo considers declaring Soeharto a national hero; US approves South Korean nuclear-powered submarine; China’s modern women need new men. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – The ABC and News Corp finally agree on something: China panic
Last week, a friend asked if I was worried about Chinese “nuclear threats”. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Open letter to David Marr on his interview with Chris Hedges
Well-known journalist Chris Hedges, whose talk scheduled to be delivered at the National Press Club was suddenly cancelled, was confronted by the ABC’s Late Night Live host David Marr in an unexpectedly ferocious interview. One reader took exception to this. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Modi cancels ASEAN trip, avoids meeting Trump – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Trump says he spoke to Modi but India denies call took place. Plus: Japan’s new coalition a shift to the right; Timor Leste finally gets seat at regional table; Life worse than death on Myanmar scam farm; Prabowo – control, populism and diminished accountability; Sri Lanka suffers from world’s worst plastics spill. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – China, US or us? Australia’s Upper Path in the global minerals race
The headlines are breathless: “China versus the world,” proclaimed The Australian, quoting some very important people from the sheriff’s office urging allies to “decouple” from Beijing and unite against China’s “takeover of global rare earth supply chains”. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – On Israel, Zionism and being Jewish
No political conflict contains as many journalistic minefields as that between Israel and Palestine. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – The Pope, the media and the ‘normalisation’ of Trump
As world media and leaders normalise US President Donald Trump’s erratic behaviour, Pope Leo XIV must resist and keep his distance. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Blame and frame: How Chinese Australians are counted when blamed, discounted when needed
We say we want to understand China. Then we glance past a million Chinese speakers at home and start counting somewhere else. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Journos as heroes and villains – ‘The Hack’ reviewed – Part 1
In films and on the small screen, journalists are portrayed as heroes or villains. In The Hack they are both. Does this reflect the diminished, benighted standing journalists hold in society today or is it a step forward in showing the complexities of the work? (more…)
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Best of 2025 – New revelations of the Murdoch empire’s underbelly – From The Hack’s real-life journalist
This is the humblest day of my life, declared Rupert Murdoch to a parliamentary committee on 19 July 2011. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Blaming China won’t keep the lights on – or pay the power bill
Sky News is back on the beat with a familiar headline: “The $20,000-per-person climate tax: Cost of Australia’s green agenda to become astonishingly clear this week when new emissions targets are set.” (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Why key leaders attended China’s military parade – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Nations “must adapt” to new power politics. Plus: Raid “will hurt” South Korea’s US investments; Trump’s strategic shift towards Pakistan; What’s next after Nepal’s 8 September massacre; Thailand gets its first minority government; Why India has the world’s biggest diaspora. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – If we want to win the Pacific, we must first listen – and stop blaming China for everything
A 9 September editorial in The Sydney Morning Herald, titled China and Australia in a high-speed race to win control of the Pacific, offered a vivid picture of the daily contest for influence in the region. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Rupert Murdoch’s greatest scoop
On Wednesday 25 February 1976, The Australian published a sensational front page story headlined “Iraq promises $US500,000 to pay Labor’s debts/Whitlam in secret Arab election deal”. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Furious Modi rejects Trump’s phone calls – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: India turns its attention to Japan and China. Plus: Trump wants US to own land used for bases in Korea; Despair turning young refugees to armed insurrection; Beijing pushing AI as next growth-engine; Manila ramps up its anti-China stance; The wounds that time cannot heal. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – The ABC’s public comment guidelines: A ‘crackdown’ on management, not workers
The ABC’s new public comment guidelines, which replace its existing “personal use of social media” policy and follow the debacle of the Antoinette Lattouf affair, have been portrayed by rival media organisations as “a crackdown”, “a gag order”, “a hit” on ABC employees, and other such alarming epithets. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – John Menadue in conversation with David Marr
In a wide-ranging discussion, P&I editor-in-chief John Menadue discusses a life full of achievement driven by conviction, and nominates seeing off the White Australia policy and establishing P&I as highlights. He is speaking with David Marr on ABC Radio National’s Late Night Live. (more…)
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What Australia’s teen social media ban could mean for reading
As under-16s are locked out of major social media platforms, online book communities that helped many teens discover reading are disappearing too. What’s being lost, and what might replace it?
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Can AI help save local journalism without hollowing it out?
As local news outlets shrink and news deserts grow, artificial intelligence could deepen the crisis or, if used carefully, help sustain public-interest journalism at the community level.
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Font of all knowledge? Of Rubio, Rupert and playing to type
A curious US culture-war memo about typefaces becomes a sharp lesson in readability, newspaper craft, and how badly those lessons have been forgotten in Australian journalism.
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2025 in Review: Bullies and sycophants, cowardice on high, courage from below
A year defined by bullying power politics, media cowardice and moral failure – alongside rare but vital acts of courage that point to a different future. (more…)
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Beyond the under-16 ban: online safety must be built in, not bolted on
As Australia’s under-16 social media ban comes into force, blocking access alone won’t stop online harm. Real protection depends on safety-by-design and a legal digital duty of care built into platforms themselves. (more…)
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Australia’s social media age ban is days away. Here is what it really means
Public debate about Australia’s social media age ban has focused on parents and children. But the burden sits with platforms, and the deeper risks lie in what replaces young people’s online communities.
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Why our government protects gambling apps but bans TikTok
Australia’s social media restrictions on children were sold as decisive action on harm. But the policy risks becoming symbolic, unenforceable, and ultimately counterproductive.
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AI in journalism and democracy: can we rely on it?
GenAI tools are reshaping the information environment in ways most audiences never see. From the data that trains them to the labour that maintains them, their inner workings raise urgent questions for journalism and democratic accountability. (more…)