Big Ideas

Misinformation, disinformation, deep fakes,  false news — do you feel confident spotting them? They’re doing real harm to our relationships, our communities, our health, even to the future health of our democracy. New research has found 73% of Australians believe disinformation will be a major threat to our national security in the next decade. Former Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers believes we can’t afford to be complacent. Australia is only one of 29 fully fledged democracies in the world and three quarters of the global population lives in autocracies, the highest since the 1980s. Join Natasha Mitchell and guests to discuss why media literacy matters. 
This event was organised by ABC Education with the Australian Media Literacy Alliance. 
Watch The Matter of Facts with Hamish Macdonald on ABC Iview.
Speakers
Tom Rogers Former Australian Electoral Commissioner  Distinguished advisor, ANU National security College Australia’s advisor to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). 
Professor Michael Dezuanni Chair of the Australian Media Literacy Alliance Chief investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child Program Leader, Digital Inclusion and Participation QUT Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology 
Paula Kruger CEO, Media Diversity Australia Former journalist and broadcaster Former manager, community radio station 2SER. 
Thanks to head of ABC Education Annabel Astbury and event producer Grace Ernestine.

In more than 40 years on the front lines of international human rights Alex Neve has heard Canada described as ‘the land of human rights’ — and seen the profound ways Canada has failed to uphold universal human rights, both at home and abroad. In his final Massey Lecture, he lays out his vision for a way forward.
Lecture five and last of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World
Speaker
Alex NeveSecretary-General of Amnesty International Canada (2000 to 2020); adjunct Professor in international human rights, University of Ottawa, Human rights lawyerAuthor of Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World

Eleanor Roosevelt once said that universal human rights begin in “small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world.” In his fourth Massey Lecture, Alex Neve reflects on moments when people power won the 
Lecture four of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World
Speaker
Alex NeveSecretary-General of Amnesty International Canada (2000 to 2020); adjunct Professor in international human rights, University of Ottawa, Human rights lawyerAuthor of Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World

Our inherent human rights belong to us from the moment we are born. There is nothing we need to do to earn them, and they are supposed to apply to us until the day we die. But in his third Massey Lecture, Alex Neve argues the powerful have made human rights a ‘club.’
Lecture three of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World
Speaker
Alex NeveSecretary-General of Amnesty International Canada (2000 to 2020); adjunct Professor in international human rights, University of Ottawa, Human rights lawyerAuthor of Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World

The ideals behind the concept of human rights — such as the sacredness of life, reciprocity, justice and fairness — have millennia-old histories. After the carnage of the Second World War and the Holocaust, these ideas took a new legal form. In his second Massey Lecture, Alex Neve considers six dizzying years that laid out a blueprint for a new world.
Lecture two of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World
Speaker
Alex NeveSecretary-General of Amnesty International Canada (2000 to 2020); adjunct Professor in international human rights, University of Ottawa, Human rights lawyerAuthor of Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World