Fourth Estate

This week on Fourth Estate, we unpack the biggest stories shaping Australian media, politics and journalism.

As the Royal Commission into Antisemitism turns its attention to the media, we examine the recommendations aimed at the ABC and SBS, including calls for greater oversight and more "positive" coverage of Israel. What could this mean for editorial independence, public trust and press freedom?

We also discuss the federal government's tougher social media laws, whether multi-million dollar fines can really force Big Tech companies to protect young Australians, and why tech platforms continue to escape the level of scrutiny often directed at public broadcasters.

Plus, Australia's long-running battle over gambling advertising returns. As new reforms take shape, we ask whether broadcasters have become too dependent on gambling revenue, and whether streaming platforms are poised to become the industry's next frontier.

And finally, Anthony Albanese's appearance on Nikki Osborne's Bush Deep podcast sparked days of headlines over some very awkward exchanges. We ask whether the controversy was overblown, whether politicians are increasingly choosing entertainment podcasts over rigorous journalism, and if the media's fixation on viral moments is distracting from the questions that really matter. Is "relatability" replacing scrutiny in Australian political coverage?

Joining host ⁠Tina Quinn⁠ are ⁠Mark Kenny⁠, political analyst for The Canberra Times and Professor at the Australian National University's Australian Studies Institute, and columnist for The Monthly, ⁠Karen Middleton⁠.

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fourthestate@2ser.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or tweet us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@fourthestateau.
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Karl Stefanovic's dramatic exit from Nine has become one of the biggest Australian media stories of the year. But is this simply the downfall of a television star, or a sign that the media landscape itself is changing?

After his podcast interview with far-right activist Tommy Robinson sparked widespread backlash, Nine ended its three-decade relationship with one of its biggest names. Now, as Stefanovic embraces podcasting and the language of "free speech", bigger questions are emerging. Can Australia support a Joe Rogan-style media model? Is controversy a viable business strategy? And where is the line between journalism, platforming and personality-driven media?

Joining Tina Quinn to unpack the saga are The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age columnist Jacqueline Maley, whose sharp analysis of the affair has sparked national debate, and Crikey Readers' Editor and Cut Through host Crystal Andrews.

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fourthestate@2ser.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or tweet us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@fourthestateau.
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After serving as Prime Minister Bob Hawke's press secretary, Barrie Cassidy returned to journalism with a new perspective on politics and power.

Following several years as a correspondent based in the United States with The Australian, an unexpected approach from Network Ten persuaded him to return to Australia to host Meet the Press.

In Part Two of our special profile series, Barrie reflects on that decision, his eventual return to the ABC, and the creation of Insiders — the Sunday morning political program that would become one of the country's most influential current affairs shows.

Joining Tina Quinn, Cassidy also reflects on the changing relationship between politicians and the press, the evolution of political journalism, and the lessons learned over more than four decades covering Australian politics.

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fourthestate@2ser.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or tweet us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@fourthestateau.

Episode artwork photographed by Matthew Smeal.
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Thirty years ago, Pauline Hanson exposed a fault line in Australian politics that never really went away.

This week, following Hanson's first National Press Club address and amid signs One Nation is enjoying its strongest political moment in years, Fourth Estate asks what the media got right, what it got wrong, and whether we've ever truly understood the Australia that keeps bringing Hanson back.

Joining Tina Quinn are broadcaster Raf Epstein, award-winning journalist David Leser, whose landmark Good Weekend profile Pauline Hanson's Bitter Harvest remains one of the defining accounts of Hanson's rise, and veteran political reporter Margo Kingston, author of Off The Rails: The Pauline Hanson Trip, one of the most influential books written about the One Nation phenomenon.

Together they revisit the journalism that shaped Australia's understanding of Hanson — from Tracey Curro's famous "Please Explain" interview to Maxine McKew's forensic Lateline interrogation — and ask what those moments can tell us about her resurgence today.

We also hear from Crikey's Charlie Lewis and Nine Political Editor Charles Croucher, who were both in the room for Hanson's National Press Club appearance.

Why has Hanson endured? What does her resurgence tell us about Australian politics, the media, and the voters journalists still struggle to understand? And three decades on, how the hell do we cover her going forward?

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fourthestate@2ser.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or tweet us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@fourthestateau

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When Barrie Cassidy arrived in Canberra in 1979, Malcolm Fraser was Prime Minister, the political shockwaves of the 1975 dismissal were still reverberating through Australian politics, and Fraser was already fending off the leadership ambitions of a rising Andrew Peacock.

The press gallery was smaller, the media landscape less fragmented, and for a young reporter who had discovered a passion for politics while covering Victoria's state parliament, Canberra offered a front-row seat to power.

What followed was a career that would take Cassidy from the corridors of Parliament House to the Prime Minister's office itself, before carrying him overseas to report on some of the defining political stories of the late twentieth century.

As part of our ongoing profile series, Barrie Cassidy joins Tina Quinn to reflect on those formative years, his time working for Bob Hawke, and the experiences that shaped one of Australia's most respected political journalists.

This is part one of a special two-part conversation.

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fourthestate@2ser.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or tweet us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@fourthestateau
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