| Media Watch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Media analysis |
| Directed by | David Rector |
| Presented by | Linton Besser |
| Theme music composer | Roi Huberman |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 33 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Mario Christodoulou |
| Running time | 15 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | 8 May 1989 (1989-05-08) – present |
Media Watch, formerlyMedia Watch: The Last Word, is an Australian television programme created and broadcast byABC Television. It is dedicated to theanalysis and critique of Australian media, including its corporate and political interconnections. A number of journalists have presented the program since it premiered in 1989. As of March 2025[update] the program's host isLinton Besser.
The show, initially calledMedia Watch: The Last Word,[1][2] first aired in 1989, withStuart Littlemore as the inaugural host.[3]
In 1992 the subtitle was dropped and the show became simplyMedia Watch.[3]
Media Watch is a 15-minute program which identifies, investigates and examines instances of what the program determines to be failings in news coverage by Australian media outlets. The series features a single host speaking directly to camera, detailing a mix of amusing or embarrassing editing gaffes (such as miscaptioned photographs or spelling errors) as well as more serious criticism includingmedia bias and breaches ofjournalistic ethics and standards. Over the years, the program's emphasis has shifted towards the latter.[4][5]
Although most episodes ofMedia Watch focus on any recent incidents of media misconduct, episodes sometimes focus on a single issue of particular importance (for instance, news coverage of a recent election).
Stuart Littlemore was the inaugural host ofMedia Watch. Since his nine-year tenure, various other journalists have hosted the program.Paul Barry, who previously hosted the program in 2000 and for a brief period in 2010, resumed hosting duties in 2013, and is the show's longest-running host. He left the show on 2 December 2024.[6] Linton Besser currently hosts the program.[7]
In 1999,Media Watch revealed a regime of corrupt secret payments within thetalkback radio industry which included influential hostsAlan Jones andJohn Laws. They had been paid to provide favourable on-air comment about companies such asQantas,Optus,Foxtel andMirvac without disclosing these arrangements to listeners.Media Watch also persistently criticised theAustralian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) as impotent or unwilling to regulate broadcast media, and to properly scrutinise figures such as Jones and Laws. The revelations wonMedia Watch staffersRichard Ackland,Deborah Richards and Anne Connolly twoWalkley Awards: theGold Walkley, and the Walkley for TV Current Affairs Reporting (Less Than 10 Minutes).
In 2004,Media Watch played a major part in forcing the resignation of ABA headDavid Flint after it was discovered that Flint had sent Jones admiring and effusive letters at a time when the ABA was investigating Jones concerning further cash for comment allegations. The reports wonMedia Watch another Walkley, TV Current Affairs Reporting (Less Than 20 Minutes) to staffers David Marr,Peter McEvoy and Sally Virgoe.
In 2002,Channel Nine60 Minutes reporterRichard Carleton suedMedia Watch over allegations ofplagiarism. The judge found that the allegations were untrue and declined to award any damages.[20]
In 2022,Media Watch ran a piece about "a difficult conversation we all need to have", accusing the ABC of bias against "anti-trans voices" by examining its collaboration with LGBT health organization ACON, and its participation in ACON's "Workplace Equality Index", in which it has at least twice received the title of "Gold Employer". The piece drew significant scorn from ABC news staff, withPatricia Karvelas responding with "The ABC also participates in other benchmarking indexes to monitor its progress and improve workplace practices, such as those run by theDiversity Council Australia,Reconciliation Australia, and the Australian Network on Disability. But only scrutiny of one group." Luke Siddham Dundon tweeted "The ABC also has relationships with other diversity organisations, so why are you picking on our partnerships with LGBTQI+ communities and organisations?"[21] ABC tech reporter Ariel Bogle responded by stating that anti-trans talking points are "often intertwined with far-right entities and narratives".[22]
The ABC itself issued a statement on the matter, saying "participation in benchmarking indexes has no bearing on content commissioning processes and no influence on editorial content" and "transgender and gender identity issues are complex and require careful editorial judgement to ensure informed reporting without causing offence or undue distress and harm to vulnerable individuals and communities."[23]
Media Watch's ability to generate controversy led to the temporary cancellation of the show. In 2000, Barry was controversially sacked and, in 2001, the program itself was axed byJonathan Shier, the head of the ABC. However, in early 2002, after Shier was himself sacked in similarly controversial circumstances, the show returned with David Marr as the new host.[24] WhileMedia Watch was off air, former host Stuart Littlemore presented a replacement program,Littlemore, that also examined issues about the media, running for 13 episodes between March and May 2001.[24]
Starting in 2017 in conjunction withMedia Watch's return and running until Paul Barry's departure in 2024, an online spin-off series,Media Bites, ran weekly.[25] A new episode was uploaded every Thursday to the program's website,[26] social media outlets,iView and ABC's officialYouTube channel,[27] each episode running for about two minutes. Unlike the main show,Media Bites is more casual in presentation, and Barry sat in the production office (not a studio) talking to the camera in a position similar to many onlinevloggers. Barry was often in more casual clothing using the light source of the office instead of professional lighting.
Each episode has the same format, two mini-stories and the week'salternative fact. The mini-stories are in essence a shorter version of the main series in-depth format, introducing the story and explaining the problem. The Alternative Fact of the Week points out an incorrect or baffling titbit, often involvingUS PresidentDonald Trump. Episodes conclude with a "teaser" for the following episode of the main show. The episodes contained the same sarcasm and quips from Barry as does the main show.
Episodes were edited in a similar fashion to the main show, with relevant corresponding images, text and effects relating to his narration. One difference in editing is that subtitles are permanently part of the video along the bottom of the screen, instead of being an optionalclosed caption.
The show's presenters have taken some pride in the vehemence of the criticism it attracts; at one point, the opening credits were made up of a montage of such criticisms, prominently featuring a description of original presenter Stuart Littlemore as a 'pompous git'. In 2002, the then-editor ofThe Daily Telegraph, Campbell Reid, sent host David Marr a dead fish; a replica of it is now awarded as the Campbell Reid Perpetual Trophy for the Brazen Recycling of Other People's Work.[28] Known as "The Barra" and bearing the mottoCarpe Verbatim, it is awarded annually for bad journalism and particularly plagiarism (a practice for which Reid was frequently criticised).
Media Watch scrutinises all media outlets, and has criticised its own network, the ABC.[29] When Marr was host from 2002 to 2004, the show often criticised Marr's employerJohn Fairfax Holdings.[citation needed]
Robert Manne, writing inThe Age in 2007, commented that:
Media Watch was once, unashamedly, a program of the left... was sometimes unbalanced and unfair, usually intelligent and witty, always fearless and tough. No program more effectively tracked the steady drift of the political culture to the right. No program more effectively scrutinised the politics and practices of the contemporary commercial mainstream media—the rise of commentariat Islamophobia, the scandal of "cash for comment". The fact that it was not "impartial" was the key to its unpopularity in certain quarters, but also to its importance and success.[30]
Commentary programs and segments onSky News Australia also allege the program has a consistent left wing bias. Following the2019 federal election, Sky News Australia commentatorChris Kenny (writing forThe Australian) claimed that the program had a reliance onLabor Party ortrade union-aligned journalists for its criticisms ofNews Corp. Kenny further claimed a failure to disclose these alleged associations, and opined that this undermined the credibility of host Barry's analyses of News Corp's output & business methods.[31]
The Australian, which is regularly criticised byMedia Watch, has been a long-term critic of the show. In August 2007 it editorialised thatMedia Watch "lacks journalistic integrity and conducts its affairs along the lines of an insiders' club that pushes its ideological prejudice at taxpayers' expense".[32]
In June 2007, an episode ofMedia Watch entitled "Have Your Spray"[33] strongly criticisedThe Daily Telegraph, among others, for failing to censor racist comments on their website forums posted over an extended period, but then allowed strongly anti-Semitic comments to remain on its own web forum for a "few minutes" until removed.[34] The ABC later launched an internal inquiry into claims and criticisms published byNews Corp mastheads thatMedia Watch's allegedly relied onIslamicSydney, supposedly "an Islamic website that peddle[s] anti-Semitic and jihadi messages", for this story.[35]
The veteran reporter was horrified to see Media Watch accuse him of plagiarising a BBC documentary on the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica for his Channel Nine program. But today a judge ruled that even though the program did defame Mr Richard Carleton and two colleagues, it was fair comment and no damages were awarded.
