{"id":40147,"date":"2018-06-25T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T20:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=40147"},"modified":"2018-06-22T17:06:20","modified_gmt":"2018-06-22T07:06:20","slug":"hard-news-as-the-sharp-edge-of-oz-soft-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/hard-news-as-the-sharp-edge-of-oz-soft-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard news as the sharp edge of Oz soft power"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The old joke that it\u2019s easy to have an open mind if you\u2019ve got an empty mind has a Canberra version.<\/p>\n

The rejigged jibe judges that it\u2019s simpler to run an inquiry if the policy cupboard is bare\u2014there\u2019s not much existing policy in place and new stuff has plenty of space to land.<\/p>\n

The tough truth about the review of Australia\u2019s media reach and role in the Asia\u2013Pacific<\/a> is that it can have an open mind because so much of the policy space is empty. The policy cupboard is a repository of husks and wasting assets: much lost heritage must be reclaimed and a lot of muscle rebuilt.<\/p>\n

Australia has largely vacated the news and journalism contest in the Asia\u2013Pacific.<\/p>\n

Canberra stopped thinking about what good journalism could do for the region, and for Australia\u2019s vital interests.<\/p>\n

The fashionable chatter became new technology and Oz soft power, losing sight of deep truths about the role of journalism. Soft power trumped hard news.<\/p>\n

The national broadcaster with a core international responsibility\u2014the Australian Broadcasting Corporation\u2014followed Canberra\u2019s dismissive lead.<\/p>\n

The Coalition government decided it didn\u2019t need to pay for international television. The ABC, in turn, cut people and money from Radio Australia, shedding much that had been built over eight decades.<\/p>\n

Australia turned its back on its journalistic heritage in our region as so last century<\/em>, discarded as old-fashioned stuff using old technology.<\/p>\n

Mark all that as poor history, lousy policy and appalling judgement.<\/p>\n

Suddenly lots of old media agendas are fresh headaches for Australia. The problems of propaganda and polluted facts are back, rebadged as fake news.<\/p>\n

The policy contest ranges from news to belief systems, zooming through dimensions: it\u2019s about good journalism, technology changing at warp speed, and defining the national interest as the international system morphs and melts.<\/p>\n

Canberra cries about challenges to the rules-based system, in a worried tone tinged with bewilderment, a sense that it shouldn\u2019t be going like this.<\/p>\n

The bewildered tremor\u2014the \u2018What\u2019s happening?\u2019<\/em> sentiment\u2014is there in the terms of reference for the review of Australian broadcasting services in the Asia\u2013Pacific<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The purpose\/objective of the review \u2018is to assess the reach of Australia\u2019s media in the Asia Pacific region, including examining whether shortwave radio technology should be used\u2019. The review is instructed to analyse:<\/p>\n