Media academics out of touch

One thing has been made clear by the Finkelstein media inquiry: there are too many journalism and communication schools in Australia. A glance through submissions to the inquiry reveals a sort of post modern otherworldliness about many academics who concern themselves with questions of media and its role in society. Many of these submissions call for seed money for independent journalism, tax breaks for not-for-profit journalism and ignorantly dismiss the existence or value of a “marketplace of ideas”, because there is no “perfect competition,” writes Luke Malpass in a Financial Review opinion piece.