Amidst the ongoing debate over ABC funding, the Friends of the ABC is asking “does the media tell the truth?”.

This will be the topic for discussion at an upcoming FABC sponsored forum in Melbourne.

Media plays a critical role in our lives. In modern times media is the gateway to
information. It determines what the public will and will not know about all range of matters.

FABC’s Terry Laidler says: ”It is hard for journalists in commercial media
to uphold the principles of quality journalism
in the face of the commercial and political
interests of private media owners. There are
huge pressures on the ABC, Australia’s
independent national public broadcaster and
one of the most significant producers and
disseminators of culture and information in
Australia.

And it could get worse. Free trade
negotiations with the US and ceaseless efforts
of major media owners to weaken media laws
threaten Australian culture, ownership of its
media and the limited diversity and localism
which remains.”

Victorian FABC President and former ABC
Presenter Terry Laidler will chair the forum.

Guest speakers will include:
Morag Fraser, Adjunct Professor at La Trobe
University and former editor of Eureka
Street; Ben Knight,
ABC Radio current affairs reporter; and
Claire Miller, Senior Age journalist and National Vice-
President of Media Entertainment &
Arts Alliance.

The Public Meeting will take place on Tuesday 9 September between 7.30 – 9.00 pm at
Maroondah Secondary
College, Ringwood (Melway map 50 E3).