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Ending the Affair: The Decline of Television Current Affairs in Australia
Author(s): Graeme Turner (Author)
- Publisher: University of New South Wales Press (UNSW Press)
- Publication Date: 1 July 2005
- Language: English
- Print length: 173 pages
- ISBN-10: 0868408646
- ISBN-13: 9780868408644
Book Description
Ending the Affair examines the state of current affairs television in Australia today by pondering its future, while drawing lessons from the past. The book questions the social and political value of what we now think of as current affairs journalism. Underpinning this approach is the conviction that TV current affairs serves functions which are important to a civilised democracy. If the contemporary version of television current affairs is not serving that function – and if there is nothing else which is – then “”Ending the Affair”” suggests this is cause for concern. Along the way, the book provides fresh insight into key components of the history of Australian television current affairs. It deals with the earliest programs (“”This Day Tonight””, for example), as well as with the most contemporary versions (“”A Current Affair””); with commercial free-to-air programs, as well as the ABC, SBS and pay TV. Finally, the analysis is placed within the industrial and regulatory conditions in which Australian TV current affairs are produced and consumed.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘Journalists don’t pay a lot of attention to our own history. I don’t hear a lot of debate within the industry about the survival of television journalism, so am grateful for this important contribution. Graeme Turner describes the cyclical regeneration of television current affairs as more by accident than design. As a journalist I typically look forward to the next accident.’ – Chris Masters, ABC investigative journalist
About the Author
Graeme Turner is Professor of Cultural Studies and Director of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland. He is one of the founding figures of media and cultural studies in Australia and internationally. He has published on film, television, literature, radio and Australian popular culture and is currently working on a study of talkback radio.
