The Wheeler Centre

In Australia to receive the 2016 Sydney Peace Prize, Naomi Klein joins Aamer Rahman for a conversation at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne. What are the specifics of Klein’s ideas for a new economic model? In the Australian context, how does Klein see climate action intersecting with other social justice causes, such as the Indigenous land rights movement? And how can the threat of climate change build unity and create momentum for change?

At the first F Word Address in November – the Wheeler Centre's inaugural feminist year in review – Caroline Wilson reflects on the year that was. How have the last 12 months altered or entrenched her personal sense of feminism? How do milestones, such as the launch of the AFL Women’s League this year, bolster her sense of progress? What does she see as the wins this year for Australian women and what are the ongoing challenges?

Why do governments keep pouring money into private schools? And why do parents continue to make sacrifices to educate their kids privately? Is an education about more than academic results and, if so, what do private schools offer that public schools don’t? How much of this is about marketing and perception? We unpack these questions, and more, in a full hour of audience Q&A. Hosted by Madeleine Morris with Monash University education researcher, David Zyngier; former Camberwell High principal, Elida Brereton; and Lucy Clark, author of Beautiful Failures.

People want free content. Publishers want to pay their bills. Editors want to reach audiences. Brands want to reach customers. But people don’t want to see ads – and adblockers are seriously disrupting what may have been an imperfect but tolerable financial model for many publishers and audiences. So: how are media outlets dealing with different consumer tactics for avoiding ads, and grappling with the question of whether to abandon the web in favour of apps and other platforms? And how are advertisers and technology platforms trying to outsmart their publics?

Has greater media coverage of Muslims and Islam increased understanding … or fuelled the opposite? How can journalists achieve greater accuracy and fairness in reporting? Can more nuanced and diverse stories offset the persistence of stereotypes – and the ol’ ‘us versus them’?

Governments used to micromanage the broadcasting business and agonise about what newspaper, TV and radio moguls thought of their policies on media. As users shift to other sources for their news, information and entertainment, are media policy makers asleep at the wheel?

Serious news to sustain democracy, or all the fun of the fair? Nowhere are recent changes and developments in journalism more apparent than in election reporting: live counts, AR data visualisation, real-time statistical modelling and visual storytelling still leave one question hanging – how much influence does media have over elections?

Don’t just get the quotes – get the story. In an age of snack-sized news, are audiences hungry for a meatier tale? For many, nourishing narrative journalism and slow-cooked longform interviews satisfy an appetite for immersion; we’ll talk to the best in the business about how to steer a rich, often tender, conversation.

Does journalism matter – and if so, why? As newsrooms shrink, what does the public lose? A team of researchers led by the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne has been investigating the role journalism plays in Australian civic life. They discuss the how and why of journalism’s impact, and unveil their latest findings.

The lines continue to blur between advertising, reporting, public relations and opinion. Unexpected players are emerging as ‘media outlets’ – while publishers are increasingly drawing on commercial partnerships. Is this simply a way of making journalism more sustainable, or is something else afoot? And is it as new a phenomenon as commentators would have us believe?