Melbourne Cup

The race starts at 3 pm. Live audio is available from Radio Australia from 2.30 Melbourne time. Live video on BigPond is free if you registered in time.

Cup live video

BigPond is allowing ALL broadband users in Australia free access to their live streaming video of the Melbourne Cup tomorrow. You must register to get a password and instructions.

Rural award - SA

Entries for the South Australian Telstra Rural Journalist of the Year Award close today.

Diwali starts tomorrow

Diwali - the festival of lights - starts tomorrow Tuesday 1 November 2005 and lasts for five days. Hindus and Sikhs celebrate it as the start of the Hindu new year. Houses are decorated with fresh flowers, garlands and lights, and fireworks are set off. Candles or lamps are lit to represent the spirit of God as truth and light. It is also known as Deepawali and sometimes described as the Indian Christmas.

Halloween

Today is Halloween - All Hallows' Eve - and tomorrow All Saints’ Day.

CBA awards close

Entries for the Commonwealth Broadcasting Awards 2006 close today, London time.

Natali prize

Entries for the Lorenzo Natali Prize - and its AU$ 22,000 prize pool - close tomorrow, Monday 31 October 2005.

News map

An Italian site GeoNews is plotting Google News stories on a Google Map of the world. You look at the map, decide where you want your news from, and click on the icon for any story there. Up comes brief details and a link. It refreshes every thirty seconds. Weird but fun.

BOB awards

Voting for Deutsche Welle’s world-wide Best of the Blogs (BOB) Awards are in the closing stages. Before November 20 go to their award blog for links to some of the best blogs in the world, and to have your vote.

DST

Daylight saving time starts tonight and ends in all states on Sunday 2 April 2006. The ABC has details and a handy interactive clock. Officially this becomes Australian Eastern Daylight Time AEDT and the equivalent for Central and Western time. Non-daylight saving time is designated Australian Eastern Standard Time AEST, and equivalents.

Farmer Writers’ AGM

The annual general meeting of the Farm Writers’ Association of NSW is on at 11 am Menzies Hotel Sydney today. A talk by Mark Spurr Managing Director of Meat and Livestock Australia follows the AGM.

NEMBC early registrations closes

Early registration for the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters’ Council conference in Geelong 25-27 November 2005 closes today.

ASC media awards

Nominations for the Australian Sports Commission Media Awards close today.

Jail journalism

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is teaching journalism to prisoners in UK jails. The scheme piloted at Wandsworth in 2001 is now set to go nationwide. It ‘gives the socially excluded the opportunity to gain valuable journalistic skills’ but one has to ask what it does for public perception of journalism and journalists, already very low in most developed countries.

Media Report

On this week’s Media Report at 8.30 am today on Radio National the Chairman of the House of Representative's Communications Committee , Queensland National MP Paul Neville. He thinks it is time for the ABC to be subjected to a minimum quota for producing Australian drama. Listen live online here.

OUP language report

Susie Dent Fanboys and Overdogs: The Language Report was published by Oxford University Press on 6 October 2005 [hardback pp163 ISBN 0192806769 AU$35]. It is OUP's annual catch-up on the language and full of firm decisions and delightful examples. For one, UK's The Sun summed up the defeat of Glasgow football club Celtic who hit a new low in the Scottish Cup when beaten by newcomers Inverness Caledonian Thistle, popularly known as Caley.
The Sun headline was "Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious."
And the Queen's decision not to attend the wedding of Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.
Britain's Mirror headline read "Royal Wedding Snub Sensation: Heir Rage."
The New York Post opted for "Queen to Skip Chuck Nups."

JEA Ossie Awards

Entries and judging criteria for these student awards are now on the JEA website. http://www.jea.org.au/awards.htm. The winners will be announced at the JEA Conference 29 November 2005.

News Xchange

A conference of unusual relevance for working journalist News Xchange is on in Amsterdam 10-11 November 2005. Some 500 journalists get together for the conference which is not for ‘media’, does not consider ‘communications’ and just concentrates on what is worrying or interesting the poor slobs at the sharp end. At this stage it is planned to blog the whole conference and the transcripts and papers go up fairly quickly.

Photo agency

There are now two online photo agencies specialising in digital/phone pics. The latest Spy Media is based in the USA and offering free uploads until the end of October 2005. The first was UK based Scoopt. Working journalists who take such pics can now upload them to both sites where the pics are published automatically and if/when sold the site takes a slice of the action. Photo editors will have to keep an eye on these sites for fast breaking stories

Public service broadcasting book

Those of us who must “talk-the-talk” of public service broadcasting will find UNESCO’s just released Public Service Broadcasting: A Best Practices Source Book (UNESCO, Paris, October 2005 143 pp) an essential reference. It is a fast pdf download from the UNESCO site and hardcopy is free from most UNESCO offices. Do not be put off by the foreword which is very different to the main contents.

Scotsman archive

Every word of The Scotsman newspaper from 1817 to 1950 is now available online and searchable. It is the first complete searchable digital archive of a UK newspaper. Searching is free but you must subscribe to view the full article. Rates are reasonable, payable by credit card, and cater for occasional users. A quick search for a complex subject worked very well, and a search for five known articles found all of them.

UN Day

Events today to mark United Nations Day 24 October 2005 are:
Canberra a march and wreath laying at War Memorial UN Peacekeeper’s Association
followed by a Forum at the ACT Legislative Assembly on Youth and Peace.
Hobart a memorial service at the Cenotaph UNAA/UN Police Association and a luncheon at Parliament House addressed by Ali Kazak of Palestine National Delegation, and a reception at Government House.
Adelaide a UN Day dinner with speaker John Langmore national president of UNAA.

Note: UN TV, General Assembly sessions, the and noon press briefings are webcast live at http://www.un.org/webcast/.

ACS awards - NSW & ACT

The Australian Cinematographers Society state Awards for NSW and the ACT will be announced at a dinner in Sydney tonight, Saturday 22 October 2005. The awards include news and current affairs camerawork, but only members of the society can enter.

North Queensland awards

The Telstra Countrywide Media Awards (North Queensland) will be announced at a dinner in Cairns this evening, Saturday 22 October 2005.

9/12/2005: The winners are listed here.

OPSO awards

Winners of the three OPSO awards for 2005 are listed here.

Media Peace Awards

The winners of the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Awards will be announced at a dinner in Melbourne tonight. A list of finalists is on the UNAA (VIC) site.

AlertNet

Subs and reporters covering fast breaking international disasters - earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunami, fires - need to know about AlertNet a not-for-profit early warning site. It uses satellite pictures and other information to give the fastest and latest information and maps of what’s going on. Only aid organisations are allowed to subscribe - and you must subscribe to use it - but they do let some journalists in, particularly if their bosses throw money at it. AlertNet is funded by Reuters Foundation.

AV news site

Australian journalists working in or covering the EU should look at the EU communication people’s wonderful new av site for journalists. It includes live broadcast quality video and an archive of pics, video and audio back to the 1940s. You have to register - but it’s no problem. Just don’t try it if you don’t have broadband.

ACS awards - VIC & TAS

Entries for the Australian Cinematographers Society state Awards for Victoria and Tasmania close today Friday 21 October 2005. News and current affairs camerawork qualifies but only members of the society can enter, which is a problem for multiskilled journalists.

Health journalism awards close

The National Press Club’s Excellence in Health Journalism Awards close tomorrow, Friday 21 October 2005. First prize is a return trip to the USA, and there are four other prizes of $1,000 each.

Journalism law seminar

Professor Mark Pearson author of The Journalist's Guide to Media Law is conducting a two day seminar on:

• defamation reform
• contempt of court
• special restrictions
• internet publishing pitfalls
• latest cases crime and justice reporting
• confidentiality

at Bond University 7 & 9 December 2005. Cost $390.

NT media awards

The Darwin Press Club's Northern Territory Media Awards were announced on 16 October 2005. The club does not have a web presence and the only mention of the awards on the web is in the media, including this one at the ABC.

OPSO media awards

The Older People Speak Out (OPSO) Media Awards will be presented at a dinner in Brisbane tomorrow night, 18 October 2005. The awards include Queensland and national ones for work submitted by media people, and the national People's Choice awards for work nominated by the public.

Terrorism draft legislation

In case you haven’t caught up with it, the ACT Chief Minister has published the draft anti-terrorism legisation here. It is a 331 Kb pdf and has to be downloaded to read.

Commercial radio awards

The Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAS) were announced at Radio Fest in Sydney last night. Finalists and winners - including journalists - at the CRA website.

Queensland Media Awards

The MEAA's Queensland Media Awards winners were announced in Brisbane last night.

Macquarie Dictionary

The 4th Edition of the full Macquarie Dictionary (ISBN: 1876429143 RRP: $120.00) will be ‘celebrated’ by Thomas Keneally at a Style Council reception at 5.30 pm today at the Eden on the Park, Melbourne.

The 3rd edition of the Macquarie Dictionary is now available online for $13 a year and $20 for both dictionary and thesaurus. It can also be downloaded for $50.

Style Council

The Style Council conference Style in context, Australian and international gets under way in Melbourne this evening with a reception and dinner and the main part of the program tomorrow.

Sydney seminar

The MEAA is putting on an interesting, sort of hybrid seminar in Sydney at the end of November called Free Media in a Democratic Society. The preliminary programme is:

WEDNESDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2005 4 pm
The Asia-Alliance Media Lecture: Free Media & Democracy in Asia
Siddharth Varadarajan one of India's most senior journalists who writes for The Hindu and author of Gujarat: the Making of a Tragedy will speak on the media's role in ethnic and religious strife, with special focus on the impact on Muslims of the Gujarat tragedy, the destruction of Buddhas in Afghanistan and the long-running Indo-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir.
Steven Gan founder and publisher of malaysiakini.com a leading news website in Malaysia, will talk on the roll that new news media plays in promoting democracy and human rights in Asia.
Sunanda Deshapriya senior journalist and co-founder/ spokesperson of Sri Lanka's Free Media Movement, will talk about the challenges facing journalists in Sri Lanka, particularly the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the Sri Lankan peace process

THURSDAY 1 DECEMBER 2005 8 am
Journalists Under Pressure: Reinventing the Media Paradigm
Max Uechtritz former director of news Channel 9 and news and current affairs, ABC
Linda Foley president, The Newspaper Guild, USA and Canada
Aidan White general secretary, IFJ
The Story of Diminishing Press Freedom in Australia
John Martinkus journalist, SBS TV
Marion Wilkinson editor, national security, The Sydney Morning Herald
Michael McKinnon editor, freedom of information, The Australian
Richard Ackland editor of Justinian and media law journal Gazette of Law & Journalism
The Government Agenda: The Not So Secret Plan to Tame The Media
Quentin Dempster presenter ABC-TV's Stateline & author of Death Struggle
Liz Jackson presenter Media Watch ABC
Michael Steketee editor national affairs, The Australian

The cost is $50 - $115 depending on who you are and when you pay. Details and registration form available only from the MEAA at 1300 656512 or email events.walkleys@alliance.org.au.

The Walkley Magazine

Issue 35 of Australia’s only magazine devoted to journalism comes out tomorrow. The Walkley Magazine is published six times a year - February, April, June, August, October, December - costs A$55 a year by subscription and A$ 9.95 for a single copy which can be bought from MEAA offices.
It contains a detailed list of Walkley finalists, a fair bit on blogging, and is a good read.

Queensland Media Awards

Winners in the 10th anniversary Awards will be announced at a dinner in Brisbane at 6.30 pm tonight, Friday 14 October 2005. Lists of finalists and the judging panels and categories are available on the MEAA website.

9/12/2005: Winners are listed here.

Walkley finalists

The full list of finalists for the Walkley Awards is only available from SBS. The list is not yet available on either the Walkleys or MEAA sites though they have links through to the SBS page.

As there are no finalists just winners in the two Nikon Walkley Photographic Prizes they were announced:

Suburban/Regional Photography - Brian Cassey, The Townsville Bulletin “Crash Grief”
Commended: Craig Wilson, FPC Courier Newspapers, “Eye Gouge”
Portrait Photography - Sahlan Hayes, Sunday Life, Fairfax, “Mrs Whitlam”
Commended: Tamara Dean, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Mother and Child.”

Crime not Jihad

Coverage of the latest Bali bombings as a religious rather than a crime story has heightened a negative perception of Muslims, says Adjunct Professor Peter Manning, former head of news and current affairs at Channel Seven and the ABC. For the details see Annie Lawson’s story in the Age.

National Press Club

Professor Brien Holden of Vision CRC speaks at the National Press Club at 1 pm today. It will be telecast live nationally on the ABC and replayed at 3.25 am on Thursday.

Ethics text

Stephen Tanner - the new Head of Journalism at the University of Wollongong - has just released his book Journalism Ethics at Work (Pearson ISBN: 1741032180 pb). It’s aimed at undergraduate and early career journalists, is specific to Australia, and a good read.
In interviews about the book Tanner is talking of developing UOW’s program at an undergraduate level.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur - literally ‘Day of Atonement’ - is the most sacred date in the Jewish calendar. Orthodox Jews fast from sunset tonight, Wednesday 12 October, until nightfall tomorrow, Thursday 13 October 2005.

Media Watch

ABC TV’s Media Watch went to air at 9.15 last night nationally, and contained the recent mistakes, fumbles, and just-not-good-enoughs of Australian reporting and sub-editing. The programme is repeated at 11.50 pm on Wednesday. Story details, transcripts, archives, video-on-demand of last night’s and previous programmes, and an RSS feed, are available on the Media Watch Home Page.

Lorenzo Natali Prize for Journalism

Australian journalists can enter the Lorenzo Natali Prize for Journalism given by the European Commission to print and online journalists for outstanding reporting on human rights and democracy in the developing world. It is for journalists employed by local media in five regions including Asia/Pacific. Reports must focus on human rights or democracy in the developing world and have been published between 1 January 2004 - 31 August 2005. Entries close 31 October 2005. The pool for first, second and third prize and best story is more than A$22,000.

Court Reporting

A new Australian book of interest to many journalists and all editors having trouble getting access to court papers came out last week - Court Reporting in Australia (CUP ISBN 0521615119 A$43 pb) by The Age Chief Court Reporter Peter Gregory. I can't find his bio on the web but there is a photo of him down the page at http://www.about.theage.com.au/list_award.asp.

Newspapers Handbook

Richard Keeble (University of Lincoln UK) this week released a new edition (4th) of his The Newspapers Handbook a practical and specific text on newspaper journalism. British but relevant to Australia. Details at the publisher’s site. ISBN 0-415-33114-5 and AUD 45 paperback.
There's a short bio of Keeble at the bottom of his article Making the Conflict Seem Unreal and he blogs at http://www.medialens.org/weblog/richard_keeble.php.

Also out this week Jenny Mckay (University of Stirling UK) The Magazines Handbook - a practical, specific British text. Details on the publisher's site ISBN 0-415-37137-6 and AUD 45 paperback.

John Doyle's speech

The full pre-written text of John Doyle’s Andrew Olle Media Lecture and a MP3 of the live speech - with typical Doyle asides - is now available on the ABC website.
It will be televised nationally by ABC TV at 10.35 pm tonight.
Reports so far are by SMH's Jeni Porter, AAP, and Peter Fitzsimons has a rueful report at the end of his Page 2 column in today’s Sun-Herald.

Steals/steels

In today’s Sun-Herald page 31 there is a header “City steals itself in wake of latest Bali terrorist attacks (SIC) ” which doesn’t do justice to Amy De Lore’s sober report about the Newcastle families.

Centurion

Is anyone else irritated by leader writers and TV commentators calling a batsman who knocks up a century a “centurion”? A centurion commands 100 troops, is a place in South Africa, and a pretty good kevlar helmet. It’s a bit of a stretch to extend the word to describe a helmeted sportsman anywhere who hits enough balls.

Queensland Media Awards

The names of finalists in the Queensland Media Awards are at <http://www.alliance.org.au/images/stories/qma2005/qma_finalists_2005.pdf> and the winners will be announced on Friday 14 October 2005 at a dinner in Brisbane.

Media Peace Awards

The names of finalists for the United Nations Association of Australia’s Media Peace Awards 2005 are now available at - <http://www.unaavictoria.com.au/pdf/UNAA_Media_Peace_Awards_2005_Finalists.pdf>

Style Council

The registration form for Style Council is now available at <http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/centres/sc/registration05.htm>.

The 2005 conference Style in context, Australian and international will be held in Melbourne on 15-16 October 2005. It is a must for any journalist seriously interested in the latest changes and usages of Australian english and includes the launch of the 4th edition of the Macquarie Dictionary by Thomas Keneally.

The Society of Editors’ National Editor’s Conference precedes it in Melbourne 13-15 October 2005.

ABC Friends newsletter

The September edition of Update, the newsletter of Friends of the ABC is now available at <http://www.fabcnsw.org.au/>.

Olle memorial lecture

John Doyle delivers the 10th annual Andrew Olle Media Lecture at a black tie dinner in Sydney tonight. ABC TV will broadcast it nationally at 10.35 pm on Sunday.

Walkley Awards

Entries for the 50th annual Walkley Awards <www.walkleys.com/> closed a month ago. Finalists will be named on Wednesday 12 October 2005 and the winners announced at a dinner in Sydney on Thursday 1 December 2005.

Daylight saving time

NSW, ACT, Victoria and South Australia DST starts on Sunday 30 October 2005 and ends on Sunday 26 March 2006. Tasmania started DST on 2 October 2005 and also ends 26 March. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory don’t have it. If you’re confused, check out the ABC’s time zone clock <http://www.abc.net.au/backyard/timezone.htm>.

Ramadan

Ramadan in Australia began at sunrise this morning, Wednesday 5 October, and ends at sunset Wednesday 2 November 2005. Orthodox Muslims abstain from both food and drink from sunrise until after sunset prayers when there is a meal called Iftar, frequently an occasion for hospitality. Correct sunrise and sunset (maghrib) times for Australian towns and cities are at - <http://www.islamicfinder.org/cityPrayer.php?country=australia>.
The fast is followed November 3-5 with the Eid ul-Fitr festival, also called Ramzan id.

Travel advisories

The Australian Government official advice on travel - which is very much in the news at present - are at <http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/>.

Official interest rates

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision on official interest rates will be announced at 9.30 am AET today, Wednesday 5 October 2005. The news will be put up on the RBA web site <http://www.rba.gov.au> immediately the Board meeting finishes and will be broadcast live by ABC Radio News on <http://www.abc.net.au/streaming/newsradio.asx>.

Videophone journalism

The editor of Broadcast Engineering, a must-read for most engineers, has recognised the importance of mobile phones in modern journalism. If you need to convince your engineers to pay for a good model of mobile for you, get them to look at David Austerberry's editorial at http://broadcastengineering.com/mag/broadcasting_technology_democratising_news/.

A resource for working journalists in Australia

Welcome to Australian News Resources, replacing the website of the same name which was getting dated too quickly. Blogging will speed up the flow of links and other information and we hope it will be of interest to you. Please contribute or comment as you see fit but keep in mind the blog is intended for journalists working in Australia only. Other sites provide the same information in an international context and for other countries.