Panel: The Year in Media Transition

Dr Sacha Molitorisz hosted this end-of-year event to reflect on trends, controversies and disruption in online discourse with Hal Crawford, Kate de Brito and Clayton Noble. 

Digital platform regulation was on the move in 2021. In February, the world took notice as the News Media Bargaining Code was enacted, prompting a flurry of deals between news publishers and digital platforms. In September, against a backdrop of high-profile defamation lawsuits, the High Court ruled that news media companies are liable for defamatory comments that appear beneath their stories on social media. And in October, Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an end to anonymous bullying and proposed that Facebook be deemed a publisher, just as whistleblower Frances Haugen appeared before US Congress to testify against the social network.  

In this panel session with media and regulation experts, we asked: are we witnessing a wider move to improve online discourse and protect democracy? Or a worrying regulatory overreach that threatens free speech? 

Panellists included author and media consultant Hal Crawford, Executive Director of Flash news streaming service Kate de Brito, and Microsoft Australia's Senior Corporate Counsel Clayton Noble. The CMTs Dr Sacha Molitorisz moderated the session. 

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Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.