Media in the Land of the Stars and Stripes

Today’s American media is sharply divided along left and right political lines, with little room in the middle for the objective news and current affairs that was once the norm. From Fox News to The Daily Show, the New York Post to the New York Times, everyone has an agenda.
Are the public being duped – or are they complicit? And how far does the media influence politics … will it elect the next president, or will the people? What lessons does all this hold for Australia?
Join Richard Fidler, former Newsweek deputy editor Julia Baird and the ABC’s Siobhan Heanue to talk about media and cultural empires in the land of the stars and stripes with Sophie Black.
Featuring
Featuring

Richard Fidler presents Conversations with Richard Fidler, a long-form interview program broadcast around Australia on ABC Radio. Richard has interviewed CIA agents, ex-prisoners, astronauts and the Dalai Lama, but he’s particularly partial to guests unknown to the broader community, who have led ... Read more

Siobhan Heanue is a journalist and presenter for ABC television and radio news. She joined the ABC as a news cadet and is now a Canberra-based reporter. Her reports appear on a range of current affairs programs, including ABC TV’s Lateline, and she presents The Culture Quarter on ABC News 24. In 2... Read more

Sophie Black is head of special projects at the Wheeler Centre where she has worked on projects such as the writers scheme The Next Chapter, the podcast mentoring scheme Signal Boost, the multi-award-winning podcast, The Messenger, and the ABC RN program, Talkfest. Previously she was editor-in-chief... Read more

Julia Baird is an author, broadcaster and journalist. She has recently returned from the United States, where she worked as a columnist and deputy editor of Newsweek. Her writing has appeared in a range of publications, including the Daily Beast, Harpers Bazaar, the Guardian, the Philadelphia Inquir... Read more
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