176: BIAS & BULLIES
ISBN 0 9750837 3 2
SPRING 2004

Does Australia’s media fulfil its role as ‘democracy’s lubricant’? DAVID MARR reveals our media’s “faltering confidence in its own purpose” after “nearly a decade of sustained bullying from government”. Marr’s Overland public lecture, delivered at Melbourne Trades Hall on 29 September 2004, gives a lucid insight into “the drift of public debate in John Howard’s Australia, the way we argue and what we argue about”. Discussing a media that has “lost its edge” in a climate of “bullying politicians, rampant populism, nervous journalists and conservative media”, Marr’s lecture is published in Overland 176, a special issue which makes sense of the forces impacting on public debate in Australia today.

In this issue MARTIN HIRST and ROBERT SCHÜTZE examine the writings of Americophile Greg Sheridan, the Australian’s influential foreign affairs editor, whose religious leanings surfaced in the reporting of the Allied occupation of Iraq. The authors reveal that “Sheridan has adopted the shrill neo-conservative and peculiarly American rhetoric” that has shaped foreign affairs reportage in Australia.

Following the fallout of the Norma Khouri hoax, MATTHEW RICKETSON discusses the perils of ‘truth’ in literary journalism, and LYNDA HAWRYLUK dissects a literary spin campaign that went pear-shaped. While Ricketson explores the problems of fact and reputation in some recent journalistic books, Hawryluk focuses on claims made by Nikki Gemmell, her publisher and the media in the frenzy surrounding The Bride Stripped Bare.

LINDA JAIVIN pokes fun at reality TV, and ANTHONY O'DONNELL looks at the influence of media and money on food consumption.

PRUE TORNEY-PARLICKI writes on a historic episode of political interference in the ABC.

In its 50th year, Overland is proud to publish ROBERT PHIDDIAN’s splendid profile on the doyen of Australian political cartooning: BRUCE PETTY. Many covers of Overland were graced with Petty’s distinctive work, and Phiddian’s essay traces his influence on cartooning and politics in Australia and beyond. The issue boasts 21 of Petty’s early cartoons.

Other contributions to Overland 176 continue the magazine’s tradition of publishing perspectives unavailable in mainstream media, in the forms of poetry, fiction, reviews, essays and memoirs. Overland 176 is the swansong issue for co-editor Katherine Wilson; Nathan Hollier will be editor from Overland 177.