Asia & the Australian Media

Abstract

The 1980 controversy over the character of Australian reporting on Indonesia, notably East Timor, and Radio Australia's broadcasts to Indonesia was a major stimulus for an October 1981 Australian Institute of International Affairs (Canberra Branch) Conference.

The 19 speakers — Australian and Asian journalists and academic specialists on Asia and on media — and 200 participants paid a lot of attention to these issues. But they were discussed in a broader context: Australian media reporting of Asia; the presentation of Australia in Asian media; reforms in the collection and distribution of international and especially developing countries news; and Asian news and the Australian public. This paper reviews the major strands of the Conference.