One From The Archives: Laura Tingle Sits Down With Tina Quinn

·30 min·3 clips

Laura Tingle faces a media maelstrom after calling Australia racist and criticising Peter Dutton's budget reply.

Host Tina Quinn introduces the episode as a timely archive revisit, noting Laura Tingle's recent comments at the Sydney Writers Festival that sparked a media maelstrom. Quinn sets the context by recalling a 2021 interview where Tingle addressed similar tensions between News Corp and the ABC. Tingle criticises The Australian for its relentless attacks on ABC journalists like Sally Neighbour and Louise Milligan, describing it as tedious and perplexing. She explains that politicians often target the ABC to gain attention and curry favour with leadership, citing it as a transparent career move. Tingle shares her experience with social media scrutiny, noting how ABC journalists are monitored for their likes and tweets, which she finds excessive. She contrasts the accountability at the ABC with her time in private media, stating ABC journalists face higher standards due to public funding. Reflecting on her career at News Limited, Tingle describes The Australian's historical shift from a conservative economic focus to a more aggressive, socially driven agenda. The discussion turns to New Zealand, where Tingle highlights the absence of Murdoch ownership and diverse media as factors in less polarised politics. She compares Australia's missed opportunities with Indigenous treaties to New Zealand's Treaty of Waitangi. Tingle analyses the decline in Australian politics, noting a shift from policy-driven debates to political operatives and fragmentation. She mentions the impact of Sky News after dark in regional areas and the rise of alternative media outlets like The Guardian and Crikey. Throughout, Tingle emphasises the journalist's role in providing context and information, urging young journalists to focus on storytelling rather than fame. The episode concludes with Quinn previewing a future discussion on recent attacks against Tingle and the ABC.

As heard by us

Laura Tingle's account of The Australian places today's media conflict in a longer history of newsroom culture and technological change.

Laura Tingle's archival interview gives the current News Corp-ABC conflict a longer memory. She recalls The Australian in the 1980s and 1990s as a newsroom with a conservative economic agenda, but also a clear sense of itself as a paper of record.

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Why you'd press play

Want the backstory beneath the News Corp-ABC heat? Start with Laura Tingle remembering The Australian from the inside.

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