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A massive Facebook group — made up almost entirely of women — is helping to solve a case gripping Australia

This post is by Laura Hazard Owen from Nieman Lab


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“Many journalists before me have courted this tale, for good reason. The story of baby Tegan is one of the greatest mysteries of our times. Keli, the most important person of all, has never spoken.” Most Americans have never heard of Keli Lane or of her baby, Tegan, who disappeared in 1996 when she was only two days old. But the case of Lane — and her murder conviction in 2011, though no body or hard evidence was ever found — has gripped Australia for years. It’s now the subject of a three-part Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary — and a Facebook group that, in around two weeks, has grown to 29,000 members focused on one goal: finding out what actually happened to Tegan. Lane, who is in prison with a chance of parole in 2023, insists that she handed over the baby to her biological father in the hospital’s lobby after
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Australian Gov Officials Reportedly Believe Trump is Prepared to Strike Iran

This post is by Tamar Auber from Mediaite


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Australian government officials are sounding the alarms that President Donald Trump may be close to a strike on Iran, according to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) report published on Thursday. Australia’s ABC notes:
Senior figures in the [Malcolm] Turnbull Government have told the ABC they believe the United States is prepared to bomb Iran’s nuclear capability, perhaps as early as next month, and that Australia is poised to help identify possible targets.
The article also notes, “secretive Australian defence facilities would likely play a role in identifying targets in Iran.” while Canada will likely play no part. The published warnings from Australian official comes on the heels of Trump’s all-cap warnings to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, sent via his favorite medium, Twitter. “To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED Continue reading "Australian Gov Officials Reportedly Believe Trump is Prepared to Strike Iran"
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As The New York Times extends its reach across countries (and languages and cultures), it looks to locals for guidance

This post is by Shan Wang from Nieman Lab


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These are numbers that shout opportunity, seized. The New York Times now has around 2.33 million paid digital-only news subscribers (not counting subscribers to Crosswords and Cooking). 15 percent of those subscribers are from outside the United States. The New York-based, East-Coast-centric news organization is now seeing higher growth rates outside the U.S. than within it. Canada was the biggest market for the Times outside the U.S., even before the Times began officially devoting more resources to growing its reporting and subscriber base in the country. Now Canadian subscribers make up around 27 percent of the Times international subscriber base, according to a Canadaland interview with Times Canada bureau chief Catherine Porter this past spring; that works out to something like 94,000 subscribers. (2,330,000 × .15 × .27 = 94,365.) By some estimates, that’s more paying Canadian digital subscribers than any Canadian news organization can
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WATCH: French President Macron Calls Aussie PM’s Wife ‘Delicious’

This post is by Aidan McLaughlin from Mediaite


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



French President Emmanuel Macron stumbled into an awkward (Freudian?) slip during a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday. Macron, in an effort to thank his host, turned to Turnbull and declared: “I wanted to thank you for your welcome,” Macron said. “Thank you and your delicious wife for your warm welcome.” It’s unclear what word Macron was going for, or whether he was earnestly calling Aussie first lady Lucy Turnbull delicious. For what it’s worth, the French translation of delicious, “délicieux,” has a decidedly less flirty connotation than its English counterpart. It’s typically reserved for food, e.g. un pain au chocolat délicieux. Macron’s gaffe in Sydney comes hot off of his speech in Washington D.C. before a joint session of Congress, in which he delivered — in English — a rousing call for cooperation between the two allies on global affairs Continue reading "WATCH: French President Macron Calls Aussie PM’s Wife ‘Delicious’"
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WATCH: Insane Three-Day Long Brawl Aboard Cruise Ship Forces Families to Hide in Cabins

This post is by Lawrence Bonk from Mediaite


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When you picture a ten-day cruise around the South Pacific, you probably picture stuffing your face at the midnight buffet and then rocking out to the sweet, sweet tunes of the ocean’s number one Doobie Brothers cover band, Takin’ it to the Seas. You don’t, however, imagine a massive 23-person brawl that goes on for literally three days, with the violence escalating to a point where non-brawling passengers had to hide in their rooms to keep safe. That’s exactly what happened to a number of horrified vacationers during a Carnival Cruise last week. The brawl broke out amidst a “big Italian family.” Yeah. A family of 23 angry people just looking for something, or someone, to smash. It wasn’t long, though, before they got bored with one another and focused their fisticuffs on regular passengers, with a keen eye to bust up Australians for some reason. “[People were] getting Continue reading "WATCH: Insane Three-Day Long Brawl Aboard Cruise Ship Forces Families to Hide in Cabins"
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Why Teaching Data Journalism is a Challenge at Most Universities

This post is by Kayt Davies from MediaShift


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This story originally appeared on Data Driven Journalism: Where Journalism Meets Data. Awareness that data journalism is a serious and valuable part of contemporary journalism has well and truly dawned. There are — and hopefully always will be — inventive front-runners finding new ways to fulfill journalism’s time-honored mission, while also using the latest tools available. But, what has been slower is the induction of these trailblazers’ key ideas into the curriculum of everyday journalism education. And this is no small thing. This was my dilemma in early 2016. My way forward was research. I wrote an academic paper that involved reviewing the literature and interviewing 35 other Australian journalism academics about what they were doing about the problem. What I learned, in brief, was that I was not alone, and there were tools and techniques that could help effectively bring data into journalism curricula.

Translating the Profession to Education

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Australian Journalism Education Fueled by International Collaboration, Field Experiences

This post is by Wajeehah Aayeshah from MediaShift


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The byline of the article caught my eye: “Reporting from Pakistan.” As a Pakistani settled in Melbourne, I was baffled. How could this Australian university-run news website have special reports from Pakistan? RMIT Senior Lecturer Alexandra Wake, a participant in my research project on trends in Australian journalism education, explained it was the product of an international collaboration between RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia), University of Peshawar (Peshawar, Pakistan), and University of Stanford (Stanford, Calif, USA). International collaborations like this one, as well as those with indigenous groups and across various regions of the country, are driving Australian journalism education right now. Additional key shifts include an emphasis on entrepreneurship, adaptation to a changing industry and a focus on indigenous cultures, all of which help students build connections in a global society.

How International Collaboration Worked

The students from Melbourne and Peshawar had a joint classroom via Skype
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BREAKING: SUV Plows At Least A Dozen Pedestrians in Melbourne, Australia

This post is by Joseph A. Wulfsohn from Mediaite


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A vehicle has reportedly hit several pedestrians on a busy street in Melbourne, Australia around 6PM local time. Australian authorities have arrested the driver behind the wheel of a white SUV. At least a dozen victims were taken to the hospital, including a preschool aged girl who is in serious condition. It has yet been confirmed whether or not this was a terrorist attack. Reports have ranged between 15-19 people were hit.
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WATCH: Australian Lawmaker Proposes to Partner on Parliament Floor Amid Gay Marriage Debate

This post is by Caleb Ecarma from Mediaite


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As the debate on same-sex marriage continues in Australia, a lawmaker added a personal element while discussing the bill on Parliament’s floor by proposing to his partner right then and there. “In my first speech I defined our bond by the ring that sits on both of our left hands, and they are the answer to a question we cannot ask. There’s only one thing left to do: Ryan Patrick Bolger, will you marry me?” Said Representative Tim Wilson to his partner Ryan Bolger who was viewing the debate from balcony seating, as reported by Reuters. Bolger nodded and mouthed the word “YES” to a thunderous applause from on-lookers. While the couple are already wearing engagement Continue reading "WATCH: Australian Lawmaker Proposes to Partner on Parliament Floor Amid Gay Marriage Debate"
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Watch This Australian Politician Deliver a Bizarre Rant on Gay Marriage and Killer Crocodiles

This post is by Joe DePaolo from Mediaite


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



We don’t know exactly what this is. Or why this is. We just know it needs to be watched. In comments to reporters on Sunday, Bob Katter — an Austrailian Parliament member — addressed the topic of gay marriage. It’s a subject which apparently ranks pretty low on Katter’s priority list. And it ranks very low when compared to, say, killer crocodiles. The politican’s remarks began smoothly enough, as he tried to adopt a posture of ambivalence. “I mean, you know, people are entitled to their sexual proclivities,” Katter said, with a chuckle. “Let there a thousand blossoms blooming.” Then, in the blink of an eye, Katter’s mood turned dark — and he executed one of the clumsiest segues in television history. “But I ain’t spending any time on it, because in the meantime, every three months, a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in North Queensland. Continue reading "Watch This Australian Politician Deliver a Bizarre Rant on Gay Marriage and Killer Crocodiles"
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Australian Leader Responds After Trump Call Leaks: ‘I Stand Up For Australia’s Interests’

This post is by Jon Levine from Mediaite


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Yesterday a lot of digital ink was spilled amid breathless parsing of leaked transcripts of President Trump’s conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Australia. Today we got a response from one of those leaders. Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who had a ferocious conversation with Trump back in January over a 2015 refugee deal, delivered comments attempting to tamp down the significance of the phone call. “It’s always better when these conversations remain confidential,” he said at the outset. “As I said, it was a courteous, frank conversations, as President Trump said, we’re both adults. I stand up for Australia’s interests, he stands up for America’s interests.” The two men did seem to have better rapport during Turnbull’s Continue reading "Australian Leader Responds After Trump Call Leaks: ‘I Stand Up For Australia’s Interests’"
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Trump Spars With Australian Leader Over Refugees: ‘I Hate Taking These People’

This post is by Jon Levine from Mediaite


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



On Thursday the Washington Post published a revealing (but not really that surprising) series of quotes from transcripts of calls between Donald Trump and the leaders of Mexico and Australia. While the Post led with Trump’s tense call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and demands that he stop publicly refusing to pay for the wall, the fireworks between Trump and Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull was arguably even more contentious. The two leaders, both businessmen turned politicians sparred repeatedly about the status of a 2015 deal agreed to by President Obama to accept refugees currently marooned on the island of Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island. The roughly 2,000 people were denied entry to Australian and are currently being held in detention camps. “I hate taking these people,” Trump said, according to the transcript, the Post reported. “I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they Continue reading "Trump Spars With Australian Leader Over Refugees: ‘I Hate Taking These People’"