Australia was grasping for soft power long before the term ‘soft power’ was invented. Here’s an official example from 32 years ago: Countries still achieve their international objectives by threat, bribe or persuasion. Australia has …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
Australia’s international broadcasting effort in the Asia–Pacific is at its lowest-ever level. These are the worst of times for Australian international TV, which is 25 years old this year. And these are the hardest of …
To serve Australia’s interests, influence and values in the Asia–Pacific, we need a new entity, an Australian International Broadcasting Corporation. The review of Australia’s media reach in the Asia–Pacific (submissions close at 5 pm AEST …
The wrack and roil afflicting the international system matches the digital disruption of news media. The rules and norms of the foreign policy game and media world both shake, shift and suffer. Australia frets about …
For 25 years, Australia’s international TV voice has been a political plaything and a broadcasting afterthought, constantly facing chops and changes. Australian governments have treated our international TV service more as a political game than …
Launching Australia’s international radio service in December 1939, Prime Minister Robert Menzies declared: ‘The time has come to speak for ourselves.’ World War II woke Australia to the need for its own, distinctive international voice. …
‘Fake news’ approaches the 100th anniversary of its creation moment. The 11th of November marks the centenary of the end of World War I, the exhausted crescendo of the catastrophe that produced the modern craft …
The old joke that it’s easy to have an open mind if you’ve got an empty mind has a Canberra version. The rejigged jibe judges that it’s simpler to run an inquiry if the policy …
The review of Australia’s media reach in the Asia–Pacific is an orphan inquiry that has the chance to do great work. The responsible adults didn’t want the orphan, but they really need it. The Coalition …
‘When the balance of power changes, it is not the power we lose, but the balance.’ Florence Parly, French Minister for the Armed Forces, Singapore, 3 June 2018 The power balance wobbles and lots of …
In the second decade of the modern age of terrorism, it’s a cliché to say that the struggle will last decades. But even if a cliché is stale, it can express a major truth. So …
When Australia adopted the term ‘Indo-Pacific’ five years ago—replacing ‘Asia–Pacific’—the aim was to widen Canberra’s understanding of ‘the region’. ‘Ho hum’, said the region. Now, the idea of the Indo-Pacific is humming. Japan’s Shinzō Abe …