Mediawatch Podcast

MediaWatch is an ABC program that casts a critical eye on the Australian media, on a weekly basis. It’s screened four times a week on ABCTV and ABC 2, but episodes are also available for download. MediaWatch is often described as ’smug’ or ‘pedantic’ by the newsmakers it generally targets, but nevertheless plays an important role in reminding the community that news and current affairs is the product of (fallible) media practices and personnel. Watching it is a great way to sharpen up your ‘critical attitude’ to the media.

You can download individual episodes of the show here or paste this link – http://abc.net.au/mediawatch/vodcast/mediawatch_mp4.xml – into your iTunes (or your preferred podcast aggregator).

If you prefer to tune in on TV, then Mediawatch screens On ABC TV Mondays 9:20pm and Wednesdays 12:20am; and On ABC2 Wednesdays 10:15pm and Thursdays 8:45am.

 

The Australian Media Report Podcast

ABC Radio National’s ‘Media Report’ is a fantastic guide to the changing media landscape in Australia and beyond.  Unfortunately, the programme airs Thursdays at 8.30am, which is probably not ideal radio-listening time for most folks.  However, you’ll be delighted to hear that it’s also available as a podcast (so you can listen to the ‘Media Report’ on your iPods on the way to uni!).  As you can see from this screenshot…

You have two options: either click ‘listen now’ to hear this programme on your computer or download the full episode.  Again, I hear the canny amongst you point out that mp3 downloading isn’t a podcast by itself – quite right you are, and the link to the podcast is this — http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/mediarpt.xml  — which, as mentioned below, you need to paste into your iTunes or other podcast aggregator to automatically get updates of the latest media reports! 

Happy listening!

Digital Planet

One of the best radio programmes out there about technology and communication is the Digital Planet show produced by the BBC. Every week the show explores different technologies, but almost always with the focus on asking how these technologies improve interactions and communication between people!

To listen to the show, you can either click the Digital Planet link above and follow the “subscribe to podcast” prompts or paste this link – http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/
digitalp/rss.xml - into your favourite podcast aggregator. (Since most of you are using iTunes, if in iTunes you click on the ‘Advanced’ menu, select ‘Subscribe to Podcast’ and past that link into the box that pops up, iTunes will do the rest of the work for you.)

If you’re not sure how to subscribe to a podcast, the BBC has details here for subscribing to their podcasts. If you’re not sure exactly what a podcast is (or how it differs from just an mp3 audio file) click here for an explanation.