With the continual rise of online news and the closures of many newspapers around the world, it’s important to ask: do newspapers have a future? To save costs many newspapers have cut jobs, outsourced subediting or gone completely online in response to the growing popularity of online news. Several high-profile journalists and academics have had […]

Questions have been raised about whether Australia should have an R18+ classification for video games. The Attorney-General of South Australia John Rau has supported the idea – with the condition that the classification MA15+ be removed. “By abolishing the MA15+ classification, we will create a clear distinction between games that may be suitable for children […]

How interested are Brisbane people in the forthcoming royal wedding? It’s less than 48 hours until Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot. As well as a guest list of more than 1900 people, the couple have invited the world to their big day via live streaming from their official website. The couple are […]

Newsbytes video-journalist David Stuart captured the only video record of Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman’s historic announcement to the council chamber of his decision to run for the Queensland Parliament. (See story.) Although an army of television cameramen and reporters covered early stages of Tuesday’s shock meeting, only Stuart outlasted an Administration filibuster to be […]

With the US film industry’s annual Academy Awards having their big event last night, we asked Brisbane people whether they watched the telecast of the ceremony – and what they thought of it. Camera and production supervision: David Douglas Stuart

Natural disasters have marked the start of 2011, with Queensland Premier Anna Bligh earning praise for her leadership of support and recovery operations. But her glamorous appearance on the cover of March’s issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly has sparked controversy, with attacks from political opponents who said it was poorly timed. We asked people […]

Canberra press gallery mainstay and Channel 9 political editor Laurie Oakes received an honorary doctorate from Brisbane’s Jschool at the college’s graduation ceremony last week. “I’m not much into gongs and awards usually, but this recognition from a journalism college that’s fast making a mark is something I do value,” he said. “I had virtually […]

Some Brisbane City Council staff seem to have missed the point of legislation that gives citizens the right to access information it holds. During the past several months Newbytes journalists, reporting the news to inform the public, have routinely been fobbed off, denied information and subjected to intimidation. Newsbytes acknowledges the BCC media office receives hundreds […]

Failure by the Brisbane City Council to promote a major indigenous event had resulted in disappointing participation, according to a panel speaker. Family intervention counsellor Theresa Mace said Black History Month had  poor attendance and awareness, which she sheeted home to lack of advertising by the Council. The BCC libraries spent the month of August […]

Newsbytes reporter John Corlett has won the most outstanding journalism student (metropolitan) award in the Queensland Clarion Awards. The Clarion Awards,  the peak prizes for journalism achievement in Queensland, are administered by the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance. Corlett, a Diploma of Journalism student at Jschool journalism college in Brisbane, won the award for stories, […]

West End landmark Trash Video closes its doors for the last time this weekend, but owner and fan of exploitation movies Andrew Leavold has plenty of things to do after locking up on Sunday night. For a start, he’ll be making his own movies. Leavold (pictured) says he opened Trash Video in 1995 “because I […]

There’s an elephant in the room of Queensland governance. It’s the stranglehold unelected government employees have on government information. Information about policy decisions, new government programs, progress on taxpayer-funded research, business development programs, new legislation and all manner of things of public interest. Every day the Queensland Government sends dozens of media releases directly to […]

Outspoken former Labor Party leader Mark Latham gatecrashed Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s tour of the Brisbane Ekka yesterday. Barging through show-goers and a tight media scrum, Mr Latham greeted Ms Gillard brusquely with “Long time, no see”. Mr Latham quickly made it clear his words were not in welcome of his former friend and ally, […]

Hundreds of die-hard iPhone fans lined up outside the Queen Street Mall’s Optus and Telstra stores for this week’s launch of Apple’s iPhone 4. Harsh criticism of poor reception from reviewers did not stop customers from queueing outside the stores from midday on Wednesday. By 11.30pm the 400 Optus queuers were being pampered with free […]

Australia’s first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard, is cover girl of top selling magazine Women’s Weekly, with a 13-page spread of glamorous photos. Newsbytes asked people in Brisbane what they thought. Reporter: Alex Stilianos Camera and production: David Stuart