'The ongoing tension between the enduring problems that beset the telecommunications sector, and the potential economic and social benefits continually associated with these technologies is the point of departure for our Feature Topic, which reflects on the current state of telecommunications, while also casting a cautious eye forward. The articles in this Feature Topic outline ongoing challenges around connectivity as well as contestations over 5G rollouts and competing international visions. However, the articles are not solely defined by critique, and authors also take time to articulate a positive future for telecommunications, one more oriented towards the actual needs of citizens. Australia features prominently in these articles, but the section also offers a global perspective, with authors accounting for the Global South as well as developments across the Asia-Pacific.' (Introduction
'A concept of visibility frames much scholarship and public writing on LGBTQ+ representation in film and television, and underpins diversity reporting and inclusivity measurement. Although visibility is often depicted as a social good, there is a growing critical interest in asking if there are different kinds of visibility, and how these might be differentially valued. This paper reports insights gained from interviews with Australian stakeholders involved in the production of screen entertainment with LGBTQ+ content. The study found that stakeholders are motivated by to create texts that make LGBTQ+ stories and characters visible. The range of approaches to visibility was, however, nuanced and diverse: some understood any LGBTQ+ representation as valuable, while others discussed visibility in contexts of character depth, anti-stereotyping, and visibility tempered by concepts of human dignity. Although visibility is perceived diversely, it remains a significant lens by which creative artists involved in LGBTQ+ texts understand their work.' (Publication abstract)
'Over several decades, Bridget Griffen-Foley has produced a foundational body of work in Australian media studies. Ranging from that comprehensive history of Australian radio, Changing Stations, the definitive books on the Packer family (with apologies to Paul Barry's paperback), to editing A Companion to Australian Media – with many varied smaller stops between and beyond – Griffen-Foley's contributions to the discipline have foregrounded primary research and the relationality between the minor and the major in telling the histories of Australian media. This, her latest volume, continues this decades-long effort by engaging with Australian radio and TV listening and watching practices across five decades, and is an ambitious and rewarding collection of historical vignettes.' (Introduction)
'Catherine Fisher's Sound Citizens: Australian Women Broadcasters Claim their Voice, 1923-1956 (2021) examines the history of women's broadcasting from the introduction of radio in 1923 to the introduction of television in 1956. During this time, women broadcasters made a major contribution to women's empowerment, and literally and figuratively gave Australian women a public voice. Fisher utilises textual evidence in the form of radio periodicals, scripts, and institutional and personal correspondence to trace the impact of radio in connecting the private sphere of the home with public and international affairs. Her research presents the experiences of professional women broadcasters, female activists and politicians who used radio as a platform for education, community building and advocacy.' (Introduction)
