PODCAST · news
Fourth Estate
by 2SER
Every week, we discuss how the media has covered the news and analyse issues affecting the industry - with some of the biggest names in journalism in Australia and around the world. Broadcast live on Sydney's 2SER 107.3FM, with the financial assistance of the Community Broadcasting Foundation.
Episodes
-
One From the Archives: Peter Greste on Our Wall of Secrecy
Who gets to defend the public’s right to know—and when do they need permission? After ABC journalist and union president Michael Slezak faced possible disciplinary action over an article opposing restrictions on access to company directors’ information, we revisit a conversation about press…
more -
One From the Archives: Kate McClymont on Murder, Corruption and the Art of Investigation
One of Australia's most celebrated investigative journalists, Kate McClymont has spent decades exposing corruption, organised crime and the murky relationships between money and political power. In this episode from the Fourth Estate archives, originally broadcast in September 2019, McClymont…
more -
Trump’s Press War, What Canberra Could Learn & Remembering Peter Manning
Donald Trump’s latest battle with the press has seen his White House move to exclude CNN, POLITICO and MS NOW — but this time, rival news organisations are standing together. What could Australia’s media learn from that show of solidarity? Susan Glasser, staff writer at The New Yorker and former...
-
George Megalogenis on the Political Class, Migration and a Changing Australia
Australia has changed — but have our politics and media kept up? In his new book Three Shocks: Who We Are Becoming in the 21st Century, journalist and author George Megalogenis charts the demographic, economic and geopolitical forces reshaping the country. Tina Quinn speaks with George about the...
-
One From the Archives: Violence, Virality and the Media
How should journalists report domestic violence — and what happens when allegations of abuse become content? In this edition of Fourth Estate: One From the Archives, Tina Quinn revisits a 2022 conversation recorded in the aftermath of the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial, when...
-
9/11 at 25: Reflections from the Newsdesk, Dispatches from Ground Zero
Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, Fourth Estate returns to the newsrooms and streets where history unfolded in real time. Sandra Sully joins Tina Quinn to reflect on the extraordinary night she became the first Australian journalist to break the news, anchoring live from Network…
more -
Getting Murdoched: Power, Punishment and the Murdoch Machine
For more than seven decades, Rupert Murdoch has wielded extaordinary influence over journalism, politics and public debate across Australia, Britain and the United States. But how does that power actually work -- and what happens when the Murdoch media decides to turn its attention on you? Tina...
-
Screw Nice: Amy Remeikis on Anger, Power and the Politics of Civility
When does civility stop being a virtue become a weapon? Recorded live at Gleebooks in Sydney, political journalist and author Amy Remeikis joins Fourth Estate host Tina Quinn to discuss her bestselling new book, Screw Nice, and how demands for politeness and "balance" can silence dissent…
more -
The Wages Are a Scandal: When Sex Work Pays for Journalism
What happens when sex work pays better than journalism? After being made redundant from his job in the media, investigative journalist Bension Siebert began working as a sex worker — and discovered he could earn in five hours what he made in his best-paid week as a journalist. But rather than...
-
Profile: In Conversation with Caroline Baum (Part 3)
Walking away from Between the Lines in 1997 meant leaving behind what Caroline Baum considered the high point of her career. But her story was far from over. In the third and final part of our special Fourth Estate profile, we pick up with Caroline back at the ABC, where a hoped-for return to the...
-
Profile: In Conversation with Caroline Baum (Part 2)
In part one of our special profile series, Caroline Baum took us from her unconventional London childhood to the offices of British Vogue, the BBC and eventually Australia—before jumping ahead to reveal publicly for the first time why she walked away from her dream job at the ABC's Between the...
-
Profile: In Conversation with Caroline Baum (Part 1)
When Caroline Baum walked through the doors of British Vogue as a young editorial assistant in the mid-1970s, London was at the centre of the fashion, literary and cultural worlds. It was there she encountered some of the era's biggest names—from photographer Helmut Newton to Antony...
-
AI, Nepo Babies & Barking Barnaby
Hannah Ferguson (Cheek Media), Scott Mitchell (Lamestream Media) and Daanyal Saeed (Crikey) join Tina Quinn to unpack another big week in Australian media. This week, the panel examines the future of journalism in the age of artificial intelligence following the Andrew Olle Media Lecture, where...
-
The Final Chapter of Virginia Giuffre | Remembering Derryn Hinch
After surviving Jeffrey Epstein and helping expose one of the biggest sexual abuse scandals in modern history, Virginia Giuffre became a global symbol of courage. But her story didn't end there. Award-winning Good Weekend senior writer Melissa Fyfe joins Fourth Estate to discuss her extraordinary...
-
The Week in Media: Royal Commissions, Big Tech & THAT Podcast
This week on Fourth Estate, we unpack the biggest stories shaping Australian media, politics and journalism. As the Royal Commission into Antisemitism turns its attention to the media, we examine the recommendations aimed at the ABC and SBS, including calls for greater oversight and more…
more -
The Free Speech and Free Fall of Karl Stefanovic
Karl Stefanovic's dramatic exit from Nine has become one of the biggest Australian media stories of the year. But is this simply the downfall of a television star, or a sign that the media landscape itself is changing? After his podcast interview with far-right activist Tommy Robinson sparked...
-
Profile: In Conversation with Barrie Cassidy (Part 2)
After serving as Prime Minister Bob Hawke's press secretary, Barrie Cassidy returned to journalism with a new perspective on politics and power. Following several years as a correspondent based in the United States with The Australian, an unexpected approach from Network Ten persuaded him to…
more -
Please Explain: Pauline Hanson, One Nation and the Media's 30-Year Dilemma
Thirty years ago, Pauline Hanson exposed a fault line in Australian politics that never really went away. This week, following Hanson's first National Press Club address and amid signs One Nation is enjoying its strongest political moment in years, Fourth Estate asks what the media got right…
more -
Profile: In Conversation with Barrie Cassidy (Part 1)
When Barrie Cassidy arrived in Canberra in 1979, Malcolm Fraser was Prime Minister, the political shockwaves of the 1975 dismissal were still reverberating through Australian politics, and Fraser was already fending off the leadership ambitions of a rising Andrew Peacock. The press gallery was...
-
The Stories We Tell Ourselves: China, America and Australian Self-Reliance
For decades, China was seen in Australia as an opportunity. Today, it's more often described as a threat. But how much of Australia's understanding of China reflects reality — and how much is shaped by the stories we tell ourselves? As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks of an "ideological...
-
Sarah Wilson on Complexity, Collapse and Making Art in the Apocalypse
Sarah Wilson has lived through almost every era of modern media — from becoming a newspaper columnist in her early 20s, to editing Cosmopolitan magazine and hosting MasterChef Australia, writing bestselling books, podcasting and independent publishing. But in recent years, her focus has shifted...
-
One From the Archives: Sophie McNeill and We Can't Say We Didn't Know
As the war in Gaza continues — and journalists covering the conflict are being killed at unprecedented rates — we return to the Fourth Estate archives for a conversation that now feels more urgent than ever. In this 2020 interview, former ABC Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill joins...
-
Red Scares: The Budget and the Backlash
From accusations of “broken promises” to cries of socialism, class warfare and even communism, the media reaction to the Albanese Government’s federal budget has been fierce. But how radical are the reforms actually being proposed? This week, Tina Quinn examines the political and media framing...
-
Blunt Tools: Rate Rises and Media Tropes
Are we asking enough questions about the way Australia manages inflation, and the way the media reports on it? Every Reserve Bank decision is treated like a national event. Interest rates rise, borrowers brace, and economists debate whether inflation expectations remain “anchored”. But has…
more -
A Woman Who Won: Antoinette Lattouf on Taking on the ABC — and Winning
In December 2023, Australia’s national broadcaster made the decision to dismiss one of its radio presenters, claiming she had brought the Australian Broadcasting Corporation into disrepute after sharing a social media post from Human Rights Watch highlighting atrocities in Gaza. Within hours, The...
-
2SER on the Brink and Remembering James Valentine
Community radio station 2SER could be off the air within months, after the withdrawal of long-standing university funding. In this episode of Fourth Estate, we examine how the station reached this point — from the timeline of key decisions to growing concerns from staff, volunteers and alumni…
more -
Ben Roberts-Smith: How Journalism Took on a War Hero
This week, one of Australia’s most decorated soldiers, Ben Roberts-Smith, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of war crime murder. The charges follow years of investigative reporting by journalists at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald — and a landmark defamation case that tested…
more -
Dispatches from the Picket Line: Behind the ABC Strike
More than 2,000 ABC staff walked off the job in the broadcaster’s first strike in 20 years. While the dispute centred on pay, progression and job security, it also exposed deeper concerns about culture, leadership and editorial independence. In this episode of Fourth Estate, Tina Quinn speaks…
more -
Profile: In Conversation with Virginia Trioli (Part 2)
"She seems unaware of just how inexperienced she is," was how one media commentator described Virginia Trioli when she first took her place behind the microphone of the Drive program on 774 ABC Radio Melbourne. She had by that point more than a decade of experience as a journalist — but was still...
-
Profile: In Conversation with Virginia Trioli (Part 1)
When Virginia Trioli stepped onto the floor of "this horrible soviet-style building" that was The Age newsroom as a young cadet journalist in 1990, she knew she’d found her place — despite the building doing its best to suggest otherwise. What followed was a career that quickly established her as…
more -
Where It All Went Wrong: Amy Remeikis on John Howard
For eleven years, John Howard dominated Australian politics, winning four elections and reshaping the country’s political and economic direction. To many supporters, he remains the careful economic manager with a plain-spoken style and an instinctive connection to suburban voters. But in her new...
-
Fourth Estate Live: The Women Who Shaped the News
Fourth Estate goes live for this special International Women’s Day edition, as host Tina Quinn revisits some of the remarkable women who helped reshape Australian journalism. Featuring archival interviews with Margaret Throsby, Liz Hayes, Maxine McKew, Bridget Brennan, Laura Tingle and more, the...
-
The Absence of Nuance in Iran Coverage and a Breakfast Radio Bust-Up
The United States and Israel have launched a joint military operation against Iran, killing the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and dramatically escalating tensions across the Middle East. But as the conflict unfolds, it is also exposing deep divisions within the Iranian…
more -
One From the Archives: Azadeh Moaveni on Iran and the Plight of “ISIS Brides”
In the wake of US and Israeli strikes on Iran, and Tehran’s retaliatory missile attacks across the region, we return to the Fourth Estate archives. In this 2020 conversation, Iranian-American journalist, writer and academic Azadeh Moaveni joins then-host, Sharon Davies talking to the dangers of...
-
Marty Baron on the Gutting of The Washington Post
Once a beacon of groundbreaking American journalism, the masthead that helped expose Watergate and held presidents to account is now undergoing sweeping cuts that have shaken its newsroom. More than 300 journalists have been laid off at The Washington Post, foreign correspondents, climate...
-
Force and Fallout: The Herzog Visit
Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia was framed as routine diplomacy by political leaders and much of the press. But outside the official engagements, thousands protested — and in Sydney, violent clashes between demonstrators and police were captured on camera. Footage showed...
-
Terrorism, Epstein and Other Fault Lines in Media-land
This week on Fourth Estate, we examine how the media covered the biggest stories of the week, from the attempted bombing at an Invasion Day rally in Perth, now declared a terrorist act, to the latest document dump linked to Jeffrey Epstein. We also look at the shifts happening within the media...
-
Rushed Legislation and a Broken Coalition
A chaotic week in federal politics has left the opposition fractured and raised serious questions about how power is being exercised in Parliament. As the Albanese government rushed landmark hate-speech and extremism legislation through in under 24 hours, warnings about civil liberties, due…
more -
The Campaign for a Royal Commission and the Implosion of a Writers’ Festival
In the aftermath of the Bondi massacre, a sustained media and political campaign intensified pressure on the government to establish a royal commission into antisemitism. Within a day of the Albanese government announcing that one would take place, an invitation to Palestinian Australian author...
-
Summer Series: Mike Carlton Talks On Air
In a special summer edition of Fourth Estate, we turn the clock back to December 2018, when broadcaster and journalist Mike Carlton joined then host Peter Fray for a wide-ranging conversation about his newly published memoir, On Air. The book traces Carlton’s long career across Australian...
-
Summer Series: In-Conversation With Lisa Millar
In this special Fourth Estate summer re-release, we revisit Tina Quinn's conversation with Australian journalist, Lisa Millar, from September, 2021. From her years as a foreign correspondent with the ABC, first in Washington, then later on in London, to co-hosting News Breakfast, Millar reflects…
more -
Erosion: Press Freedom In The Trump Era
How is press freedom being tested in the Trump era? In this episode of Fourth Estate, Tina Quinn is joined by Media Correspondent with NPR, David Folkenflik and Chief Political Correspondent for The Washington Post, Karen Tumulty, examining the growing pressure on journalists in the United…
more -
When Tragedy Is Weaponised: The Media And Bondi
After the mass shooting at Bondi, Australia became a global headline, and a case study in how tragedy is rapidly politicised. Before facts were established, misinformation surged, racial vilification followed, and political narratives hardened. Jewish, Middle Eastern, Arabic and Muslim…
more -
Virginia Haussegger On The Unfinished Revolution In Australia's Media
Journalist, author and feminist thinker Virginia Haussegger joins Tina Quinn to examine why the feminist revolution — inside Australia’s media and beyond — remains unfinished. Drawing on her latest book, Unfinished Revolution: The Feminist Fightback, Haussegger traces the long arc of sexism,...
-
Profile: In Conversation With Liz Hayes (Part 2)
After ten years co-hosting The Today Show, Liz Hayes made a decision that would reshape her life — she walked away from the top breakfast-television gig in the country. In this second part of this conversation with Tina Quinn, Liz shares the personal turmoil that led her to professional triumphs…
more -
Profile: In Conversation With Liz Hayes (Part 1)
Liz Hayes is one of Australia’s most trusted and enduring journalists — but her story begins far from the studio lights. In this first part of our profile, Liz joins Tina Quinn in-studio to reflect on her upbringing on the Mid North Coast, where she started out as a cadet reporter, and her rapid...
-
Empire of the Elite: Condé Nast’s Reign and Reinvention
For more than a century, Condé Nast defined taste, power, and aspiration. From Vogue and Vanity Fair to The New Yorker and GQ, its magazines didn’t just chronicle culture — they shaped it. In this episode, Tina Quinn speaks with media correspondent for The New York Times, Michael M. Grynbaum,...
-
What Remains: Surviving Gaza, Speaking Truth
Just weeks ago, Palestinian media worker Samer Tarazi was struggling for survival amid the devastation of Gaza. Now safe in Sydney, he reflects on what he witnessed — the destruction of his city, the loss of his journalist colleagues, and the ongoing toll of a conflict that continues to test the...
-
Inside The Room: Fourth Estate At Women in Media 2025
From the main stage at Sydney’s ICC, Women In Media's national conference brought together some of the sharpest voices in journalism and storytelling — Claudia Karvan, Hanna Rosin, Libbi Gorr, Hannah Ferguson, and Monica Attard among them. Join Tina Quinn as she dives into the standout moments…
more -
Profile: In Conversation With Anna Funder (Part 2)
When Stasiland was first published in 2003, it became an international sensation — winning the UK’s top non-fiction prize and propelling Anna Funder onto the world stage. In part two of this conversation with Tina Quinn, Anna reflects on the book’s extraordinary acclaim, and how her distinctive...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Every week, we discuss how the media has covered the news and analyse issues affecting the industry - with some of the biggest names in journalism in Australia and around the world. Broadcast live on Sydney's 2SER 107.3FM, with the financial assistance of the Community Broadcasting Foundation.
HOSTED BY
2SER
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Fourth Estate have?
Fourth Estate currently has 400 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Fourth Estate about?
Every week, we discuss how the media has covered the news and analyse issues affecting the industry - with some of the biggest names in journalism in Australia and around the world. Broadcast live on Sydney's 2SER 107.3FM, with the financial assistance of the Community Broadcasting Foundation.
How often does Fourth Estate release new episodes?
Fourth Estate publishes regularly with 400 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Fourth Estate?
You can listen to Fourth Estate on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Fourth Estate?
Fourth Estate is created and hosted by 2SER.
URL copied to clipboard!