Podcast appearances and mentions of lucinda beaman

This week we have an expert panel of Fact Checkers and we ask them just how toxic was the election and should we chuck our opinion polls in the bin. To help us with this and much more we spoke to Lucinda Beaman from RMIT ABC Fact Check, Anne Kruger Editor of First Draft News and Michael Hopkin acting Editor of Fact Check at the Conversation.

Today, experts reveal the tips and tricks spin doctors use to shape the political messages you’re hearing every day - especially during election campaigns. AAP Image/Mick TsikasIt’s February, the holidays seem like a distant memory and here we are barrelling toward a federal election, which the government has indicated will be in May. Remember in the olden days – as in, a few elections ago – we used to have a fairly set election campaign period of usually about six weeks? Now, of course, politicians seem to always be in campaign mode. They’re not doing that all by themselves, of course. There’s a small army of spin doctors, social media strategists, political campaign advisers and press secretaries behind the scenes, finessing every utterance so it fits with the overall campaign strategy. And that’s what we are talking about on the podcast today – the art of political spin. Read more: It's reputation that matters when spin doctors go back to the newsroom We’ll hear from Caroline Fisher, political communication and journalism researcher from the University of Canberra. She began her career as a journalist with the ABC, but went on to work as a media adviser for Labor’s Anna Bligh, a former Queensland premier. Today, she’s talking to Michelle Grattan, political journalist and Professorial Fellow at the University of Canberra about the tips and tricks spin doctors use to shape the political messages you’re hearing every day. And you can read Caroline Fisher’s article on the spin tactics over here. Read more: The vomit principle, the dead bat, the freeze: how political spin doctors' tactics aim to shape the news All year round and especially during election season, you’re going to hear a lot of competing claims about the state of the economy. Has school funding been cut or is it at a record high? Do tax cuts make the economy better or worse? Why are the government and the opposition saying seemingly contradictory things about debt and deficits? To find out, Lucinda Beaman – who was our FactCheck editor but has just moved to the ABC – spoke to Fabrizio Carmignagni, a professor of economics at the Griffith Business School, Griffith University. He’s authored many FactCheck articles for The Conversation, where he tests statements by key public figures against the evidence and his special super power is pulling back the curtain to reveal why certain claims you hear about the economy don’t stand up to scrutiny. Today, Professor Carmignani reveals why you should be suspicious when you hear a politician claim their government has created jobs, how to spot a bit of causation vs correlation spin doctoring, and other political porkies that make economists’ skin crawl. Read more: FactCheck: have the Trump tax cuts led to lower unemployment and higher wages? Trust Me, I’m An Expert is a podcast where we ask academics to surprise, delight and inform us with their research. You can download previous episodes here. And please, do check out other podcasts from The Conversation - you can find them all over here. The segments in today’s podcast were recorded and edited by Sunanda Creagh, with additional recording and editing by Dilpreet Kaur and Eliza Berlage. Read more: Pencils ready: it's time for Politics 2019 Bingo! New to podcasts? Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click here to listen to Trust Me, I’m An Expert on Pocket Casts). You can also hear us on Stitcher, Spotify or any of the apps below. Just pick a service from one of those listed below and click on the icon to find Trust Me, I’m An Expert. Additional audio Kindergarten by Unkle Ho, from Elefant Traks Minister for Finance Mathias Cormann, RN Breakfast Channel 9 news report. Bill Shorten’s 2018 Budget reply speech. Sky News report. Today Show segment. ABC news report. Labor Facebook video. Nick Xenophon SA Best ad. The Greens ad. Podington Bear, Pshaw, from Free Music Archive. Bloomberg news report. Image: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Marchers at the 1978 Mardi Gras parade. Sally Colechin/The Pride History Group, Author providedOn a cold Saturday night in Sydney on June 24, 1978, a number of gay men, lesbians and transgender people marched into the pages of Australian social history. I was one of them. On today’s episode of Essays On Air, the audio version of The Conversation’s Friday essay series, Conversation editor Lucinda Beaman is reading my essay on the Sydney Mardi Gras march of 1978. On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, it’s worth revisiting the events of that night and reflecting on the remarkable lesson that, for oppressed minorities, there comes a time when enough is enough. Much has been achieved, but it would be a major mistake to relax and assume that history is progressively improving. Join us as we read to you here at Essays On Air, a podcast from The Conversation. Find us and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, in Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts. Today’s episode was edited by Sybilla Gross. Additional audio Snow by David Szesztay Tom Robinson, Glad to be gay. Mavis Staples, We shall not be moved Podington Bear, Memory Wind, from Free Music Archive David Szesztay, Flash, from Free Music Archive David Szesztay, Looking Back, from Free Music Archive Mark Gillespie is affiliated with The '78ers

From the initial avalanche of mail triggered by Germaine Greer's book The Female Eunuch grew a collection of 50 years of letters, emails, faxes, telegrams and newsletters. Marcella Cheng/The Conversation NY-BD-CC, CC BY-SAFrom the initial avalanche of mail triggered by Germaine Greer’s book The Female Eunuch grew a collection of 50 years of letters, emails, faxes, telegrams and newsletters from academics, schoolchildren, radicals and housewives all over the world. They’re now stored in 120 grey, acid-free boxes at the University of Melbourne Archives. Lachlan Glanville, assistant archivist of the Germaine Greer Archive at the University of Melbourne has pored over these letters. In the latest episode of Essays On Air, the audio version of our Friday essay series, Glanville says the collection offers a powerful, often amusing, sometimes perplexing glimpse into the lives of the people affected by her work, as well as the many faces of Greer herself – academic, feminist, provocateur, confidant. Today, Conversation editor Lucinda Beaman reads Glanville’s fascinating essay, Reading Germaine Greer’s mail. Find us and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, in Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts. Additional audio Snow by David Szesztay Dreaming in the Non-Dream by Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel Band Germaine Greer interview (1999) TV Heaven 1971 - Germaine Greer - The Female Eunuch This episode was edited by Jenni Henderson. Illustration by Marcella Cheng.