Curiosity and Cats.

Curiosity is a marvellous thing. People find out about the most interesting things and places just by being a little curious. Being a little inquisitive makes life interesting, and people love finding out new things. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. If people weren’t a little curious, the world would never get anywhere.

In the world of journalism, public media is kind of like that. The ABC is famous for its news analysis and current affairs programs, and public media stations are often seen as the place to go for some good, in-depth analysis. In contrast to commercial media’s tendency to be about shocks and thrills, public media tends to be a bit more serious and factual. Public media is kind of like the textbook of the news world, whereas commercial media is the magazine.  The news is a bit more about facts, and a bit less about fun.

The problem comes, however, when this just isn’t the kind of thing people want to watch. Because the truth is, very few people would read a textbook over a magazine. Public media might be deeper, but commercial media looks like more fun. Sometimes people just want light and fluffy, easy to digest things.

So why does public media stick around? Who but old, boring people watch it? In today’s fast paced world, people don’t seem to have time to sit down and really dive into issues. But public media offers something that commercial media, generally, doesn’t. Investigative journalism, the kind that dives right in and makes people think, is everywhere on the ABC. Robert Richter said that public media is the “last bastion of long-form investigative journalism”, and I think it’s true. Public media doesn’t have to think about its shareholders, or making a profit. It has to think about following people's curiosity, and making really good news.

This, I think, is a big part of why public media sticks around. Because people are curious, and they want to go deeper into the bigger issues. Sure, public media isn’t prefect. It’s got a lot of problems to face, and keeping up with the popularity of commercial media is no small challenge. But public media offers something that no one else does, and in order for the world to keep working properly, its needs to stay.