Everything you haven't been told about media accountability. Presented by Prof Matthew Ricketson.

How will the proposed council work in the light of the recommendations of the Convergence Review Committee, which recently reported to the Federal Government? In this keynote event, Professor Matthew Ricketson, who assisted Ray Finkelstein, QC with his report, will argue that the mainstream news media been silent on what the report actually found about the existing system of self-regulation, and the ills of the Australian news media. The media has failed to report on the case for increasing its accountability to the public it claims to serve. If you have relied on the mainstream news media for your understanding of this important issue and don't have the time to work through the report's 468 pages, this talk will explain the inquiry's findings and its recommended solution.

Dr Matthew Ricketson is professor of journalism at the University of Canberra. He was appointed by the federal government last year to assist retired Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein in an independent media inquiry. He has worked in both the news media industry and in universities during his career which began in 1981. He has worked on staff at The Australian, Time Australia magazine and, between 2006 and 2009, as media and communications editor for The Age. Ricketson ran the journalism program at RMIT for 11 years and is the author of two books and editor of a third. A new book he has edited, Australian Journalism Today, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in mid-2012.