Waleed Aly launches the Monash Media Lab
(L-R) Waleed Aly, Professor Rae Frances, Associate Professor Mia Lindgren
Monash academic and media presenter Waleed Aly officially launched the Monash Media Lab last week before the Monash community and special guests.
The event was attended by media industry leaders, the Monash community, including Dean Of Arts Professor Rae Frances, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Major Campuses and Student Engagement Professor David Copolov, and the School of Media, Film and Journalism staff and students.
School of Media, Film and Journalism head, Associate Professor Mia Lindgren, thanked the Dean of Arts, Professor Rae Frances, for her support to help create the state-of-the-art facilities.
“The Monash Media Lab will provide a place for Monash University to focus on research and teaching that recognises the increasingly central place that media takes in people's lives,” Associate Professor Lindgren said.
“It will help us explore the nature of this fundamental change and educate our students to take advantages of new opportunities offered by digital media and mobile platforms, while also recognising the importance of traditional journalism values.”
Dean of Arts Professor Rae Frances introduced The Project’s Waleed Aly, who has contributed enormously to the media landscape in Australia.
“I think it's wonderful we are gathered here on Kulin lands (at Monash Caulfield) because for thousands of years, the people of the Kulin Nations have been telling stories about this land on this land,” Professor Frances said.
“With this media lab, if we can tell stories that are half as powerful, and as half as enduring, I think this will be money well spent.”
Waleed said the students were fortunate to have access to first-class facilities, allowing them to focus on the quality of journalism content, particularly from ethical and analytical perspectives.
“I was really glad to hear Mia say before that the idea of those traditional values of journalism being maintained, that's really crucial,” Waleed said.
“My own perspective is that those values are largely under assault.
“The benefit of having access to a facility like this is as all these elements of contemporary journalism, as all of these elements become second nature, what that does is it frees you up mentally to be able to do the thinking that is a really important part of the job.”
The lunchtime launch was followed by a mini film festival in the media lab’s theatrette and an evening panel chaired by the ABC’s Virginia Trioli, which was insightful for staff, students and graduates.