Latest news with #6News
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Doesn't make sense': Teen founder of 6 News scolds Albanese govt's backflip as YouTube included in social media ban
A teenage news presenter who founded his own media outlet has scolded the Albanese government for backflipping on exempting YouTube from its social media ban for children. Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media for children under the age of 16. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Anika Wells announced on Wednesday YouTube would now be included in the framework, despite earlier suggestions the site might be exempt. From December 10, all services which meet the definition of 'age-restricted social media platform' in the Act, and are not excluded in the rules, will be subject to the social media minimum age law - with fines up to $49.5 million for those who do not comply. Under 16s will still be able to use YouTube in a logged-out state, but they will not be able to hold an account. Chief correspondent of 6 News, Leo Puglisi, 17, said there were 'a lot of problems' with including YouTube in what was already a problematic social media ban. Puglisi was just 11-years-old when he founded 6 News, which has since grown to inform thousands of people across YouTube and other social media platforms. In five years the youth-focused news channel has garnered a healthy following of 30,000 subscribers on YouTube, covering stories by the hour across politics, sports, law, and government. Puglisi said it would have been a 'real shame' if the new laws were in effect when he first started 6 News, but the ban would be very difficult to enforce. 'I think it's virtually impossible to enforce age verification without requiring that for pretty much all age groups and I don't think most people are going to be willing to hand over their passport to an overseas social media site,' he told Sky News host Steve Price. The teenaged media personality said the harmful content the government "keeps talking about" would continue to be on YouTube and would still be accessed by young people. 'You could log in with your parents' accounts, as a lot of people do from a young age. I don't see why that would suddenly stop,' he said. 'This ban doesn't actually stop harmful content. It supposedly delays the age of when a teenager would see it, but even in saying that, it's going to be seen in a logged out state.' While the social media ban does not affect Puglisi, it still restricts his co-workers from exercising their journalistic capabilities on social media. Puglisi said the government's ban was not addressing what it said it would and it was 'concerning' how the legislation was 'rushed' through parliament. 'We're only getting consultation after the legislation was passed rather than a lot more consultation before it actually was passed,' he said. Puglisi said the educational use of YouTube was 'extremely wide' and was used as a resource in schools for remote learning, as well as videos being assigned for homework. With the largest video sharing platform in the world originally exempted from the social media ban, now 'so much content' would be restricted which Puglisi said was 'not a practicality'. 'This backflip just really doesn't make sense,' he said.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
15,000 absentee ballots not returned in upcoming Lansing city primary election
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Roughly 15,000 absentee ballots have not been returned, with just one week left until the primary election on Aug. 5. City officials are urging voters to use one of the 13 official Lansing drop boxes to return completed ballots. This year's primary will narrow down the list of candidates for Mayor, City Council At Large, and 4th Ward City Council, and vote on a proposal to renew the City Park Millage. 'Voters can choose to vote at home, vote early, or vote Election Day; with so many convenientoptions, I hope this leads to a higher turnout than in similar past elections,' said Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope in a release sent to 6 News. The REO Elections Office will be open for those who may vote early or drop off completed ballots at these times: Wednesday, July 30 – 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM Saturday, August 2 – 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Sunday, August 3 – 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Drop boxes are monitored 24/7 and will remain open until Tuesday, August 5, 2025, at 8 p.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
6 ways to increase family bonding over the summer
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – It's Parenting Connection Tuesday, and 6 News is here for you with tips, strategies, and helpful reminders from child development experts on how we can be better parents and topic: 6 ways to increase family bonding over the summer Kids are now in the middle of summer break, and despite an increase in the amount of time they're at home, spending time with one another can actually decrease this time of year. Experts say that if this is the case, you'll want to try to stop it, and it's up to you. Researchers say it's the parents' responsibility to do something as a family and help form closer bonds because it doesn't just happen naturally. Kids rarely, if ever, are the ones to propose anything that would help in this regard. Family bonding is important too, because research has shown that when families have strong bonds… kids are better behaved, do better in school, communicate better, and have better relationships with others outside of the at a time of the year when quality family bonding can lack, experts say, incorporate these 6 practices into your family routine: Schedule family time together. Look and compare everybody's schedule and set aside the time. It can be as short as 10 minutes. Another great way to bond is to eat meals together. This can be for breakfast, lunch, or dinner… and even better if it's all three. Do chores as a family. This will not only get the jobs done quicker, but it'll make you work together. Support your child's interests. This means, get physically involved or at least watch your kids play his or her favorite video games, movies, or outside activities. Have family meetings. Experts say these blocks of time allow everyone to get an update on how life is going, air grievances, or discuss plans. Encourage support. This means teaching your kids to come to you when they need help, advice, or just to talk about life. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Yahoo
6 tips to keep kids from getting lost at large public events
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – It's Parenting Connection Tuesday, and 6 News is here for you with tips, strategies, and helpful reminders from local child development experts on how we can be better parents and topic: 6 tips to keep kids from getting lost at large public events. There's a big increase in outdoor public events in the summertime — like carnivals, fairs, and farmers' markets. As many parents and guardians know… when you're at one of these events, it's easy to get distracted — and then before you know it, you're child has wandered off, or large groups of people end up separating you've had this experience, it's the worst feeling ever. Every second you can't see your kid feels like forever… and then the panic starts to set in. An event with hundreds, if not thousands, of people will make a lost child situation even more complicated… So, here are 6 tips to keep kids from getting lost at large public events: Educate your kids on what to do if they get lost. This should include establishing a meeting point. This could be a symbolic place at the event, or your child knows to stay put if they lose sight of you. Choose bright or loud colors for them to wear so they can be spotted more easily. Teach your child how to identify safe people to talk with. This would include a police officer or a worker at the event. Take a fresh picture on your phone of your child before you enter the event. This will greatly help describe what your child looks like if you need to alert others. Write your phone number down on a piece of paper and have your child carry it in his or her pocket. Set clear expectations. Your kids need to understand that when in big crowds, it's important to pay attention and to stay close to you. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Sydney Morning Herald
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘It's looking pretty grim': What's the future of TV news in Australia?
It's been a bad few weeks for TV news and current affairs in Australia, with the cancellation of once-dominant shows such as Q+A and The Project. And if you consider the axing of other series such as The Drum, as well as several youth-focused ventures such as Tonightly and The Feed, there's a strong argument to be had that it's been a bad few years. In one of The Project 's final episodes last week, comedian Sam Taunton donned a black suit and top hat: 'I'm wearing it from the time when free-to-air was at its peak: 1912, I believe,' he joked. But how grim is the outlook really? I spoke to five people aged 40 and under, who work inside and outside traditional news media, to find out. Loading What's your impression of the Australian TV news landscape right now? Jan Fran, journalist and presenter who is launching independent company Ette Media: TV news and current affairs just can't seem to hold audiences in the way it used to. It's fragmenting. The fact is that a significant proportion of Australians just don't do appointment television, and the majority are getting their news from social media all day, every day. So why would they sit down and watch the news for an hour on television? It doesn't really make sense any more to the way that we live. That said, there are still quite a few people who watch the TV news bulletins. But I'd be interested in knowing the demographics of that audience. Leo Puglisi, teenage journalist and founder of 6 News, which operates on YouTube: There are plenty of news shows like A Current Affair that clearly have a very loyal audience. People laugh about it, but they do a good job keeping that. It's more my grandparents' demographic, though. It's a real shame to lose so many non-traditional news programs, especially when they're not being replaced with other news content. It really reflects that anything different is going online at this point. The audiences for these shows are just not on TV. Konrad Benjamin, AKA Punter's Politics, a high school teacher turned content creator and politics podcaster: It's looking pretty grim. As younger people have stopped watching broadcast TV, it looks like they gave up on trying to cater for us. The modern-day version of The Chaser's War on Everything is now just on TikTok. Loading Brooke Boney, Today 's former news and entertainment reporter: There are a lot of incredible people who work very hard on these shows to bring us the very best, and it's sad to see those jobs go. I also think TV news is so under-resourced, so it makes it really hard for the people who remain to do the best job they can. People are having to do more than they ever had with less than they ever had. Chris Kohler, 9News finance editor, presenter and popular social media creator: It still feels like the powerhouse of TV, for me, is well-researched news and current affairs. I mean, The Project is gone, but Channel 10 is bringing in something new with a slightly different flavour to it. There's been a lot of change lately, but TV has always been in an atmosphere of constant change. I think the quality of the output is still incredibly high. The most recent research from the Australian Communications and Media Authority suggests only about a quarter of younger Australians (18-34) are watching news on free-to-air. Why do you think that is? Can anything be done to turn it around? Brooke Boney: I'm not surprised by that statistic at all. We've all got news in the palm of our hand whenever we want it. But I think it's a bit of a copout for us to say it's just about that. Young people can open TikTok or Instagram or YouTube and hear from people who they think sound more like them and look more like them. I would hope that people continue to watch news, but can we reverse these trends? Who knows? In moments of crisis, I only want to watch live news. You can't get that immediacy – and accuracy – from Reels or TikTok. Konrad Benjamin: I think there's still a good 20 years until the TV generation disappear. But that just leaves an ever-shrinking piece of the pie. Legacy media needs to go back to the drawing board about what is it they do. They've got the biggest competitive advantage against someone like me: they have money and full teams of people. They can produce the same kinds of content that I can with better journalism and better graphics. Leo Puglisi: Young people are going to continue moving online. In my age group, 17-18, it's all Instagram and TikTok (but mostly still from reputable sources). I don't think when these people turn 25, they'll become free-to-air watchers, so TV outlets will have to move with them and adapt. Some outlets are putting segments online, and they're doing well. 7News Spotlight does very good numbers on YouTube. Even things like Sky News – their online numbers are insane. A lot of those viewers aren't Australians, but it would still bring in revenue through YouTube. That's the model a lot of other outlets might start looking to. At this point, you've got to put digital first. You can't wait until six o'clock. Jan Fran: Honestly, I'd like to see a news and current affairs show that exists outside the scaffolding of the mainstream media. In the US, there are some that are fairly massive on YouTube, and they're sustainable, and they're scalable, and they're consistent because they can pull an audience. That hasn't been tried and tested in the same to the same degree in Australia. I'd like to see something like that, or maybe, have someone explore the idea of what a news and current affairs show – be it nightly or weekly – looks like on a streaming service. Chris Kohler: It's like that Mark Twain quote, 'the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated'. I started in newspapers 15 years ago, and people were saying then this is all going down the gurgler, no one will be picking up the newspaper in two or three years. But I think it's not really a zero-sum game any more: there's an insatiable appetite for content, whether it's on the phone, the TV or picking up a newspaper. Loading I mean, Channel Nine* will tell you that its total TV audience for the 6pm bulletin is up 11.5 per cent year-on-year [data supplied by the network showed similar rises in viewers aged 16-39, but it's worth noting that demographic represents just 10.8 per cent of the total audience]. Who knows what it'll all look like five, 10 or 20 years? Right now, I think there's still optimism. What kind of news is the most engaging for young Australians today? What should we be making more of? Jan Fran: People connect with other people on the internet much more than what they do on television. There's a certain style of presentation on television that, in my view, is quite antiquated: you know, the 'news voice', the way that they dress, the 'reporter hands'. I don't find that particularly engaging any more. Chris Kohler: The first threshold to walk through is, 'Is this authentic?' I always think journalists are at their best when they're being an individual as well as a carrier of news. We still need to have a line drawn between opinion, analysis and news, but it doesn't mean you can't do multiple things in multiple different settings. I was trying stuff on social media for a really long time, and about two years ago I just decided that I could be a bit sillier about it. I printed out a piece of paper that said, 'Philip Lowe', sticky taped it to my chest, wrote 'interest rates' on the blinds and lifted the blind while dancing to Pump Up the Jam. To my genuine surprise, it got a lot more views than anything I'd done in the past. Konrad Benjamin: I'm drawn to stories that give context. I never liked the whole 30-second news approach of 'here's what happened'. Like, 'the US bombed Iran'. OK. But tell me why it's important: why is the US involved, how did they get into it? New formats – YouTube and online media – have come and plugged that gap and legacy media companies have to reformat what they're doing. The ABC has pivoted a bit: Matt Bevan does If You're Listening, a YouTube channel and podcast. That's the change we're looking for: 10-15 minute context-driven work. The format is YouTube first. According to the ACMA research, almost half of those between 18-24 say social media is now their main source of news. What are the pros and cons of that shift? Konrad Benjamin: Diluting the power of corporations like major news networks over the Australian narrative is a good thing. But I think there's very low levels of media literacy across the board from most regular people. People are looking for authenticity, and I think their shorthand for authenticity is someone who speaks and talks like them. The problem with that is that there's a bunch of people who know nothing speaking very confidently about something on YouTube. I never really wanted to be in that space, but I can, at the very least, point out my sources and what I think is good verified journalism. With the rise of AI, the new conversation in media is all about trust. People will be looking for markers of trust. That's the future currency, and that's an advantage legacy media have over people like me. Leo Puglisi: A big con is the rise of AI. It's getting ridiculous trying to figure out what's real and what's not. And because of that, there's a rising level of distrust. The other thing is short-form content, as entertaining as it can be, risks not being able to tell the full story. Brooke Boney: The pros are that they're getting news at all. Any way we can get people engaged in the stories that affect them is important and worthwhile. Obviously, the cons are that there's less journalistic rigour. People can consume a lot of information that hasn't been fact-checked. It's a huge concern. Jan Fran: While I'm happy to see spaces exist outside the mainstream media, sometimes I do worry about how you do journalism natively on social media. It takes time and money and expertise, and these things are not particularly rewarded on social media. So what you have is a morphing of journalism into commentary, and they're two very, very different things. Loading If good public interest investigative news and current affairs disappears from TV, is there scaffolding enough outside the mainstream media to still preserve it? I think that remains to be seen. If we accept that news consumption is shifting to social media, how can Australian TV networks ensure they stay relevant to a new generation? Brooke Boney: I think we've always had an issue with the diversity of not only newsrooms, but presenters as well. I saw a post on Instagram the other day from journalist Mawunyo Gbogbo criticising the lack of diversity in Ten's new show and the broader news landscape – I reflect the sentiment and lament that we're still asking for representation. If you're a young person from Western Sydney or the northern suburbs of Melbourne or even in the country, are you really going to want to turn on the TV and see that? Would you watch a Reel from someone who can't relate to you or have the same experiences or even understand what you need to hear? I don't know. We've still got a lot of work to do when it comes to reflecting audiences back to them. Jan Fran: The simple answer would be, well, news and television networks should start switching to digital. And yeah, certainly that is a strategy. But then you don't own the platforms that you publish on, and you're beholden to their rules and regulations and their whims and their algorithms. It's a huge risk, and I can understand a lot of TV networks not wanting to do that. But I think you have no choice but to meet people where they are. Chris Kohler: If I had the answer to this question, I'd be neck deep in trying to do it. But I think it's exciting there's a lot of thought going into what the next wave looks like.
