Buzzfeed Press Gallery Office Opening
Parliament House, Canberra
24 February 2016
6:10pm
E & OE
FIFIELD:
Well Mark and Alice, congratulations on your new gigs, but also your new digs. They’re a little cosy. A little intimate. But I can have a word to Mark Scott. He has plenty of room in this place. But just a little warning, he’s more interested in acquiring organisations than sharing, you may have noticed.
This is exciting, I don’t think the Canberra Press Gallery will be the same as a result of your arrival. Buzzfeed is frisky. It’s wild. It’s edgy. It’s fearless. It’s bite-sized. It’s digestible. And it’s all inclusive. Which makes us wonder how we ever got by without Buzzfeed before.
And I think what Buzzfeed does is it covers a range of areas that different organisations did in different ways over the years. And I think what you really would have to do to create a Buzzfeed from scratch is grab an enormous blender. And put into it 1970’s TV news flashes. 1980’s morning and afternoon editions of newspapers. Also maybe Hyde Park Speakers Corner a la 1900. Throw in a little bit of Countdown. American Top 40. Maybe even a bit of Entertainment Tonight. A dash of Latika Bourke. A nip of Annabel Crabb. And a dollop or two of Oakes and Savva. Hit the blend button and you’ve pretty much come up with Buzzfeed.
But it’s important that you’re here because there are in fact a number of significant stories that you guys have missed in the absence of having a gallery office. And I just want to cite a couple of them for you. Firstly, I was looking over the summer for this particular story, which was: ‘THIS Minister just grew an EPIC hipster beard’. Didn’t see that one. In Estimates week I was looking, earnestly for ’16 reasons why mansplaining is not a thing’. But there’s still time for you to have ‘Mitch Fifield’s 80’s music tastes are F-ing rad’. So that’s one I’ll look for.
But I think in an age where we know we need media law reform. There are three reasons why it’s crystal clear that it’s needed, and they are: Buzzfeed, Buzzfeed and Buzzfeed. You guys really do represent the way the world is changing.
You’ve passed a landmark really by convincing President Meares to allow you into the Press Gallery. But the ultimate test really if you’re a bona fide media organisation is, will the Treasurer of the day let you into the budget lock up? I don’t know if you’ve passed that threshold yet. You have! Okay, well good, you’re well and truly bona fide.
It gives me great pleasure to declare open the Buzzfeed office in the Parliament House Press Gallery.
[ENDS]
Media contact: Justine Sywak | 0448 448 487 | Justine.Sywak@communications.gov.au