Can you 'Hack' it?

Are young Aussies interested in current affairs and politics rather than reality TV? This is the question posed in an article published by the Australian on 18 September 2008. ABC2 have launched a current affairs program aimed at under 25’s called ‘The Hack Half-Hour’, an extension of Hack, the Triple J radio current affairs program. It is hosted by Steve Cannane and explores issues particularly relevant to its target age group e.g. online identity fraud, social networking and privacy, porn, home ownership.

Cannane claims mainstream media fail to cover many of the issues affecting youth and conventional TV programming fails to acknowledge that young people are interested in exploring and debating the world around them.

As an avid Triple J listener myself, I found myself tuning in one Monday night to see what this new program was all about and what it had to offer someone like me. The topic up for discussion was the merits of home ownership vs. squatting. Basically, with the opportunity to own your own home seemingly out of reach for many young people, had the concept of the Australian dream shifted?

The set consisted of various lounges and armchairs with a variety of young people perched on them, representing different backgrounds, financial status and personal goals. The next thirty minutes of TV viewing were interesting and informative. It was fantastic to see young people being given a forum to express their opinions intelligently and, as a result, also get to hear other people’s points of view. For me, ‘The Hack Half Hour’ became compulsory viewing from that point on.

As technology drives the evolution of media into new forms and concepts, it’s important to safeguard the quality of content being produced. Certainly younger Australians are embracing online news, social networking sites, mobisodes etc. The ABC and Triple J have led the way in producing cross-platform content which is not only relevant to the target audience, but accessible in formats that young people are familiar with.

I believe young people are interested in the world around them. We may function in a way that appears strange to other generations but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all we want to watch on TV is ‘So you think you can dance’. Triple J correctly identified a gap in the market and ‘The Hack Half Hour’ is an excellent issues based current affairs program for young Aussies.

‘The Hack Half Hour’ airs Monday 8.30pm on ABC2 and live online. Downloads available at http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hackhalfhour/programs/. Tune in!

Source: New take on current affairs taps into Generation Y

Image source:http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/