Abstract

This chapter discusses the role of media in the global phenomenon of national inquiries. It argues that a transformed, digital and globalized media landscape calls for a new approach to understanding the significance of commissions of inquiry. The chapter first surveys the networked nature of inquiry, from international truth commissions to inquiries addressing past injustice toward children. Informed by theories of listening, mediatization and journalism’s norms, the chapter takes Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse as a case study to explore the impacts of a changing media environment on inquiries. The chapter argues that the open and boundless nature of contemporary media increases the responsibility of journalists and news organizations to challenge their everyday practices in reporting on these national conversations. A listening frame puts the onus on the journalist, as witness and communicator, to listen, amplify and respond to the experiences of the most marginalized of victims.