Q&A guests - a case study on the topic

For Australian readers, here's an interesting report on biases in selection of guests for the ABC's high-profile TV show Q&A. Biases include guests from Sydney, rather than elsewhere, anti-pornography campaigners, people from the IPA right-wing think tank, and (of course) good-looking people.

You'd hope for a bit more diversity than this. The excuse that there are very few people in Australia who'd do well in the format is nonsense - being on TV, and thus in front of a huge, unseen audience, could cause anxiety, but the format itself is not especially difficult.

Anyway, you now know why I have not yet appeared on the show: however good-looking I may or may not be, I am not a Sydney-based IPA type who campaigns against pornography. Good to have that cleared up. (In all seriousness, I feel just as qualified to go on this show as most of its guests who are not actually politicians or well-known authors like Germaine Greer and Richard Dawkins, but I'm obviously not an insider. Zeus knows how Cristina Rad got a gig on the show last year, but good for her.)