The public space we call ‘the media’ has changed drastically over the last 20 years. I have been arguing for most of that time—to a mixed reception—that journalists need to take their audiences much more into their confidence, not just once the stories are written, but about the way in which journalistic decisions are made in the first place. The current Barnaby Joyce saga has brought to the fore just how uncomfortable many journalists are with that idea and how we haven’t really worked out what the new rules are.