MANY OF US who wonder about the future of media tend to look to the United States for indications of the path ahead. I recently heard David Higgins, for instance, the editor of the News Limited website news.com.au, say that developments in the Australian media are about two to three years behind those across the Pacific. Perhaps, but the trajectory will not be identical. At least so far as journalism is concerned, Australia ticks differently to the United States, not least because our election cycle is less drawn out than theirs. And the Australian tradition of publicly funded broadcasting - the ABC and SBS - is another important difference ...