I don’t know about you, but I’m getting fed up with the sensationalist crap coming from the pens of the Murdoch media lately. Did I say ‘lately’? I should have said ‘perpetually’. Is there any end to it?
Two of the articles that stink of journalistic diarrhea come from Gemma Jones in the space of 12 hours, both seen on news.com. The first is about the old media favourite: a Rudd challenge to Julia Gillard. Here is a link to the article, Ides of March: PM, Rudd set for battle. The story leads off with
A final showdown between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd could come within weeks, as tensions in the Labor caucus rose yesterday over the leaking of a letter critical of the former PM.
She gives the story some ‘weight’ by introducing into the article a host of people that could have easily been fabricated, as so might be their alleged statements. Yet they litter almost every paragraph. The paragraphs are below, where I have highlighted the ‘fictitious’ people.
Supporters of Mr Rudd yesterday accused the Gillard supporters of circulating a damaging letter from a member of the public to the media and among the caucus . . .
Claiming it was in retaliation for Mr Rudd’s public attacks over the failed mining tax, several Rudd backers claimed there was now a push within his ranks to “finish the thing before the end of March”.
Mr Rudd has been privately counselled by some of his key backers to pull back from his public campaign for fear it could spark another showdown before they are ready.
And a source close to the PM said Ms Gillard would not rise to the bait and had no intention of goading the former PM while she still had the numbers behind her.
But many in Parliament believe another challenge to Ms Gillard’s leadership is being hatched.
MPs have been seen openly coming and going from Mr Rudd’s office this week.
One Rudd supporter yesterday admitted that the issue was coming to a head but wanted to give the appearance that “nothing was going on”. “There is nothing happening, no counting, nothing going on,” they said. (“They said”? I thought there was only one supporter).
“But it would be fair to say though that a lot of MPs are becoming increasingly despondent about their prospects after the disasters of the past few weeks.”
Another MP, who supports Mr Rudd, said: “Every day is a blow, every day there is something that dents the confidence of members in the leadership . . . “.
An MP who backed Mr Rudd in the leadership ballot last year said caucus members were “shaking their heads” over the $126 million return on the mining tax and reports yesterday that a $4 billion hole could be left in the Budget when the carbon tax moves to an ETS if the price plunges, as predicted.
Just about every paragraph in the first half of the story is built around what an un-named person insists upon. They could be anybody. Perhaps even Piers Akerman’s distinguished eye surgeon. Names are introduced at the end of the article, by which time readers would be the ones “shaking their heads”.
In today’s article about taxpayers paying for NBN coffee, Jones didn’t make up many names, just the story. On the front page of news.com we read that:
Aussies are frothing at the mouth over news NBN is spending over $164,000 on fancy beans and coffee machines. You can read her article here, titled Libs foaming over NBN coffee perk. Have a read of the article and tell if you see where it says that Aussies are frothing at the mouth or whether the Libs are foaming over the coffee machines.
Actually, don’t bother as they aren’t there. It’s just another one of those pathetic headlining bullshit stories that have become the trademark of the Murdoch media. Expect it to get worse as the election nears. Much, much worse.
Image via CrunchBase
Café Whispers 