Media Watch

Just how manipulative, dishonest, sensationalist, gutless, unfair and unbalanced is the media in this country? If, like me, you believe they need to be held accountable for the gross display of injustice they push down the throats of the Australian public then this is the thread in which to voice your opinion.

I intend to keep this thread open indefinitely. If anyone sees an example of their lies in action then we’d like to learn about it. We will document everything we can and spread the message as far as we can.

The truth will win in the end.

298 comments on “Media Watch”

  1. Even the interweb isnt big enough to hold all the manipulative,sensationlist,gutless, unfair and unbalanced reportage in this country.

  2. Wonder if the Inderpendents are taking notes on the Howard stacked ABC board.I though it was our ABC,not “theirs”.

  3. “Wonder if the Inderpendents are taking notes on the Howard stacked ABC board”

    Excellent point eddie. I was thinking same earlier this morning.

    It would be a shame not to see the board go thru some gradual “more balancing” changes…considering the obvious bias of the other corporate media.

    We need “informative” & “complimentary” news & television rather than just that which spruiks for advertisers & puts profiteering over the public interest.

    The NBN would also provide for more competition.

    I would hate to see us head further down the road of American television where “sensationalism” & extreme “partisanship” rule…at the expense of facts & rational thinking.

    Not positive for a democracy. Stifling in fact.

    N’

  5. I didn’t catch it either eddie. It must have been derogative – that’s why it’s not getting any coverage.

  6. He did, eddie, in very clear and forthright terms. None of of the others took up on his comments, including Jones. Albrechtson I could understand, of course, since his criticism was directed at newspapers like her own, and Jones of course is guilty by association with the ABC. The others being politicians, I imagine fear retribution from the MSM if they are too forthright in their complaints. This, of course, explains the government’s dilemma throughout the campaign. Grin and bear it seemed to be the only possible response to the overwhelming bias and trivialisation.

  7. It took a while, but the transcript of last night’s Q&A is now up. The relevant bit referred to by edddie:

    TONY JONES: Tony Windsor, you’d like to break the mould, I suspect. I’d like you to respond to the question in terms of what you think should happen in a future government and could you do anything about it as an independent?

    TONY WINDSOR: Well, I think the media have got some degree of responsibility in relation to some of the things that went on, as well, but the – this is the worst political campaign that I’ve ever seen. I think the political hypocrisy in relation to both leaders in terms of some of the issues they misrepresented was appalling. For Tony Abbott to go into this election campaign with an industrial relations policy written by the union movement is quite odd and for Julia Gillard to let the Liberal Party write the boat people agenda is quite odd and I think we saw a number of those instances right through the campaign and people switched off. They really didn’t know what these people actually represented and there’s no wonder that there was a bit of a shift to the Greens that people couldn’t make a decision as to who was to govern the country and now we’re in the circumstances that we are. But I do believe that the media – this is the worst campaign that I’ve seen from the media. I think some of the senior commentators were actually creating news out of nothing. They weren’t giving – and maybe the leaders weren’t prepared to give of their best but the media commentators in some cases were as appalling as the campaign.

  9. Thank you Bacchus, I doubt that anyone would disagree with Windsor that the media were creating news out of nothing rather than pursuing the issues and getting answers from the parties.

    During the campaign and somewhat before it seemed to me that politicians and especially Labor were pushing sh*t up hill to try to get the media to pass a sideways glance at policies. Tony Abbott played it to a T via his mega pics in lycra..he knew how to get the headlines.

    The media calls this as Abbott playing a ‘clever’ campaign but rather it’s a reverse situation…an indication of how the media’s strings can be pulled.

  10. “TONY WINDSOR: Well, I think the media have got some degree of responsibility in relation to some of the things that went on”

    Interestingly, Janet Albrechtson didn’t get asked one question about her smelly role & the OZ assassination of Rudd campaign.

    By Twits more of the usual “We luv you @qanda”…”@qanda is tops”…”Turnbull for King”…”Malcolm is a God”…”If I had Malcolm I’d use him as a cherry on top of my icecream”.

    Blaaah.

    N’

  12. The media is currently trying to dredge every last crumb of suspense out of it..one minute gasp it’s Labor, next minute gasp Abbott is in with a change, it’s looking good for him.

  13. I’m over the moon. Just watched Bob Katter on the news absolutely hoeing into the media. My did he give them a spray and I don’t know what reporter he was giving a serve but it’s what I’ve been wanting a pollie to say to them for such a long time now.

    Katter also let them know that the independents now had the power and would not let the media get away with the bullshit they have been up until now.

    Great stuff. If anyone gets a Youtube or transcript I would be greatful.

  14. ME

    I just watched it as well, and thought well done… about time that the media was given some stick.

  15. “The lopsided result was helped markedly by the ABC’s chief online reporter, Annabel Crabb who, the figures demonstrate, was amongst the most partisan pro-Labor writers of all contributors.”

    Bwaha ha haha ha ha…

    Spinning like a top.

    N’

  17. What’s this talk of media bias?
    We at News are honest, pious,
    We meet our readership’s desires.
    Yes, some are climate change deniers.
    Others timber industry suppliers.
    They think Greenies, fans of Gaia’s,
    Started those Victorian fires.
    Calling conservationists pariahs?
    Does that make our reporters liars?

    Well, that took my mind off the tally room counting stories for a while!

    You’re right, Min, they’ll milk anything for a bit of sensation and an easy headline.

  19. eddie…reading it now. Albrechtson sounds like a spruiker for brand Abbott.

    When Abbott spurned an emissions trading system, Labor strategists forced Rudd to dance to Abbott’s tune. But the story didn’t unfold as Labor planned.

    LOL. How reductionist can ya get?

    The new Prime Minister started mimicking the Opposition Leader, darting over to the conservative side on everything from border protection, offshore processing and climate change. When Abbott went all progressive with his generous paternity leave policy, Gillard tried to follow. But still Abbott, not Labor, was in control of the plot.

    Hmmm…was an element of that…but it seems to me that in fact Abbott was spooked by Labor’s parental leave plan & losing women voters & over-reacted w/ his…to the angst of his fellow Libs & Nats. certainly didn’t win him the election.

    And wasn’t Abbott spooked by the NBN. I didn’t see Julia backing off here. Nor on clinics…and many other things.

    And I don’t remember Julia saying NO to the mining tax like the brown-nosing of certain miners Abbott.

    This is just spin.

    In the seats that matter, the Howard battlers turned away from Labor, with its primary vote falling by 6.4 per cent in NSW and 8.9 per cent in Queensland.

    And how many votes swung to the Coalition Janet? Less than half that which went to Greens & others.

    Abbott was responsible for changing the politics of climate change in Australia, putting it back in the real world.

    Excuse me? By saying “the science of climate change is crap!” is real world stuff? More like “flat Earth”.

    Janet’s just another megaphone in the Murdoch empire propaganda machine. Wouldn’t surprise me if she ran as a Liberal oneday.

    N’

  20. Eddie, just popping in the link from Albrechten at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/polished-abbott-rises-in-stature/story-e6frgd0x-1225909587546

    “TONY Abbott is “unelectable”. He will “reduce the party to a reactionary rump”. “No one thinks Abbott can win in 2010; he would be doing well if he held the line.” The Liberals’ choice represents the “spirit of kamikaze fundamentalism”. The Liberal Party has chosen “the least electable” candidate. The Liberal Party will likely face “a lengthy period in the wilderness of opposition”.

    Huh? Anyone want to repeat these observations now?”

    Well actually, the answer to Janet is Yes.

  22. Hi Eddie, the OZ are certainly short on news stories, or is this the big story of the day. There’s perhaps only a slight bit of public interest in the story, but I’d expect to see it in New Idea.

  23. If you can bear it have a look a australianconservative.com and click on
    ABC Monitor. They’re further to the right than Rupert himself and terribly aggrieved at the awful left-wing bias at the ABC. I don’t know how far to the right you need to be to gain their acceptance. FAR, far blah. There are quite a few different sites around now which disagree with them, Political Sword, FABC, [friends of the ABC] for starters, Grogs Gamut.

  25. mark scott tries to defend his medias competence during the election, telling us that we have it all wrong. The comments appear to disagree.

    I also find it interesting that he felt the need to defend his charges. If there was no problem, would it need this kind of defense?

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/03/3001302.htm?site=thedrum

    Personally, I think the sooner the government ditch him, and the remainder of the RWDB’s installed by howard, the better for everyone. I am sure that their one aim is to so trash the brand that even those who fully support a publicly financed broadcaster throw their hands in the air and just say bugger it, they’re as bad as the rest, so might as well get rid of it.

    Well, I think the government should step in one more time, bugger of all the previous government appointed hacks, and let those that remain pick the new ones. I just hope it isn’t too late.

  26. No wonder the MSM are pressing hard for another Election.If the Indies lose the balance of power next time,they won’t be under scrutiny.

  28. Tom, a problem is that Rudd was far too nice..a distinct disadvantage when others aren’t. I think that we heard it from Gillard during the election campaign that she was not going to be taking notice of power players but that she would be calling the shots. I think that she is just the person to do it.

  29. Yes Min, I couldn’t understand why Rudd declared war on the OO early in the piece, and then tried to cosy up to them. It seemed bizarre to me. I mean, you don’t call someone out, and then run inside with them to see what they thought of what you said. He should have kept hte pressure on them. I think Gillard will prove much better at attacking the media than Rudd was. She did a number of jobs on them during question time around the BER, it was just a shame she let up during the campaign.

  30. Labor signed onto all the proposed parliamentary reforms on Saturday, but the Independents are demanding both parties agree to the one final document.

    Could someone explain to me how this sentence is NOT biased … shouldn’t the last phrase be

    “… but the Coalition has not yet signed all the documents (or … final document) …”

    … or pehaps its not deliberate just poor communication skills …

    Read more: http://www.news.com.au/features/federal-election/reform-deal-could-be-struck-soon-says-independent-rob-oakeshott/story-fn5taogy-1225914860610#ixzz0yj8FGReA

  34. Under the heading of: Voters Demand Another Election.

    I wonder if the results would be different if the question had been worded:

    Do you want to spend $173 million on another election? Or will you put up with a hung parliament.

  35. What’s a mere $173 mill to Rupert … especially other people’s money … as an American he won’t pay tax here …

    I wonder if the Independents managed to swing the idea that only Australian owned media could report on politics and particularly elections …?

  36. Over the last week we’ve seen news.com run headlines that the voters want Abbott, to the voters want Julia, and now that the voters want another election. They really are full of shit.

    It’s like their housing stories. One day it’s a boom, and then the next day it’s a bust, only to go back to a boom again a couple of days later.

    Either that news site is run by complete idiots, or they take the readers for complete idiots.

  37. I’m going with the last choice there Miglo.

    They are obviously not stupid, as it takes some sort of skill to spin a story into the headlines like they do, but it is obvious they don’t expect close analysis of their stories, which leads me to the conclusion that they take their readers for a bunch of stooges.

    And they wonder why they’re losing money.

  39. most regular readers would have to be, or heading that way, due simply to the fact of the dumbing down of the articles. Luckily, it appears that readers are deserting in droves as they realise the poor quality delivered by the ltd news. Unfortunately, Aunty is fast following in the footsteps. I just hope it is not too late to stop the slide.

    I got this list of who controls the ABC from the following link

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/03/3001302.htm?site=thedrum

    So it is no wonder it is performing as poorly as it is. I am sure they are all there to trash the brand.

    Who Controls aunty (ABC)?

    MAURICE NEWMAN, chairman – close personal friend of past Australian Prime Minister John Howard,
    former chair of Australian Stock Exchange

    RON BRUNTON – Institute of Public Affairs, a right wing think tank

    JANET ALBRECHTSEN – closely associated with Liberal Party esp Malcolm Turnbull
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/grechs-torrent-of-gushing-advice-to-turnbull-20091125-jrwi.html
    http://www.crikey.com.au/2007/09/13/where-does-janet-albrechtsens-husband-fit-in/

    named on Media Watch on several occasions
    http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/stutchbury.htm

    KEITH WINDSCHUTTLE – so far to the right you couldn’t see him with fieldglasses

    STEVEN SKALA – director of neo-Liberal/conservative think tank, the Centre for Independent Studies.

    PETER HURLEY president SA branch of the Australian Hotels Association

    MARK SCOTT, Managing Director, ex-Liberal Party Official

    by a Tony Grant:

  40. Interesting, Tom. I didn’t know Mark Scott was from the Libs, however, I should have realised.

    Keith Windschuttle is another interesting one. The guy has tunnel vision.

  41. Have to agree with Tom , is the ABC worth supporting with the way that it presently broadcasts news. Unfortunately it used to be easy to stick up for ABC but jh always wanted to castrate it ,he couldn’t do it straight out so the bastard made it untrustworthy now its ripe for advertising because less viewers will fight for this ABC. murdoch will be pleased.

  43. I just watched it then Eddie L, another example of the trashing the ABC is taking. And 4 Corners has copped quite a bit of flak lately for this kind of fluff pieces. Get those party hacks out of there and let the ABC do what is it used to do best, report. Wonder how much longer Media Watch can keep going in its current format, as it appears to spend as much time bagging its own station as it does the other three combined.

    Grogs Gamut has a good piece up this morning about another attempt by the OO to influence the indies, and I loved this comment he makes

    “For such a piece of writing to make it to the front page of our only national newspaper, is just one more reason added to the pile of “why people like me wait until a story is confirmed in another media outlet before they believe what they read in The Oz”. ”

    http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2010/09/election-2010-extra-time-or-do-you-want.html

    Another case of a ‘journalist’ just making stuff up, and cherry picking quotes to fit in with their message.

    And tredlgt, yes, the ABC is worth supporting, to throw in the towel and say bugger it gives those party hacks exactly what they wanted. Well, screw them!

  45. Hi tredlgt, I think a lot of people may have forgotten that little johnnie rotten threw a bit of poison into the ABC. (Hey, that rhymed 🙂 ). Thanks for reminding me. It helps explain their demonstrated agenda over the last 9 months.

    Eddie, I have Media Watch downloaded onto mu iPod so I’ll watch it tomorrow. I always look forward to that show. It’s one of the best going around.

    Tom, I too have noticed a lot of bagging of their own ABC on Media Watch. Are they playing with fire, I wonder.

  47. What I met to say in previous comment,is the ABC is very pro Lib but not as bias as Pay TV.Have witnessed Pay TV at Gym I have membership in.

  48. Fran Kelly this morning finally said “Congratulations” to an ALP minister, i.e. Wayne Swan this morning, albeit she sounded somewhat grudging. Much of her time today spent in talking up the Opposition and the downside of the new government with all its risks.

    How about someone actually being pleased and proud for Julia Gillard and women everywhere? Mind you I guess it means she’s achieved true equality when her gender is hardly mentioned, is irrelevant almost. Truly, she is a formidable politician. She was good with Kerry O’Brien last night, who did not acknowledge her success either, or congratulate her. I complained to the ABC about his discourtesy. I guess we just have to keep on griping at them, even if it feels like a dripping tap on a stone.

  49. How about someone actually being pleased and proud for Julia Gillard and women everywhere? Mind you I guess it means she’s achieved true equality when her gender is hardly mentioned, is irrelevant almost.

    And yet they tried to make it a gender issue leading up to the election.

    The media in this country are the piranha of our society.

  50. Hi Patrica WA,It’s always in the back of my mind.Mark Scott’s contract runs out in July ’11,plus the ‘indies’ and Greens aren’t happy with MSM. I can see things changing in the future.

  51. Read the comments in Possum’s latest excellent piece. Someone wants to start a grass roots movement against the ABC and its substandard political reporting verging on blatant bias.

    If someone can guide me how to partake or further that cause I’d be in it.

  53. I have added Possum’s latest article to both ‘tweeter’ & ‘Facebook’ and e-mailed link to friends.I’m doing my bit.This bias rubbish MSM (especially news ltd) is really bugging me.

  58. Kevin, from your link I had a look at Mark Scott’s paper and noticed this:

    The contributions of bloggers – the constant feedback and commentary of thousands though the #ausvotes stream on Twitter – were watched and considered by every mainstream media editor. And we could see – the impact made by some bloggers was every bit as great as that made by other mainstream professional journalists.

  59. If I see POO Pyne once more this weekend I’ll take to the drink. Multiple articles suggesting “speculation”, or “the Opposition says”, all of it originating from C. O’Pyne. Looks like every news outlet is taking their lead from him. PM Julia has had a go today at the media for not reporting the “costings” debacle.
    “

  60. Agreed, Pip, he’s a pain in the bum – but great for the image of the Libs from a left perspective! Did you catch a glimpse of him in the group hug with the Indies after the agreed parliamentary reforms were announced?

  61. PM’s ‘stepdaughter’ poses in bra

    6:22am | The daughter of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s partner has posed in a bikini for a men’s magazine.
    Brisbane Times

    Which is the truth? The headline or what is in the body of the story. Ignore the fact that she is unmarried and therefore does not have stepchildren.

    Is this news?
    .

  63. Besides, she’s an invidual. She can pose in Hustler for all I care. Doesn’t change my feeling about PM Gillard.

    If we judged every person on the actions of their kids & stepkids we’d end up sounding like some piece of crap goss mag…

    besides, aren’t alot of these journos/columnists being hypocritical…perhaps we should examine their lives & families?

    Can I hear the coke being snorted & then flushed down the toilet…the drinks bottles being hidden in the office draws & shoved under beds…the porn & sex toys being dumped in the bin…the naughty pics being burnt…now?

    🙂

    N’

  64. Fe’, in spite of the media trying to make a story about it, the response so far is yawn. It seems that Gillard’s partner Tim’s adult daughter from a previous relationship decided to make $s from being Tim’s daughter. Maybe Tim’s adult daughter might have tried to be useful, for example as a volunteer at a soup kitchen. She could have received the same publicity but I suspect not the same $$s.

  65. Was just reading this guff at the OO as they try to reconcile the fact that they stuffed up bigtime. Sad, that instead of taking a close look at themselves, they try to deflect their shortcomings onto others, as if they are so perfect none of this barrage of condemnation against them could contain a grain of truth.

    “ANDREW Meares should be getting two salaries: he’s a photographer who is also breaking stories. Meares got photographs of Julia Gillard’s notes on the podium (proving that she had them, when Labor said she didn’t)”

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/lets-get-things-straight-tingle/story-e6frg996-1225920802609

    So, in trying to defend themselves, they put out another porky, ie, that Labor had ever said that there were no notes on the podium. I realise that it is a pedantic point, but, journalists should be trained in pedantry, particularly when trying to defend such an abysmal performance. They could at least try and defend themselves without providing further proof of their own shortcomings.

  67. Tom, thanks for the link. This piece caught my eye:

    BESIDES being responsible for Labor’s near-loss, News is also being blamed for bringing down Kevin Rudd. The Oz did indeed publish a number of stories about problems with Rudd’s personal style. Many of these stories were dismissed by Rudd’s supporters who said: “Oh, that’s just News. They hate us.”

    I’d hardly say they were dismissed by Rudd’s supporters. To the contrary, it was caught on by Rudd’s supporters.

  71. I thought I said BEER!!

    Southwark could could only be described as that if seafood sticks were allowed to be called crab sticks again

  74. Where are the headlines: – “Labor is not to blame for the insulation deaths“. “Garret in the clear” “We were wrong”

    Excerpts from the results of yesterday’s court case convicting the boss of the young man killed.

    Faulty wiring caused the three deaths while installing insulation. The compulsory installing of safety switches in the homes could have prevented these deaths. These switches are compulsory in new homes. Added to the danger in the young man death was a metal pole he was using to push the installation into place.

    The boss was convicted for this offence. The boss still blames the Labor government for his own carelessness.

    Representatives from Fair and Safe Work Queensland told the court a pre-existing defect in the wiring of the house was the main cause of the accident.

    Barrister Peter Matthew said a screw had been drilled through the ceiling, piercing a 240-volt electrical cable and electrifying a metal batten in the ceiling cavity.

    Representatives from Fair and Safe Work Queensland told the court a pre-existing defect in the wiring of the house was the main cause of the accident. He said the company had breached the Electrical Safety Authority Act by allowing the use of a conductive tool on the work site. For this offence, they were fined $110,000.

    Master Electricians Australia (MEA) says if safety switches were fitted to the home, it would have saved the teenager’s life. MEA chief executive Malcolm Richards says two other deaths under the Federal Government’s axed insulation scheme could also have been prevented by the devices.

    Current Australian laws make it compulsory for general power and lighting circuits on new homes to be fitted with safety switches, but Mr Richards says the laws should be extended to include all household circuits and existing homes.

    Investigations showed the young worker was electrocuted when he stood up and part of his head behind his right ear came into contact with the batten while he was holding the aluminium pole

  75. Fe’, anyone who works in roofs should have full induction regarding electrical safety. My hubby is an instrument fitter which means that he works in conjunction with electricians..he approaches going into the roof of our house with caution. How places such as Bunnings could advertise batts as DIY is beyond me.

    During the rah rahs about pink batts (which are just a brand name, they’re the same as other batts) it amazed me that the Australian manufacturers did not stand up for their products. The fact that they didn’t makes me a bit suspicious that it’s because they knew of shonky installation practices.

  76. Min. I know my son-in-law was a contractor. I also know that they were email nearly on a daily basis on what to be aware of in the installing. . They also had to attend more than one course. He was luckily enough to be working for am old, established firm. He also has not done well since the programme was closed down because of the outlandish media and Opposition conduct. Mr. should have held his ground. It was hard work and in my opinion affecting his health working in the heat. He was also proud to be self-employed. From the beginning, my argument was that lack of circuit breakers was the main problem. Post note, his mate who was working him, hung himself the next week. The media and the Opposition have a lot to answerable to.

    The problem is not the pink bats, the problem is that our roofs are unsafe. It panics me that my now adult kids were stupid enough to use this so space as an cubby when I was at work. I, also being on my own, entered that space to fix a leaky roof during heavy rain.

  78. Fe’, in an early life I used to work for Australian Gypsum who were taken over by Boral. I found the claims by the media appalling especially the one that Batts Cause Fires. Batts (pink or otherwise) are in the majority of course made from fibreglass and are therefore a fire retardant. Those that aren’t made from fibreglass such as rockwool are treated with a pest and fire retardant.

    Of the 4 people who died, one was electrocuted with batts due to faulty wiring, one electrocuted from using metal staples months after Garrett banned their use, one from heat exhaustion and one young chap fell from the roof.

    Very obviously all 4 examples are OH&S issues and nothing to do with the material being used.

    I think that you have it..as per your quote, safety switches should be made compulsory. A bit of the sad thing is that it was people who really needed insulation such as the elderly who have homes which don’t have safety switches.

  79. What is it with the media that whenever they seek a political comment on anything they go to Christopher Pyne and if not him then Peter Dutton?

    There was Christopher Pyne on Insiders this morning yet again being asked on things the government is doing.

    This is becoming standard even at this early stage of the government’s term and is yet another indication of how the media are going to frame their already preconceived views of the government, that is through the rantings of certain known deceitful opposition spokespeople.

  80. Seems to be the standard tactic – analysis of the government by the opposition put forward as factual information while avoiding asking the opposition any embarrassing questions about their policies for example.

    Plenty of questions asking about how Gillard and Rudd will work as a team but little about how will Turnbull work with Abbott.

  81. Why not ask Pyne what his party is going to contribute in Opposition? He is not in the position to tell us what the government is going to do. He can only tell us what he thinks they are going to do. Like my adult kids, they keep telling me what I am thinking. Shame is that they are miles off. Pity they did not actually listen, it would be more productive.

  82. Fe’, I think that Gillard and Rudd are playing it extremely well. It would look insincere if they were already doing hugggs, instead Rudd has received excellent coverage at least on Sky via his interview with Hillary Clinton. Next step will be them appearing together. Bye bye to Abbott’s death-wish that Gillard and Rudd won’t be able to work as a team.

    Gillard and Rudd worked as a team since ’07 and they are both the sort of people who can see the bigger picture. Abbott’s current sniping has made himself and his team look small and trivial by comparison.

  83. Min, I am sure you are correct. I have a lot of faith in both. Ms Gillard appears to want to be a leader of quality. She is also pragmatic and able to change course when needed. Mr. Rudd will want to rebuild his reputation. They will work together well, as both have much to gain. At the end of the day, Australians, especially the young, do not like whiners. Mr. Abbott needs to understand they he is trying to promote politics, not a boxing match.

  85. You are right Miglo, and he is probably is Prime Minister material.

    Mr. Howard had more than one go to get to the job. The question is, does Mr. Rudd want the job back at this time. Does he put being PM ahead of being PM.

    He just might be just as happy being in the job he has now.

    We do not know, as I for one cannot read minds.

  86. Fe’, just reading the body language I think that this is the happiest I’ve seen Rudd for a long time. The media just cannot seem to understand that things can be a team event, that Rudd could be perfectly happy in a job that he knows that he can do well that of Australia’s Foreign Minister.

    We are not America where an election is the run for the Presidency. Australia is a parliamentary democracy where the PM is nothing more than the team leader.

    The media also thrives by trying to create angst where none exists.

    Rudd might indeed make a comeback as might Malcolm Turnbull, but for the moment I think that Rudd is focussed on a job that he enjoys knowing that any sign of conflict in the Labor party will be pounced upon by the media.

  87. Christopher Pyne on Q & A tomorrow night.

    Why doesn’t the ABC just declare themselves Pyne’s ABC and have him pay everybody’s 8c.

  88. I think the ABC (especially Fran Kelly) love Pyne becasue he spits venom on the government, and they certainly encourage his ugly episodes.

  90. Many say they cannot stand Ms. Gillard’s voice. Surely, the whiny tones of Mr. Pyne are much worse. Every time he raises an objection in parliament, I cringe.

  91. Kevin Rudd: foreign agent? – Paul Brownrigg

    Tony Abbott is walking a fine line – Madonna King

    The ABC’s attacks on the Labor government, Gillard and Rudd continue unabated. And note how Madonna King turns an article that appears to hold Abbott to account into an attack against Gillard and the government whilst countenancing Abbott as a commendable alternative government.

    This really is getting bad, and I just don’t understand the utter hate the media across the spectrum, especially the ABC, has for Rudd.

  92. Interesting reads Mobius: so when it’s Abbott putting Turnbull in Communications it’s selecting the strongest advocate, but when it’s Gillard she is weak and had no choice but select to Rudd.

  93. Doors duty and other daily duplicities

    How sad but says it all really. But note how Annabel Crabb chose to attack Rudd over this practice when it’s something that has been done by all sides and was practiced by the Howard government without a peep from the media.

    Now the media are being rightfully attacked and held to account they suddenly bring these things up and highlight just one certain PM.

  95. Mr Denmore, very excellent. For Cafe Whisperers, highly recommended reading.

    A sample from Mr Denmore is:

    Instead of encouraging public debate on issues the politicians are running a mile from (like the consequences to the rest of the economy of the mining boom), the media had meekly allowed themsleves to be sucked into parroting the politicians’ mindless, superficial and often downright misleading slogans about tax, debt, ‘waste’, boats, crime etc;

    I can’t argue with that one. I think that we have all noted the obligatory descriptors. Insulation = debacle, BER = rorts.

    If I was back in teaching, I would be asking my class of 10 year olds, It was a debacle because……………. Fill in the gap.

  96. The only thing that makes sense to me of what the ABC is doing is that: –

    They all want jobs in the private media.

    They want to destroy the ABC. I

    cannot think of any other reason for their behaviour.

    The pity most of the present journalist, reporters, presenters and new readers do not have the ability of those that went before them.

    Gone are the days when the ABC was one of the best training grounds for these skills.

  97. CU, those certainly were the days. The ABC was for hearing impaired people the penultimate as they made an effort to face the camera and spoke slowly in the Queen’s English. That was in the days when communicating was considered important.

    It seems to me that this is where the media is heading, that it’s no longer about communicating but just an endless and somewhat boring Look At Me moments.

    Today’s media pretending to be ‘news’ reminds me of a 1960’s Quiz Show.

  100. Thanks for the link Eddie L. I went and read that this morning, then went to Tim Dunlops site, only to see that he has a post up along the same vein. It is actually quite long, and peels away quite savagely at the medias attempts to reconcile their failings with themselves. Well worth the read (as are the fantastic comments following 🙂 )

    My favourite quote (among many)

    It was fascinating to hear SkyNews promote Rooty Hill and the Qld event as the toughest test the politicians faced precisely because it was not journalists asking the questions.

    How is that anything but an admission of journalistic failure and a vindication of critics complaints about the weakness of so many political interviews?

    http://tjd.posterous.com/missing-the-point-of-the-criticism-of-electio#more

  101. The headline is: Men find talking emasculating, Gillard

    The text is:

    Addressing an audience at a Lifeline fund-raising lunch in Sydney, Ms Gillard said mental illness was no less debilitating than sickness of the body.

    “For men generally, but particularly in this culture, there is a sense that it’s not masculine to talk about yourself, to acknowledge that you need assistance” she said in an on-stage interview with Andrew Denton on Friday.

    The above must be one of THE WORST examples well..it’s a mix of disappointment and outrage against this newspaper. Gilllard draws attention to the factor in our society that men find it difficult to talk and the headline is MEN FIND TALKING EMASCULATING.

    http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/men-find-talking-emasculating-gillard-20100924-15q91.html

  106. This comment from eddie’s link is quite an eye-opener:

    Mr Murdoch told the AGM that some change is needed in Washington and is in the interests of America and all News shareholders.

    Doesn’t he mean ‘self interests?’

  111. Eddie, excellent pick up. That one from the OO reads like a junior high school piece in Clear Thinking. Ok kids, now with your green highlighter..underline the emotive language. With your blue highlighter underline the facts.

    But Mrs A’, what about the photo! Good one little Gumblo, this does indeed fit in with ’emotive’.

    This is very good example of how the media try to solicit certain emotions, not just via words but by choosing pics to suit their theme/agenda.

  113. Eddie, thnx for the link.

    Before we were quite disjointed as a company … but we are really getting together now to say ‘OK, if you don’t want the help of the Fox network then let’s see how your film goes’. We are really starting to push back, Devlin said.

    What a bunch of wankers.

    Perhaps we should decide to no longer put up any vids that feature Fox tv shows or 20th Century Fox movies eh?

    Bloody tyrants. Like bloody vacuums. SUCKKKKK….

    N’

  114. Nas’, just in case you haven’t caught this one..

    http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/packer-and-ten-are-not-in-the-public-interest-20101024-16z3x.html?autostart=1

    There are two reasons why Australia’s third richest man, James Packer, wants control of the Ten Network. Both are against the public interest.

    The first reason is that most of his money now comes from gambling…..

    The second reason Packer wants to get hold of a television network is that the development of digital technology in broadcasting has the potential to provide online gambling.

    Actually only one reason, gambling.

    Kenneth Davidson adds..

    The scope for corruption of major sporting events is virtually limitless.

  116. Tim Dunlop at http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/40552.html has written a piece, firstly addressing Annabel Crabb’s speech but also addressing Blogs vs MSM.

    Build bridges, not walls.

    So far, there is precious little evidence of this happening. In fact, that is the essence of the ongoing spat between the blogosphere and the mainstream, that most journalists still hold independent blogging (and associated online forms) in contempt. That was the real meaning of Grogsgate.

    And

    Here’s the thing: they (the blogosphere) aren’t knocking you. They are telling you to do a better job. When journalists realise that, when they stop being defensive and see criticism for the positive thing that it is, we’ll know that things are changing for the better.

  117. Thnx for the link Min. Yet again, another quality & insightful post from Tim.

    Some sage advice:

    The very first step is that they have to stop thinking of themselves as players, as media personalities, as stars, and start thinking of themselves as explainers and communicators.

    What they have to start doing is providing useful context, not airy speculation.

    This is what makes journalists like (for example) Peter Martin, Bernard Keane, Peter Mares and Laura Tingle so good. (It is also why so many bloggers command decent sized audiences.)

    I might add, I’m findin’ the mainstream media vs bloggers things tiresome too. We can all be a bit reductionist & generalise when criticising at times.

    I reckon the bloggers make up for it tho by way of quotin’ & linkin’ to to the mainstream media journos/commentarors they respect…or just good journalism on the day.

    I find it quite disheartenin’ when journos are asked to assess the blogosphere and instead of givin’ credit where credit is due and recognisin’ the blogs that have served them specifically well, they in fact do the opposite & label all blogs as “hate-filled” & “full of lies” & “conspiracies” and so on.

    Robert Fisk’s comments on Lateline are a case in point:

    TONY JONES: Let’s go the question of the significance of this for journalism because you’ve said, “This is the most important proof so far that the internet is now doing a better job than newspaper or TV journalism.”

    ROBERT FISK: Yeah, I didn’t say it was doing a better job. I don’t think the internet does. I think it’s full of hate and spite and lies.

    I have a great deal of respect for Fisk. In fact, on Tim’s Road to Surfdom & on other blogs I quoted & linked to him on multiple occasions in relation to his professional & enlightenin’ analyses of various middle eastern, Levant-based conflicts.

    But this is what we get.

    So good on Crabb for at least attemptin’ to build a bridge. I’ve had my criticisms of some of her posts & style…but I giver her credit for bein’ intelligent & savvy enuff to attempt to adapt to the changin’ circumstances…and express her views articulately & w/out the same kind of rancour, dismissive attitude & tar w/ the same brush approach we’re accustomed to from her peers.

    It’s to be expected that our ongoin’ scrutiny of their work, and let’s face it, occasional venomous descriptives based on frustration has contributed to the gap. And by way of speculation we can be accussed, quite rightly on occasion, of bein’ too conspiracy oriented. But Woodward & Bernstein and many others were also put in the same box durin’ the early days of the Watergate stories. It also has alot to do w/ bloggers attemptin’ to overcome the loss of trust in authority figures stemmin’ from the Iraq War & such.

    And not havin’ the same influential, informed contacts. We’re not privvy to “insider” info to the same degree. So there tends to be more speculation that might not hold water.

    However, I do think we’ve contributed immensely to the sharin’ of information…and providin’ opportunity for alternative expression & ideas.

    And we’ve certainly strengthened the hand of insightful, articulate & useful analysts & journos…and in turn, created more diversity in the area of news filterin’.

    Those bridges are bein’ built…for the better.

    As someone who is not concerned about makin’ an income from this pursuit, I don’t see myself as competition for valuable journos, analysts, commentators…but rather someone who is willin’ to point to the those who do a good job…reveal the dirt…but also know how to promote the positives…and are not just puppets on a mogul chain. Or apathetic…stickin’ it out for the money…like so many actors who walk thru films. I like to see passion, integrity, depth of analysis…wit. Empathy.

    I don’t begrudge any journo their pay…provided they earn it.

    The best of them will always earn my respect. And do a job that I am not skilled enuff to do.

    N’

  118. I read that last night Min. It highlights precisley what is wrong with our journos, they still think it is about THEM.

    Whilst I like Annabel Crabb for what she writes, the fact that somebody who strikes me as basically a ‘comedic opinionator’ is now the ‘ABC Online’s chief political writer’ speaks volumes about the dearth of talent amongst our journos. Don’t get me wrong, I usually enjoy her articles, but they seem to be fairly ‘lite’ pieces all looking for that clever little line or tag to be remembered by. I think she hit her heights with ‘University of East BumCrack’, and has been trying to get back there ever since. She tends to make light of things rather than look to deeper analysis?

  120. Excellent piece Mr Denmore. After reading this, plus TomR’s comment and Nas’ of course I was thinking that the MSM is going to have to run up the white flag. The time is now almost gone when people just read what is written, but rather a majority of especially younger people expect to be part of the process.

    To date the MSM blogs have been poor offerings (with a few notable exceptions) and now mostly dominated by the far right wing, an example being how a piece about a town in Italy turned into a Muslim bash-fest. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2010/10/28/readers-dont-follow-links-episode-264/

  122. Thanks for the links, Min and Mr Denmore.

    Tim’s piece (which I skimmed over) seems to say much the same thing as our own posts on citizen journalists and blogging, as does my web site currently under construction, australianblogsites.com.

  125. Hi all,
    Now that Scott has another 5 years with their ABC,what’s it mean to us getinng balanced news.Anyone?

  127. Hi Eddie. The only balance we’ll have is Murdoch’s mob and the ABC balancing each other out. They wouldn’t be any fun on a see-saw. 😆

  128. “Now that Scott has another 5 years with their ABC,what’s it mean to us getinng balanced news.Anyone?”

    Eddie & Pip. I’m in two minds. Scott seems to have helped create a far more vibrant & technologically diverse ABC. Thumbs up for the Drum/Unleashed…24 hr news…ABC2 etc…kid’s channel…I enjoy plenty of ABC shows.

    But, the reporters/hosts need to do more in-depth reportin’…the interviews w/ Howard were generally pretty lame. The odd probin’, useful question. I don’t recall any questions tho about intelligence reports he had access to re: Iraq War.

    I did despise the lazy hoppin’ on Murdoch empire bandwagon stuff & spruikin’ of their organs durin’ the past year, includin’ durin’ the election…but, I do see more balance in some shows…particularly Lateline’s Leigh Sales.

    I actually really dig Leigh. She’s was kinda goin’ off course for awhile…but now she’s back to the real probin’ & interestin’ interviews.

    Some useful stuff from Jones too…but I do get sick of the celebrity act…and those sycophantic “we idolise you Tony Jones” kinda tweets they put up on Q&A. Eventually that can lead to infotainment instead of the useful show Q&A is right now. The news shouldn’t be about the host/reporter.

    I’d luv to see Leigh Sales takeover the 7:30 Report when O’Brien heads to 4 Corners.

    I just hope Scott doesn’t over corporatise the ABC & sell it out to his corporate mates.

    The QLD news is oft dreadful…way too Labor bashin’. Tho, I have seen some improvement of late. The main newsreader is articulate…but I’d like to see more of the govt’s accomplishments up front, rather than just before the sports.

    As for Insiders. Sigh. Has its moments…but needs more ladies…a diff host occasionally…and more bloggers (like The Drum)…

    and alot less Bolt & Akerman. Righties fine…I don’t mind Milne of late…or Atkins…but not extremist sh*t stirrers. They turn me right off. I grew up w/ righties & I know the jerks from the sincere, more grown up righties.

    N’

  130. Hi everyone, here’s another interesting little snippet,

    http://www.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/murdoch-comes-to-canberra-to-meet-pm/20101030-177w1.html

    Firstly we see young James busily buying up shares in Channel 10 and immediately making a killing. Next, there’s young Lachlan wanting to buy half of young James” new shares. Following all that excitement we see the bossy old foreigner flying into the country to meet the PM and the Rabbott.

    The question might be, “what’s next ?”

    PS, I don’t usually use agist or xenophobic adjectives but these fellas really give me the gallops.

  132. I’ll try that again !!!! amateur linker alert

    http://www.margaretrivermail.com.au/news/national/national/general/murdoch-schmoozes-canberra/1983507.aspx

    Anti siphoning laws.. sporting events..pay tv…free tv…
    Australia Network News, provided by the ABC Asia Pacific News Centre, [why should the ABC have such amazing access to Asia and the Pacific asks Rupert].

    Does anyone ever say no to Murdoch and live to tell the tale ??

    For those who have read this far

    http://theage.com.au/national/abbott-policy-switch-after-murdoch-chat-20100218-oiut.html

  134. Wasn’t that where Rudd came adrift..refused to play the game. My ‘worst’ must be the media breathlessly interviewing Abbott’in’lycra on the steps of Parliament House. My Big Wish for the Media, please learn how to ask as sensible question! Rant for the day completed 🙂

  135. Murdoch’s WSJ whitewashes the Tea Party movement

    October 29, 2010 by Eric Boehlert at MediaMatters

    http://mediamatters.org/blog/201010290031

    There are lots of things wrong with the Wall Street Journal’s big A1 celebration of the Tea Party movement today, as the newspaper publishes a lengthy look back at how the groups were formed and how they gained political clout.

    For instance, the Journal completely underplays the extraordinarily important role outside, non-grassroots, entities have played in propping up Tea Parties. Outside players like Fox News, right-wing billionaire David Koch, and Washington insider Dick Armey. Instead, the Journal sticks to the preferred Tea Party script of an authentic grassroots uprising.

    The Journal also reports that Tea Party groups were instrumental in Scott Brown’s Massachusetts win earlier this year; a claim that not even the Republican senator thinks is true.

    But perhaps most amazing is how the Journal lets Tea Party founders claim that the conservative, anti-Obama movement was a reaction against Republicans, and that their anger was aimed at Republican members of Congress.

    Huh??

    It’s a shame that the prestigious Wall Street Journal has been used to pump out BS propaganda.

    N’

  137. Nas’, we of course receive little about this on our news but the Tea Party did rate a mention via their promotion by singer Pat Boone. Old Pat said 3 values “faith, freedom and family” and only white bread sold.

  138. Thanks Nas, my offspring were out so I had to type it myself !!! like I said, amateur linker alert….not that I’m dumb or anything….
    Hi Min, I didn’t know Pat Boone was still alive.
    Speaking of the WSJ and the Tea Party, over at the Political Sword Hillbilly skeleton has a great piece about Astro Turfing. Think Koch brothers and the Tea Party movement, or much closer to where I live, Member for Mayo, Jamie Briggs, advertising on his website, “Labor detention centre coming to a town near you”.

    http://www.politicalsword.com/post2010/10/25/Of-Grassroots-and-AstroTurf.aspx

  139. Hi Pip, from the look of Pat Boone on the interview whether he is alive or not is open for debate.

    On the subject of balanced commentary. From Sky: This week we’re interviewing Greg Hunt. Next week we’re interviewing Joe Hockey. Interviewer: Wow, that’s something to look forward to. The nodding head replies, Yes it is.

  140. Hi Min, did you catch the little gem about Greg Hunt at the despatch box and some Labor wag asked him to stand up. Mean but funny nonetheless.
    On a much more uplifting note Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter featured on Message Stick this arvo giving the afternoon a lovely flavour.

  141. Hi Pip, missed it. But a Google reveals below:

    His enviornment spokesman Greg Hunt insisted yesterday he was “misunderstood” and was instead attempting to explain the “real” policy: (a) support for an emissions trading scheme, (b) a deadline of 2012, and (c) a decision on mid-term targets for abatements to be naturally determined with a view to future agreements by the big polluters. If they agree to go further, Australia can also revise the targets upwards.

    This is fantastic!! Support for an ETS, a deadline of 2012.

    Sadly the year of this was July 2008 and the ‘he’ in the his environment spokesman was Brendan Nelson.

    Thank you Pip for the reminder about Message Stick. This can be found at: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/messagestick/stories/s3052039.htm

  146. Thnx Eddie. Ever get the feelin’ that Rupert has nightmares about invaders…and can’t get enuff of battles…like some people who have heaps of insect cans in their houses and spend an inordinate amount of time runnin’ around swattin’ & sprayin’ bugs…

    and when there are no more bugs they can see, they leave the sliding door open, put down some rancid meat & wait til more horrid invaders come…

    and with a scream of THEY’RE COMIN’, THEY’RE COMIN’ the obsessive compulsive goes on the attack…bearin’ the tools of their killin’ trade.

    N’

  147. Worth reading:

    A World of Their Own

    By Mr. Denmore at The Failed Estate

    http://thefailedestate.blogspot.com/

    Why the ABC, two months after a federal election, would consider a story about an Opposition tax proposal a more newsworthy item than a regional meeting featuring our prime minister at a meeting of the dominant economic powers in the world speaks volumes for the myopia of the Canberra press corps.

    It also highlights the increasing irrelevance of local media at a time when our most pressing problems are global in origin. As other critics have noted, with increasing frequency, the Canberra press gallery spends its life focusing on inconsequential short-term noise with little regard for the global context and connections.

    I noticed same that night. Too often the mainstream media prefers to head w/ Abbott & Coalition stories…then follow up w/ the PM.

    N’

  154. I hear she’s fairly right wing … bit more than “fairly”, I’d say, Migs 😆

    Hancock, was a mate of that other “fairly” right wing Premier – Joh Bjelke Peterson!!!!

    I’ve been to a business conference with Ms Rinehart – definitely not my cup of tea!

  155. It seems that the idea is to control Australia’s natural resources and and then secure control of public opinion about the exploitation of these resources.

  157. Ah yes TB (as quoted over at Crikey) but Bolt states categorically “Murdoch, you see, has not once – in letter, conversation or wink – so much as hinted I should write this or that.
    Andrew Bolt
    Wednesday, March 28, 2007” Who to believe… 😉

    .

  158. … and why should, Murdoch, direct, Bolt … if he’s scribbling the garbage he wants him to scratch out he’ll leave him alone!

    Its referred to as “management by exception” – a manager only steps in when the troops don’t follow the script – managers, who have trained their teams well, thrive on it … it lets ’em get on with other things – like acquiring another government or two …

    (Disclaimer: This technique does work, I used it – and trained managers and supervisors in the process …)

  159. Bolt, of course, Min. Murdoch knows he doesn’t have to say a word to that little rightist ranter who gives him exactly the sort of journalism he wants.

  160. Had to laugh at dolt on insiders Sunday (only watched it today though). They were talking about the crime rates in Melbourne, and how the Age had mentioned that while the rates had actually dropped, the election there appeared to focus on getting tougher. dolt lit up and said it was great (that the focus was on it), and we should have a mature and sensible debate about crime, and, even though the data might show it receding, don’t believe it, because he has called it into question before, and his ‘gut feeling’ said it wasn’t.

    WTF!!

    Oh well dolt, keep the fear alive.

  161. PS Really came here to comment on Crikey’s woeful coverage of the Newspoll shift. Crikey Newsletter had 23 items headlined and not one of them referred to Newspoll. Mind you First Dog did a good job on Niki Savva, so that redeemed Crikey to some extent, but not Bernard Keane in my opinion. He’s sold out, I think I won’t be paying for his newsletter via email any more. Even on-line they put it at very low level and featuring Shanahan’s article about the ALP improvement being a blip! Not much from the Poll Bludger either.

  162. In Crikeys defence patriciawa, do they often take much note of newspolls, except to maybe bag them? I put the following into google and the results were interesting, a long list of newspoll absurdities 😦

    newspoll site:http://www.crikey.com.au/

  163. Ted Baillieu is trying to do a Colin Barnett in WA and campaign heavy on Law and Order because current polling is showing him losing.

    Even if Baillieu wins he’ll do exactly what Barnett did with all his promised get tough on crime election promises, nothing and crime will go up as it has in WA. To show how meaningless it is, Law and Order was Barnett’s primary election platform, yet even though he has broken that major promise he is rating high in WA and that broken election promise is never reported on by the Murdoch dominated media in WA.

  164. WTF!!
    The heading says it al

    “New firm put batts in fatal fire home in Wagga Wagga”

    but the story details a slightly different story

    “The cause of the fire is under investigation and the blaze has not been linked to the insulation.”

    I’m sorry, but were there any other tax funded items in the house? We deserve to know.

    There doesn’t have to be any link apparently, just an opportunity to tie the words fire and insulation together.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/new-firm-put-batts-in-fatal-fire-home-in-wagga-wagga/story-fn59niix-1225961143411

    Meanwhile, the poor petals over there don’t like having things that might not be true said about them. Something about good for the goose…

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/26/3077776.htm

  165. Richard Farmer commenting on The Stump links to an interesting piece by The BBC’s Roger Harrabin.

    This quote is rather pertinent to the subject here:

    “When considering societal problems over the long term, news-worthiness is often in inverse proportion to frequency. If problems become commonplace, they are not new – so do not qualify as ‘news’. This means the media often guides politicians to focus on less serious acute problems at the expense of more serious systemic problems.”

    So here as stated by Richard we have a case of Man Bites Dog. The media whilst looking to report on the incompetencies of a government and/or politicians concentrate on the banal and petty because that’s where the smallest faults can be found most frequently, this in turns forces governments and/or politicians to concentrate on the short term banal and petty instead of the strategic problems facing a state. As Harribin states this also means the long term systemic problems and failures are often overlooked as politicians and governments concentrate on the petty they know will be all over the news’ cycles.

    It reinforces my contention that the problem, not just here but globally, is not wholly with politicians or political parties, but mostly with our current media of which one media conglomerate dominates, and the sole focus of that conglomerate is the banal and petty and to exaggerate the trite to an importance far greater than it deserves just so it can get out a frequency of “news”.

    One thing I liked about Rudd, and it is the one thing mostly overlooked about him even by his own side, is that as a bureaucrat above everything else he just got down an did the job almost to exclusion of everything else. He was boring because he would hardly get entangled in the petty now whilst he concentrated on pedestrian strategic policy.

    The thing about that was by any measure what Rudd achieved was fairly impressive. In one term he achieved more than Howard did in a decade. I’ve posted the list before quoted from elsewhere, and that list has been added to.

    You would never know it from the media of course as all they have reported are the small amounts of mostly superficial failures whilst completely ignoring the overall successes, which have been considerable.

    And it’s happening with the Gillard government, where, because of her gender, an even pettier attack is being waged, whilst the fact she has gotten through 51 pieces of legislation has been ignored. Instead we have had the media going on about her appearance and spruiking up Abbott as a great success because one minor piece of legislation was voted down, whilst the ignored his shabby appearance in parliament the other day.

    The problem of political failure here and globally is not governments but the MSM and the sooner they are bought to heel by the new media the sooner we can start to scrutinise government fairly and for the things that really matter, the long term social well being and prosperity of the nation.

  167. Tom @ 7.58pm Yes indeed. A house that had been insulated caught fire and to date there is no reason to believe that the insulation was the cause. It gets depressing sometimes especially when the media insist on using the word ‘batts’ for all types of insulation.

    From the Bradford site:

    All Bradford glasswool and rockwool home insulation products are non-combustible and achieve the highest possible ratings in early fire hazard tests.

    Which part of the word non-combustible do the MSM not understand.

  168. Mobius, very well said. One thing that came to mind when the blog was discussing Murdoch’s plan to set up a paywall in Australia next year is that surely the OO etc are going to have to appeal to more than 48% of the population…that is, most lefties have categorically stated that they wouldn’t pay to read that rubbish.

    It was with some amusement that I read that in the UK the Murdoch papers are offering free tickets to Toy Story..somehow I don’t think that this would do the trick 😉

  169. OO editer:

    Mitchell says he will sue Ms Posetti because he believes new media should not be exempt from the “normal laws of the land”.

    Then why do they continue to belittle bloggers?

  170. Great links Tom, great comment Mobius.

    We saw the man bites dog at work in regards to Indigenous affairs while Howard was PM.

    The OO would run an anti-Aboriginal editorial, that was totally fabricated, and Howard would jump to it. Meanwhile hundreds of policy advisors were being paid to sit on their bums and scratch their heads in amazement.

  171. Migs. This one always intrigued me. The theory at the time was that this was Howard being an opportunist, however it happened so often that I wonder if these anti-whatevers weren’t deliberate ‘help’ from the press. Other examples include the unemployed (remember that story about the family of unemployed and the boys refusing to get their hair cut to take up a dream job) and disabled pensioners (pics of a bloke on the roof of his house). Suddenly..traa daa..little Johnny to the rescue with some policy plan To get tough on….

  172. That’s exactly how it was with ATSIC, Min. The media attack on ATSIC or Aboriginal people became so intense that our work became almost impossible. Why? Because Howard would react to the story and change the goal posts.

  173. “In one term he achieved more than Howard did in a decade.”

    What a load of crap.

    He was so bad his own party got rid of him because “the govt had lost its way.”

    You lot would not recognise the truth if you saw it walking down the street.

  174. Round and round Neil goes he thinks if he says it often enough it’s what stows.

    He was so bad his own party got rid of him because “the govt had lost its way.”

    How many times across how many blogs have you said that Neil, along with “Labor debt”?

    The record of achievements speak for themselves and if Howard had a fraction of the media scrutiny and attacks that Rudd did Howard would have lost his first term, which he only just managed to scrape in anyway by lying and bullshitting, which was to become the hallmark of his time in office.

  175. What achievements??? And please do not give me a list of Howard govt programs which have been continued under Rudd/Gillard.

    Which ALP program has been an achievement??

    Oh yes. When the ALP pays off some debt just for once i will change my station.

  176. And if Rudd was so great why did they get rid of him??? If his achievements were so great the ALP should have given him a medal.

    he was actually given the left boot.

  177. If Howard was so great why did the people get rid of him?

    Politics Neil. It’s politics that allows an unfit leader like Abbott to rule a party.

    ————–
    The list has been posted several times Neil so find it yourself, not that you’ll pay any attention to it anyway so what’s the use. Even under Gillard in a minority government 51 pieces of legislation have been passed. Howard was a sloth in comparison.

  178. “If Howard was so great why did the people get rid of him?”

    Nothing you will ever say will make me understand the votes at the last election.

    We got rid of a wonderful govt and replaced it with retards.

    Shows you how dumb and dishonest are the average voter.

  179. Neil. I know that I have put this on other sited. You choose not to answer.

    Neil, I am still waiting to hear what Mr. Howard done and what Mr. Abbott’s agenda is. We are all well aware of what you think of former PM Rudd and PM Gillard. I would love to know why you think Mr. Abbott and Mr. Howard are much better.

    I would love a list of their achievements. My earliest memory of Mr, Howard was dismantling the laws protecting Aboriginal land ownership, ensuring the miners did not miss out. Then there was all the government benefit for the lower income that became user paid. Then there were years of taxation deductions for the higher income earners.

    I kinda remember many cuts, in the number of medical and nurses places at uni. There were severe restrictions put on the number of Medicare numbers for doctors. Mr. Howard and co definitely looks after the wealthy private schools. It would not have been so bad if he did not take the money from State Schools. We must not forget the great big progressive tax he introduced, that gave the states less control over their incomes.

    I will never understand why a person over 60 should pay less income tax than someone with a young family. I have never understood why wealthy retired people need a Seniors Card. (Many retailers give these people rebates but will not give the same to someone with a Concession Card).

    Mr. Howard’s agenda was to weaken the public education and health system, to be replaced by private systems. Medicare was to be replaced by Private Health Funds. He was clever enough not to make his agenda known but to do so by stealth, undermining the present systems.

    Neil I will be surprise if you will agree with I think Mr. Howard’s agenda was and what Mr. Abbott’s is. Mt Howard was successful in moving a high part of the national income cake from workers to employers‘.

    Neil, I am not that interested in insults, but facts to back your beliefs.

  180. OK just how screwed is this and why isn’t the ABC being made to explain?

    Right now on News24 they are airing a full Abbott community hall meeting live. The 7:30 Report is normally on but they have shoved that to ABC1.

    I maybe wrong but can anyone tell me of an entire Labor community hall meeting that the ABC has covered live?

    Not only that the opposition for a long time, in fact going back to Latham, canned the community hall concept in the harshest terms. Now that Abbott is doing them they are somehow so newsworthy as to be covered in full live with normal news services shoved aside for him.

    Why doesn’t the ABC just come out and like News Ltd just admit they are a right wing spokes piece?

  182. now on News24 they are airing a full Abbott community hall meeting live

    I stumbled upon that as well, but only watched for a very short time. It was not NEWS, but a free political plug. Where was the ‘balance’? (Among other failings). Unbelievable!

  183. Yes N5. I watched for about 10 minutes and flicked back to it every now and again to see if it was a true open community hall forum, but it was so obviously a staged political event for the benefit of Abbott that I gave up going to it half way through.

    Just what is the ABC playing at airing this in a News and Current Affair slot as it was so obviously a blatant plug for Abbott at a time he has lost traction when he should be ruling the roost with the potential balance of power he has? Instead he cannot negotiate his way through a kindergarten sandpit spat and Gillard is successfully negotiating her way through one tough policy and program after another. 51 pieces of legislation now successfully tabled.

  186. Is it just me, or does it look like Chris Mitchell is still in the throes of the Great Unhinging as foretold by Possum

    http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/12/chris_mitchellgate_mitchells_d.php

    One thing is for certain, it Shirley is fun to watch.

    ‘Mitchell responded: “I am amazed to see Richard finally stand up for a journalistic right. For decades he has supported every half-baked lawyerly argument against journalistic professional privilege. Now he supports the right of a Tweeter to tell blatant lies easily proven as such. Only at the (Sydney Morning) Herald, the spiritual home of all twits.”‘

  187. teehee – it’s good to see even shows like The Simpsons sticking it to Fox:
    http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/has-the-simpsons-finally-gone-too-far-20101202-18ibe.html

    During the opening credits of a recent episode, which often provide a platform for the creators to score political points, they pictured a Fox News helicopter adorned with the slogan ”Fox News: Not Racist, But No. 1 with Racists”.

    The dig, perhaps aimed at the channel’s open support of the conservative Tea Party movement and its frequent criticisms of the President, Barack Obama, certainly worked up the temper of the notoriously prickly Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly. In his show he showed the clip then said of The Simpsons: ”Pinheads? I believe so.” Liberal fans of the show who have wondered how it gets away with its radical jokes while being part of Fox, owned by News Corp, looked forward to the next episode for a continuation of the fight. It happened when the slogan on the Fox helicopter was changed to ”Unsuitable for Viewers Under 75”.

    Could the same slogans apply to Andrew Bolt specifically, and Ltd News in general?

  188. Bacchus, I imagine Rupert doesn’t gripe too much at the odd insult by way of The Simpsons…he’s smart & crafty enuff to know that it keeps more than a few Democratic party supporters, progressives & Fox News-haters watchin’ the show…it’s the moolah in the end that counts…to keep the organo-machine beast rollin’ along. Sadly.

    “Could the same slogans apply to Andrew Bolt specifically, and Ltd News in general?”

    I think yer spot on there Bacchus. 🙂

    N’

  189. If you recall, there are those of us who have written consistently in the past on the speculation that Rupert Murdoch & his empire, includin’ Fox News, are about benefitting financially from CHAOS.

    Not known for his originality…but bein’ a Murdoch empire type that likes to borrow (?) ideas & turn them on their head or against opponents…Glen Beck of Faux News has thrown out yet another conspiracy theory…and guess who is he claiming benefit from causin’ CHAOS?:

    Beck: WikiLeaks Tied To Soros Conspiracies

    The Huffington Post | Jack Mirkinson First Posted: 12- 2-10 08:

    Glenn Beck tied WikiLeaks, and its leader, Julian Assange, to George Soros — whom Beck has repeatedly attacked as sitting at the center of a vast array of secretive organizations determined to fundamentally alter American society and the world — during his weekly “At Your Beck And Call” segment on Wednesday’s “O’Reilly Factor.”

    Assange, Beck said, “loves to have just all-open society. Sound familiar?” O’Reilly picked up the reference to Soros’ Open Society Institute.

    “You think Assange knows George Soros?”

    “I know Assange is being represented by the attorney who does the pro bono work for George Soros’ Open Society Insitute,” Beck said. He went on to say that the WikiLeaks scandals were part of an effort to create a “perfect storm” of chaos, and compared the organization to Al Qaeda. Both, he said, are trying to take down America by “a thousand cuts.”

    more here:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/02/beck-wikileaks-soros-conspiracy_n_790914.html

    How truly pathetic. If Beck had an original idea I think his head would explode.

    If anything, these leaks will throw more light on the inner-workings of American governments and their allies that have led to preventable fiascos like the Iraq invasion…and Plamegate.

    And reveal the pressures that are bein’ applied to governments, the Pentagon & other state & defense dept’s by states & corporate actors w/ vested interests.

    It does not surprise me that Democratic party Senator Feinstein…& Senator Joseph Lieberman are lead voices in condemning & tryin’ to prevent the spreading of the WikiLeaks info & apprehendin’ Assange.

    To see them in the same boat as Glen Beck on this matter gives one a pretty good indication of what is comin’…and what they fear.

    LET THE LIGHT SHINE.

    America can be a better place. It needs courage. And a freer press. Stuff the corporates.

    N’

  190. little off topic, but htis was far too hilarious to go past.

    After all of the articles the oo have published trying to tell us how good the opposition wireless plan is compared to fibre, they now print this.

    ‘In a scene set to play out in thousands of small towns across Australia, Brigalow will not be connected to the NBN fibre optic network, which will offer internet speeds of up to 100 megabits per second to 93 per cent of Australians. Instead, they will be offered a wireless internet service that is nine times slower at 12Mbps. Western Downs Mayor Ray Brown yesterday said the residents of 99 towns in Queensland’s southern farming and resources heartland were being “short-sheeted”.’

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/nbn-entrenching-rural-disconnect/story-fn59niix-1225967922112

    As long as it attacks the (Labor) government, don’t worry yourselves with maintaining a coherent argument, just argue, with whatever you have at hand, facts be damned.

  193. Yea, good link Eddie.

    From yer link – ABC on-line:

    Posetti won’t apologise over Twitter comments

    Journalism academic Julie Posetti is standing by comments she made on Twitter about The Australian’s editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, which are at the centre of a defamation claim.

    Ms Posetti’s lawyers today issued a response to Mitchell’s legal team, saying she denies defaming him and will not apologise.

    Mitchell threatened to sue Ms Posetti over tweets she wrote quoting former reporter for The Australian, Asa Wahlquist, where she told a journalism conference that reporting on climate change at the newspaper was “torture”.

    Mitchell has strongly denied the claims, saying he has never “conducted himself in a manner that was coercive, debilitating, excruciating or tortuous”.

    But the ABC has since released audio of the conference which shows that much of the information Ms Posetti tweeted was actually said.

    “Climate change, of course, was a part of what I covered. It was absolutely excruciating. It was torture. There’s no other way to put it,” Wahlquist told the conference.

    She then went on to describe Mitchell as taking a “political view” on climate change.

    “It took me quite a while to realise that my editor at The Australian, editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell, was taking a political view and he goes down the eco-fascist line,” she said.

    FIGHT THE POWER

    N’

  195. Excellent link Eddie:

    From Tim’s post at Unleashed (ABC on-line)

    A brief history of how new media is transforming old media

    From the Iraq War to Wikileaks

    Ever since the Iraq War, the mainstream media (MSM) has been suffering from a credibility crisis. Not only did they fail to see behind the false case presented by the Bush Administration for the war, they were shown to have failed in that basic duty by the so-called new media, the endless stream of blogs that blossomed in the lead up to and prosecution of that war.

    While the mainstream dutifully reported whatever spin governments spouted, it was the citizens of the blogosphere who were pointing out the Emperor had no clothes.

    Iraq was a turning point. If the media could get the reporting wrong on something as important as a war, when mere amateurs could see through the nonsense, what else were they getting wrong?

    That was the question the audience suddenly asked themselves, and they’ve been asking it daily ever since. What’s more, social media have provided them with the means to discuss the question publicly.

    The importance of this change in mindset and capability cannot be overstated.

    The failure in reporting Iraq led to not just a collapse in trust between the media and its audience, it led to open hostility between new media and old. Some might even say paranoia from the old guard.

    The net effect of this was that the MSM, instead of attending to its own problems and attempting to fix them, projected its failures onto new media practitioners. It asserted its professional status over the sea of amateurs out there in blogland as if, by definition, the professional will always be superior.

    There is nothing wrong with arguing your corner, but what is striking about the MSM’s response is how rarely they engage with specific criticisms. What you get instead are generalised articles about how inadequate the amateur sphere is. There are endless op-eds about things like the failure of bloggers to follow established journalistic norms or about how rude the people in comments threads can be. The idea is to smear the form and its participants rather take seriously legitimate complaints.

    This approach is doubly destructive in that the amateurs they vilify are not just bloggers, they are simultaneously citizens and customers of the mainstream media itself.

    In other words, the MSM finds itself attacking that part of the citizenry and its customer base most engaged with the product they are providing.

    Can any industry ultimately stand when it is at war with its customers?

    Tim also refers to Wikileaks.

    N’

  196. I found the John Quiggin post worth readin’ that Tim Dunlop linked to:

    New media, old media, older media

    December 6th, 2010

    The conventions of objectivity and balance achieved their most complete dominance in the United States,and it is there where there overthrow has been most dramatic. The end of the ‘fairness’ doctrine in broadcasting paved the way for the rise of Fox News as an openly partisan broadcaster, in opposition to the ‘balanced’ centrism of its competitors. More recently, Fox has become a centre of political power in itself, playing a dominant role in the working of the Republican Party machine. Fox donates large amounts of money to the party, puts favored politicians on its payroll and acts as an organising centre for supposedly ‘grassroots’ groups like the Tea Party.

    There is nothing inherently wrong with this. The problem is that Murdoch wants to have his cake (a media organisation that will push whatever line is required politically and tailor the facts to suit this line) and eat it too (be treated as a reliable and objective source of information, with a place of privilege in the media hierarchy, sitting above bloggers, twitterers, PR agencies and the like).

    In a sense, by engaging in action so obviously inconsistent with the role of a newspaper editor as it has been understood, Chris Mitchell is doing us all a favor. The Australian is printed on paper, and contains what it alleges to be news, but it is no longer a newspaper in the late 20th century sense of that term. Rather, it is part of a political machine, using its power and wealth to crush its opponents and critics by whatever means it finds most convenient.

    More here:

    http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2010/12/06/new-media-old-media-older-media/

    Spot on.

    N’

  197. Mr. Denmore has an interesting piece over at ‘The Failed Estate’ blog…revealin’ the “denial” that is goin’ on in journalist ranks…reinforcin’ Dunlop’s argument :

    Waiting for Poddo

    Thursday, December 9, 2010

    For anyone familiar with the plight of the media in recent years, the findings are depressingly familiar. These boil down to the perpetual search for a new business model in the online world, excitement over the possibilities offered by new technology marred by a lack of investment in skills and training, journalists being asked to do more with less, the axing of jobs (700 in two years), the centralisation of production, the increasing pooling of resources, the deterioration in quality and the loss of younger audiences in particular.

    Perhaps not surprisingly for a union-led study, the underlying expectation in the study is that the solution to many of these problems (which have been around for at least 10 years) will come from inside the mainstream media industry, the decaying 20th century information factories that employ most journalists.

    Much appears to be hanging on the success of the iPad applications, although an Essential Media study of the public would appear to undercut this. Asked whether they would be prepared to pay for online news content, 91 percent of respondents said ‘no’. This would not suggest a positive outcome for News Corp as it contemplates extending its paywall experiment to Australia.

    There is also very little discussion in the report about the role that expert blogs could pay in the long hoped for renaissance in the industry. It is remarkable that there is absolutely no mention of the Grogs Gamut episode and what this might suggest for the mainstream media industry. And the role of Possum in providing much needed deep analysis and balance to public issues in the past year also goes unremarked.

    More here (includin’ an observation of the Wikileaks phenomena in a previous post):

    http://thefailedestate.blogspot.com/

    N’

  200. The media we can trust! Did they really believe the cables would not be publish in the raw.

    “Fairfax admits to Arbib errors ”

    “FAIRFAX Media has admitted it made errors in reporting WikiLeaks diplomatic cables involving Sports Minister Mark Arbib’s relationship with the US embassy.
    But it has denied accusing Senator Arbib of “spying” in a piece entitled “Yank in the ranks”

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/fairfax-admits-to-arbib-errors/story-e6frg6nf-1225973588469

  210. OK Aunty has gone one step too far in my opinion.

    ABC News Breakfast all but did an endorsement for The Australian this morning, stating that instead of reporting on the human impact a story the paper did on the devastating economic effects the floods are having on the coal industry proves The Australian is a “serious” broadsheet.

    News Breakfast is repeated in its second hour so they may repeat the endorsement.

  211. Listened to a Pure Poison podcast last night and the question was asked why the opposition never said much on the Christmas Island tragedy. The answer was quite simple: The Murdoch media were speaking on their behalf.

  213. Eddie, did you catch the Peter van Onselen piece today? Van Onselen can be a reasonable read but certainly blotted his copybook with this one.

    Included under the title Seven steps to pave way for Abbott PM:

    Liberals can’t simply hope to ride to victory by turning it into another Building the Education Revolution cost blow-out, or a pink-batts style disaster…..Demolishing the National Broadband Network is all important, but the way it is done is crucial.

    And so van Onselen continues with the OO myths.

    Abbott is blessed with a large number of former ministers in his shadow ministerial ranks, and a good number of them aren’t all that old.

    Oh really? But do any of these former ministers have any talent…but at least they aren’t all that old.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/seven-steps-to-pave-way-for-abbott-pm/story-e6frg6zo-1225979614655

  214. OK what the hell is the ABC doing giving Abbott so much air and news time over his visit to Emerald in the Queensland flood areas?

    If Beazley or Rudd in opposition had been given this much prominent coverage during a disaster over and above Howard as PM there would have been hell to pay and you would not have heard the end of it from those yelling ABC bias, yet for some reason Abbott gets prime coverage without the slightest protest from anywhere.

    And now SBS news is at it as well. Giving a few seconds of Gillard announcing financial aid to flood victims only after Abbott got considerable footage and sound bites from Emerald.

  215. Mobius, the more they show of Mr. Abbott the better. Have not you notice how much better he does when he stays hidden.

    More stupid statements of the obvious to people in distress will not add to his popularity. (I know that it I was asked whether I was pulling carpets out, when the street is lined with destroyed household goods, including carpets, I would not be impressed.)

    He always to me gives the impression that he is performing and does not really care when in public. I am not impressed with his statement a couple of days ago that he would be touring the flood areas later in the week to ensure PM Gillard kept her promises.

    There is a time and place for politics, disaster areas is not one of them.

  216. What are they saying? Is it that Mr. Abbott can only win by destroying the Labor government and its policies? Why is it that he cannot win by putting forwarded better policies that meet the needs of today, not of yesteryear?

    Yes, the Opposition should hold the government to account. It should not be done by continually talking the economy down and opposing everything. We all know or should know that there is many ways to do things. The Opposition needs to be careful when they decide to act negatively; they have something better to offer. People will be lest likely to listen to dire warnings when they realise the sky is not falling in.

    It is sad to see the glee on the Oppositions’ faces whenever any bad economic news is announced. When the news is good, they do everything in their power to denigrate the announcements.

    Even the worst government in history managed to do some things right. The best also got some things wrong. Opposing everything is the hallmark of a lazy and purposeless Opposition.

  217. Liberals can’t simply hope to ride to victory by turning it into another Building the Education Revolution cost blow-out, or a pink-batts style disaster…..Demolishing the National Broadband Network is all important, but the way it is done is crucial.

    Min, it’s quite disgusting that Peter van Onselen publicly announces that he wants the NBN demolished.

  218. Who is more feral; the opposition or the right wing media? After listening to Alan Jones interview Bananabe Joyce I’d say it’s fairly even, with each urging on the other.

    This particular interview contained bullshit and hypocrisy of Everest proportions.

    With all this rain why hasn’t the Gillard Govt built any dams? No dams have been built in Australia since 1960 and this should be Labor’s priority NOW. If Gillard doesn’t build any dams this will ruin the economy of not only our own country but that of South East Asia. (Yes, you heard right, SE Asia).

    Well FMD if it was so important why didn’t Howard build any dams?

    A couple of times during the interview Jones boasted that Joyce is more in touch with the people than any other pollie.

    This has to be a joke.

  219. I did not notice any deep valleys where the floodwater is covering much of the state. I would imagine that many of those shallow valleys would contain most of the best fertile land.

    I believe that where there are large shallow dams, the sun soon soaks up much of the water. The truth is that there are not many opportunities for efficient dams in Australia.

    We are also short of snowlines that provide much of the stored water in other countries. We were very good at dry farming and should redirect out energies to such endeavours.

    As for Mr. Howard’s wonderful plans for water, if I recall correctly, the plan was devised on a serviette and announce without any costing just before an election he looked like losing after over ten years of government. It was desperate act of a desperate government.

  220. A very good piece from: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/42666.html

    But forget about 1,000 words, Australian political journalism is now basing its political reporting on single minor incidents and then pretending that these encapsulate all we need to know about the politician concerned. It is political reporting totally converging on political cartooning. Here a handshake, there a slip of the tongue, a long speech, a pair of boots, a hair style, a publicity stunt, a laugh, a stumble, a sporting event.

    And…

    Oh it’s an amusing game, no doubt, this “gotcha” moment of finding an incident or accident that can be used to characterise a politician once and for all in words, just as a cartoonist does with a nose or eyebrows or ears. Probably serves as a status symbol for journalists themselves, with each glib characterisation being marked by a notch on the gun handle, a small flag on the fighter plane. Where once the well-informed and incisive interview by O’Brien or Oakes was seen as marking the pinnacle of political reporting, now the stars are those whose observations can comfortably fit into a tweet.

  222. Just posted this over at TPS, but it fits in here as well:
    You are absolutely right. It’s as if the media go off the Coalition’s cues. If the Coalition go ‘Meh’, the media don’t follow up on the government’s deeds. If the Coalition get all hot and bothered about something, so do the media.
    For example, I saw the most outrageous interview last night on the SBS News between Peta Jane Madam and Barnaby Joyce. No matter that his cockamamie argument to put dams here there and everywhere had been totally debunked a couple of days before in the fairfax papers, there he was still pushing that barrow in the interview. All Madam did was facilitate his talking points. Not one sceptical question was asked. She couldn’t even make the connection between a flood plain and nowhere to put a dam if a flood of the area occurred, let alone the fact that ‘Mr Dams’ didn’t let out a peep when the Traveston Dam in Qld. was being fought against tooth and nail by the locals. Not only that but he was allowed to rabbit on about the Water Act’s insufficiencies, as if it was a creation of the Rudd/Gillard government, saying how inadequate it was by placing too much emphasis on the environment and not enough on the social and economic costs, when it was in fact the Howard government who wrote the Act! The Howard government that Barnaby Joyce was a member of.
    If the so-called ‘professional journalists’ in Australia’s media can’t do better than that measley effort, then what hope is there this year for a balanced coverage of politics?

  223. Feral, that’s certainly one of the stand-outs in so-called professional journalism today, the fact that MSM journalists seem to be completely incapable of even a simple Google Search to try to get even a modest amount of background information. Instead they take whatever the opposition spouts forth with as gospel, often running ridiculous stories based the opposition’s interpretation of ‘the truth’. The insulation ‘debacle’ and the BER ‘rorts’ also come to mind.

  224. What is more annoying is the headlines that sprout “split in cabinet” “Rudd did not take advice” “Rudd supports whaling” etc. (These are not direct quotes).
    I do not know what these and similar headlines mean. Surely, in any organization, alternative views, actions, and advice are discussed in meeting and decisions made.
    I thought it would also be prudent to look at alternative courses of action. I thought it would be proper for this to occur in the cabinet and caucus.
    Do the writers of these headlines allege that Mr. Rudd must take all advice and views of others? Do they believe everyone in a Labor government must agree 100%.
    Is it alleged that Labor PM views do not count. These meeting as far as I am concerned are to consider all views, alternative actions and advice and make a decision.
    I make many plans that I find as I go along can be done better, Surely the same is true in political life. Have we reached the stage where no politician can say, after looking close at their proposals, that they I found a better way to do it? Does it sometime occur that the promised made are no longer needed or feasible because of changes in the country. Why is this labelled as flip-flop, incompetence, or a back down? Is this not why all legislation is discussed on the floors of the house to allow revision and adap-tation from all members, including the Opposition.

  225. I found this interesting.

    http://clubtroppo.com.au/2011/01/08/the-retailrs-should-have-gone-partisan/

    “The retailers should have gone partisan
    Posted by Richard Tsukamasa Green on Satur-day, January 8, 2011
    That was quick. It only took a week for media consensus on the re-tail campaign by Gerry Harvey and others, in contrast to the con-sensus on the campaign by mining companies.
    Both represent campaigns by established and vested interests to serve their own interests whilst claiming it is in their own interest. Yet whilst the first was either quoted uncritically or eagerly adopted by portions of the media (and then lauded as skillful), the latter is now ridiculed as PR failure. The consensus is on whether it was good PR or not, and only then, occasionally, on the merits of the policy. The horse race instinct is deep in these people, and the entire busi-ness model is built on the unverifiable assumption that marketing is worth what people spend on it…………[fn1] Here’s an article from the first edition of the Daily Telegraph after the election (i.e before re-sults had rolled in).
    ALP feels backlash over Neal scandals
    VOTERS in the marginal Central Coast seat of Robert-son lined up to punish the Labor Party because of “the Belinda Neal effect”.
    The seat sat on a knife edge of 0.1 per cent coming into the elec-tion, and voters told The Sunday Telegraph yesterday Ms Neal’s con-troversial term as MP had prompted them to turn away from La-bor……. I love that in the absence of results they published the one thing they thought they could be sure about (and found a support-ing anecdote or two), and were wrong as Robertson swung the other way to the rest of the state. It’s why I’m pessimistic about the ability of the media (or honestly anyone) to determine the unimag-inably complex “public opinion”. When you focus all your effort on race calling, and who is winning, at least be capable.”

  227. I cannot imagine what the right wing media and Opposition hopes to gain by turning the present floods and peoples misery into a political football.
    Piers Akerman http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/tv-radio
    “They are clumsily managing to exacerbate the fallout from the flooding disaster through poor crisis management… After the failed management of Labor’s pink batts insulation scheme, the disastrously expensive failure of its solar rebate program, its ill-managed and wasteful school building program and the ever-increasing cost of the Not Bloody Needed national broadband network rollout, this should have been ex-pected,,,,,”
    It is the same old bullshit over and over. I fail to see what the Premier or Prime minis-ter has done wrong. They have been out and about since the floods started. They have got the army involved and appointed Major-General Mick Slater to oversee the restoration of this region.
    “Major-General Mick Slater has already decided to warn the media that he will be scapegoated if his mission is less than a success.”
    Where is the evidence for this statement? If Major-General Mick Slater believes this, he should not have taken the job on.
    “According to the ABC, Gillard was confronted by angry farmers on Friday when she toured Western Australia’s flood-affected Gascoyne region after it was revealed that she was offering West Australians grants of up to $15,000 to assist their clean-up efforts, but grants of $25,000 to Queensland residents.”
    Mr Akerman knows who is responsible for the offer of $15000. Mr. Akerman would well know that there is an agreement between the states and commonwealth to pay a fix percentage in these matters. The Queensland Premier asked for a grant of $25000, the Western Australian sought $15000. PM Gillard has stated she would be willing to pay the higher amount if the Western Australian asked.
    “Joyce, like a number of others with practical knowledge, also takes inspiration from the 1930s plans by the visionary engineer John Bradfield – designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Brisbane’s Story Bridge and the dams that still supply Sydney – to drought-proof much of Australia’s east coast.”
    Mr. Joyce as far as I know is an accountant. He did not appear to get much support for dams from Mr. Truss, who commented that there are bad as well as good dams. The experts in this field have poured scorn on the idea.
    PM Gillard has already spoken to the local mayors re making the local highways flood proof. This was as far as I can recall, an election promise in Rockhampton,
    “We cannot afford a reliance on desalination; we must build dams and we must move water.”
    Why not, many other drier countries than ours rely on this type of water supply.
    “Flood waters from Queensland are expected to continue raging down the Murray system for at least the next three months.”
    Exactly what this river system needed. It is nature cleaning and refurbishing the sys-tem. As far as nature is concerned, floods are beneficial. It is only the buildings and towns we build are destroyed. These rivers, regardless of the amount of water in them now, will soon return to a normal flow, hopefully reviving the flood plain and marshes as they past by. The problem for the environment is not that we are having floods now, but that flood cycles are getting further apart.
    Did the Snowy dams save flooding or make matters worse by having to release water in the nearby rivers? It could be that full or near full dams can increase the damage from flood.
    I remember conversations of my grandfather who was born about 1888 in Blayney. He and many of his peers were of the belief that the dams and weirs built on the cen-tral west rivers increase the intensity of floods.
    We in NSW appear to protect our towns and villages better than in Queensland with extensive levees. I would rather see Mr. Abbott get his team to look at how towns and homes can be better protected.
    The problem with this for Mr. Abbott is that he could not stir a political storm doing this.
    As most of our rivers break their banks on flood plains and flat land, I fail to how building dams would be of much use. There could be a serious review of where we placed our homes and towns. There is a long way to go with building levees and maybe having the ability to divert rivers and creeks during flooding rains.
    This water only destroys homes and crops in their pathway. Open countryside with stock removed would soon recover. Floods do destroy what we have built, but they also revive the land they flow over. (That is if they have not been over stocked or suf-fered extended years of drought.)
    Mr. Akerman did not inform readers that the Opposition had fought strongly against the dams that were planned for the Hunter Valley and near Brisbane. These dams have been abandoned.
    The answers are not simple or black and white as the Liberals and Nationals would have us believe. They would be better seen as supporting the actions taken at this time.

  229. Thanks Eddie. You can rest assured that I won’t be subscribing to it. If The Daily is his most exciting product then you can expect it be be nothing but a right wing propaganda mouthpiece.

  233. Thnx for the link Eddie. I guess some bigwigs just can’t handle a bit of criticism eh? Becoming more like America everyday w/ all this litigation & threats of.

    Less Aussies who know how to turn the other cheek by the day.

    Was a time when things like that were sorted out behind the pub. Not anymore. Gotta feed them lawyers. They have needs. 🙂

    N’

  242. Feral, an excellent pickup by Deltoid’s author Tim Lambert. And of course it’s spot on, predictions of the potential effects of global warming are now a part of coastal councils’ planning schemes. This was first initiated in 2006 under the federally funded LAPP (Local Adaption Pathways Program).

    That’s right in 2006 by which government was that?? Howard was obviously in one of his ‘whatever it takes’ moods.

  243. Most cops consider quitting

    This is an illustration of how the MSM can influence who gets into power.

    In the last WA election the then Liberal opposition went hard on crime prevention and health as their major platforms and won the election based mainly on fighting crime. This was abetted by a feral News Ltd. media that attacked the Labour government at every turn especially highlighting crime and supposed government failures on this front.

    Fast forward and the Barnett is failing on every major promise it made during the election, especially on crime and health. On the health front WA now has the worst hospital stats of any state, yet Barnett refused to sign up to the government’s universal health scheme.

    Yet in every poll since the election, and despite the Liberal government failing on all their major promises, the Liberals are well out in front.

    I note that Ted Baillieu of Victoria was bailed up on the loss of tax payers money in the Grand Pris, something he railed against in opposition but is now making excuses for. He got arrogant and tetchy when continually asked about what he’s going to do and refused to give an answer.

    I also note that O’Farrell of NSW is now finally being asked for alternative policies as he and the NSW opposition have senselessly out of hand opposed everything, and I mean everything, the NSW government have ever done and raised. This is an easy way to run in opposition but at some stage you have to have alternatives to the things you opposed, and the NSW opposition has not had very little, and what they have had has been ludicrous, like fixing NSW public transport system by cutting billions out of it.

    Once in power the Liberals turn out to be no better, and in respects to social outcomes are worse, than the incompetent Labor governments they replace, and so they last for two or if lucky three terms and are booted out, which seems to surprise the media (e.g. Kennett). But you would not know that the Liberals are as bad as the Labor governments they replaced from the current MSM, who attack Labor governments at every turn but are very forgiving and supportive of Liberal governments.

  244. Thumbs up to Tim Lambert of Deltoid.

    Occasonally we have a link to Bolt, Akerman and those other News Ltd blowhards from the far-Right…so why not to the so called “far-Left”?

    Extreme floods are just the beginning

    Sunday, January 23, 2011
    By Renfrey Clarke

    http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/46452

    N’

  246. This oppose everything attack style is simply coming form the US where the republicans have done the same.

    If you do nothing but bash and report negativity against one side of politics some will start to stick.

    It was like the tirade against Kevin Rudd. The one time they could not manipulate his repsonse was when he was sacked as PM by hte ALP. He then spoke of his achievements and the MSM could not alter his speech as it was live. Only then did people actually see how much was truly accomplished in a positive way rather than the few negatives.

    It also seems like a type of prehistoric religious crusade in its style. Quite disgusting really.

    I like to attack both sides and wish the media would do their job properly and do the same thing.

  247. “I like to attack both sides and wish the media would do their job properly and do the same thing.”

    It is fine to bash both sides but that does not necessary lead to being impartial. I think there needs to be acknowledgment when either side does well.

    Negativity for its own sake produced much.

  248. “Negativity for its own sake produced much.”

    Sorry, my eye sight is not the best.

    I mean “Negativity for its own sake does not produce much.”

  249. Shane, I agree. It’s a pity that the media can’t consider themselves as a swinging voter rather than as has been pointed out by others at the Café seeing themselves as part of the process. That is, the MSM would do themselves a service to try to report and indeed attack both sides when needed rather than following their own agendas.

  251. Mobius Ecko @ 9.55am,
    I agree with everything you have to say about barry O’Farrell and the Liberal Party in NSW. They are so bad that, even considering the dire straits that Labor are in up here atm, we have had moderate, small ‘L’ Liberals defecting to the ALP because they just can’t stand the extreme Right Wing ethos, with a smiley, avuncular face(BOF), that is the NSW Liberal Party.
    Already the Liberal’s have had their first corruption scandal, and they haven’t even been elected to government yet! The Shadow Attorney General, Greg Smith, has been caught out using the PR firm that his son works for to produce election material for him for the upcoming election, at the taxpayers’ expense. Now, that doesn’t sound too bad, along the lines of, well, don’t they all employ their relos in one way or another? Well, yes, and, no. The wrinkle in this particular incident comes by way of the fact that Greg Smith’s son hasn’t been working for that particular PR firm for very long, because, up until recently, he was a Plumber!
    Not only that, but you mentioned O’Farrell’s refusal today, when questioned at the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the Electricity Asset sales, to detail his own policies. Well, cast your mind back to the recent federal election. Which State probably lost the election for Abbott by being so disorganised that in crucial must-win seats they hadn’t even chosen candidates until a few weeks before the election, or chose complete doofuses who physically attacked teenagers for throwing eggs at their car, such as in my seat. This is the Barry O’Farrell/Tony Abbott show writ large.
    I mean, the PM has to look no further than NSW for $2 Billion to fund reconstruction in Qld and Vic. after the floods, as just last week BOF knocked back that amount of oney from the federal government promised at the last federal election to build the Paramatta-Epping Rail link. I don’t think that Julia will be giving him the money to buuild a train line through the Liberal seats in the NW Hills district that he wants instead.
    Anyway, the only way he will be any sort of success at all is if the media overlook the Coalition’s shortcomings and run the State for them. Which is probably what is going to happen.

  252. If anyone ever had any doubt as to how low and right wing The Australian is then this headline should dispel that doubt.

    Leftist Lara Giddings still looking for Mr Right

    LARA Giddings says she still hopes to meet the “right man” but for now she’s happy to give all her time to being Tasmania’s first female Premier.

  253. Good grief Mobius…she still hopes for ‘Mr Right’ as of course what Lara should really be aspiring to is a load of ironing and peeling the spuds.

  254. Great comment Mobius @ January 24, 2011 at 9:55 am.

    This was abetted by a feral News Ltd. media that attacked the Labour government at every turn especially highlighting crime and supposed government failures on this front.

    And Mobius,
    didn’t News Ltd focus like a burning laser on the Victorian police & their head fella? He obviously pissed Murdoch’s lot off.

    Fast forward and the Barnett is failing on every major promise it made during the election, especially on crime and health. On the health front WA now has the worst hospital stats of any state, yet Barnett refused to sign up to the government’s universal health scheme.

    Yet in every poll since the election, and despite the Liberal government failing on all their major promises, the Liberals are well out in front.

    If it was Kevin Rudd in charge of that state government the News Ltd types & their ABC & couple of Fairfax/Channel 9 lackeys woulda roasted him by now.

    Barnett’s gettin’ a free ride.

    N’

  256. Yes FS, the people of NSW will elect the Liberals and my prediction is that what happened to Jeff Kennett will happen to them, but unlike Victoria I think Labor as bad as they might be will remain in power for a long time.

    Victoria might also be interesting as Baillieu is turning out not to be much different to Brumby, and like Barnett in WA is already beginning to break major platform promises and not improve the things he stated in opposition he would immediately fix. I guess the difference is that in WA no matter how badly Barnett is performing, and his government is performing badly, it seems he just grows in the opinion polls. I wonder if a single newspaper controlling the media agenda and hostile to Labor TV News has anything to do with this.

    Telling that in WA during the entire reign of Labor every little thing they did was repeatedly ripped apart and criticised, yet here we have a Liberal government that is in some major areas performing worse than Labor and hardly a peep from the media.

    O’Farrell is in the worse position of the lot and he knows it as was shown in the enquiry. When he took the Liberal leadership he promised not to be negative for negativities sake as the opposition were previously and that he would offer positive alternatives. That didn’t last long and the opposition under him not only fell back into negative carping on everything without exception but expanded that negativity. Like Abbott they could mostly get away with this as the media was compliant and never held them to account for the things they were stating.

    Well O’Farrell’s chickens have come home to roost and need to produce eggs, and because of the years of negativity, promising to do much better and to immediately fix things if in power, his eggs need to be gold and there needs to be an awful lot of them, something that may have only just dawned on him when for the first time last week he was asked about alternative policy and programs and had no answer.

    NSW will not be any better off under the Liberals and in some ways worse as all the assets are sold off in fire sales, massive spending cut backs are implemented and the money is spent on pork instead of much needed services, just as happened under Kennett.

  257. “Anyway, the only way he will be any sort of success at all is if the media overlook the Coalition’s shortcomings and run the State for them. Which is probably what is going to happen.”

    You can count on that Feral.

    Unless News Ltd find their source of money is dryin’ up. Then it’s every pollie for themselves, includin’ Coalition ones. 🙂

    Useful comment BTW. Particularly related to the Shadow Attorney General, Greg Smith.

    N’

  261. Good stuff Eddie. I noticed you linked to this on Facebook:

    Murdoch ‘deeply depressed’ by scandals

    A “deeply depressed” Rupert Murdoch fears the bad press surrounding the phone-hacking and sexism scandals at his operations have rocked his chances of taking full control of BSkyB.

    Andrew Neil, founding chairman of Sky TV and former editor of The Sunday Times in London, says the media baron is furious with his lieutenants in London for letting matters get out of hand.

    “The controversies have poisoned the political atmosphere and Rupert thinks it has ruined his chances with BSkyB so he is taking radical action,” Mr Neil told the Evening Standard.

    Why does Rupert feel the need to own so much anyway?

    Has he drawn up some plan that he expects his family to execute. Global domination? Kinda there already ain’t he?

    I bet there’s a nigglin’ voice in Rupert’s head sayin’: As you make your bed, so you must lie in it….or…Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.

    N’

  265. Someone (to whom many thanks) led me to an article which appeared yesterday in the SMH which encouraged me to comment, as I feel I should whenever the opportunity arises. If it came from here forgive the duplication. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/media-matters/news-corp-makes-itself-easy-to-dislike/20110128-1a7iv.html

    Agreed, Nasking, on this latest comment from one of his mouthpieces trying to distance Murdoch from the phone tapping scandal. Could he finally be reaping the whirlwind?

    “Andrew Neil, founding chairman of Sky TV and former editor of The Sunday Times in London, says the media baron is furious with his lieutenants in London for letting matters get out of hand.”

    What a crock of the proverbial. Matters have been ‘out of hand’ since Murdoch made the decision to control the world through newspapers and exploited and abused democracy’s major asset – freedom of the press. He should be indicted for crimes against democracy throughout the world.

  266. Well said Patricia…”crimes against democracy”…I like it.

    From the insightful article:

    Fox News is unfair, unbalanced and almost unhinged, the loopy cousin which takes the corporate family tendency to aggression, over-sensitivity, us-against-everyone behaviour to the extreme.

    Perhaps Rupert should go the whole hog & turn Fox News into an animated show?

    Then he could pay the hosts less, fake the guests voices…make up any issue he likes…

    and put it up on the various Fox networks w/ American Dad, Futurama, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, & Family Guy in the mornings & arvos.

    I reckon Bill O’Reilly & Glenn Beck would make great cartoon characters.

    N’

  267. Mr. Abbott has offered to assist PM Gillard to cut the fat from the budget. I have an easier exercise for him All he has to do is list what he will cut or sell and the money saved in each case. He does not need any ones permission for this.

  268. It’s simple Cu and is why Abbott is doing this, the NBN.

    He will just scrap the NBN without giving the cost for an alternate or his communications policy and say he has saved 50 billion, which is the latest price he has put on the NBN, roughly 14 billion more than than anyone else.

  269. The problem is that too many people want it. If my memory of being reared in the bush is correcct, farmers just love the latest technology, even if the have to go hundreds of kilometers to use it.

  270. “He will just scrap the NBN without giving the cost for an alternate or his communications policy and say he has saved 50 billion,”

    Would not that put the budget into surplus if Mr. Abbott’s figures are correct. The deficit cannot be too bad if it is that easily fixed.

  271. Yes Cu and more so if you consider that actual outlay for the NBN is not $50 billion, Abbott alone is stating that made up figure, but somewhere towards $35 billion over 10 years.

    Abbott as usual and as he always will be is full of shit, which is why he cannot be PM of this country. He more than any other leader we’ve ever had will do and say anything for power and control.

  274. What amazes me is the Austrlian Government Media via the ABC and SBS ( which are independent authorities) usually attract less than 10% of the viewing public, yet receive massive outcry of media bias from the conservatives.

    Our print media is a duopoly in some states and a monopoly in others by Murdoch.

    Funny how monopolies or departments in a sector where private enterprise also operates, owned by Governments are wrong. Yet monopolies or almost monopolies by big corporations are ok.

  275. “Interesting article on Rupert.”

    Tony Blair sold out the people. By allowing Rupert to be a pseudo cabinet minister…and have so much influence over his government…he sold himself to the Devil…or at least to a man who had dumped his core principles to survive in the media industry and expend his corporation & influence.

    Two hollow men.

    In a world led by so many hollow people it’s about to crumble…again.

    I wonder what or who Rupert’s “Rosebud” is/was?

    N’

  277. Yes Eddie the PS piece should be disseminated as widely as possible, it is a very important piece to start the year with.

  279. The oo continues to dance about on their opinion of whether Wireless is as good as Fibre. When tabot wants to put wireless everywhere instead of Fibre, GOOD, when certain areas will be using wireless instead of Fibre, BAD. Is there any consistency at that [place, apart from their continual spinning of stories to make Labor look bad.

    ‘Instead, it appears the area will be connected to wireless that offers a fraction of the speed of fibre-optic broadband.’

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/just-out-of-town-but-off-the-nbn-map/story-e6frgaif-1225999049774

  282. Thanks for the link Eddie. It truly goes to show that it is all about money and greed. The average person is destroyed and thrown to the scrap heap. Where is Erin Brokovic.

  285. Eddie, that PM article is disturbing, and clearly shows the wider fallout to innocent people from this pathetic behaviour by the worlds largest media organisation

  289. Tom, a few of the pieces were missing so I should imagine that either Migs or Nas decided that it wasn’t worth keeping.

  294. What is the use of small sample polls with an error rate of 4-4.5 percent. This is the second one I have seen in the last week. They both portray Labor in a bad light. They do make good headlines. Polls of 500 or so people tells us nothing.

    I believe that polls are used by some to manipulate political opinions.

    Polls should not be allowed in the month before state or federal elections. Let people make up their own minds as to where political parties are at.

    Sunday Mail poll: 54-46 to Liberal in SA
    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/

  295. Can I make a suggestion that this media thread be archived and new one started, Media II 2011 or something along those lines. It stops the thread becoming to unwieldy and the previous one can still be there for reference.

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