With the ABC neutered these past decade and Murdoch media, Ch9 and other mainstream organizations tied to the Government and it’s donors for financial gain political media in this country holds any oppositions to account rather than the Government. Democracy is no longer being served and an autocracy is encouraged to flourish. Grass roots politics brought an end to the slippery slide and has temporarily allowed the nation to catch its breathe.
Revelations about Scott Morrison’s power-grab of five secret ministries raise serious questions about the health of Australian media and in turn, the media’s commitment to contribute to a strong democracy.
The core function of political media is to hold power to account. The fact that former Prime Minister Scott Morrison was able to secretly sign himself in as co-minister in the portfolios of health, finance, resources, treasury and home affairs, in collusion with the Governor-General, speaks volumes of journalists’ unwillingness to scrutinise the powerful.
Just imagine the 2nd Debate was between Tanya Plibersek and Scott Morrison and you would seen a Misogynistic Neanderthal v Rationality and Steadiness in an event sponsored by, and in Media’s Side Show Alley. “Don’t let me interrupt you Scott”
Conclusion: Sass to The Max The hostility of the media, along with its total hypocrisy (deficits are now an issue again just in time for a Labor government) is hereby exposed. Your role, Mr Albanese and the Labor team, is to no longer take the crap that media dishes out. Scott Morrison has cowered the media through his screeching about bias when confronted with facts he does not like, and they are compliant lapdogs instead of the watchdogs they are meant to be. Now, I am not suggesting that Mr. Albanese manipulate the press as his counterpart has done, but I do want him to say when confronted with some partisan BS question framed in some crap fashion Nice gotcha question there. Does anyone have a serious question they would like to ask? This is not hostile to the media broadly, but it does send the message ‘serious questions only, folks’. It will be necessary for Mr. Albanese to put the media in their place from the start, because if Labor is elected on May 21st, the media will commence Operation Restore Legitimate Government from May 22nd.
Peter Costello’s AGE spent yesterday attempting to smear Dan Andrews for his relationship with the Sikh Community in Victoria. They seemingly tried to suggest that a positive and progressive relationship was nefarious and suspicious in nature the equivalent of what we have seen done in LNP’s rorts scandals. The Age was acting more as a PR agent in an effort of damage control for the shambles Matthew Guy and the Liberals had found themselves in. However, even Pr agents can be idiots and chose the wrong community and the wrong relationship to focus on even one one dating back to 2018.
But it’s during difficult times like these that Australians bond together to help each other out — and that can be seen by the efforts of Sikh Volunteers Australia, an organisation that aims to reduce distress in the community by providing free food to people in need. Sikh Volunteers Australia preparing food deliveries
The Abbott/ Morrison Government had made a pact with the IPA and NewsCorp to rid Australia of ABC News. Abbott backed into a corner knowing the ABC was Australia’s most trusted media source found that direct task too difficult so he banned the government MPs from going on the ABC. Morrison did almost the same. The government has become a regular fixture on Sky News and 2GB their “cash for comment” propaganda arms . Even granting Murdoch a free unexplained $30M. Australia has never seen a concerted effort like we have in the past 8 years to turn Australian media into American with Australia’s Sky News a model of Fox News, without MSM diversity. Consolidation of our MSM into 3 privatized corporate arms run by Peter Costello, Kerry Stokes, and with Murdoch controlling the largest has seen our media metamorph into the Conservative Cyclops donor at the behest of the LNP, and the want of the IPA posing as a”think tank” but acting as the LNP’s mega- donor/lobbyist and even grooming politicians of the future.
Their aim to rid Australia of any organization designed to keep the bastards honest and Democracy the political system of choice for this country which demands the existence of at least two major parties both of which are prepared to lose an election but rule for all Australians. Unfortunately only one party today is prepared for that role and it isn’t the current government.
The year ended with the resignation of ABC news boss Gaven Morris and a public sledge by ABC chair Ita Buttrose, who accused the (LNP) government of political interference.
With a federal election around the corner, it is going to be a very busy and a very interesting 2022 for the public broadcaster.
In return for this disclosure to the public, in our interests, the whistle blower has today been doxxed by Chip le Grand, who has described his disclosures as a “hit job” against the government. Le Grand also does a good job of maligning the whistle blower in an attempt to discredit him. It is not a huge stretch to speculate that le Grand and the Sydney Morning Herald under the chairmanship of former Liberal treasurer, Peter Costello, are acting in the interests of a besieged LNP government, and not the public. Regardless of your personal opinion of the man, there can be no doubt that he acted in the public interest in taking his story, with videos and texts as proof, to van Onselen. Whatever his other motives are, and is there one among us without complex motives for much of what we do, he acted in the public interest, which is all that need concern us as citizens struggling to deal with the outrages visited upon us by a government entirely bereft of all morality.
Youth has borne the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting recession, yet their representation in the media is minuscule and dropping, according to a research report. News Corp’s widespread use of damaging stereotypes about young people was also notable, writes Elizabeth Minter.
“The US election has highlighted the need for truth in journalism and the need to call out unsubstantiated and false claims,” said Hanson-Young. “Before we head into another election period in Australia, we can now take a proper look at the state of media diversity here and help protect a pillar of our democracy,” she added.
During times of relative stability and peace, poor journalism is an annoyance. But during times of crisis, mediocre reporting has far greater consequences.
Did Murdoch build a show around him or slot him into a new show? We don’t have to left-wingers to state the obvious. The contract would tell but the advertisers even more. (ODT)
Fox & Trump are a tag team when it comes to media wrestling (ODT)
Fox News spent crucial weeks minimizing the danger posed by the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in order to protect President Donald Trump, and recent polls show that the network’s viewers are less likely to be concerned about it than other major media audiences. Top Trump administration officials are now praising the network for its coverage, even as Fox comes under fire from other outlets for endangering the public by actively spreading misinformation about the virus.
Sinclair Media vies to become Trump’s favoured messenger. (ODT)
“We are fighting to guarantee healthcare in America. To make education and housing dignified and accessible. To save our planet. To set living wages. To establish justice at home and peace abroad.” (AOC)
Conclusion: Warren as Corporate Compromise Candidate
The point of the respective treatment of Warren and Bernie here seems clear enough. The corporate elite have seen that the energy in the Democratic party is in the populist wing. They have thus chosen a compromise candidate: one who is populist enough to excite the base but who will ‘play ball’. Senator Warren is also a woman, so identity politics becomes a viable weapon against her detractors.
To end, I reiterate that this is not a critique of the Senator herself; she is merely running her campaign for the nomination. It is the media who are to blame here, cynically manipulating her campaign in an effort to bring down Bernie Sanders.
News Corp supports economic growth and the widening of the wealth and income gaps. Protests apparently should have rules and go unnoticed style comes before meaning. Of course it does when News Corp are propagandists operating via fraudulent style of News Media. (ODT)
It is not the Muslims’ fault that 51 of their number were killed. It is not the Greens’ fault that it happened. It is the fault of the individual, the movement that took him in and radicalised him, the ideology that informed him and the institutions that supported that ideology — such as the Australian media. In 2017, I stepped into the light of national mainstream media attention simply by putting on a ridiculous pantomime of real patriot groups. I succeeded in it with ease, because our mainstream media apply no critical thinking when broadcasting organised white supremacists. It was a fun failure to point out through MFP in 2017.
“A former people smuggler now living in Pakistan has been asked by his former bosses to return to Indonesia and test a future Shorten government by finding passengers willing to travel on boats to Australia.” Ch9
Media Matters: Channel bought Fairfax and has instatnly cahnged tack and taken on the Murdoch Model of business. This is a story you would have expected to see run in conservative fearmongering Herald Sun and Daily Telegraphs to gain attention. The carrot to raise numbers and make advertisersl follow. The ” people smugglers” in this article are unnamed, their “bosses” unnamed as is their location. Historic footage of a people smuggler is used. A fantasy yarn might make a great story and the conservatives happy to use it. Our MSM is a disgrace.
But Dutton was always ready to become Australia’s Paul Revere to let us know ” The boats are coming the boats are coming.” They have always been coming but an “on the waters government secret” but then the ELECTIONS are coming. (ODT)
“They want to push it. They want to send one, two, three, four, five, six, seven boats every week, twice a week … then I think it will be hard for the [Australian] government to handle it. All of a sudden 1000 people, or 2000 in a month or two,” he said.Ch9
Then there’s “civil discourse.” Wikipedia places its origins with Locke, but I suspect academia has had a lot to do with its widespread adoption, approaching triteness. “Civil discourse” is held up as the ideal of respectful, constructive dialogue. To engage in anything but is considered anathema to progress (on the left) or preservation of certain “values” (on the right).
The other night I watched the Netflix special “Nanette,” a one-hour monologue by the Australian lesbian stand-up comedian Hannah Gadsby. I don’t want to spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it. You should watch it. My jaw dropped to the floor and I stood up and cheered into my TV at the end. It is anything but civil discourse. It is the exactly opposite, in fact. In an awe-inspiring act of courage, Gadsby pours rage and pain and a terrifying personal history into the microphone, plus damn good humor. She challenges her audience to sit with those feelings, that reality, her true story. Not only so she can begin her own healing and make herself whole, but so we can, too.
Hannah Gadsby is what we need in this moment. Not civil discourse. Not politeness. White hot rage from the legitimately oppressed majorities of this world. If you can’t take the heat, tough luck. (I wonder what academic institution might invite her to speak?)
In this context, bear the following in mind: Rupert Murdoch was in Australia the week Turnbull was toppled. The Sun King and the Crown Prince of Point Piper spoke by telephone before the Liberal leadership was spilled on August 24. The media proprietor denied his empire was campaigning for the PM’s ouster, besides The Australian. “Boris [nickname of the paper’s editor-in-chief Paul Whittaker] is the only one”.
But only days earlier, Murdoch met with Seven West proprietor Kerry Stokes and implied the very opposite. “Malcolm has got to go,” he told the Perth billionaire.
Bill Leek’s Cartoon got the same and it was deserved.(ODT)
In the aftermath of the dramatic US Open women’s final between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight sketched a cartoon of Williams that has drawn opprobrium worldwide.
Critics such as writer J.K. Rowling and basketball player Ben Simmons have denounced it as racist and sexist. However, the Herald Sun’s editor defended Knight, saying the cartoon had “nothing to do with gender or race”.
She claimed that children torn from their parents as a result of the Trump administration policies and who were not yet reunited with their families were being protected by the administration because, “due to domestic or drug abuse, many of these parents are now deemed unfit to care for their children or dangerous for their children.”……Bolt’s claim of “no Stolen Generation”
During a 2013 appearance on the now-defunct Fox show The O’Reilly Factor, Ingraham claimed that a lot of recent immigrants “have wreaked havoc upon communities.”…………Bolt’s Claims against Africans and Muslims
Where the Sky News, Australian right and Andrew Bolt get their formulaic Racist Bigotry from the American Fox News desk. This what they attribute as their News and Opinion. They don’t win awards so they have their own Award Show. Wake up Australia (ODT)
The fact is Australia is near the bottom of the ladder of OECD countries when it comes to the job market (ODT)
I am getting so sick and tired of seeing the constant stream of Murdoch News Corp and LNP Government bash-a-welfare-bludger propaganda stories in the media, all done in the name of turning the general population against people who are seeking employment, or are in receipt of any Social Security payment for that matter.
It obviously serves an agenda of trying to keep our attention away from the abysmal job market; the expansion of part-time work vs full time permanent positions and the ever increasing casualisation of our workforce. Not to mention the fact that available jobs are now outnumbered by unemployed people many, many times over. Add in the vast under-employed number of people and we have a crisis on our hands.
The online home goods store Wayfair, food company Nestle, travel website TripAdvisor and Rachel Ray’s dog food Nutrish all said they are removing their support from Ingraham.
Wayfair said in a statement that it supports “open dialogue and debate on issues. However, the decision of an adult to personally criticize a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values. We do not plan to continue advertising on this particular program.”
First, embarrass wife by leaving her. Next, embarrass new partner by exposing her.
What a reference to the poor baby: Andrew Bolt
Andrew Bolt tries to tell us Joyce’s behaviour is exceptional when in fact it’s the Aussie norm. He refers to it as “embarassment” hardly indicative of what women face daily in our misogynistic culture. Bolt actively and publicly attacked Miranda Devine and lost. He’s never forgiven the woman and tries to “embarass” her whenever he can. How many women have been forced to have DNA tests when declaring they are pregnant? How many have remained silent when raped. Why Slut shaming is an Australian norm and Bolt attempts to say otherwise.(Old Dog)
This news model also allowed climate denialists and before them cigarette cancer denialists to manipulate the system. If every story has two points of view and they are equal, then you have to present both. But where one side in this debate is factually incorrect, it means you are doing the opposite of journalism. You are diluting the truth with false, paid-for propaganda.
Cable news is now pumping out Trump talking points hourly to millions of people around the globe, because of their broken business model. It is degrading our society and our human values. The editors and the CEOs need to look at themselves in the mirror and decide if they really want brown shirts beating up their children in the streets, because that is where this thing is going.
So, the Firestarter method. It is the technique of playing upon a latent fear or an innate belief and fanning it until it becomes a blaze. Without oxygen a volatile source cannot become a fire. The media give an issue (or a perceived issue) oxygen. During the WA shark cull they played on the public’s fear and misunderstanding of sharks. Today they are doing precisely the same thing in fanning the flames of racial tension with the magnification of the ‘African gangs’ issue. And to revisit that galaxy far, far away: ‘Fear leads to anger, and anger leads to the Dark Side.’
The pen, as they say is mightier than the sword. It comes down to the integrity of the holder as to how it is used.
How often have we heard Andrew Bolt refer to it as a Muslim problem?
“They are for child marriages”. Who has not heard that myth about Islam and Muslims? But what about the USA? There are states in the USA that allow marriages of children aged 12,13 or 14, and has done so since the 1700s and 1800s. And guess what? It is mainly a “Christian” problem.
The issue we face isn’t Turnbull, Abbott Shorten or Sam Dastyari the problem is the paucity of media and it’s self indulgent approach to presenting only some facts and carefully avoiding others as Tony Walker does here.
1) The LNP accepted donations from the same Chinese gentleman as the ALP
2) His Chinese staff member is currently working for John Alexander in Bennelong
4) The Chines government has every reason to be “pissed off “with the quality of the Australian Press which we have seen and Malcolm Turnbull’s use of it in the abuse of the China Australia diplomatic relationship for simplistic and puerile political games that threaten an otherwise stable and mutually beneficial friendship between the two countries. Trump couldn’t have done better
One might well ask:
Why Main Stream media offers so little in the way of information? The media self indulgence can be seen clearly see here just read this article. For what it’s worth the banner might as well have said:
For Shorten, Abbott is a gift that keeps on giving
In mid-2016, Hastie was abruptly severed from the apolitical Army Reserves for using unauthorised images of himself in military gear for his Federal election campaign material (see above).
In keeping with established Liberal tradition, of course, Hastie was entirely unrepentant, reportedly claiming that the ADF had “used a bit of policy to try and push me around”.
The people of Canning were clamouring to see him in his camos, Hastie affirmed:
“I had to decide whose authority I answered to. It was the people of Canning. As a Federal parliamentarian, I don’t take orders from the military.”
With that sort of desire to not take orders from his lawful military commanders, we can be sure the decision to hand Hastie his marching orders was not a difficult one to reach.
An Alabama Fox News viewer might not notice that his local news is lying to him.
Because now that Sinclair Broadcasting is buying up local news stations, they are pushing right wing propaganda into homes nightly in the guise of local coverage.
So Breitbart says the Moore charges of child molestation are baloney.
Fox News says so too.
Then a local Alabama reporter interviews three people and says “I can’t find anybody who thinks Roy Moore’s past is an issue.”
And Breitbart / Fox then report that a local reporter “on the ground” says support for Moore is tremendous. Zurawik raises the alarm on this echo chamber:
On Thursday the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal ― a crown jewel in the media empire of Rupert Murdoch, a close Trump ally — went after Mueller as well. It wrote that the dossier news raises the question of whether the document helped fuel the FBI’s probe into Trump’s campaign. Since the dossier attributes allegations to “Kremlin-connected sources,” the board argues that would mean the FBI could have been essentially acting on “disinformation” provided by Russia. And if there were a need to investigate the FBI’s actions, that would make Mueller’s FBI ties a major conflict of interest.
Don’t Need
Need
The activist-journalist tries to influence debate, whereas a journalist helps to create an informed discussion.
Activist-journalists in Syria inform international media about the war, and sometimes it is hard to leave views aside.![French National Front leader and presidential election candidate Marine Le Pen talks to the media [Eric Gaillard/Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2017/3/26/2cb4289512244e1db703b9094c5af294_18.jpg "The media should resist far-right populist tendencies")
olddogthoughts 