The kind of merger announced today between Channel Nine and Fairfax was bound to happen the moment the cross-media legislation introduced by the Hawke government 30 years ago was suspended.
The so-called cross-media rule gave Australia 30 years of media diversity, especially between Australia’s major television networks and its capital city print.
Those barriers in the wholesaling of news underwrote diversity of opinion, guaranteeing an altogether better informed and livelier public debate.
The absence of those legislative barriers, in the media free-for-all the Turnbull government is permitting, will, because of the broadly maintained power of those outlets, result in an effective and dramatic close down in diversity and, with it, opinion.
Category: Media
“If Ecuador expels Assange from its London embassy, it’s essential the U.K. not become party to any U.S. effort to prosecute him for merely publishing classified information the same way journalists regularly do.”
via ‘Profound’ Threat to Press Freedom Looms as Ecuador Prepares to Hand Assange Over to UK
The biggest media baron in this world and who runs a PR firm rather than a news organization is Rupert Murdoch.( ODT)
“If you look at the way news is covered in Australia, sometimes you actually have to remind yourself we’re not in the US; Trump is not our president, literally.
“There is a sense in which we have become lazy and we have become too obsessed with what is happening in those two centres of the Anglosphere — namely New York and London.”
Nonetheless, a group of Trump’s most ardent supporters in the media rejected the overwhelming consensus and defended the president:
Fox’s Jeanine Pirro: “What was [Trump] supposed to do, take a gun out and shoot Putin?”
Fox host Sean Hannity praised Trump for being “very strong at the end of the press conference.”
Infowars host Owen Shroyer on the press conference: “It just kept getting better in time.”
Conservative radio host Mark Simone: “The whole idea of a summit is to make peace. That’s what he was doing there.”
Fox host Laura Ingraham admonished “mass hysteria” in reaction to the press conference and downplayed Trump’s performance as involving an “unfortunate word choice.”
Fox’s Tucker Carlson attacked media for their reactions to the press conference and said it seems like politicians critical of Trump’s actions toward Putin and Russia “seek increased conflict with Russia.”
Breitbart’s Joel Pollak: “A day after the media/Democrats/NeverTrump meltdown over Trump-Putin summit, they’re still wrong, the world’s still here, and the future is bright.”
Breitbart’s Charlie Spiering: “Remind me, did Obama forcefully confront Putin for” the 2014 attack on a Malaysian Airlines passenger flight over Ukraine?
The Washington Times boosted comments from former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), current host of the web show Liberty Report, who categorized Trump’s meeting with Putin as “significant diplomacy.”
via The small chorus of pro-Trump figures defending his disastrous presser with Putin
It’s reasonable given Fox was the only media chosen to travel with Trump
This was a shocking revelation by Russian State media:
Stephanie Ruhle pointed out this morning that the Kremlin translation of Putin called Fox News “the network run by the president.”
This in addition to former Fox exec Bill Shine working for the White House and current Fox host Sean Hannity working for Trump.
It’s an utterly incestuous relationship.
via Trump TV? Russians Broadcast That Fox News Is ‘Run By’ Trump | Crooks and Liars
Andrew Bolt Sky News, Fox News all open theirs for Nigel (ODT)
In the digital media age, declaring fake news has become the equivalent of crying wolf. Frequently, it is a slur hurled at journalists by those who do not like a story. Sometimes it is a real threat to informed discourse. It is disturbingly easy to propagate, and wields insidious power. This week, I learned just how damaging it can be.
I had just returned from an afternoon at the beach when a tweet with my name in it caught my eye. I recognised the image. It was one I had taken nearly three years ago at a pro-Syrian refugee rally while working as a reporter in Saskatchewan, Canada. In the original image, a woman wore an Amnesty International sign around her neck reading “My door is open for refugees”. But that’s not what this image said. The words had been edited to read “My legs are open for refugees”, in what looked like a Microsoft Paint chop-shop job by a 12-year-old, and it had been shared by none other than Nigel Farage. “What an insult to the victims of sexual abuse in Cologne and rape in Malmo. These people are sick,” he tweeted.
Both leaders were also greeted with a large billboard advertisement purchased by Helsingin Sanomat, the nation’s largest newspaper, which bashed the Trump and Putin as being enemies of journalism and a free press.
Finnish Newspaper Greets Trump and Putin With Billboards Defending ‘Free Press’
Murdoch Media fails Journalistic Standards Yet Again: Does anybody care?
Follow Irelands lead and Divest from a failing Industry. Abbott doesn’t care about your hip pocket at all when he says the government we must invest in coal (ODT)
More than ever we need our journalists to be frank and fearless, to check their sources and to speak truth to power. The latest article by The Australian proves them to be more of a propaganda wing for big polluters rather than serious journalists.
via Coal Will Rise Again, Claims Perplexingly Ambitious Australian Article – New Matilda
Here’s how conservative media figures have responded to Trump’s latest outburst:
- Fox News contributor Nigel Farage praised Trump for his “bombshell to the establishment” opposition to “globalist structures like the European Union.”
- Fox’s Steve Hilton: “The president is 100 percent right about Brexit.” May is weak and “caved in to the elitist establishment.”
- Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt: Trump is “allowed to” snub British Prime Minister Theresa May and “he’s not afraid of the backlash.”
- Fox host Jeanine Pirro: “I don’t think it matters if [Trump] likes [May] as a person.”
- Breitbart: “Trump just dropped the Mother of all Brexit Bombs on Theresa May.”
- Breitbart also tried to legitimize Trump’s white nationalist view by hyping “significant demographic changes being seen across Europe” and fearmongering about the advent of “culturally alien practices” like female genital mutilation in Europe.
- Anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller: “Reality vs Fantasy: President Trump warns Europe is ‘losing its culture’ by allowing ‘millions and millions’ of migrants, PM Theresa May praises their’ fantastic contribution’: Reality has a nasty way of shattering delusions. Trump speaks as it is. May…”
- CRTV’s Michelle Malkin attacked “media freaks” for overreacting to Trump’s comments, saying he was just “speaking truth” rather than acting like a “doormat.”
- Fox’s Geraldo Rivera: “He’s a great negotiator, the president.”
Fox host Melissa Francis: “To be clear… #TheresaMay wanted the President to lie about how he felt about her approach Brexit. And he wasn’t willing to lie. I guess #TheResistance & #NeverTrumpers thinks lying & diplomacy and the same thing.”
Asked about Trump’s conduct at the NATO summit and his interview with The- Sun, YouTube vloggers Diamond & Silk said, “He’s doing an amazing job. He’s standing up for the American people and for America.”
- Right-wing blog HotAir dismissed Trump’s comments, arguing they might actually help May.
“No U.S. president in recent memory has shown greater contempt for the press than Trump in his first months in office,” reads Freedom House’s 2017 report. “He has repeatedly ridiculed reporters. … Such comments suggest a hostility toward the fundamental principles and purposes of press freedom, especially the news media’s role in holding governments to account for their words and actions—as opposed to the government holding the media to account.”
Claims that Sweden leads the world in sexual assault and rape are not supported by data.
via FACT CHECK: Crime in Sweden, Part I: Is Sweden the ‘Rape Capital’ of Europe?
Unless there is a concerted effort by the west to abandon the surveillance state into which we are all being drawn, it is highly likely that the journalism that relies on dissent to expose the great injustices perpetrated by governments, particularly when they hide behind the cloak of national security, will be journalism of the past. It won’t disappear overnight, but will fade slowly over the years, like the democracy it defends.
The Australian Press Council has declined in investigate an article in The Australian by its former editor, Chris Mitchell, attacking Julia Gillard, despite the piece containing at least five clear errors of fact.
Press Council refuses to investigate The Australian over multiple falsehoods
Ms Guthrie cited a forthcoming report by Deloitte Access Economics, commissioned by the ABC, which she said would reveal the broadcaster contributed $1 billion to the national economy last financial year – about a third of which fed into the broader media landscape. In addition to its 4000 employees, the ABC helps to sustain more than 2500 full-time equivalent jobs across the supply chain – such as artists, writers and technicians – Ms Guthrie said, citing the Deloitte research.”Amid the debate over the ABC’s purpose and its funding, we should all remember that there are 2500 jobs outside public broadcasting at risk in any move to curtail our remit and activities,” she warned.
Admonishing the ABC’s critics in government, Ms Guthrie asserted there was a sinister agenda at work involving overtures to the Coalition’s base.Related Article Footage from Liberal Party meeting reveals who voted to sell the ABC “In a complex world it is too easy for the powerful to do their work in dark corners: t so-“Good journalists call that out. Today, I want to channel some of that skill and emphasise real facts in what has become an increasingly febrile debate over the value and future of the ABC.”
Source: ‘We are not your punching bag’: ABC boss Michelle Guthrie hits back at the Liberal Party
Better than most traditional journalists, Bourdain understood that the point of journalism is to tell the truth, to challenge the powerful, to expose wrongdoing. But his unique gift was to make doing all that look fun rather than grim or tedious. Very few storytellers offering honest portrayals of the world can still find it full of joy as well as sorrow. Bourdain did so, while rarely striking a false note. This required relentless self-criticism, another quality Bourdain possessed in abundance and frequently shared. Even as he was beloved by everyone, he always seemed incredulous of his own success, perhaps even of his own survival. Humility is too weak a word for this; what Bourdain really was was angry, angry that he had it so great when others did not.
That the Daily Telegraph should gift such an incendiary line with a screaming front page headline should surprise no one, given the paper’s unmatched consistency as an amplifier of the politics of hate. This is the water we all swim in now: Pauline Hanson’s shambolic ascendency may be stalled for the moment, but there is still, as yet, no obvious political penalty for bareknuckle political assaults on whole groups of people based only on their skin colour, heritage or religion.
And there needs to be, because while amateurs like Hanson try to wrench momentary advantage from these provocations, professionals like home affairs minister Peter Dutton are using them in more systematic ways.
via See you in the town square, Peter Dutton and Pauline Hanson | Scott Ludlam | Opinion | The Guardian
While Hamas did provide logistical support throughout the protests, nearly all young activists I have interviewed saw their resistance as distinct from any political party – Fatah or Hamas, neither of which has served Palestinian civilians well.
To suggest that young activists are passive pawns manipulated by the parties undercuts the agency and leadership that young Palestinians have expressed in the absence of strong leaders.
News Corp’s greatest economic achievement so far this yera (ODT)
China’s hawkish Global Times newspaper has called for Beijing to cancel Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s visit to China.
Mr Turnbull is due to visit Beijing this year under an annual leaders dialogue agreement and last Friday said he looked forward to doing so.
You know the ABC is doing it’s job and doing it well when governments and News Corp are heard complaining (ODT)
The Turnbull government has lodged a second series of complaints to the ABC about the network’s chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici, this time over her reporting on innovation tax credits.
via ABC lodged second complaint from Malcolm Turnbull about Emma Alberici
The manic frenzy with which Western media saw fit to report every minute detail of the royal wedding has sparked an outpouring of exasperation on social media, with many asking why they aren’t reporting on actual news.
As the marriage of Harry Windsor to Meghan Markle unfolded, news outlets bombarded their audiences with countless updates, tweets and alerts on everything from the designer of Markle’s dress, to Elton John kissing David Beckham, to James Cordon arriving at the church.
The saturation coverage unleashed a flood of agitation from the great unwashed, who took to Twitter to vent their frustration at the fact that they were being force-fed a celebration of the petrified leftovers of a bloody empire with a disgraceful history.
via ‘#BREAKING! Woman wears dress’: Royal wedding saturation sparks widespread fatigue — RT UK News
Recent reports indicate that local TV news giant Sinclair Broadcast Group has met with a number of current and former Fox News employees and is gearing up to compete directly with the cable channel — by attempting to beat Fox News in a race to the very bottom.
via Sinclair is gearing up to compete with Fox — by being even worse than Fox
In today’s terms the ABC funding is the same as it was in 1985 and Corman claims it’s an efficiency measure. The ABC couldn’t be more efficient. So why support the inefficient private opinion sector and news free zone of News Corp et al ? (ODT)
Ostensibly, the competitive neutrality review was payback to Pauline Hanson (and by Hanson) for supporting the changes to media ownership rules last year. But, through The Australian, News Corp has been keen to claim credit, pointing out it came “after media industry leaders demanded a review of the charters outlining the purpose of the ABC and SBS in light of evidence they were ramping up activities that encroached into the commercial sector”.
In proposing a freeze over the three years, Australia is following the lead of the New Zealand National government which froze Radio New Zealand funding for eight years, only relenting with a partial increase last year.
The message is simple: “We’re on your side.” Where “we” is the LNP and “you” is the old media oligopolies. That’s why the message was too urgent to wait until after the election. There’s a message to the ABC in all this as well: leave the emerging digital space to the private sector and, in particular, to the existing private sector players.
Of course, in its digital activities, the ABC is not doing anything that couldn’t be done by the free-to-air broadcasters or Foxtel or pretty much anyone with a computer and a broadband connection. However, the traditional oligopolies seem to have the view that their business model would be fine if people couldn’t access the ABC (or, if there wasn’t so dang much of the ABC to access). In that parallel universe, we’d all keep watching the free-to-air channels (topped up by Foxtel for a bit of diversity), just like we did in the good old days.
Budget 2018: the clear message behind the government’s ABC cuts
Seven in 10 Australians believe a strong, independent public broadcaster is critical to a healthy democracy, according to a poll by the Australia Institute. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP
A majority of Australians believe a strong, independent ABC is critical to a healthy democracy and oppose a cut to ABC funding, according to a new poll.
The Australia Institute poll found 70% of people wanted a strong ABC and 60% agreed the ABC needed a “boost to long term funding”.
via Majority of voters oppose budget cut to ABC funding – poll | Media | The Guardian
You can read the story here or watch it below, but do it on an empty stomach. In the meantime, here are the facts that Arfier left out of the story, all of which I and many others have reported countless times over the last decade, apparently to limited affect.
Mulrunji Doomadgee was beaten to death on the floor of the Palm Island police station on November 19, 2004 for singing ‘who let the dogs out’ at Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, the most senior officer on the island and a man almost twice the size of Mulrunji (Hurley was six foot six and weighed 115kg, Mlurunji less than 80kgs).
As Mulrunji lay dying, another Aboriginal man in the cell tried to comfort him and yell for help from Hurley and other officers. His screams were ignored.
When Mulrunji’s family arrived at the police station later that morning to enquire why he had been arrested, he had already been dead for hours. Hurley lied to the family and told them he was fine, but unavailable.
via A New Low: Channel 9 ‘Does A Sunrise’ On $30m Palm Island Uprising Payout – New Matilda
Two men who won’t shut up keep putting their feet in each others mouths( ODT)
On the first point, Giuliani told host George Stephanopoulos that Trump didn’t have to comply with a subpoena from Mueller. “He’s the president of the United States,” he said. He also said wasn’t sure that Trump wouldn’t exercise his right to remain silent during questioning from Mueller—never mind that in the past Trump has basically said that only guilty people plead the Fifth.
via Rudy Giuliani Definitely Did Not Make Things Better for Trump in this ABC Interview – Mother Jones
Just how many Cabinet Ministers and LNP Politicians are paid up menmbers of the IPA Fifeild is ? Why can Murdoch’s Pay to view Channels be allowed to also take in advertising revenue and when is it obvious that programs are little more than advertorials? (ODT)
You’d think the relationship between News Corp and the business lobby was cosy enough already. But the Business Council of Australia wanted more favourable coverage of its campaign for big business tax cuts. After talking to, but not using, Cambridge Analytica to improve its campaigning style, the BCA began raising funds and locked in the support of News Corp Australia.
As part of its political campaign, For the Common Good, the business lobby inked a media deal with News Corp and Sky News for which it paid Rupert Murdoch’s empire a reported $1m.
For the cash the business lobby gets coverage of its agenda in the form of a series of television programs over 12 months, newspaper articles and community events to promote the “positive contribution of business” to the nation.
via News Corp taxes David Speers with pro-business roadshow | The Weekly Beast | Media | The Guardian
United States President Donald Trump has bragged about a crushing winning record in the estimated 3,500 legal cases he has been involved in over the past three decades, but Stormy Daniels has him twisted in knots.
“Private Media” acts like the Mafia organization, bovver boys protecting their turf as if they have a patent on profit and fear the free association of Australian Taxpayers to organize and print there own news. The ABC our independant statuary body readily and publicly apologizes for it mistakes unlike the privateers who generally have to be forced into the courts for an apology or only do it behind the closed doors of non disclosure agreements. Their notion and use of the term “grovelling apology” is indicative of the Fairfax and News Corp never to say sorry for errors or the fake news they publish reducing their product to a news free propaganda zone. Thank taxpaing Australians for our ABC and keep the bastard corporate hands off Aunty she is ours love her, hate her she belongs to the family of Australians (ODT)
via ABC boss Michelle Guthrie writes grovelling apology to Kevin Rudd as ‘Cabinet Files’ scoop backfires
Note Andrew Bolt lacks a mention which must hurt. Fox is in Australia in a pissant way
Former Sinclair reporter Suri Crowe provided BuzzFeed with a detailed account of how Sinclair Broadcast Group’s far-right agenda has affected local news coverage of stories from climate change to gun safety.
Sinclair is the largest TV station owner and operator in the country, with about 190 stations, including affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, that reach approximately 38 percent of American homes. The conservative media company is awaiting final approval of its $3.9 billion bid to buy Tribune Media, which owns 42 TV stations, including in the major markets of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.
Media Matters has documented Sinclair’s rapid growth and its alliance with the Trump campaign and administration. If Sinclair completes its planned purchase of Tribune, the company’s right-wing bias and disregard for journalistic ethics could inform what 72 percent of American households see on their local news. Its reach is already so pervasive, Media Matters created a tool to inform viewers about the stations near them that Sinclair now owns or could soon acquire.
Murdoch and Hannity are Trump “confidantes” and see value in that relationship.
The contradiction then becomes in the terms “news” and “journalism” and the product that’s actually being delivered.
Watch NPR’s David Folkenflik’s brutal takedown of Fox’s handling of Sean Hannity
The mystery client that President Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, fought in court to keep secret is Fox News host Sean Hannity, Cohen’s lawyer divulged on Monday.
via Sean Hannity is Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s secret client
Donald Trump’s legal fixer Michael Cohen has also been representing the firebrand conservative Fox News host Sean Hannity, one of only three private legal clients Cohen has taken on in the past year, his lawyer told a federal court on Monday.
Prosecutors suggested in their filing that while Cohen “holds himself out as a practicing attorney”, he is actually exaggerating the extent of his work in an attempt to cast a wide net of attorney-client privilege over the records seized by the FBI. Cohen denies this.
The justice department has “reason to believe that Cohen has exceedingly few clients and a low volume of potentially privileged communications”, McKay wrote.
Sean Hannity revealed as Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s mystery third client | US news | The Guardian
News Corp is trying to blame their source for their lack of verification
The newspaper accused of defaming Geoffrey Rush says the theatre company that confirmed a complaint had been made about Rush’s alleged “inappropriate behaviour” should also have to pay up if the publisher loses the high profile lawsuit.
via Geoffrey Rush And The Newspaper Accused Of Defaming Him Are Arguing About Who Is Liable
In whose pocket are we?
The broadcasting anti-siphoning regime was intended to preserve access to major sporting events to so called free-to-air and public broadcasters and the anti-siphoning list mandates that broadcasting rights cannot be acquired by a subscription broadcaster unless they have first been offered to or acquired by a free-to-air broadcaster who has either declined or otherwise failed to broadcast.
Well, it seems that the goal posts have been shifted and Cricket Australia have done a deal with Channel Seven and Foxtel, putting One Day Cricket Internationals and the T20 Internationals behind the Foxtel pay wall exclusively for the first time.
So, that’s fairly clear and it would seem that the Foxtel deal would contravene these regulations but, the Minister responsible, Mitch Fifield, has a lot of discretion when it comes to what can be gifted to pay TV broadcasters for exclusive broadcasting.
If any statement has shown how much trouble the Liberal Party is in, it’s that one.
Peter Dutton? A statesman?
via “He’s the closest to a statesman we have” – » The Australian Independent Media Network
, Sinclair contracts contain a requirement that employees must pay their employers if they leave their jobs before their contract terms end. For example, an employee making $50,000 annually might have to pay in the ballpark of $10,000 if she wanted to leave after one year of a two-year term.
However, the most important part of the story isn’t the question of partisan bias. It’s that a national station group is forcing content on local stations. To many, what Sinclair is doing is precisely what U.S. broadcast policy is supposed to protect against: a single company advancing an agenda to a majority of the country using the public good of broadcast spectrum.
The ConversationWith Sinclair’s pending purchase of Tribune Media’s 42 stations, the company’s reach is only poised to grow.
via Danger: Sinclair is advancing its agenda using the public broadcast spectrum | Informed Comment
But O’Reilly did not act alone; he was enabled by Fox News, which has a long history of protecting sexual harassers and abusers and which has a culture described by one former employee as a “sex-fueled, Playboy mansion-like cult steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny.” And, according to the Times, when one of O’Reilly’s accusers filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him, “Fox News and Mr. O’Reilly adopted an aggressive strategy that served as a stark warning of what could happen to women if they came forward with complaints. … Before [former Fox producer Andrea] Mackris even filed suit, Fox News and Mr. O’Reilly surprised her with a pre-emptive suit of their own.”
Revelations from Bill O’Reilly’s settlements underscore how Fox News enables its sexual harassers
Is this a coincidence that Andrew Bolt is doing much the same on his showThe Bolt Report recently decrying the World’s Main Stream Media as being Left-Wing, Corrupt and issuing Fake News. Does he do anything original? (ODT)
In March, CNN’s Brian Stelter obtained internal documents sent to Sinclair Broadcast Group’s local TV news stations requiring them to film and air short promotional segments decrying “biased and false news” and accusing unnamed mainstream media figures of bias. The script, obtained by CNN, focuses on the mainstream press, attacking unspecified “national media outlets” for publishing “fake stories.” At points, the script appears to echo President Donald Trump’s attacks on press with cries of “fake news.” (Though the final version of the script, as NPR noted in an interview with a Sinclair executive about the promotional spots, no longer included “the word national … coupled to the word media.”)
via Here are 66 local news stations airing Sinclair’s brainwashing anti-media promo
“Sinclair took their game to a new level.That statement is creepy enough, but when you see just how many local stations were forced to read it and you watch them together, as many have been doing online in the last couple of days, you begin to realize the true effect of Sinclair’s reach and power,” he said.
He aired the clip of Sinclair bobbleheads repeating the same message, via Deadspin.
“Yeah. Nothing says ‘we value independent media’ like dozens of reporters forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult,” Oliver said.
via John Oliver Takes Aim At Sinclair Broadcasting Group | Crooks and Liars
Over the past generation, British outlets have entered the Irish market, looking for circulation boosts to buttress numbers back at home. And, aside from their presence squeezing indigenous Irish operations, they’ve also brought with them the poor journalism standards of their homeland.
Take The Sunday’s Times’ (Ireland edition) splash on Dublin’s Russian embassy last weekend, for instance.
For some time now, Rupert Murdoch’s operation has been running an anti-Russia campaign in its UK edition. And one of its key ambitions is to have RT television banned from the British airwaves. This is largely because it’s funded by the Russian government and offers a non-mainstream perspective, which appears to infuriate the Australian-born media mogul and his London team.
via Russian embassy ‘spy-nest’: British media brings its anti-Russia hysteria to Ireland — RT Op-ed
Government by Media
The minister remarked that the farmers “need help from a civilised country like ours.” And he further suggested that “these people deserve special attention,” as they’re the type of refugees that will “abide by our laws, integrate into our society, work hard” and “not lead a life on welfare.
Unsurprisingly, Tony Abbott stepped in with his support on Monday, stating that Dutton was “absolutely right.” The former prime minister described the situation in South Africa as a “national crisis” and “racism of the worst sort.”
Minister Dutton explained that the persecution of the farmers had been brought to his attention via reports in the Daily Telegraph. But, South African crime statistician Gareth Newham has said there’s no evidence these farmers are being targeted more than any other South African citizens.
In this case which came first the media or the politicians? In this case the politicians came from behind and were just media puppets pulled by the strings of Murdoch Media. It’s a case when neither the politicians or the media represent us. They merely try to service us in a prick of a way (ODT)
The communications minister Mitch Fifield and Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi both complained about a segment in which a candidate for Bernardi’s party Kevin Bailey was called a “cunt”.
“I would say the majority of people are not offended by the word, they are more offended by the C at the end of the AB than they are about the C-bomb that was used in the sketch,” Anderson, a Triple M Hot Breakfast co-host, told Guardian Australia.
“The majority of people who are offended by these jokes are not really offended by these jokes. They are, by their very nature, offended by the very idea of the ABC and they want to prosecute an agenda against the ABC. This is just an example of something they can use to prosecute an agenda.”
The inaccurate notion that abortion is an unsafe or “risky” medical procedure was put to rest this month, with the release of a new report from The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States. But as usual, Fox News didn’t let facts stand in the way of a sensationalist segment attacking abortion as unsafe.
via New report confirms abortion is safe. Fox News immediately claimed the opposite.
Research shows us lies are quicker to spread via media and last longer than any truth. If the reverse were true Andrew Bolt would be jobless and Trump wouldn’t be President. It’s what won Tony Abbott an election.
Bolt’s promise “step inside my tent”
Murdoch’s Hannity down under claims to be talking to ordinary Aussies
ON TONIGHT: KILLING WHITE FARMERS, AND ABC FALLS FOR ANOTHER WARMING ALARMIST
Bought and Sold MSM America
By now, White House reporters should have learned to expect lies out of Sarah Huckabee Sanders and prepare to counter them, but instead we just get more lies, unchallenged.
Unsurprisingly, Huckabee Sanders did not want to answer any questions about Stormy Daniels, cutting reporters off with a “I’ve said everything I’m going to say about that.”
Huckabee Sanders Lies: ‘North Korea Agreed To De-Nuclearize’ | Crooks and Liars
“Falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information, and the effects were more pronounced for false political news than for false news about terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends, or financial information,” the study authors report in Science. “Whereas the truth rarely diffused to more than 1,000 people, the top 1 percent of false-n
Sinclair is a corporate giant that owns or operates around 190 local TV news stations across the country, and it’s been quietly forcing its stations to air nationally produced right-wing spin for years. But when it hired Epshteyn, fresh from a stint in the Trump administration, to serve as its “chief political analyst,” it was only a matter of time before everyone was paying attention. Numerous media and business reporters highlighted Sinclair’s twofold plan for growing local right-wing news: using the company’s still-pending acquisition of Tribune Media stations to further expand its reach across the country (with its potentially unethical relationship with the Trump administration and its appointees paving the way), and hiring Epshteyn as a new, Trump-aligned star for “must-run” national segments.
via There is no audience for Boris Epshteyn’s pro-Trump propaganda, so Sinclair forces it on people
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