Category: Miranda Devine

Andrew Bolt, Chris Graham, Miranda Devine

News Corp over indulges in hypocrisy when saddling up Ethics in the Journalistic Cup

People In Glass Houses Shouldn’t Work At News Corporation

By Chris Graham

Call him paranoid, but Chris Graham is starting to get the distinct impression that The Australian newspaper doesn’t much like New Matilda.

I’ve been called a lot of things in the course of my career. Andrew Bolt once referred to me as a “race warrior”, and Miranda Devine told a colleague of mine that I was “pure evil”.

Obviously, I was chuffed.

In The Weekend Australian today, Brendan O’Neill describes my colleagues at New Matilda and me as “moral crusaders”, as he leaps to the defence of Professor Spurr – the tenured Sydney University academic suspended recently over a series of racist, misogynistic emails.

I’m going to let the fact that it’s yet another white man defending yet another white man’s right to be a racist and a sexist fly through to the keeper, and focus instead on the fact that Mr O’Neill genuinely appears to have meant the barb of ‘moral crusader’ as an insult.

The fact is, I most definitely do ‘crusade’ (on a lot of issues, but in particular racism and Aboriginal rights, and increasingly refugees and climate change); and given that I like to consider myself quite ‘moral’ – although I accept many do not agree – calling me a ‘moral crusader’ is one of the nicest things that anyone at The Australian has ever said about me.

With the possible exception of this front-page accusation a month or so ago, that myself and colleague Wendy Bacon (one of the journalists, along with Max Chalmers, involved in New Matilda’s coverage about the $60,000 secret scholarship awarded to the Prime Minister’s daughter) were involved in a ‘plot’ to damage the Prime Minister.

Needless to say, ‘moral crusader’ as an insult to someone who is passionate about basic rights is about as caustic as ‘politically correct’ to someone who genuinely believes that being careful with language and concepts is important, so as not to further oppress minorities.

The ‘dirty words’ of our nation, I think, say as much about us as a society as they do about Professor Spurr and his use of terms like ‘Abos, Chinky-Poos and Muzzies’, and his apparent casual attitude towards the rape of women.

And speaking of Professor Spurr, O’Neill makes a surprising ‘concession’ in the very first paragraph of his article.

“Why is it bad to hack and expose photographs of a woman’s naked body but apparently OK to steal and make public the contents of a man’s soul?” laments O’Neill.

Wow. Seems Mr O’Neill – despite his otherwise robust defence – doesn’t think very much of Bazza. Which is puzzling, because from my reading, the official line from The Australian thus far has been that the comments by Professor Spurr were not part of his soul, rather they were, as Spurr himself continues to assert, part of a ‘whimsical linguistic game’. I suspect Brendan O’Neill – based over in London at Spiked – might not have got that News Corp memo.

The partial transcripts of the correspondence strongly suggest otherwise, but regardless, it’s surprising to me that in order to leap to the defence of a man, O’Neill and The Australian are prepared to so readily jettison something as fundamental as Barry Spurr’s soul, by suggesting that it consists of deep racism, misogyny and bigotry.

Personally, I don’t believe that for a second. Obviously, I’m not Professor Spurr’s biggest fan. But I don’t believe that the summation of a life (and in this case, apparently, a soul) can be done simply by calculating the sum total of the shittiest thing people found out about you.

Put simply, while I do believe that Professor Spurr holds deep-seated views that I, and many in Australian society, find utterly repugnant, I don’t believe that they plumb the depths of his soul. I happen to think that if souls do exist (and I’m not convinced… but anyhoo), they’re probably pretty nice, and that the nasty bits about all of us come from somewhere else. Lived experience, most likely.

But whatever the truth, I also happen to believe that the public interest, given Professor Spurr’s participation in the review of the National School Curriculum, warrants that his views – or his ‘soul’ – get a broader airing.

And that’s the other really notable thing about Brendan O’Neill’s piece. The phrase ‘public interest’ doesn’t appear once. Coming from a journalist based at the media empire in London which hacked the phones of celebrities – and that of a child who had been raped and murdered – for ‘scoops’… well, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. I’m not suggesting O’Neill defends the phone hacking scandal, but I am suggesting the awkward irony may be lost on him.

To make his point, O’Neill opines:

“… just a few weeks ago, when a hacker invaded the iCloud accounts of female celebs and rifled through their intimate snaps, there was global outrage.

“This theft of explicit private photos of actress Jennifer Lawrence and others was a sex crime, we were told.”

Well, yes, we were told that. But that’s only because it was. And there’s another irony: a Fleet Street lad from a corner of the world’s media famous for its base objectification of women appearing to intimate that it wasn’t.

The fact is, there is ‘news’ in celebrities. A case in point is this excellent article published on New Matilda today, by Dr Liz Conor. It explores the recent hubbub over plastic surgery undertaken by Renee Zellwegger, which left her apparently ‘unrecognisable’. But notably, Conor’s piece is not about the ‘tits and arse’ of Renee Zellwegger. It’s a thoughtful piece about the deeper issue of how we perceive famous women.

So there is value in exploring the public lives of celebrities, but it’s important how you explore it.

I agree, there is no value in publishing the private photos of a naked Jennifer Lawrence. It is an outrage. It may be what some sections of the public are ‘interested in’, but it is in no way ‘in the public interest’. They’re two vastly different concepts, but frequently confused by the hounds at News (and many other outlets, for that matter).

Thus, my respectful submission – both here and to the Federal Court – is that Professor Spurr’s views are in the public interest. I won’t dwell on that, because (a) my thoroughly awesome legal team is arguing that, and I don’t wish to pre-empt the judge’s findings (we’re back there on December 8); and (b) I do sincerely believe that Professor Spurr and his legal counsel are entitled to test the matter and plead their case, without it being too polluted by public discourse from the guy in the dock.

At the same time, I don’t plan to sit idly by while those at News Corporation seek to rewrite history, and in the process, hope we forget their own.

I’m specifically referring to comments like these from O’Neill: “Fast forward to last week, and some of the same people whose jaws hit the floor at the audacity of those who leaked these women’s private, unguarded pics were cheering the hacking of Spurr’s private, unguarded words.”

A News Corporation journalist seeking to point out hypocrisy. Where do I start….

There’s a simple reason why The Australian has tried so hard to link the story of Professor Spurr to ‘hacking’, notwithstanding our repeated public statements that it’s not true. It’s the same reason The Australian has so vigorously pursued Freya Newman, the whistleblower in the Frances Abbott secret scholarship saga, and a young woman of substantial courage who clearly acted ‘illegally’ – as opposed to wrongly – in the ‘public interest’.

The simple reason is, they want us to look as bad as them. They want people to make the connection to the UK phone hacking scandal. Which was, of course, perpetrated by them.

Set aside the clear ‘public interest’ differences, and let’s just look at the facts: New Matilda published information given to it by sources. News International published information from people it had paid to hack. The terms ‘gaping hole’ and ‘go and have a bit of a lie down Chris Mitchell’ leap to mind.

In News-speak, i call this the ‘If we’re all covered in shit, then we all stink the same’ theory.

But it’s ultimately a straw man strategy. The links News wants you to believe exist, do not. And nor does the history. New Matilda and the outstanding (albeit very small) team that works here would need to practice decades of breath-taking hypocrisy and gross abuse of power to look or smell anything like some sections of News Corporation (notwithstanding the fact that there are a few people in the organisation I greatly admire) .

And in case anyone has forgotten, let’s pause now, briefly, to remember some of that recent history.

The contents of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Peter Slipper’s diary was published. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe News Corporation broke that story? I can’t recall The Australian railing about an invasion of privacy. I do recall them invoking ‘public interest’ (a test, and a story, with which I happen to agree).

When the ‘private’ emails of climate scientists were hacked last year, and then republished out of context, I don’t recall howls of outrage from The Oz or News Limited about ‘privacy’. I do recall a certain level of gloating and ‘we told you so’.

And this is where and why The Australian continues to come unstuck. It’s history of ‘what’s good for everyone else is not good for us… unless we say so’.

It’s a thoroughly transparent, and, frankly, embarrassing way to run a national broadsheet. And if this stunning scoop from one of the great independent Australian media outlets (Crikey) about the slow death of News Corporation papers in Australia is anything to go by, then journalism parading as sex, sensationalism and vendettas doesn’t pay the bills either.

The Glass House Empire of News Corporation, it seems, is a fragile one indeed, and no amount of historical revisionism, nor name-calling, is going to change that.

Journalism might. They should probably give it a crack.

Australia, Brandis. Tony Abbott, Christopher Pyne, Coalition Supporters, Eric Abetz, IQ, Joe Hockey, Miranda Devine, Rhodes Scholar, Tony Abbott

Thank God for the Lord John Lord somebody needs to make sense of this lot.

Foot in mouth

http://theaimn.com/my-father-used-to-call-it-foot-in-mouth-disease/

I recently read an article by Miranda Divine titled ‘Why the Libs are Ruddy marvelous’. It outlines the academic qualifications of government members. It is truly impressive. They must be the brainiest bunch to have ever graced our parliament.

“For starters, there are three Rhodes Scholars: Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, and Angus Taylor. Two more ministers have degrees from Oxford University: George Brandis QC, and Josh Frydenberg, who has the added distinction of a master’s degree from Harvard. Two other MPs also have master’s degrees from Harvard, among the seven MBAs, two MPAs and four PhDs on the government benches. Two more have masters of philosophy from Cambridge. Fulbright scholar Greg Hunt has an MA from Yale. Former WA treasurer Christian Porter has an impressive four degrees. And he’s a backbencher”.

And it doesn’t end there. Read this. She of course failed to mention that it is essentially a men’s club. Or that Brandis cannot use a computer.

Now let’s look at what a Queens College Oxford education has done for our Prime Minister:

“We just can’t stop people from being homeless if that’s their choice”.

“Jesus knew that there was a place for everything and it’s not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia”.

“If we’re honest, most of us would accept that a bad boss is a little bit like a bad father or a bad husband … you find that he tends to do more good than harm. He might be a bad boss but at least he’s employing someone while he is in fact a boss”.

“I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons”.

Statements like the aforementioned (often embedded with religious intent)) are devoid of social empathy and are reflective of thinking that has been influenced by notions of dim-witted superiority. They are the words of a ruler not a leader. They are an indictment of both Abbott and his ministry.

They are statements of the uncaring, the intellectually barren, the cerebraly deficient, the privileged and the narcissistic elitist.

Of the born to rule with ideals of grandeur.

We are experiencing something very unique in Australian politics. A belief that lying has approval, that deception and misleading words will and can persuade the electorate to your view. A belief that there are enough people so politically naive that they will believe you. And that’s the majority of Australians.

It’s straight out of the Conservative Tea Party Handbook. This is deliberate ‘’foot in mouth disease’’ with intentional consequences. There is a pattern and they have been persuaded it works.

“Of course I would have read The Gonski Report had the dog not eaten it”.

Christopher Pyne.

Tony Abbott. Prime Minister. “I will shirtfront Putin”. “Coal is good for humanity”.

George Brandis. Attorney General. “People have a right to be bigots”.

Eric Abetz Employment Minister. “Abortion causes breast cancer”.

Christopher Pyne. Minister for Education. “Uni fee hikes wont impact women because they don’t study expensive degrees like law or dentistry”.

Mathias Cormann. Finance Minister. “Bill Shorten is an economic girlie-man”.

Twitt
Joe Hockey, Miranda Devine, Newscorp, Propaganda

The Right’s right to be wrong

Has anyone else noticed the ever increasing drift from reality those famous bed-partners – the Coalition and the Murdoch media – have settled comfortably into? They also have some absurd idea that this new, fabulous paradise is all that exists.

Joe Hockey for example. He repeatedly bellowed that the age of entitlement was over, and followed up with a budget that showed us that the age of entitlement is of course over, except for those who are entitled to it.

Miranda Devine lives there too. ‘The Left’s race to call us all bigots‘

No Bigots here

or

Islamophobia

Maybe Ms Devine hasn’t been reading the very paper she writes for,let’s take a random look at what her newspaper – and other media outlets – have been saying:

# Young filmmaker Kamal Saleh is optimistic for the future of Australia after his social experiment on Islamophobia but says discrimination remains an issue in the community.

# Five threatening letters delivered to Muslim businesses and ­groups in Lakemba are being investigated by police, with more incidents believed to be going unreported. Campsie crime manager detective Inspector Paul ­Albury said the material was offensive and would be to anybody in the community. “It’s degrading, disgusting and derogatory to people and their religion,” he said.

# Last week, after Bernardi’s comments, I was interviewed by the ABC for an explanatory article on the burqa, the niqab, and my choice of garment, the hijab, which covers only a woman’s hair, neck and shoulders. Bizarrely, when posted by the ABC on Facebook, the article received more comments than the ABC’s reports on the anti-terror raids themselves. The comments section is sobering reading for anyone with any doubts about the perniciousness of Islamophobia in Australia.

# Australia has emerged as a fertile environment for Islamophobia. Stereotypical representations of Muslims in the early years of the “War on Terror” – which linked terrorism, violence and Islam – gained wide currency by the mid-2000s. Sections of the news media, politicians and social media have re-activated these stereotypes. Muslim Australians are made to feel they are targets – for everything from the everyday racism encountered in schools and on the streets, to draconian counter-terrorism legislation that restricts civil liberties, to war and the preparations for war.

# In the contemporary socio-political context of Australia, Islamophobia continues to be haunted by the cycle of moral panics around the Muslim “Other.”

# Tony Abbott has been urged to speak out more strongly against Islamophobia in Australia following reports of mosques being defaced, women verbally abused on the street and death threats issued to Muslim figures. Community leaders have said they are deeply worried that Australia’s mission against Islamic State (Isis) and recent anti-terrorism raids are fuelling attacks against Muslims in Australia.

# The waves of abuse on social media has also highlighted how open bigotry has become, as if the disgust around the Islamic State has given a free pass to intolerance.

# Many Muslim women, say Ms Kay and other community members, are fearful of going out and many won’t venture far beyond their homes. Ahmed Kilani, editor of website muslimvillage.com, says some are now questioning whether Australia is still a safe and tolerant society. “My own mother rang me yesterday,” Mr Kilani told SBS, “with concern about what’s going, she said, ‘I don’t feel safe and secure.’ She made the comment to me that despite living here for 40 years which is a lot longer than she lived in Egypt. She said perhaps I need to consider moving back there and questioned whether I should go and get myself a dual citizenship in case things get really bad.” Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane has called for calm, saying, “Muslim Australians are entitled to a fair go and to be treated with respect and there is simply no place for this kind of bigotry and this kind of criminal behaviour.”

The Daily Telegraph – the very paper Ms Devine works for – even published an article titled ‘Incidents of Islamophobia‘.

I’m baffled that Ms Devine finds it necessary not only to blame the Left for Islamophobia in this country – then announces that it doesn’t exist here anyway – yet works in an industry (and a newspaper) that keeps telling us how rampant it is.

If I may borrow an old adage: who makes this shit up?

The drift from reality is almost complete. She is quickly catching up to Joe Hockey

Andrew Bolt, Media, Miranda Devine, Murdoch, Press PORN

If ever you needed further confirmation that News Ltd is the Liberal Party’s unofficial PR department, it came on the weekend on NSW television

NSW Premier Mike Baird — News Ltd cast member

Where would we be without the ABC.

ON THE WEEKEND, I saw something on television that I found quite disturbing.

It was not the fake enthusiasm of an X Factor judge, nor was it the announcement of yet another NCIS — as show that will have a gazillion spin offs just like CSI (maybe they should just do one called WTF).

What disturbed me was, in fact, a commercial.

We all hate to see our taxpayer money wasted, particularly on commercials. However the commercial I’m referring to was not a government commercial — although some have commented that the company being advertised could be confused for the Coalition’s marketing department.

The commercial that disturbed me so much was the current commercial for News Ltd’s Sydney tabloid the Daily Telegraph and can be viewed below:

And I know what you may be thinking, but it was not the sight of Andrew Bolt and Miranda Devine that made me uncomfortable — although it’s true I normally do find them and their extremist far-right views rather disturbing.

It was actually the guy sitting opposite them who really disturbed me.

It would seem that while the taxpayer pays his wages, the NSW Premier is off filming commercials for News Ltd.

Frankly, I have significant reservations about whether that is a good use of taxpayer funds. Then again, Baird is the guy that, as NSW treasurer, managed to misplace a cool billion dollars, so I guess he probably considers donating his taxpayer billed time as a political favour as small change.

For years, there have been theories about how News Ltd is biased towards the Coalition, now News Ltd have embarked on an advertising campaign that seems to be suggesting Premier Baird is of their team.

If anyone ever needed confirmation of News Ltd’s bias — this is it.

Also alarming is who they have Mike Baird associated with in the commercial — Miranda Devine and Andrew Bolt. Andrew Bolt has already been found by a court to have breached the law in his racial vilification of a minority group and Devine is also known for her anti-Islamic scare mongering and angry rhetoric.

If they had sat a woman in a burqa near that particular group it could have ended in one of those racist rants that keep coming out on YouTube. It must comfort Tony Abbott to see one of his Party’s premiers sitting there smiling with a couple of the country’s finest “preachers of hate

News Ltd and the Coalition are making a mockery of the public and have formed the assumption that the public are too stupid to realise it.

 

Andrew Bolt, Miranda Devine, Press PORN

Andrew Bolt’s Headline of help is obscene and self serving:

Hatred of Jews is fuelling protests across the Western world.

 

Caught some press porn on the Bolt report. Bolt and Miranda Devine were doing a Grant and Devine on TV. They should have been in the back of a moving taxi.
The Western Press except for Miranda & Andrew have been hijacked by Hamas. The whole of the Western Press is like the ABC, is unprofessional,  is left & blinkered by Hamas. Mike Carlton being a prime example of a Nazi shift to the fascist left (no no longer  right wing ) reviving  anti-semitism of the worst kind.  This is no longer asking  ‘has Israel gone beyond self defence?
 While Devine was getting it off  Bolt’s head bopping up and down like Noddy.
https://i0.wp.com/media.crikey.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/cartoon.png
 According to Devine the above cartoon is of a Jew, not an Israeli, in his lounge watching the bombing of Gaza on a big screen. By publishing this Fairfax press stirred up anti- Jewish sentiment. The AJN has placed a fatwa on Fairfax. That this is typical of  what the Western International press is reporting and Carlton’s article is a prime example.
Yes well spotted Miranda the man in the cartoon is Jewish his lounge seems to be a dirt floor I don’t think so he is Israeli and doing it easy. What Carlton writes isn’t anti-semetic but does legitimately question Israeli political motivation. A war were moderates on both sides  have no say.

” But this is a new and brutal Israel dominated by the hardline, right-wing Likud Party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition.”

  Carlton might be questioning the Israeli government yes but he’s not the biased fanatic dreamt up you two jerk offs on the Bolt Report. Miranda  you lifted your monologue from Crikey. It wasn’t even original.
The Bolt Report was little more than plagiarised press porn.
 Carlton’s article quotes a noted Israeli journalist Gideon Levy  who accused  the Jewish state of fascism and whose life in Televiv is now at risk. Coalition Chairman Yariv Levin wants Gideon Levy put on trial for spreading lies ‘in the service of the enemy’.  Israel Bolt’s haven of ‘free speech’ .Carlton writes:

“It is a breathtaking irony that these atrocities can be committed by a people with a proud liberal tradition of scholarship and culture, who hold the Warsaw Ghetto and the six million dead of the Holocaust at the centre of their race memory”

 “The Israeli response has been out of all proportion, a monstrous distortion of the much-vaunted right of self defence  given their Iron Dome Defence system”

This has not been a question unique to the press nor is it a racist question. Carlton’s not accusing one side only of wrong doing.  Miranda Devine & Bolt pointed to a press bias because neither slaughter in Syria nor the slaughter of Christians in Mosul has got equivalent front page attention. Sorry Miranda  900 Christians families were warned to leave the area they did they weren’t slaughtered. Their Bishop has been heard on radio several times and he obviously missed the slaughter that you said happened.  As far as the Syrian war is concerned  there has been a lot printed and like MH17 it’s no longer front page. Syria is not as topical here but it still gets publicity about Australian  visitors to the area being presumed guilty and having to prove their innocence on returning home. That Brandis is turning British justice on it’s head.
The Andrew and Miranda your verbal two step was a 2/10 performance. Frank Sinatra called the Australian press worse than $1 hoes. If the shoe fits Miranda then the two of you made a pigeon pair. Bolt hides under more make up than a drag queen.

Carlton was paraphrasing Israeli journalist Gideon Levy who writes for Israel’s oldest daily paper  and who was accusing the Jewish state of fascism.
It’s a very common practise for  commentators to paraphrase the two of you do it all the time. It’s a commentators art form.
He also quoted Dr Mads Gilbert a Norwegian surgeon working in a Gaza hospital ED? Is that left wing?

 “the incomprehensible chaos of bodies, sizes, limbs, walking, not walking, breathing, not breathing, bleeding, not bleeding humans. Humans! 

Is  Dr Mads Gilbert  a Nazi along with Carlton and  Levy? The right wing in Israel are  calling Levy ‘a self-hating Jew’ and want him tried. Isn’t it more precise to call him  anti-Likud after all it is a democracy like Australia?
Should Hamish McDonald  have been pilloried for doing a TV  interview with a PLO official Hanan Ashrawi and jailed like Greste? Is quoting what Ashrawi said not news worthy?

“No nation can accept being imprisoned, being besieged by land, by air, by sea and deprived of the most basic requirements of a decent life: freedom of movement, clean water. For seven years they have been under a brutal and lethal Israeli siege … You shell them and you bomb them; you destroy homes, you destroy whole neighbourhoods. You obliterate, annihilate, whole families, and then you come and say that this is self defence?” 

Carlton is a journalist for Christ sakes neither Miranda or Bolt are. Bolt constantly criticises every aspect of the profession . All journalist schools are substandard. All journalists are biased. Except those he calls friends. He’d be lucky to count them on one hand. Who is the real self-hater here?
 Carlton wrote more than just an opinion piece there are plenty of those out there. His article raised some legitimate questions. You call him Nazi. you call him left wing you call him biased. You call the Western Press blinkered  and under the influence of Hamas. It seems to me your calling the Israeli government politically inept incapable of justifying itself or defending itself to the world without Andrew Bolt and Miranda Devine.  You really did come across as dumb and dumber  on the Bolt Report. Your not journalists nor spokes persons for Israel
You are embarrassing double act.  If the Western press is so bad  haven’t your egos told you to go global yet go Fox go anywhere but get out of our face. Do your  porn but remember not every Jew is a Likudnik and not every Palestinian is Hamas. If I were Israeli or  the AJN I’d really ask you both to shut up.