Peter Foster was thrown in jail for Pyramid Schemes and the false advertising of Baylin Tea. Why are the media, politicians, and think tanks allowed to flood the zone with shit when advertisers can’t?
I do find it interesting that it’s Advance Australia has announced its opposition to any misinformation laws. After all, they were heavily involved in the “No” campaign misinformation while their IDs were hidden. Why was that?
The big problem with misinformation laws is quite simple: Who decides what’s misinformation? We don’t seem to see one with advertising do we?
Of course this doesn’t mean that no company has ever engaged in insider trading or tried to mislead the public; it simply means that if they’re found to be doing that, then there are legal consequences.
The point is that if we can have laws that prevent companies from peddling misinformation to the ASX, why is it such a threat to hold political entities to the same standards?
It didn’t matter with Asylum Seekers, Climate Change, Muslims, African Gangs, Crime, 0r the Referendum, the LNP process and tactic have always remained the same division, the goal, despite the truth
In a recent Q and A, the opposition’s shadow minister for Climate Change and Energy Ted O’Brien’s improbable aim was to convince Australia that small nuclear reactors (SMRs) could replace our coal fired power plants and lead us to carbon neutrality. If you examine the economics of SMRs the proposition has to be classified as an absurdity with no chance of becoming a reality in the foreseeable future – if ever.
The insidious part of the SMR policy is its drawing on the Trumpian political playbook: facts don’t matter in an age of manipulative social media and compliant print media. What does matter is using policies to create an alternative reality with which to open up cracks in an otherwise consensual landscape. That playbook policy has proven extraordinarily successful for the opposition in its policy on the referendum. As for the SMR policy – it’s a smart device which acts as a proxy war to muddy and divide views on the government’s climate change policy and delivers to the Coalition a warm financial embrace from the mining industry. In terms of the Australian public it’s all about dividing and fooling.
1 Comment on Source of Dubious ‘Beheaded Babies’ Claim is Israeli Settler Leader Who Incited Riots to ‘Wipe Out’ Palestinian Village After an Israeli reserve soldier named David Ben Zion told a reporter Palestinian militants “cut [off] heads of babies,” Biden, Netanyahu, and the international media amplified the dubious claim. The Grayzone has identified Ben Zion as a fanatical settler leader who incited riots by demanding a Palestinian town be “wiped out.”
The ABC needs the many recommendations to strengthen its independence from political interference implemented.
The Greens and independent candidates are correct: there should be no exemption for “professional news content” in the attempt to crackdown on social media misinformation.
This domestic program ought to be more straightforward than the daunting challenge of dealing with international mis- and disinformation fomented on the internet. That ‘X’ is so much worse for bigotry and disinformation than Twitter illustrates two key points. The settings implemented by management can work to limit disinformation. It also illustrates the damage of leaving massive platforms in private hands.
Robert Reich recently posted this message: “The forces undermining our democracy, polluting our planet, and stoking hatred are counting on you to give up.
“They have money.
“They have megaphones.
“And they have an even more powerful weapon – one that’s harder to spot but incredibly effective: Cynicism.
“Don’t give up.”
The Albanese government has the power to ensure that Australian political speech is as truthful as possible in a world where reliable information is both difficult to determine and utterly crucial.
The West has been manipulating global information and spreading disinformation for decades. It is time for the world to also listen to the voices of China and other developing nations, many of which were once brutally colonised by the West.
Th leader of the charge to misinform branded Fox News as Fair and Balanced and even he eventually removed that description.
Polling released Wednesday by Gallup and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation reveals half of American adults “feel most national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform, or persuade the public,” which could impact the future of both the industry and U.S. democracy.
On a recent interview with the Useful Idiots podcast, Noam Chomsky repeated his argument that the only reason we hear the word “unprovoked” every time anyone mentions Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the mainstream news media is because it absolutely was provoked, and they know it.
Clearer is that the Murdoch’s were always front and center of this globally. They fled to America where the laws and market were much more lax after Rupert’s almost jailing in the UK.
It’s clear the misinformation tactics so readily employed by conservatives for the last decade or so are found to be wanting when held up to scrutiny. Over the years, numerous trends in the USA make their way over to this side of the Pacific relatively quickly – let’s hope holding peddlers of misinformation to account ‘flies across the Pacific’ quickly.
A news site with ties to the fossil fuel industry claimed Scotland axed 14 million trees to make way for wind farms. Is that correct? – ABC News
According to the government agency Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), 14 million trees were cut down to make way for wind farms in Scotland, but this had occurred over 20 years.
Meanwhile, over the same period (from 2000), 272 million trees were planted across the country.
That crucial fact is missing from an article published this week by the website Energy News Beat, which appears to have driven the recent surge in social media activity.
Notably, the omission comes despite the article drawing heavily on a two-year-old story published by Scottish news site The Herald, in which an FLS spokesman was quoted as saying: “That figure for felled trees should also be contrasted with that for the number of trees planted in Scotland over the years 2000 – 2019, a total of 272,000,000, and renewable energy developments fit well with this.”
He added: “The amount of woodland removed across Scotland’s national forests and land, managed by FLS, for wind farm development is not even 1 per cent of the total woodland area”, while the 14 million trees were a commercial crop that would ultimately have been felled for timber.
Misinformation breeds the misconception that our climate isn’t up shit creek which in turn leads to governments not feeling much pressure to actually do something about it. And even ostensibly left-wing governments need to feel pressure on this issue.
This is why activists of the sort that pissed off half of car-owning Sydney this week are so important. They serve as a counter-balance to the mainstream narrative that things are just fine and dandy the way they are. Yes, being late on the road sucks, but you should have seen the traffic in Lismore earlier this year.
UK based GDI Index proves itself to be useless, almost conspiratorial as News Corp is. It’s based in the UK where Rupert Murdoch’s media behemoth was proved by Tory government inquiry to be totally corrupt. Where the world saw Rupert Murdoch do an Alan Bond and feign old age and dementia to stay out of jail. He had to close The News of the World and was allowed to keep his lisence. So fled to America to continue what he does best there, PR for the wealthy and powerful, misinformation his product. Currently, he’s spreading it for Russia’s Vladamir Putin. Fox News is even being celebrated by Putin’s State Media. I guess the UK based GDI is too.
The efforts of a self-appointed ratings agency that surveyed Independent Australia and 33 other Australian outlets have shown how you need to be careful in the tricky world of publishing. A report by the group called Global Disinformation Index (GDI) declared that the News Corp publications – Courier Mail, Sydney Telegraph and Herald Sun – were less likely to spread disinformation than Independent Australia.
Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers were successfully prosecuted for misinformation after enormous effort. They weren’t prosecuted for producing Oxy which is still available. However their false advertising managed to lead to the unwanted deaths of 500M people isn’t. How is it the Murdoch’s are free to peddle their totally harmful bullshit on vaccinations making America one of the planet’s least vaccinated OECD countries and assisting in 700M deaths?
Giselle Maxwell is currently being prosecuted for assisting Epstein in child molestation,abuse and human trfficking. Julian Assange on the other hand has been hounded for a decade for allowing truth to be released and published. Surely the Murdoch’s and Tucker Carlson deserve to be prosecuted for assisting in the deaths of millions of people. They certainly don’t practice what they preach at News Corp.
Oxy hasn’t been removed from the market place neither should news or information, but misinformation is sinking the nation and a yardstick needs to be set for it’s abuse.
Carlson’s claim that the campaign to vaccinate Americans against COVID-19, and thus prevent deaths, is a “failure” is a conclusion that can be reached only if you ignore every shred of relevant information and consider instead just the fictionalized vision of the vaccine that exists on Fox News. Carlson has dedicated an extraordinary amount of airtime not just to lying about and undercutting COVID-19 vaccination efforts, but also to attacking vaccines as a whole. To name just a few recent examples: Earlier this month, Carlson hosted notorious anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to tell viewers that vaccines are one of the “key suspects” behind a rise in cases of autism. During the interview Carlson asked, “Will any thinking person ever trust vaccines again?” Carlson has repeatedly claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine is killing Americans and called it the “single deadliest mass vaccination event in modern history.” Frequent Carlson guest and COVID-19 truther Alex Berenson told Carlson’s viewers that “there’s just no evidence that the vaccines halt infection or transmission in any way.” Even though Fox has its own incredibly strict vaccination and testing policy for staff,
The very ability to keep America culturally divided is the alchemy that provides America’s Fascist Extreme Right and the those within and out of the Republican Party the power to have the tail control wag the dog. Organize chaos, extreme armed elements you have a key, control the message and you have a coup. Jan 6th was close.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has a new poll out this week, also reported on by The Washington Post, showing the alarming extent to which COVID-19 misinformation has penetrated among American adults, but particularly Republicans and people who consume right-wing media. The really scary thing: A lot of people actually believe the things they see on Fox News and further right networks like Newsmax.
To watch what is happening in Australia right now is to watch a once-liberally democratic nation devolve into outright tyranny. Citizens in New South Wales and Victoria are being locked inside their homes and monitored by police, and anyone who dares protest the states’ strict coronavirus lockdown measures faces imprisonment, hefty fines, and even brutal physical attacks by law enforcement — all in response to a relatively minor outbreak of new cases among a population that is largely vaccinated.
Both Facebook and Instagram are facing allegations of censorship following the erratic, widespread removal of recent posts from pro-Palestinian users critical of the Israeli government, including those who documented instances of Israeli state violence. Mass violence has gripped Israel and Gaza since last week. Tensions kicked off amid Palestinian protests against planned evictions in occupied East Jerusalem to make way for Jewish settlers. Eventually, Israeli security forces stormed the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s old city, one of the holiest sites in Islam. The Palestinian militant group Hamas responded with rocket fire aimed at Israel. Israel, in turn, unleashed massive aerial bombardments and artillery attacks against the occupied Palestinian Gaza Strip, reportedly leaving more than 120 people, including 20 children, dead. At least 900 Palestinians have been injured since Monday. Reports said that in Israel, seven people, including a soldier and a child, had died as a result of the violence, with more than 500 injured. “Facebook claims that their policy on the word ‘Zionist’ is about Jewish safety,” Dani Noble, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace who reviewed
Votes are still being counted across the country, but President Donald Trump took to Twitter to baselessly claim “they are trying to STEAL the Election.”
God is more cunning than a sewer rat while he says Biden will win his only son Lachlan keeps boosting Trump. But Trump has now started boosting OANN. It’s crazy shit in America bet Borat and Giuliani don’t make it to Murdoch News (ODT
Media organisations shouldn’t publish allegations unless they believe them to be true, after making appropriate checks. This is a normally uncontroversial principle of journalistic practice, reflected in media law. It forms the underpinnings for the social licence to operate that allows journalists access to the powerful and the freedom to deal with confidential sources and leaked information. Now, that idea is in play on the international stage in a stoush between News Corp and the tech platforms Twitter and Facebook. It’s a crucial moment in modern media, mainly because the tech platforms seem to be trying to heed the traditional responsibility of publishers, while the world’s most powerful traditional media organisation, News Corp, seems willing to overlook it. The battleground is a story published in Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, the essence of which is an allegation that presidential candidate Joe Biden used his previous position as US vice-president to benefit the Ukraine business interests of his son, Hunter.
In terms of public health, the primary focus is on ensuring visa applicants and arrivals are free of tuberculosis. But the Auditor-General’s report of 2007 states visa applicants and holders must also be
‘…free from a disease or condition that would result in a threat to public health or a danger to the Australian community.’
Classic study of Murdoch method: For Victoria, Andrews is blamed personally on front page for officials mistakes. For Ruby Princess, no headline re Gladys or Dutton. Delegitimise Labor leaders; but a protection racket for Libs. pic.twitter.com/1jaN5uFEB6
The hosts of the March 29 edition of Fox & Friends used the images of caged migrants in El Paso to fearmonger about another caravan, dubbed “the mother of all caravans.” While airing images of the caged El Paso migrants, co-host Brian Kilmeade warned that with both groups, “we don’t even know the criminals that, percentage-wise, are probably in that mix” and “trying to bust through” to the United States. Despite the fearmongering, co-host Steve Doocy eventually admitted that “we don’t know whether or not the ‘mother of all caravans’ is heading our way.”
The story of the people CBP has caged in El Paso is the latest expression of a well-definedtrend: Fox News dominates discussion of important political issues by its sheer volume of coverage, allowing conservatives to set a misleading framing that ultimately misinforms discussions happening elsewhere.
Yes, there is a sinister group (gang, if you like) well practised in the dark arts of moving quickly on the vulnerable for personal gain. They are the politicians who jumped into this debate with the subtlety of a belly flop in a wading pool.
Internal police figures show that of Victoria’s 15,000 “serious” crimes ranging from murder, serious assaults, rape and armed robberies to carjackings, around 200 are committed by offenders of Sudanese descent – which means you are 74 times more likely to be attacked by non-Sudanese.
So what do these statistics prove? Absolutely nothing, other than that you can always find a set of numbers to justify an argument.
Piss Weak on Law and Order Look No Further than Peter Dutton
The issue of law and order is squarely in Dutton’s domain, and while he has no responsibility on state matters, he has a major one on federal ones, particularly border protection. Which makes it all the more galling that while he wastes his energy on matters that are not his concern, he has been derelict on one in his own backyard. The problem is not that Dutton is too tough – it is that he is not tough enough.
For nearly 12 months the state government, at the request of senior police, have asked their federal counterparts to change the law to make it illegal to import Bute without a legitimate reason and still the loophole remains large enough to drive a truck (filled with drugs) through it.
So while the Feds can legitimately brag they have stopped the boats with asylum seekers on them, they have done stuff-all to stop the boats filled with 1,4-Butanediol. And make no mistake, more people are hospitalised from Bute than from being bashed by Sudanese crime gangs.
Yet we do have a serious black crime problem. In Australia, an Indigenous youth is 24 times more likely to be imprisoned than the community average for that age bracket. It is a national disgrace.
Rehabilitating young offenders is not the soft option, it is the smart one. The alternative of policies driven by anger, fear, half-facts and the pursuit of headlines or votes leads to more crime and more victims – and history shows that if you shut the door on people, they eventually want to kick it down.
This is a story about how misinformation can take hold. It’s not always down to dishonesty. Sometimes it’s just a lack of time, a headline and the multiplying power of ideological certainty.Last week, China announced it was stopping or postponing work on 151 coal plants that were either under, or earmarked for, construction.Last month, India reported its national coal fleet on average ran at little more than 60% of its capacity – among other things, well below what is generally considered necessary for an individual generator to be financially viable.Tony Abbott needs to explain U-turn on climate change, Julie Bishop saysRead moreNeither of these stories gained much of a foothold in the Australia media. But one story on global coal did: that 621 plants were being built across the planet
By James Moylan The 3.6 million dollar study testing the sewage in our capital cities for illegal drugs is simply more disinformation and bullshit. Let’s revisit the results from this study and consider them rationally. The study indicates that in Australia the use of alcohol is equivalent to 1.2 drinks PER PERSON per day. Yet…
Young people running riot on the streets, teenagers creating chaos in the justice system, a premier who wants to be seen acting tough – there’s a lot going on, but what’s the truth about youth crime and punishment?
As President Obama seeks $27.6 billion for federal drug control programs in his new budget, we talk to British journalist Johann Hari about the century-old failed drug war and how much of what we know about addiction is wrong. Over the past four years Hari has traveled to the United States, Mexico, Canada, Uruguay and Portugal to research his new book, “Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War of Drugs.” His findings may surprise you — from the U.S. government’s persecution of Billie Holiday, to Vancouver’s success in addressing its heroin epidemic, to Portugal’s experiment with full decriminalization of all drugs.
olddogthoughts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.