Saturday 20th of April 2024
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the gutter-press syndrome...

garbage journalism...

Never before has Australia’s political coverage been so poorly regarded by the public; Tom Orren says this reputation is well-deserved — and here he explains why.

TO THE JOURNALISTS of Australia’s mainstream media (MSM) — your job is serious.

It’s not some game or a way to get yourself an award. It’s about OUR futures. We really worry about removing the price on carbon. We really worry about not having a world-class NBN. There are hundreds of thousands of kids who need a better education. It’s too important for you to keep stuffing around with politics as if it’s a game of Jenga.

But why am I even saying this? You won’t listen and you won’t change, will you? Because you all think you’re doing a great job, whereas, in reality, you have let us all down.

Why is this, you ask?

Reason 1: Political journalists are insular

MSM political journalists only ever seem hang around with two types of people — politicians and other journalists. Now, if I had a friend who only hung around with narcissists and psychotics I’d be a little concerned. If they only hung around politicians and journalists, I’d organize an intervention.


Reason 2: Insular people are prone to “group-think”


Reason 1 results in a well known psychological effect called “group-think”, where a group of people who only ever talk to other, like-minded people, and actively avoid talking anyone who thinks otherwise tend to believe the same things. In fact, group members go out of their way to ostracise those who question those ideas. This results in continued reinforcement and exaggeration of the same ideas as they feed back and forth within the group.

You can see this in the way speculation about the ALP leadership, which has gone on for three years now, has reached frenzied levels without (yet) bearing fruit. It also happened with the BER and the Home Insulation schemes, which both had success rates well over 98% ‒ which would be the envy of the most efficient businesses ‒ yet now have the word ‘debacle’ indelibly etched alongside them because of unbalanced MSM reporting.


Reason 3: Journalists reward each other for rubbish stories

Laurie Oakes actually won a Walkley Award for printing Kevin Rudd’s malicious leaks about Julia Gillard in the lead up to the 2010 elections. Had it not been for those leaks sucking all the oxygen out of the ALP’s media time, we most probably would not have hung parliament today. Those leaks were not about actual policies; they were malicious and therefore, did nothing to improve the quality of that pre-election debate.

Wouldn’t it be nice if journalists won awards for good policy analysis.

(By the way, some months ago I wrote to the ABC asking them to confirm or deny whether Quentin Dempster had been the go-between in passing those leaks on to Oakes — the link being that both Oakes and Dempster were on the panel that awarded Oakes that Walkley and that Rudd and Dempster are old acquaintances from Queensland. It was neither confirmed nor denied.)


Reason 4: Australia’s journalists are out of touch with reality

Julia Gillard’s ‘Misogyny Speech’ was hailed as a breakthrough for women’s rights all around the world. Right?

Wrong. For the first two days after it was made, the media of one country derided it as the ravings of mad woman.


Which country’s journalists? Australia’s, of course.

You’ll notice it also treated her more recent speech about women’s rights and abortion in the same way, despite recent moves by some on the conservative right to resurrect the issue. It has also re-emerged as an issue in several conservative American states — states not all that dissimilar from Queensland.

Reason 5: Australia’s journalists actively promote leadership tensions

For the past 3 years, the MSM appears to have taken on a role as Kevin Rudd’s unpaid ‒ at least in money terms ‒ PR machine.

The single most blatant example of this came from ABC Four Corners, in the form of Andrew Fowler’s ‘The Comeback Kid’ report. The entire program was a walking billboard for Rudd that worked on the assumption that he would be leader of the country within weeks … that was almost 18 months ago.

Since then, Rudd has been on television more than Gillard, his every move being analysed in terms of a new leadership challenge. All I can say is either that he has called in a lot of favours or that the Murdoch Press is using him as a tool to degrade the efforts of the Government. The saddest thing about this is that it may yet work. (Time of writing 23/06/13).

Reason 6: Journalists unquestioningly accept the Opposition narrative

MSM journalists have collectively allowed several visionary policy initiatives to be derailed by allowing the exaggerated claims of opponents ‒ most of whom have a vested interest in seeing them fail ‒ to take pride of place in the media.


The Mining Tax and the price on carbon are the most blatant examples, but another is Murdoch’s Foxtel, which has a vested interest in holding back the introduction of streamed TV via high speed broadband. You can add the Gonski Reforms into the mix as well. Yet the most well-worn phrase used to describe the ALP among most MSM journalists remains: “The Gillard government has no vision.”


Reason 7: The MSM no longer supports the disadvantaged

The MSM no longer supports the underdog, it now prefers to support the indefensible.

For example, at present, the 36% of students who attend private schools get close to 80% (or so) of Commonwealth Funding, and our MSM spends far more time defending the right of the private sector to maintain that inequity than in supporting the needs of the 64% majority who currently get about 20% of that funding. If it were the other way around and private school students were only getting 10% (or so) of Commonwealth funding, I can only imagine the MSM furore it would create.


Reason 8: MSM journalists are drama queens

Most MSM journalists are Communications graduates, which means ‒ as a general rule ‒ they prefer literature, drama, metaphor, intrigue and gossip. It also means that when they see a forest they don’t see trees; they see forces of evil lurking in dark shadows and themselves as heroes on a quest for truth.

In other words, where you and I see an egotistical little prick causing havoc, they see a blonde-haired hero fighting against a red-haired she-devil. Reason 8 also means that when most MSM journalists write about things like the economy or global warming, they haven’t a f***ing clue what they’re talking about.

 

Reason 9: MSM journalists are mass (media) debaters

Reason 8 also reminds us that most MSM journalists are very opinionated people who were very good debaters at school (and right now I am desperately trying not to make a connection between the word ‘mass’ in ‘mass media’ and that word ‘debaters’).

To these people it’s all about the winning the contest and that means two things.

The first is that the truth is irrelevant. Debates are not scored on truth, because nobody could be bothered looking it up. They just make facts up as they need them.

Secondly, debaters are scored on presentation rather than content. This means that the cover is more important than the book and leads to comments like:

“Their message is resonating well with the public.”

Translation: they’ve managed to get the public to believe what they say.

“They have a clear massage.”

Translation: They repeat the same phrase over and over again until people think it must be true.

And, of course:

“They are cutting through.”

Translation: They’ve gotten the Murdoch press onside — regardless of whether what is being said is right or not.


Reason 10: The MSM only question Government policies

The MSM has consistently failed to question the policies of the Opposition.


Until recently, the Coalition’s ‘Tow-the-boats-back’ policy has not even rated a mention, even though Blind Freddy could see it wouldn’t work. Even now after the Indonesian Government has ruled it out, criticism is still only lukewarm. The inferiority of their ‘Fibre-to-the-Node’ policy has been similarly swept under the carpet.

As for the Greens, the impact of their opposition to a limited trial of the ‘Malaysia Solution’ has been all but ignored, even though it has meant more asylum seekers drowning and preventing other, more legitimate UN refugees, from gaining access to Australia.


Reason 11: They regard bad journalists as some of their greats

(I know, I know… but I couldn’t help myself.) People like Piers Akerman, Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones and Ray Hadley are considered amongst the best the MSM has to offer. You can only shake your head.

The saddest thing of all about the MSM is what it says about Australian business savvy. From a purely commercial point of view, it astounds me that no MSM outlet has recognised the potential market for providing objective political coverage.

Which is why you’re reading this on a non-MSM site now.

Happy third birthday, IA!

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/business/media-2/ten-reasons-why-most-australian-msm-journalists-are-absolute-shyte/

 

happy birthday...

 

Why do I love Independent Australia?

Let me count the words.

Because it is:

AUSTRALIAN, brave, cheeky, diverse, enterprising, factual, gregarious, humane, independent, jovial, keen, loquacious, maternal, nonsensical, opinionated, political, questioning, republican, sisterly, tempting, unrepentant, vexing, weighty, x-rated, yearning, zestful.

Adventurous, belligerent, contributors, delinquent, energetic, fair, game, humorous, incisive, joyful, kind, loving, matey, noxious, operatic, perservering, quiet, revolutionary, serious, thoughtful, universal, variable, worldly, xxtrachromosexy, yarning, zealous,

Amiable, bucolic, commentators, devoted, egalitarian, feministic, game-changing, hedonistic, investigative, jesting, kinetic, languid, meritorious, nonchalant, olfactory, patient, querulous, rambunctious, secretive, tempestuous, universal, victorious, wise, xysti, youthful, zodiacal.

Ambiguous, brotherly, contrary, decentralist, egalitarian, friendly, galactic, historical, initiators, jousting, kaleidoscopic, leveragist, mentors, nostalgic, observant, presumptuous, quintessential, readership, sentimental, teasing, unusual, visionary,  merci!

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/independent-australia-journal/101-reasons-to-love-independent-australia/

 

Meanwhile this site (yourdemocracy "YD")) has been going on since 2005... — It might have existed before this as a wiki-member-only site, if my fading memory is correct. Here on YD we have a few disagreements as well as some major confluence of opinions. Be forgiving... Gus is a loopy old fellow from Yourp who was asked to take a bath recently... Gus has been doing cartoons in various disguises and styles for 62 years (September 1951, I still remember the day)... all designed to expose the idiosyncrasies of power... and abuse... and the weird...

Happy Birthday, Independent Australia...

 

turds in the sewers...

The merde-och press is running a campaign inviting the GG, Quentin Bryce to install Rudd as a "caretaker" PM... What a lot of indecent idiotic rubbish... The idea from this MSM (main stream media) is despicable. Should Mrs Bryce indulge in this crap, the history books won't be very kind to her...

There is NO CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS. NONE! Why would she indulge in this worst kind of intervention?... Ah I see... Because the merde-och press said so and cannot wait another couple of months, when the official election is to be run... The shit-press has an agenda and wants to claim a scalp...

I believe Quentin Bryce to be far far more intelligent than to indulge in this crap.

The merde-och press is floating like turds in sewers...

Gus.

pommy turd in the sewers...

 

The former political adviser to Tony Blair says Kevin Rudd needs to decide whether he will challenge for the Labor leadership so the party can focus on campaigning.

Alastair Campbell worked as director of communications to the former British prime minister when the UK Labour party faced its own divisions.

Mr Campbell told Lateline it was worrying that public attention was still focused on disunity within the ALP this close to an election.

"To still have the dominant narrative, 'Will he? Won't he?' ... it becomes this sort of soap opera," he said.

"The public then are entitled to look in and say, 'Excuse me, what the hell has this got to do with the election and what the hell has it got to do with me?'

"I think they're at that stage, so I think Kevin Rudd does sort of have to decide - to use a British phrase - whether to piss or get off the pot.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-25/former-blair-adviser-tells-rudd-to-clear-air-before-election/4777486

Excuse me!... The ABC fishing for crap from the liar-in-chief mouthpiece for Tony Blair?... Campbell was the pits as he lied and lied over the war on Iraq... Why do journalists still take him seriously?... Sorry, ask a silly question... I forgot this column is about the gutter press... Campbell should be indicted as a war criminal like his boss, Tony, with Bush and Howard... And let's not stop there... Alexander Downer who is about to become the president of the South Australian Liberals (CONservatives) should be thrown in the pit as well.. Tony Abbott ought to be thrown in for good measure...

 

bullshit aside, gus needs to tone down...

Russell Crowe has condemned a "lack of gallantry" which he says has emerged in Australian politics and says the office of the prime minister should be respected, regardless of who holds the position.

The Australian actor, who spoke to ABC TV's 7:30 in an interview to publicise his new film The Man of Steel, also went on to explain some of his thoughts on Australian politics - including his recent tweet of support for the prime minister Julia Gillard in the upcoming federal election.

Less than a week after a political storm erupted over an offensive Liberal party fundraiser menu, Crowe surprised fans by tweeting a decisive endorsement of Gillard.

"Bullshit & party politics aside...M. Turnbull would be a great prime minister... Julia G is my choice though . Leader through tough times," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/25/russell-crowe-lack-of-gallantry

sheehan shit...

 

Almost two years ago, in August 2011, this column made a prediction: “Windsor will take the weasel option at the next federal election. He will not recontest his seat. After doing everything in his power to create the Gillard government and then sustain it in office, he will not want to face the electorate he betrayed.”


Let us not forget that in defending his decisions Windsor was willing to quote private conversations to make political attacks, based on claims no one could check.


Now they have both cut and run, while claiming no fear, and praising themselves and each other for their political service and astuteness.

 



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/what-a-load-of-oakeshott-20130626-2owev.html#ixzz2XIytbz8U

 

Windsor and Oakeshott have committed themselves to the good of the nation, unlike the MSM press, including Sheehan who parades like a knowledgeable turd but has not understood anything out of the crap he dishes out daily or weekly or whateverly... Sheehan craps on and on and on... That's the invariable about these old writing farts who have no idea about the damage they have done or are doing just for the sake of a few lines... At least Oakeshott and Windsor had the courage of entering parliament and be pelted for what they believed for the best of this country and still believe they were right and are right... These two independents did whatever was right, so does Julia Gillard. But the media and people like Sheehan have done nothing more but serve sour grapes at the bar of disappointment, resentment, misogyny and vengeance... Get a life...

more sheehan shyte...

From Paul Sheehan...It was so very typical of Julia Gillard to choose the most conspicuous place in Parliament, short of the dispatch box during question time -the Aussies cafe - to sit and sup in full view, the morning after she died by the sword, having lived by the sword.
She seemed chipper, just as she was characteristically sturdy the night before in her concession speech. With time to reflect, she will see her political demise as a mercy killing. Her condition had been diabolical. She had become the issue. She had become the liability. She was leading her party to an annihilating defeat.

And she was seen, rightly, as the worst kind of hypocrite. In knifing her leader three years ago, she had cited his poor opinion poll numbers, saying the public had lost confidence in him. Her poll numbers were far worse, with far greater consequence, and had been far worse for much longer. Yet she felt entitled to remain as leader. It was a double standard.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/blood-still-fresh-on-gillards-guillotine-20130627-2oyz5.html#ixzz2XOv9QIWL



Gus: I shall remain polite, but Sheehan's crap should make the Sydney Morning Herald ashamed of even being a sheet of toilet paper... The circumstances between the PMship of Gillard and Rudd are very different... One should listen carefully to what Mark Latham has to say about it...


As an atheist person who has done the best in difficult circumstances in which she had duplicitous Rudd, mad Abbott and a crazy media constantly against her, as well as circumstances in which the world economy had tanked and is still tanking, in which people damned her for not implementing Gonski reforms but then damned her for doing so, In which she got pilloried for making sure Australia was doing its bit for the planet — steps now being followed by the USA — Gillard can have few regrets about her time... She can stay serene...


And if this serenity pisses you off, Mr Sheehan, so be it... She did not knife Rudd. But it was the way it was portrayed by the sick press... By the time she challenged Rudd, Rudd was hated by most of those who got him the job yesterday... Rudd had refused to go to a ballot, thus he did not play by the leadership "rules" and abandoned all pretence to being where he was... There after, he performed every disgraceful acts under the sun to sabotage Gillard every second day... At least Julia had the decency to go to a ballot and face the music... Friends turned against her. I believe she is a greater woman and will not hold grudges...


The hypocrite media did its bit to also constantly sabotage the good done by Julia Gillard in this country... Eventually these opinion polls mostly fabricated by the press who constantly denigrated Gillard, would have risen substantially closer to the election...


Sheehan writes sheehan hypocrite shyte...

 

 

Bullying and outright treachery...

 

Bullying and outright treachery are the new normal in Australia



Anne Summers

We treated our first female prime minister disgracefully while she was in office, and now that she has been driven out, it seems she is going to be denied even the solace of having her extraordinary raft of achievements recognised, says Anne Summers



It's not just about her, it's also about us.
What it means for us ordinary Australians that Julia Gillard was hounded from office in the way she was.
We are now, apparently unashamedly, a country where bullying, stalking, undermining and outright treachery are not just tolerated but are the new way of doing business.
So the next time your child comes home complaining about being bullied in the schoolyard, you will have to say: "Suck it up kid, this is the way we are."

The next time you, or your girlfriend or sister or any woman you know complains about sexual harassment at work, you will have to say: "Tough titty, sweetheart, but if the prime minister had to put up with it, so do you."

And if you are the head of an organisation and find yourself being constantly undermined and disparaged or publicly mocked and belittled by a rival or a predecessor, you will just have to steel yourself against the sabotage, knowing this is the new normal.
And don't for a moment think if you are woman and upset that you, say, get paid 17.5 per cent less than the man you work alongside, or you've been denied promotion yet again, that you can complain about this without being accused of unleashing a "gender war".

No, the rights of women (including the right to even mention these rights) and the prime minister's rights at work have been thoroughly trashed – by the opposition, by the media and now by the Labor Party caucus.

Including, incredibly, many, maybe most, of its women members.
Those ministers who honourably resigned last night did not include a single woman.
Not one of the nine women ministers showed any sisterly solidarity.
Do these women seriously think that it was OK for our first woman prime minister to be hounded out of office by bullying, duplicity and an outrageous trashing of her reputation?
Do they seriously think they are not also contaminated by the crude culture of misogyny that has now enveloped so much of the Labor Party?
On the day that Julia Gillard's signature policy revolution, the Gonski reforms, became law, her prime ministership was defamed and denigrated, characterised as being littered with errors. Those who tore her down gave her no credit for any of her accomplishments as our country's leader.

Not for the 532 pieces of legislation that, by last night, had passed both houses of parliament so far this sitting.
Remember, this was a hung Parliament where every piece of legislation needed to be painstakingly negotiated.
Julia Gillard told me recently (in an interview that will be published this weekend in my digital magazine Anne Summers Reports) that because of the minority Parliament, "It's more inclusive on the one hand and that's not a bad thing, but it can be slower and can distort the process a little bit."

By far the hardest, but the most worthwhile, Gillard told me, was the carbon price which, she is confident, will endure.Yet when Kevin Rudd spoke after his shameful coup last night and praised "Julia" for being "a remarkable reformer", he did not mention a single one of her prime ministerial accomplishments. Not the carbon price. Not the NDIS. Not the Murray-Darling agreement. Not the Gonski reforms. And certainly not her historic agreement with the new Chinese leadership that ensures an unprecedented annual leadership dialogue between our two countries, something that Rudd while he was prime minister was unable to bring off.

No, Rudd did not mention any of these things.

"In Julia's case let me say this: if it were not for Julia we would not have the Fair Work Act," he said. "If it were not for Julia, we would not have a national scheme which ensures that the literacy and numeracy performance of Australian schools is tested regularly and that interventions occur to lift those students who are doing poorly."

All things she accomplished while she was deputy prime minister. And, the subtext was, while he – the man mocking her by outfitting himself in a blue tie for the coup – was prime minister.
Expect Julia Gillard's record of reform to be swiftly excised from the political memory of the Labor Party. It started last night and it will continue apace.
Her treacherous colleagues will have nothing good to say about her.
The hypocrisy is breathtaking as well as shameful.

We treated our first female prime minister disgracefully while she was in office, and now that she has been driven out, it seems she is going to be denied even the solace of having her extraordinary raft of achievements recognised.On the contrary, her final weeks look like being characterised as inept and wrong-footed. (Therefore making it OK to get rid of her).
So while it's OK for us to laud the tactics of a senator in Texas standing up (literally) for the abortion rights of women in her state, just let the leader of the ALP point to similar risks to the rights of women in Australia and she is howled down by a cacophony of cackling that she is a political dope who has done herself untold damage.

Well that bit was right.
Julia Gillard has paid a very high price for warning us that abortion is once again set to become "the political plaything of men who think they know better".
Not true, scoffed the chorus, including many women. Abortion no longer an issue.

Today a Senate committee will table its report on John Madigan's private senator's bill proposing restrictions to the Medicare rebate for certain types of abortion.
No longer an issue?

But truth, like decency, is no longer part of our political currency it seems.

Anne Summers is a journalist, author and editor. She headed the Hawke government's Office of the Status of Women.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/bullying-and-outright-treachery-are-the-new-normal-in-australia-20130627-2oysw.html#ixzz2XP2bH5Fm