The Bloody Papers

[Scarfman]

The standard of journalism in this country has fallen. Once upon a time, The Australian and the Fairfax press BOTH occupied the ground somewhere in the centre of politics. Now, Murdoch has pushed everything so far right, that the Fairfax journos feel that they have to even things up.

So you get this situation, where the lead story in the SNH is this:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/its-the-hockonomy-stupid-20101021-16w53.html

While the OZ runs with an anti-Gillard story, and follows it up with this puff piece for Hockey.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...held-accountable/story-e6frg6zo-1225941954054

I hate this new "Crossfire" model of "balance" where each paper occupies completely unbalanced positions on each side of the debate. It's even worse in Britain, so I suppose I should be happy about that.

 

[Jnor]

At least there's a variety in Britain. Although in terms of overt stating of bias I think we're still a fair way off

 

[barbarian]

I don't think its too bad Scarfie, although it is headed in the wrong direction I agree. The Daily Telegraph is a disgrace, becoming more like Today Tonight than the News sadly. But that seems to be what sells papers. The Herald's opinion columnists vary in viewpoint and quality, but none are too extreme (now that Miranda has gone to the Tele anyway).

At least we have managed to avoid this right vs left debate from seeping into TV. Thankfully Australia has nothing close to Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity. Or Bill Maher for that matter.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Yeah if the partisan hackery of the US is the end-point, we are some distance from it. They just shout at (and past) each other, those guys. One non-stop stream of party political invective.

Even supposedly reputable outlets such as the NYT aren't above it these days. The good news is that the old media behemoths are under threat from the Intertubes and will either become extinct or respond to the changing times.

 

[Scotty]

Although she does appear on tv, she only states her views in blogs, someone like Marieke Hardy really irritates me. So completely biased that she is pretty much unhinged.

Most ABC journos seem to lean a little left, (except Kohler), but the left lean is only a millimeter and doesn't affect their reporting. I can't think of any tv journos in this country that lean significantly one way or the other. However in comparison British tv journalism (despite what Scarfy says), Australia leaves a lot to be desired. The quicker we scrap ACA and TT the better all our lives would be. They disgust me.

 

[Scotty]

Oh, and Joe Hockey is an idiot.

Coalition should take him out of that role and give it to Turnbull. He should still be on the front bench as he connects well with people and performs ok in parliament, but he doesn't seem up to the shadow treasury role and more than the bumbling Swan is up to the real job.

 

[barbarian]

The journos on the right piss me off far more than those on the left. And I would put myself on the centre-right of the political spectrum. I like watching the ABC show Insiders on Sunday Morning, but every week I end up shouting at Andrew Bolt or Piers Ackermann or Gerard Henderson. They just see EVERYTHING through their far-right glasses. At least people like David Marr know when its time to get on the high-horse (eg refugees) but then when to turn down his lefty instincts.

Throw Alan Jones and Ray Hadlee with those three and you have a choir of bleating right wingers, which gives those on the right (myself included) such a bad name. Its the same in America- the commentators on the right seem to get so agitated about every little thing, while the left seems to be a bit more rational.

 

[Jnor]

I agree, BaaBaa, but I can't say that David Marr doesn't irritate me greatly, he's just topo earnest or something. And I'd put myself on the left hand side of things. Ackerman, Henderson and Bolt are just there to piss people off on Insiders as far as I can tell, because that's all they seem to do. The ABC would be better off having some sensible people in their place, no matter what side of the divide they profess to be on.

Mind you, some of the people on Offsiders irritate me just as much with their aerial ping pong fascination; so I might just be biased against people I don't agree with :frans

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Guys like AJ, Bolt and Ackerman are blowhards and I completely ignore them. The only AM radio station I listen to is 6WF in Perth so I can hear the cricket in the car during the summer.

People like Hardy and Marr irritate me because they are so bloody smug and you just know by their tone of voice that they think they are a lot smarter than everyone else. The more serious commentators are good though, like Stutchbury and Lenore Taylor and Laura Tingle. I want my reporting to be bone dry and based in fact, not hysterical ranting.

 

[Scarfman]

My point about Britain is that we don't yet have anything like http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

Although we also don't have The Guardian, which is where I get all my arts / culture info from. It's the best designed newpaper web page in the world, apart from anything else.

I find Marr intolerable, and Ackerman / Bolt like something out of a video nasty. My problem is that you know what the papers are going to say in advance of reading them, which I why I read them less and less. Like TBH says - the more we get our news from non-corporate sources, the better.

 

[Scotty]

I assume ABC doesn't count as a 'corporate source'? I find it somewhat astounding that tax payers stump the bill for Marieke Hardy's wage, despite her, on a few occasions now flying off the handle in blogs on their official website and getting very personal in her attacks on the likes of Abbott and Pyne. She holds some place of influence in 20 something Australians (through being the youngest on the book club and being a former JJJ presenter) and yet somehow the ABC and Australian Government tolerate her personal attacks on Coalition members.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...christopher-pyne/story-e6freuzr-1225932884192

Hardy's column as been on the Drum website since Monday but came to prominence this morning after The Australian's Samantha Maiden referred to the column in her Despatch Box column.

Hardy wrote that Pyne, a father of four, was among the most hated men in the country.

"It's getting kind of tedious hating on Kyle Sandliands these days," she wrote. "Australia hates Christopher Pyne more than we hate Kyle Sandilands.

“When Chris Pyne says Kumbaya, I taste a little vomit in my mouth."

She also suggested he should be attacked by a “libidinous dog”.

While I dislike much of what Bolt has to say, I've haven't seen anything like this come from his mouth and he isn't funded by the australian taxpayer.

 

[Scotty]

PS Hardy's blog was on the ABC website for 3-4 days, and only got taken off after The Australian and drawn attention to it. Clearly the editor had been happy with what she had written and only back tracked when complaints came from the larger community.

Just another indication to me that the ABC leans to the left, which it shouldn't being tax payer funded.

 

[barbarian]

The ABC's left lean is a bit overstated IMO. Yeah Hardy wrote a poor quality rant about Chris Pyne, but that is harldy evidence of an organisation-wide bias. She copped a lot of shit for it as well.

You would suggest guys like Kerry O'Brien and Tony Jones would lean left but they hide it very, very well. I remember the Glass House was canned for being too left, which was absolute rubbish considering comedy shows (eg the Chaser) tend to satirise those in power more than those in opposition. I reckon the viewers/listeners are a lot more left than the ABC itself, as evidenced on a weekly basis by the crowd on Q&A.

 

[chief]

Count yourself lucky, the Courier Mail in Brisbane has become such a joke the last few years. They based the whole election campaign on Gillard being a backstabber, and they made it pretty easy to distinguish who they were endorsing well before the election even started. A lot of the fools who voted in the election did not vote on policy they voted for the Courier Mail.

That mysterious budget black hole was barely mentioned. But don't worry they run a far more harming piece on Julia Gillard. It's such a joke. Don't even let me get started on their anti- Bligh crusade.

 

[Gagger]

My point about Britain is that we don't yet have anything like http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

Although we also don't have The Guardian, which is where I get all my arts / culture info from. It's the best designed newpaper web page in the world, apart from anything else.

There's also the Times, Independent and Observer over here, and Torygraph isn't that horrific.

The Mail is just a tabloid freak show for pensioner bigots. No one else takes it seriously

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Count yourself lucky, the Courier Mail in Brisbane has become such a joke the last few years. They based the whole election campaign on Gillard being a backstabber, and they made it pretty easy to distinguish who they were endorsing well before the election even started. A lot of the fools who voted in the election did not vote on policy they voted for the Courier Mail.

That mysterious budget black hole was barely mentioned. But don't worry they run a far more harming piece on Julia Gillard. It's such a joke. Don't even let me get started on their anti- Bligh crusade.

I sympathise, we have the West over here.

 

[Lindommer]

The journos on the right piss me off far more than those on the left. And I'd put myself on the centre-right of the political spectrum.

They do to me, too. And so do I, b. I've never forgotten one of the great saws in life: "If you're not on the left when you're 20 you've got no heart. If you're not on the right when you're 40 you've got no brains." Me? there's still a lot a lot of the old youthful lefty left, private enterprise wine merchant 'n' all.

One of the heroes in my youth was the British writer/political commentator Paul Johnson; his 1977 work, Enemies of Society, affected me enormously. Started off at uni as a bit of a Trot but's now firmly ensconced somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan. I do have some sympathy with his intellectual journey but I don't agree with it. Check him out at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Johnson_(writer)

 

[Joe Mac]

Its not just politics. The DailyTelegraph in Sydney are running an almost daily article to insight hatred against cyclists. Really pisses me off that they can be so biased.

I live in London these days. Is there any reason behind this?

 

[Gagger]

fascism

 

[Scarfman]

Today should be an interesting day in the papers. Wikileaks II. Please no-one don't say that it's irresponsible to reveal the rules of engagement in Iraq, I don't think I could bear it.

The Washington Post haven't reported on it yet, but I'm going to bet that they run with the "Iran involvement" angle. Any takers?