Media
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TESSA MORRIS-SUZUKI. The ‘information war’ hits Sydney.
This action by a small number of Japanese in Australia harms the Japanese community itself and demeans the work of those in Japan and elsewhere who have fought so long and hard for historical truth and justice. Continue reading »
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BRIAN McNAIR. The empire strikes back.
Just five short years after (literally) eating humble pie live on national TV for presiding over the most corrupt, criminally minded, bin-raking, sleaze-mongering crowd of press hacks ever to spread their poison in the English-speaking world, Rupert Murdoch is back at the door of Sky in the UK, huffing and puffing like the big bad Continue reading »
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KELLIE TRANTER. FOI documents expose Australia’s unlawful invasion of Syria.
‘Make no mistake: we unlawfully invaded a sovereign state.’~ Kellie Tranter Not one journalist in the country – although I am happy to stand corrected – asked either the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Attorney General or the Defence Minister to explain how the Government of Syria was ‘unwilling or unable’ to prevent attacks. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. White man’s media
The Australian media behave as if Australia is a large island parked off London or New York. Our media is remarkably derivative as a result of media systems laid down over a century ago. It is very unresponsive to the needs of Australia in the 21st Century in relations with our own region. Our media Continue reading »
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RICHARD BUTLER. Our white man’s media.
In this blog, I will be posting occasional pieces under the title ‘our white man’s media’ about the inadequate coverage of important issues in world affairs and in particular, in our region. So much of our media coverage reflects the interests and views of the US. Is the Wretched situation in Yemen of no interest Continue reading »
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ANDREW MARKUS. Australians more alarmed about state of politics than impact of migration and minorities.
There is no shortage of expert commentary on current shifts in public opinion, understood as a revolt against political elites. Within Europe and the United States interpretations are supported by the British vote to leave the European Union, the increasing popularity of far-right parties campaigning on anti-immigration and nationalist platforms, and the success of Donald Continue reading »
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RICHARD LETTS. National Opera Review: propping up the 19th Century
The National Opera Review has reported. Instigator George Brandis is probably well enough satisfied. The Terms of Reference are pure Brandis. The name is National Opera Review, the game is a review of the four larger companies funded by the Commonwealth. Excluded are the Victorian Opera and the numerous small companies that are the Continue reading »
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ANDREW JAKUBOWICZ. A Bigots’ Frenzy: how race, class and gender still matter in the Australian politics of Section 18C.
Australia is a democratic pluralist society and there lies the rub. Democracies privilege freedom, while pluralism requires civility. In the increasing hyperbole surrounding the question of the impact of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act many are arguing that freedom of speech should trump freedom from hate, and others that the current “balance” Continue reading »
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TESSA MORRIS-SUZUKI. Trump: it’s time to go back to basics.
The election of billionaire and reality TV host Donald Trump to the most powerful political position in the world has created global shockwaves. As countless commentators have already observed, Trump’s election is a stunning reminder of the depth of social division in the United States. For millions of Americans, particularly in the rust-belt states Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Donald Trump- the billionaire outsider!
But is there a possible silver lining? I am surprised and horrified by the election of Donald Trump as the Leader of the ‘Free World’. He is sexist, racist, xenophobic and a Muslim-basher. He doesn’t dog-whistle like our prime ministers, but speaks out bluntly on issues in ways I find offensive. Yet clearly large Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Paranoia about boat people and manufactured demagogic outrage.
There must surely be more to the government’s latest assault on the boat people than simply crude wedge politics and gratuitous cruelty; but if there is, the Prime Minister is not saying – at least not yet. This, of course, is part of a long-standing tradition. When and where asylum seekers are concerned, nothing Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Family First or Day First?
The name of Bob Day, the now former senator, was never one to conjure with. If he was noted at all, it was usually as the Sancho Panza to David Leyonhjelm’s Don Quixote – a loyal and reliable hanger-on, grounded where his leader tended at times to eccentricity. Leyonhjelm, the Liberal Democrat Libertarian, could Continue reading »
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TONY KEVIN. Is Hillary the Russia-hater a safer American choice?
The final days of the US presidential campaign – a disgraceful saga at best – have been marked by a frantic race to the bottom by both sides. On the Trump side: an anonymous but skilfully made video is doing the social media rounds, alleging improper links between Hillary Clinton’s long-standing personal assistant and Continue reading »
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BRUCE ARNOLD. Testing the body politic? Lobbying by the pathology industry.
Pathology testing in Australia is big business, getting bigger as the population ages and we rely on high-tech medicine for intractable ailments. Advocacy by commercial interests and government pathology service providers shapes public policy. It potentially affects elections rather than just the national budget. It matters. It is inadequately recognised and less understood. What Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. The real shipping choke point for Australia – Sibutu Channel
Neither the Australian government nor the Australian media have informed us about the critical nature of the Sibutu Channel. As mentioned in this blog some time ago. the active political and media discussion in Australia about the South China Sea has continued to ignore the fact that the most critical choke point for Australia’s huge Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. White Man’s Media – A weekly column. This week: The US elections.
In this blog I propose to run a regular Wednesday column White Man’s Media focusing on the derivative nature of our media and its failure to reflect our own region .. I have in mind pieces of 100 -400 words. The longer pieces might focus on some of our complacent foreign affairs ‘ experts’ Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Concealing crimes in Manus and Nauru.
Those eminent jurists Malcolm Turnbull and George Brandis are normally very careful with the words they use; indeed, Brandis did his best to bore a senate committee rigid as he spent many minutes explaining exactly what he meant by the term “consult.” But in spite of their learning and erudition, our latter day Perry Continue reading »
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PAUL DALEY. Why Australia Day and Anzac Day helped create a national ‘cult of forgetfulness’.
Australia Day and Anzac Day are months away. But I’m getting in early. It’s beyond time Australia cast off these sturdy cultural crutches that both, somehow, define national birth, so we can discover who and what we truly are. Australia Day, celebrating British invasion in 1788, and Anzac Day, marking Australia’s involvement in the failed Continue reading »
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HAMISH McDONALD. What really happens at Pine Gap.
Hamish McDonald wrote this article in the Saturday Paper on October 1, 2016. The paper was also a tribute to Des Ball who died recently. He was the best informed and independent commentator on Pine Gap. The following is an introduction to Hamish McDonald’s article with a full link at the end to the Saturday Continue reading »
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JAMES ROSE. From Tampa to now: how reporting on asylum seekers has been a triumph of spin over substance.
Spin designed to dehumanise and demonise asylum seekers. This year marks the 15th anniversary of one of the most divisive national election campaigns in Australia’s recent history: the Tampa affair. Coming just weeks after the September 11 terror attacks, the pitched battle between John Howard and Kim Beazley drew heavily on fear and panic. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Privatisation and the hobbling of Newcastle Port.
The downsides of privatisation are becoming clearer. A recent example, which has received little publicity in the mainstream media is the hobbling of Newcastle Port for the benefit of Port Botany. In this blog on 5 September 2016 ‘JOHN AUSTEN. How port privatisation will hobble Newcastle’ John Austen pointed out that in the sales Continue reading »
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TONY SMITH. The US presidential election: no Australian perspective
We can’t get enough of Donald and Hilary! John Tulloh correctly identifies US influence in the priorities of Australian media. Half a century ago Henry Mayer argued that while media might not influence how we think, they do decide what we think about. This was before television was firmly established, before big conglomerates destroyed diversity Continue reading »
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PETER YOUNG. Unlike Jim Molan, We must not look away from the harm we are causing.
Monday’s Q&A gave a good insight into the philosophy and principles behind Australia’s Sovereign Borders Policy as described by one of its chief architects Jim Molan. Most telling was his argument that the means of maintaining tight border control and supposedly saving lives at sea justified the ends of indefinite cruelty, suffering and mental Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE. Australia’s American Leadership Distraction
Back in the 1960s, in his book The Lucky Country (a title he meant as irony), Donald Horne noted that Australia was a lucky country despite being run by second-rate people. Considering today’s leaders across Australia, we would have to conclude that Horne’s judgement is much too generous. The reality is that it’s mostly third-rate Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Australia, the White Man’s Media and Donald Trump
This article was first posted on 29 January 2016. The situation has worsened since then! I am usually interested in politics but I am already sick and tired of the US elections and Donald Trump. And we have twelve months to go!. Forget about Indonesia, China, Japan and India. Our media does not think Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Honorary doctorate for John Howard.
Let me join in the chorus deploring the honorary doctorate conferred on John Howard by Sydney University. And it’s not because I’m a Howard hater per se – although there was plenty to detest about the policies of our 25th Prime Minister. Iraq, Tampa, kids overboard, the Pacific Solution, the refusal to apologise to Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. Essentially, our NBN is just not good enough (but please don’t say so!)
… And don’t tell Malcolm Turnbull, who was Minister in charge of the NBN. This week’s Essential poll found that dissatisfaction with the National Broadband Network is both widespread and pretty even across the political spectrum. Only 22 percent of respondents believe the NBN will adequately meet our future Internet requirements [http://www.essentialvision.com.au/future-internet-requirements]. For those of Continue reading »
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GILES PARKINSON. Coalition’s stunning hypocrisy – and ignorance – on renewable energy.
The Coalition appears to have abandoned all pretence that it supports renewable energy, now contradicting assurances by the grid owner and market operator – and now the biggest generator in the country – that the source of energy was not at fault for the massive blackout in South Australia last week. After Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Continue reading »
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JOHN TULLOH. Wow! The Americanization of Australia.
Growing up in Adelaide in the 50s, I recall a newcomer who was regarded almost as an alien. He was an American no less with, what’s more, a real American drawl. As far as I remember, he was a soldier from Kansas who’d met an Australian girl. He was treated as such an oddity Continue reading »
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JOHN FITZGERALD. Beijing’s Guoqing versus Australia’s way of life.
Beijing’s role in the Chinese community media in Australia is increasingly in conflict with its own demand for respect. Beijing is tired of foreign analysts criticising China simply for being what it is. A former Chinese ambassador to Australia, Fu Ying, made thepoint succinctly in her current role as vice–foreign minister: “The West is too Continue reading »
