Media
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CAVAN HOGUE. Our white man’s media.
For our media, the UK and the US are more or less ‘down town’. Continue reading »
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PETER OLSZEWSKI. Still banging away – Michael Kelly as a media mogul.
Bangkok-based Father Michael Kelly – Mick to his mates – is a journalist who became a Jesuit priest who became a savvy publisher and who now runs a complex global religious media empire. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. The question Leigh Sales didn’t ask Senator John McCain.
In her “exclusive interview” with Senator John McCain on 7.30 Report last week, Leigh Sales was told: “The Russians tried to destroy the foundations of democracy and to change the outcome of the American election … and they have just tried to affect the outcome of the French election.” Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN: The Commonwealth is ‘meddling’ in NSW rail – at last!
There are indications the Prime Minister wishes to modernise infrastructure policy. Reports regarding rail to Badgerys Creek highlight the discomfort this causes to the NSW Government- and enormous benefits if the Prime Minister gets Commonwealth involvement right. Continue reading »
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PAUL COLLINS. There’s Movement at the (Radio) Station
It is not only ABC management that don’t take religion and specialist broadcasting seriously. What can you expect from a board that is made up of business people and technocrats. The fault here lies with the federal government that has appointed these people. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. More to the Manchester Attack than the Media Would Have us Believe
The terrorist attack in Manchester where 22 people, including children, were killed and scores were injured, many critically, provoked an understandable sense of outrage into how and why this could happen. The answer to that question unfortunately has been to repeat the half-truths and stereotypes that have followed each of the terrorist attacks in western Continue reading »
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Manchester and terrorism. Part 3 of 3.
In this three-part article, Ramesh Thakur argues that the scale of the terrorist threat to Western societies must be kept in perspective, that Western actions in the Middle East may have fomented more terrorism than they have defeated, and that an attitude of denial regarding the potential for problems of large-scale Muslim immigration feeds mutual Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Slack electoral regulations and the arrogance of power
Senator Pauline Hanson denies any impropriety. We are told there is nothing to see in the Liberal Party siphoning cash from their MPs’ taxpayer-funded electoral allowances purportedly to fund the party’s voter analysis entity Parakeelia Pty. Ltd. ALP Senator Sam Dastyari’s failure to disclose that a party donor had paid a personal invoice was nothing but Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Our White Man’s Media again on display in London (Manchester) terrorist attack.
The following article was posted on 27 March 2017. Substitute ‘Manchester’ for ‘London’ and the story is very similar. John Menadue I have often commented that a person from Mars reading or listening to our media would conclude that Australia is an island parked off London or New York. We saw that last week in Continue reading »
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ALISON BROINOWSKI. Press freedom is a minefield
Julian Assange has cleared the Swedish legal minefield between him and freedom. The two which lie ahead are British and American. Continue reading »
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The White Man’s Media — Part I
Ramesh Thakur highlights how a biased coverage of the war on terror and the Iraq War by the US media eroded US soft power. Continue reading »
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The White Man’s media – Part 2
In the second part, Ramesh Thakur extends his analysis of bias in the Western media to their coverage of Iran, Russia, Ukraine and India. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Death and departure at the ABC
The death of ABC broadcaster Mark Colvin on Thursday, May 11th, came as we were preparing to farewell religious broadcaster John Cleary from the ABC after a 37 year career. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. And with one bound, our hero was free
Well, perhaps not completely; it will take more than one agile budget to loose Malcolm Turnbull from his self-imposed bondage, He remains chained hand and foot to the right over climate change and same sex marriage, and he cannot remove himself from the Nationals’ pork barrel of provincial perks in the name of infrastructure. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Is the seat of Wentworth to become an hereditary fiefdom?
In Malcolm Turnbull’s electorate, we have had a media blitz on behalf of his son-in-law, James Brown. Could it mean that James Brown is readying himself to take the seat of Wentworth, perhaps before or after the next election? Continue reading »
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JOHN TULLOH. Trump’s first 100 days – so what?
The media have been besides themselves in anticipation of Donald Trump’s first 100 days in the White House this weekend. It’s as if this is some magic marker by which to judge his next 1359 days in the Oval Office. It is meaningless. Continue reading »
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PAUL BUDDE. The role of the NBN in the development of 5G
From a network efficiency point of view fibre-based infrastructure will always win over wireless. … Don’t expect a rapid development of 5G services for the mass market. 5G will most likely be installed in pockets where there is a clear business case (for a premium service) and where there is plenty of fibre available to Continue reading »
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ROD TIFFEN. The Australian’s Wind Farm Reporting
The National Wind Farm Commissioner, Andrew Dyer, delivered his first annual report on March 31, covering the first 14 months of the agency’s operation since being set up by the Abbott government, with the support of conservative cross-bench senators. The agency has an annual budget of around $650, 000 a year, while Dyer is paid Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. Scientific evidence exposes the falsity of US government claims about Syrian gas attack.
The irresistible conclusion is that those same senior politicians know that the White House claims are false and misleading and therefore highly dangerous to Australia’s national security. That they should maintain their silence on this while continuing to perpetuate a barrage of lies and half-truths about the ongoing Syrian tragedy raises serious questions about their Continue reading »
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Trump is Ignorant of History and So is His Chump Sean Spicer
This article by Middle East expert, ROBERT FISK, was first published in The Independent on 12 April 2017. Fisk comments ‘Gas, cruise missiles, barrel bombs, Hitler and the American media. Mix them all up and I suppose you get Trump’s new policy in the Middle East.’ Continue reading »
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RICHARD BUTLER. US Missile Attack on Syria
The US missile strike on Syria was an act of aggression the consequences of which could be immense. The facts of what happened at Khan Sheikhun must be established. Continue reading »
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ROB BRIAN. Easter Reflections
This is not an easy time to be a believing/practising Catholic. Indeed, many good people have given up on the Church because of the horrendous revelations of widespread sexual abuse of children by priests and religious and by the possibly even more despicable covering-up by those who should have known better and who should have Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. American missile strikes in Syria raise fresh questions.
Not for the first time, unilateral and illegal actions by the Americans pose a grave threat to the safety of the planet and its inhabitants. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. Verdict First, Evidence Later: How the Australian Media Misrepresent Geopolitical Events
The reporting of the tragedy from Syria is but the latest illustration of an all too common phenomenon: a pre-determined verdict on little or no evidence. Continue reading »
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MARK BEESON. What it is to be popular
At a moment when the world needs informed responses to complex problems that transcend national borders, a retreat to nationalist tub-thumping is the last thing we need. Yes, there are important questions about who ‘we’ are and whom national public policies actually benefit, but they are unlikely to be answered, much less addressed by the Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. How independent is the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
ASPI’s oft-repeated claim of independence – immunity from the influence of the corporations who help fund the organisation – does strike one as rather naive for experts who might otherwise be seen as “hard-headed realists” in a tough world. Corporations are, after all, accountable to their shareholders to whom they must demonstrate that funds are Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Even in Malcolm Turnbull’s own terms, it is a fizzer.
Well it wasn’t what was hoped for, and certainly not what was required; but it was better than nothing. Continue reading »
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TOM BURTON. Data rights for all.
A proposed new legal right for consumers and businesses to control and access the data created about them is set to be one of the major reforms of this decade. Not everyone is supportive. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Free speech, Newscorp and Mark Latham.
What a craven capitulation to political correctness. What a surrender to the great values of Australian democracy, the most important of which, it needs hardly be said (although it has been incessantly by the free speakers of The Australian) is free speech. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Wilful ignorance and the courage to explain
The role of committed journalists, whether in a functioning democracy like Australia, or a country under a kleptocracy, totalitarian or politburo governance, is to tell the public what is really going on. Continue reading »
