Murdoch HATES pee wees

Along with, women, homosexuals, public services, the rule of law, human rights, Westminster democracy and journalism - Murdoch hates the environment.

This is why his properties produce irresponsible garbage such as this ('Gold Coast Bulletin' - 1/6/10):

Beachgoers on the Gold Coast beware -- a deranged pee wee with a mania for
eyeballs is on the loose and doing damage. ...

Evidently an ophthalmic nurse contacted the 'Gold Coast Bulletin' when a couple of "victims" presented at the eye clinic where she works after they had been attacked by what the publication calls a "psycho", "mad", "deranged" pee wee.

Even if there is a grain of truth here, telling the local Murdoch Press may give you and your business fleeting, incidental PR, but it won't inform the rest of the community, prompt solutions or sensible action by local authorities.

What it will do, however, is possibly incite acts of animal cruelty.

Don't talk to them. By all means, when you encounter a civic or environmental problem - tell your Council, the local wildlife authority - and, maybe, the ABC - but don't engage with the Murdoch Press.

They don't care about you.

Tell the ABC it's not good enough

"Morrocks", commenting on 'The Drum' gets it spot on (although not the bit about selling the ABC off - boot the News Ltd. bastards out):

If the ABC honestly laments loss of media diversity, why is it contributing to the problem by allowing itself to be quietly colonised by News Ltd?

Political stories on the Radio National and ABC2 'Breakfast' programs are taken straight from the pages of Murdoch's 'The Australian'. Fran Kelly is basically a walking, talking mouthpiece for the Coalition/Murdoch angle on any issue.

'The Australian's' political correspondent, Dennis Shanahan, is now a regular commentator on ABC Radio. (Hi, Tony Delroy!) Murdoch opinionists dominate the ABC1 political show 'The Insiders'.

ABC reporters write regularly for the Murdoch opinion site, 'The Punch'. Heavens above, until recently 'The Australian's' right wing ranter, Janet Albrechtsen, sat on the ABC's Board of Directors!

If the ABC is "independent", how is so much input from News Ltd justified?

Do we really need a publicly-funded broadcaster when it apes its major commercial rival?

Sell off the ABC and use the money to start over with a truly independent, non-politicised public broadcaster.

As we found before, the ABC try to ignore this valid criticism. It's up to each of you to keep telling the ABC and your politicians this must stop.

The Murdoch press are out of control

Occasionally, the more decent of our politicians are willing to acknowledge this problem:

... SIMON LAUDER: On the day 173 people were killed by bushfire Christine Nixon was still Victoria's top police officer. Last month's revelation that she went out to dinner on the evening of the fires triggered a barrage of criticism and calls for her to resign from her current role as the head of the Bushfire Recovery Authority.

The royal commission into the bushfires won't make its final report until the end of July, but today's Herald Sun newspaper quotes from the draft final submissions which will be made by the counsel assisting the commission, Jack Rush, QC.

The paper says Ms Nixon will be accused of deliberately misleading the commission in the witness box, by not revealing that she'd gone out to dinner on the night.

It's the second leak of a royal commission document this week and the Premier, John Brumby, says he's gravely concerned.

JOHN BRUMBY: I think they undermine the work of the royal commission. They cast, in part, a cloud I think over its work. They, through this leak, deny natural justice to any of the individuals that are named in counsel assisting's report.

SIMON LAUDER: The first leak revealed plans by counsel assisting the commission to accuse the state government of a substantial policy failure that put lives at risk.

The leaks come as the royal commission enters its end-game, and they pre-empt its final submissions, which won't be heard until later this week.

John Brumby says the royal commission should investigate.

JOHN BRUMBY: I obviously hoped that the commission itself would take some steps to try and determine where this leak has come from.

SIMON LAUDER: There is no comment from the royal commission on the latest leak and it is not sitting today but the chairman of the commission Bernard Teague released a statement on Sunday criticising the leaking of counsel assisting's submission on state government matters.

He says the leaks show only one side of the debate and the commissioners won't make their final decisions until after the royal commission has heard the matters in full.

The leaks could have come from any of several parties who have leave to appear at the commission and are given copies of submissions in advance. ...

Unfortunately, the hopelessly Murdoch grovelling ABC (and virtually all other) journalists don't share the ability to level fair criticism at these clowns and their shameless, and occasionally criminal, disregard for truth or democracy.

Can you count the number of times a politican, media commentator or academic has publicly criticised the Murdoch machine?

And when politicians like Premier Brumby do it, they are hardly robust.

State politicians are constitutionally limited in what they can do to reform this imbalance of media power (other than stop placing government advertising in these trashy rags), but our federal politicians aren't.

And it is an election year after all, so ask your candidates what they'll do about the media ownership laws.

Australia's national broadcasters show a serious lapse of judgment

ABC Brisbane's 7 PM news bulletin [24/5/10]

SBS World News Australia's 6.30 PM news bulletin [24/5/10]

Rupert Murdoch controls the criminally compromised and totally discredited "News of The World."

This piece of garbage has engaged in criminal activities before. They have no scruples and they have contempt for legal process.

Rupert Murdoch also controls what idiots believe when they accept the rubbish passing as journalism from "Fox", "Sky", "Herald-Sun", "The Australian" and any other of his hundred or so outlets, as representing reality or facts.

It is a simply provable fact that Murdoch deals in lies. Anyone who works for any Murdoch outlet is scum-by-association. Sad but true.

Why didn't either of Australia's public broadcasters (ABC and SBS) mention the name "Rupert Murdoch" when they ran this piece of gutter journalism tonight? Is it because "in Australia the media is 100% governed by Rupert Murdoch"?

Probably. Gutless shills.

Action: Burn a Murdoch paper in a public place!

Rupert Hates Fags

The 'Come Out To Play' report was funded by Vic Health and is the first comprehensive survey of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual sport experiences in Australia.

"I don't believe in the gay movement....I think they should stay to themselves, just climb back into the cupboards....I don't think they are gay at all, they are very unhappy."
Rupert Murdoch in 1980.

That was quoted from a site with heaps of "Gay" type quotes. Notice how it bears a remarkably close resemblance to 'Akers' suggestion that gay type men keep their gayness in 'the closet'?

Rupert really has an almost half century history of homophobia, if you care to look.

As you know, Rupert tells all his minions how to think and what to say. And boy, they brainlessly follow whatever Rupert wants. Brainless wankers.

"Hey dad! Why are we so rich?"

"Well son, it's because I have never had an independent thought in my life. And I strongly suggest you do the same!"

Wow! What a surprise then that Jason "Piers" Ackermanis, who most people would be surprised to think could work a keyboard, let alone string together a cogent sentence, is able to run such a perfectly Murdoch-scripted-like 'Herald-Sun' column! And on the day of the release of a groundbreaking report into gender, sexuality and sport.

What a coincidence.

Not only that, but by the weirdest of all coincidences this column gets him on early morning Channel 9 and all the right wing ABC morning radio shows just in time to become the nightly news!

We have no comment from Cardinal Pell along the lines of: "Thanks guys, we really pulled together as a male team to bury that one from public and female view and scrutiny."

"Let's all get naked and slap each other on our heterosexually tight bottoms! Yay."

Everybody knows the Murdoch press is riddled with lies, bullshit, spin, racism, sexism, homophobia and so on.

For the rest of our media to even reference Murdoch's rubbish, let alone use it as their primary source, is the best proof that we desperately need media ownership reform in Australia.

How will you vote this year?

GetUp! wastes your money

The mining industry must be shaking in their boots at GetUp!'s latest campaign:

They can stretch the truth, but they can't scare us!

The mining industry is scared that a tax on their super profits might trim a little fat off their bottom lines.

So now they're trying to scare Australians into opposing it.

You can beat them at their own game, by putting this huge parody ad right alongside theirs in the papers, starting with The Australian this Thursday.

Can you contribute $30, $50, $100 or more to make it happen?

One wonders how much money GetUp! have given to the Murdoch Press over the past few years.

They are laughing as they take your money and continue to use their editorial power to push the mining lobby's line.

Think very carefully about why you would give cash to Murdoch to run this ad. As we've said many times before, there are plenty of other, better, more honest ways that money could be spent to send this message.

Murdoch Loses Another Court Battle: Hartigan's Evidence Rejected

Murdoch's troops took another hiding in the most recent judicial intrusion into their world.

It all started when News Ltd.'s John Hartigan sacked the 'Herald Sun' editor-in-chief, Bruce Guthrie, in November 2008 at the urging of Peter Blunden. Even though he got paid $844,523 when he was sacked, Guthrie sued News for unfair dismissal and won an extra $580,808 plus costs.

The full transcript of the judgment is a lengthy read. 'Crikey!' has a pretty succinct summary but a longer, more detailed, collection of the juiciest bits of the judgment (read all about how cosy Blunden and Neil Mitchell are or how glassy-jawed Andrew Bolt is) have been collated over at 'Spring Hill Voice'.

The three witnesses for News Ltd. were Hartigan, Julian Clarke and Blunden. All three were rejected by the Judge to various extents. In a general sense, the judgment is unsurprising in what it makes of Murdoch peoples' attitude to truth and the legal process. If you cared about such things, you would have trouble showing your face in decent company after reading this about you or your associates:

"Shortly after those exchanges, the luncheon adjournment occurred. After that adjournment, Mr O’Bryan questioned Mr Blunden generally about the issue. Mr Blunden then gave what, to my perception, was clearly a pre-rehearsed speech, ... The answer which Mr Blunden gave, and the manner in which he gave it, showed that it was the product of thought over lunch. It is flawed. ... I do not accept Mr Blunden’s proffered explanation in his cross-examination, which, as I have stated, bears all the hallmarks of ex post facto rationalisation."

Ouch!

But that's just one of many criticisms of these people, read the summary for more. It really is a spooky insight into how Murdoch people think. The fact is that none of this will bother the Murdoch machine one bit, it's how they're programmed.

For example, in Sarah Ellison's 'War at the Wall Street Journal - How Rupert Murdoch Bought an American Icon', she writes about the imminent negotiated sacking of Marcus Brauchli and how Murdoch and Gary Ginsberg are trying to orchestrate and control the event before it leaks out. If it wasn't managed properly it risked upsetting the puppet editorial independence police, the "Special Committee":

"'Can't we just say that this thing's been written and he's going to sign it?' Murdoch yelled, clearly accustomed to revising reality so the facts served his needs." [p.208]

And it isn't just a few isolated events. It is deeply ingrained News culture in all things. Think the NRL/Storm salary cap fraud was just an unfortunate aberration? Here [p.206] is what Ellison writes about Murdoch's agreement to keep editorial independence once he takes over the 'Wall Street Journal':

"Though many within News Corp. had found it mildly insulting to have to sign an agreement that implicitly said Murdoch was unfit to run a respectable paper, Murdoch was willing to weather such slights. They were minor, temporal; they always faded. Murdoch thought the separation between a newsroom and its owner was another false conceit of American newspapers, ... But if they helped him get what he wanted, he was willing to sign on to an artificial set of rules he would inevitably circumvent."

It's how they do everything.

Action? Well, if you get the chance, sue them! But remember how they conduct themselves in litigation!

Hey ABC: Repeating the latest Murdoch line is NOT journalism

At least 'Brisbane Times' [14/5/10] undertook some sensible followup (or at least did a 'Google' and had a shot at a followup):

... In 2007, then state attorney-general Kerry Shine, a Toowoomba MP, referred to the state's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner pamphlets distributed around Toowoomba and Cairns promoting the US-based White Legion Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and asking people to join them in becoming klansmen or klanswomen.

Asked about the leaflet episode today, Mr Shine said to his knowledge nothing ever came of the investigation.

He said he had not heard of any KKK-related stirrings in the community since then.

"Not in the last couple of years," he said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if people ... had that One Nation-type view, we had 25 per cent One Nation vote up here."

Yet Mr Shine said he did not believe Toowoomba was particularly susceptible to KKK infiltration.

A Toowoomba Regional Council spokesman told brisbanetimes.com.au talk of a Klan headquarters or branch in the Darling Downs was "no more than rumours and innuendo".

However, a Toowoomba woman, who works with minority groups in the area, said she believed the KKK did have a presence the Darling Downs area.

"There is. But the last few years it's been much quieter, it's better not to give them any airtime," the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said. ... [emphasis added]

Like the 'Gold Coast Bulletin' beatup of the White Pride musical festival on the Gold Coast last month, the ABC unquestioningly push this beatup, with bonus arse lick:

... The ABC understands no formal mention was made of McNeil's role in the Klan to protect him in jail and because it had little relevance to the case.

But his cover was blown in a newspaper article by respected journalist Tony Koch. ...

We've said it before and we'll say it again, News Ltd. is a company that has done inestimable wilful damage to democracy, journalism, reconciliation and the environment in Australia and throughout the world.

The ever-intensifying nature of their beatups and moral panics illustrate the contempt they have for Australian citizens and matters of national decency.

If you are lucky enough to have an alternative news publication to the Murdoch press in your community (or you tune in to the ABC) and your find their constant referral to Murdoch stories unacceptable - let them know.

The more of us who ignore the Murdoch press' nasty (and increasingly obvious) beatups - or call them out for what they are - the better!

Legislation is easy: Ban foreign ownership of Australian media

... The things that you're liable
To read in the bible
It ain't necessarily so ...

'It Ain't Necessarily So', George Gershwin ('Porgy & Bess', 1935)

This is what the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr said during question time yesterday [13/5/10]:

Senator CARR—I thank Senator Mason for the question. I always enjoy a question from Senator Mason. He has had to wait in the queue for some time. Senators opposite have obviously been pushing ahead of him. The simple fact of life is that the Building the Education Revolution is a program of $16.2 billion which has been supporting jobs in local communities right around Australia—24,000 projects around Australia. We have seen 9,000 schools around Australia enjoy considerable benefit from this program. We have seen a full and thorough investigation into the claims that have been made.

Senator Mason, I have given you this advice on many occasions: the Australian is not the best source of advice that you could find. What you should do is go to the ANAO for advice on these questions. The ANAO have shown that the department of education’s governance arrangements have ensured that the BER and P21 are delivering improved education facilities to almost all primary schools in Australia. [emphasis mine]

All manner of bills and amendments to legislation were passed in Parliament yesterday - from ASIO to immigration and FOI amendments.

If our politicians are concerned about the quality of a publication run by a corporation that runs most of the newspapers in this country as trash tabloid/right wing propaganda sheets, they should do the right thing for Australia's democracy and ban foreign ownership.

Easy.

Have we reached saturation point?

If it's not obvious enough, consider all the 2010 Federal Budget leaks that have been announced through the Murdoch Press. (Heard the ABC reporting on a budget leak being reported in the Fairfax Press recently?)

Last night [10/5/10], the ABC's 'Media Watch' reported:

... Hedley Thomas is a Queenslander. Melbourne journalists, including some of The Australian's, have been reporting on the Victoria Police, its factions, and politics, and deep pockets of corruption, for years.

It seems they've all been getting it wrong - or at least, missed a major story.

But on Thursday Michael Strong, the director of the OPI, hit back in an interview with the ABC's Jon Faine...


Michael Strong: Can I say something on, about the story on the front page of the Australian and the one yesterday and the one the day before and the one we believe is coming tomorrow and the one we believe is coming on Saturday. The Australian is running a campaign against the OPI at the moment. What they are not disclosing is that they're also suing us Jon. They're trying to stop us reporting to parliament and giving information to the DPP about what we say is criminal conduct. That case is starting in the Federal Court tomorrow and I can say no more about it because I am bound hand and foot by injunctions.

— ABC Radio 774, Mornings with Jon Faine, 6th May, 2010

Well, we can say this much, because we've already reported on it. The Australian will be back in Federal Court this week, arguing that the OPI should be prevented, permanently, from publishing a report into the leaking to its reporter Cameron Stewart of the details of a major anti-terrorist investigation.

The OPI's draft report, we know from court documents,


... contains matters critical of the conduct of the applicants that adversely affects the business and commercial reputation of the first applicant...

— Federal Court documents, 15th March, 2010

...which is the owner of The Australian newspaper.

Nationwide News Pty Ltd is arguing that in investigating the conduct of The Australian, the OPI exceeded its legal powers.

Whether or not Hedley Thomas's stories are in the public interest depends on how accurate they prove to be. But right now, they're certainly in The Australian's. You'd have thought, in the acres of print it's devoted to the OPI last week, that somewhere it would have found the space to disclose that.

I think its readers have a Right to Know. ...

Of course they do.

But that has never been the way Murdoch works.

And next time someone parrots the "Dr Haneef affair Walkley award" line, ask them about the faked photoshopped front page picture of the Dr and his wife in front of the Gold Coast's Q1 tower with it's snide insinuations. Also ask them about Murdoch's full-on support of the Howard government's demonisation of this innocent man.

Take every opportunity to counter the notion that any of these outlets have any authority.

For the love of the game, you must get rid of Murdoch

Managing Director of Jaycar Electronics (a major sponsor of the Canterbury Bulldogs) Gary Johnstone participated in this week's 'Insight' program on SBS Television

... They shake your hand and they smile
And they buy you a drink
They say we'll be your friends
We'll stick with you 'till the end
Ah but everybody's only
Looking out for themselves
And you say well who can you trust?
I'll tell you it's just
Nobody else's money ...

'Money Changes Everything', written by Tom Gray and recorded by Cyndi Lauper [1984]

Given the gutlessness of Australia's politicians, it's looking very unlikely there will be a public inquiry into the Melbourne Storm salary cap fraud.

What we've seen and heard over the past few weeks on our public broadcasters and corporate media, is the orchestration of a very clever PR campaign to deflect the blame of a cheating culture - which comes straight from News Ltd.

For all their criticism of the fraud, all the commentators (Greg Baum from 'The Age' is an exception) appear remarkably consistent in their blinkered perceptions of how the problem can be solved.

In fact, watching this week's 'Insight' on SBS Television, one could be forgiven for thinking we've all moved on, and that the only thing we need to debate now is whether or not the players should get more money.

One of the participants on the "Cheating to Win" program was the Managing Director of Jaycar Electronics. He recently placed a full page advertisement in the 'Daily Telegraph' criticising the head of the NRL, David Gallop, for taking away the Storm's competition points for the rest of the season.

If the fans, clubs and sponsors want to save Rugby League it is pointless pursuing any of these arguments until they get Murdoch out of the game altogether.

You're never going to get sportmanship and fair play back while Murdoch is involved.

They don't care about you or your community

They are pushing an ideological agenda that doesn't incorporate informing your community, community engagement, participation or safety.

Stories such as - 'Griffith Street in Coolangatta the scene of violent attacks' [5/5/10] - aren't meant to inform or progress some solution to a problem.

They are about manipulating fear.

When the Murdoch media choose to involve themselves in an issue, things usually take a turn for the worst - unless everyone ignores them.

The best part about this piece is the final sentence:

"Night traders on Griffith Street, where most of the violent incidents have occurred, refused to talk to The Courier-Mail."

We've said it before: Don't talk to them.

Communities on the NSW/Queensland border are lucky. They have an alternative news publication - the 'Tweed Shire Echo' - which has been following the problems of youth and alcohol related violence for months.

Ask your Federal candidate what they are going to do about the concentration of media ownership in Australia.