tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1655706378900925122.post1909438331731563340..comments2023-09-13T08:32:58.735-07:00Comments on Stop Murdoch: What's wrong with this story?Stop Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14583671202459951894noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1655706378900925122.post-71378026925882819882009-06-21T20:41:08.145-07:002009-06-21T20:41:08.145-07:00This is a variation of what Canadian anti-war acti...This is a variation of what Canadian anti-war activist Barrie Zwicker describes as 'bait and switch'. This is a technique employed by the phony American dissident <a href="http://candobetter.org/node/1286" rel="nofollow">Noam Chomsky</a> who has led many to believe that ex-President George W Bush told the world the truth about 9/11. <br /><br />The 'bait' is ideas which appear to serve the interests of the environment, democracy and economic justice. The 'switch' is other ideas packaged in with the 'bait' which serve powerful vested interests.<br /><br />In fact the Courier Mail has been playing this game with the issue of privatisation. On the one hand, the Courier Mail has been savagely critical of the fiasco of the privatisation of the retail arms of the state electricity utilities Ergon and Energex, but on the other they still insist that privatisation is necessary now. Interestingly, they avoid use of the term 'privatisation' in their discussion of the Ergon/Energex fiasco, rather they refer to 'deregulation' which they insist, could have been handled better.<br /><br />By avoiding the use of the term 'privatisation' in reporting the electricity price rise fiasco, they can more easily make the 'switch' to clamouring for other privatisations.<br /><br />In fact, this technique does seem to work. I know at least one otherwise very intelligent person who was completely taken in and perceived the Courier Mail to be an anti-privatisation and on our side on the strength of its posturing over electricity price rises on the weekend of the state Labor Party conference.<br /><br />If the Courier Mail never published any good articles such as the one you refer to, then a good many fewer people would be fooled by it.daggetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07827373056846845084noreply@blogger.com