Murdoch wants to take health care back to the 19th Century

... One night I was aroused from my slumbers by the screams of a new patient who was entered in my hall. The welcome she received from her keepers, Miss Smith and Miss Bailey, so frightened her that she supposed they were going to kill her. ...

This article in today's [15/6/10] 'Gold Coast Bulletin' is not about informing the community or attempting to solve a problem. It's all about perpetuating negative stereotypes, vilification, manipulating fear and the usual public hospital bashing:

Mental health patients are being let out of their ward at Gold Coast Hospital to take cigarette breaks alongside other patients, staff and the general public.

In 2009, Gold Coast Hospital removed its nominated smoking areas from hospital grounds in accordance with Queensland Health's smoking policy.

That has left just the footpath, which runs alongside busy Southport-Nerang Road, as the only place to smoke.

Gold Coast Hospital has confirmed patients from the mental health ward, including some involuntary patients, are being released from their wards to smoke.

Former president of the Gold Coast Medical Association and former director of the mental health unit at the Gold Coast Hospital Dr Philip Morris said patient safety could be at risk. ...

Typical 19th Century bullshit from the Murdoch empire.

If you care about truth, balance and fair reporting, contact your candidates in the upcoming election.

Tell them what you think about the disgraceful state of the majority of Australia's print media and ask them what they're going to do about it.

Ostracise and ridicule

The Rudd Government clearly have no plans to do anything about the shocking level of Murdoch control and influence of Australian media, let alone criticise it:

... BARRIE CASSIDY: You apparently told a meeting of Reuters clients this week that reform is harder these days because of the media. What did you mean by that?

LINDSAY TANNER: No, that's not quite what I said. I just said that the intensity of the media cycle now and particularly the far greater pervasiveness of electronic media means that it's harder to prosecute a reform case than it was maybe 20, 25 years ago. That doesn't mean you can't do it. It just means that it's tougher circumstances.

The newspaper industry has dumbed down because it's in a much more intense competitive environment.

And so you're getting a kind of reporting that just makes it tougher to prosecute complex, nuanced reform projects rather than simplistic Tony Abbott style one-liners.

That's just the reality that we have to deal with. It doesn't mean you don't pursue reform. It just means it's got a bit harder.

BARRIE CASSIDY: Is that really the problem or is it your Government's obsession with the media that's the problem?

LINDSAY TANNER: No well first Barrie I didn't say it was, quote, "the problem" as you've just implied. I answered a specific question about has it become a bit harder and I said yes.

Secondly the suggestion that there is an obsession with the media in our Government I think is not correct. The media is an ever present part of modern politics, no matter who the government is, no matter who the players are. It is just a key part of the process. ...

Even as they are obviously out of control, as reported by Rafael Epstein ['The Age 12/6/10]:

Victoria's police watchdog yesterday cleared Chief Commissioner Simon Overland of wrongdoing over the leaking of a secret crime investigation as details emerged of alleged attempts by Rupert Murdoch’s media empire to intimidate law enforcement agencies.

Office of Police Integrity director Michael Strong issued a statement saying he believed Mr Overland acted lawfully when he told his then media director about intelligence that came from covertly taped phone calls.

A series of controversial articles in the Murdoch-owned Australian newspaper this week claimed Mr Overland’s conversation undermined an investigation into the 2003 murder of prostitute Shane Chartres-Abbott.

But Mr Strong said Mr Overland acted within the law, ‘‘for a purpose connected with an investigation’’, in conveying covert information to a confidant.

His statement came as The Age obtained details of two incidents in which senior News Ltd executives appeared to threaten law enforcement agencies in Victoria and NSW.

Australian editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell wrote to the OPI and the federal police watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI), in March. He denounced their joint report critical of the paper’s coverage of anti-terrorism raids in Melbourne last year as ‘‘the greatest corruption of truth I have seen in an official document’’.

‘‘I assure you The Australian newspaper will use every journalistic and legal measure available to pursue what can only be described as an outrageous fabrication ... should our concerns not be addressed,’’ he wrote.

Last week the newspaper settled its court dispute with the OPI, and had settled with the ACLEI previously.

Meanwhile, law enforcement sources have told The Age that they were concerned about comments News Ltd chairman John Hartigan made to senior NSW police in March.

Several sources at the meeting said Mr Hartigan told officers they could choose to work with News Ltd or not, like Mr Overland. The sources interpreted this as a warning to police to co-operate with the group’s newspapers or they would receive negative coverage. ‘‘It really means the police [should] play ball or else we will carve you up ... we will get stuck into you as we have been with Overland,’’ one senior officer said.

Mr Hartigan spoke on March 17 at the Police Leadership Centre at the University of Western Sydney. Mr Hartigan’s spokesman said he ‘‘totally rejects that interpretation ...[and] he does not make threats to anybody, let alone senior officers’’. ...

In many traditional cultures, one of the most severe forms of punishment for egregious wrongdoing, is to ostracise and/or ridicule the wrongdoer.

So in the face Government inability or refusal to act, we propose a boycott of all Murdoch publications.

Don't give them your eyeballs, do not give them your money, don't interact with them, don't allow them to set the agenda every day and control the debate. Where possible, tell advertisers in the Murdoch Press why you can't do business with them.

In addition poke fun and ridicule at every opportunity.

Here's Russell Brand's comedic analysis of 'The Sun' to inspire you:

http://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/russell-brand-standup-at-amnesty-s-secret-policeman-s-ball-2006

Is Simon Overland Australia's cleanest cop?

We could all take a leaf out of the Victorian Police Chief's book:

... He accuses The Australian Newspaper of running a concerted and "disgraceful" campaign against him.

"The reason I criticised them is I thought their actions put the lives of my members at risk. And I still believe that," he said.

"I criticised them and I moved on. But they have been waging this relentless campaign ... that is directly aimed, at, I think, whacking me because I dared to have a go at them."

At a media doorstop later, Mr Overland ignored questions from a journalist from The Australian, repeatedly asking for the next question.

If you had to choose who to believe, would it be Simon Overland or Murdoch's hacks?

The Murdoch Press are not about journalism, they are about power and neo-liberal ideology.

For the sake of our democracy, contact your candidates in the upcoming federal election and ask them what they will do to restore some balance to media ownership and control in Australia.

Why does Murdoch HATE Elanora State High School?

Wouldn't it be good if the 'Gold Coast Bulletin' had a competitor?

Then we might have a chance of knowing why they have it in for Elanora State High School:

Palm Beach police have today brought in the horses as part of a crackdown on truancy in the area.

Mounted officers on loan from Brisbane spent much of the day patrolling Schusters Park at Tallebudgera [which is adjacent to Elanora State High School] on the hunt for 'waggers', but did not find any.

Senior Sergeant Chris Ahearn said police mounted the operation every few months in response to reports from residents regarding truancy and petty crime in the large park.

"The reason for calling on the mounted police is that they are able to access areas not commonly accessible by police vehicles,'' he said.

''There is a vast expanse of parkland in the area of Schusters Park, so we have decided to use a few different approaches."

Another newspaper on the Gold Coast could be a future possibility.

2010 is an election year.

Contact your candidates and ask them what they will do about Australia's pitiful media diversity if they are elected.

It's Official. Government gives ABC to Murdoch

'Daily Telegraph' scribe Chris Masters on assignment in Afghanistan for 'Four Corners', being interviewed on 'Lateline' [8/6/10]

Chris Masters made his name as a quality investigative journalist on the taxpayer's payroll during his time with your ABC. He eventually sold out to Murdoch's slimey dollar machine and propaganda factory with the usual lip-service about 'fierce independence' and all the other rot previously proven to be worth less than a pinch of shit.

Now that he has infiltrated the darkest corners of the Murdoch machine, such as the "Daily Terror", we are supposed to believe that he has reverted into some kind of "embedded" but "independent", "journalist" on "assignment" to Four Corners. Can you "un-metamorphosise"?

Balls-to-The-Wall jingoistic bullshit language aside, this was not journalism, it was not investigative and it had no place on the ABC without disclosing Chris Masters' current status with Murdoch's fatally tainted News Corporation.

So it seems final: Your government has obviously given Your ABC to Murdoch - for free!

Murdoch HATES Pee Wees - Part 2

Male and female pee wees, Alex Griffith Park, Currumbin [5/6/10]. See them being "psycho", "mad" and "deranged"?

Email to the Department of Environment and Resource Management:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to recent media coverage of a wildlife issue at Currumbin.

Today the 'Gold Coast Bulletin' reports that the pee wee has been removed from the area (its mate was left behind), and taken to Beaudesert as part of the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme.

I wondered if the Department of Environment and Resource Management were aware of this situation, if the relocation of this bird has been approved, and if this is usual protocol in the handling of wildlife issues?

Regards,

This pee wee business is a concerted, orchestrated, nature-hating campaign by the Murdoch Press going back at least to March of this year when the 'Pine Rivers Press' shrieked:

An aggressive peewee bird described as ``evil’’ is terrorising a Strathpine
street, leaving bloodied victims in its wake. ...

Why would any school participate in a 'Courier-Mail' spelling bee?

Murdoch has clearly articulated his opinion of the teaching profession:

... Speaking at a session titled 'Advice to the US President on Competitiveness', Mr Murdoch blamed the teachers' union in America, which he said was very rich and the number one donor to the Democratic party.

He told the audience of international business leaders and politicians that it would take courage and strength for President Barack Obama to fight them....

His ideological opposition to public education, equity, critical thinking for anyone other than the wealthy, as well as the teaching profession, is manifest in the derogatory reporting of education issues in his publications.

That's why schools should boycott this:

The 'Courier-Mail's' Spelling Bee is an opportunity for your school to be part of a high-profile state-wide contest and to display your students' talents and mastery of spelling. Organised with the sponsorship of Education Queensland, Capilano and Collins, this competition is a major first for our state - designed to make spelling interactive and fun and to give you an additional resource to help engage your student in a new and exciting way.

Are Education Queensland serious about fostering a love of the written word in Queensland students?

Using taxpayer dollars to sponsor a cynical News Ltd. exercise will not achieve this.