Dale HughesRudd's Media Honeymoon
March 14th 2008 01:52
Category: No Category
It's time the liberal media stopped tipping their champagne glasses in celebration of Rudd's election victory last year and began reporting honestly and without bias.
It's somewhat disturbing that the ABC media reported how John Howard delivered a "scathing" attack on the new Rudd government's policies when the former Prime Minister did not once even mention the new government.
What's even more disturbing was how the same ABC reported former Prime Minister Paul Keating's frequent attacks on the Howard government as "interesting" and sometimes "tough". A far cry from Howard's very obvious "scathing" attack on the new Labor government.
What's even more astonishing is that the Fairfax media questioned Harvard University on why they had Howard speaking there. Questioning the merit of employing a Prime Minister who was just booted out of office. Ah......wasn't this man the leader of a country for nearly 12 years? I think he has the right more than anybody to represent Australia as a speaker of political ideas and thought considering he was a member of Federal parliament for more than 30 years.
But oh.....wait, thats it. He's a conservative thinker! Therefore his merits as a political commentator and idealist must be questioned! It seems ironic that people with such 'liberal' ideas that should be embracing and encouraging the flow of free thought and ideas are so desperate to stop conservative thinking in this country.
Jon Faine of the ABC asked the editors of The Australian newspaper in the wake of the Howard election loss whether there would be a clean out of conservative columnists considering their opinions are no longer relevant with a centre-left party in power.
Yet despite the fact that Rudd sold himself as a conservative and this was ignored by the liberal media celebrating the end of the Howard era, there were absolutely no such questions regarding a clean out of liberal thinking columnists during the 12 year Coalition dominance of federal politics.
It seems that the very people preaching the importance of free thought and the upholding of democratic ideals are the same people so desperate at crushing a very critical wing of political thought.
A healthy democracy requires opinion from both sides of the fence and whatever your political beliefs there should always be a mutual respect for all ideas.
Yet that doesn't seem to matter now that there is a Rudd government in power. The Right have been put to sleep!!!
The bias in reporting since Rudd's election has been astonishing. In the wake of revelations Rudd had decided to get rid of bonus payments to carers and seniors he announced a 'bold' plan to tackle binge drinking by cutting funding to sporting clubs. So what did the Age report as front page news the next day?
Not news about Rudd's lack of consideration for the needs of carers and the elderly, but his "bold" new plan to tackle binge drinking in this country. The new government delivered the perfect public relations cover up of bad policy and the liberal media fell for it.
Another well planned publicity stunt is the 20/20 summit approaching. Members from more than 15 media organisations have been invited to join the ideas talkfest. What a perfect way for the new Prime Minister to portray himself as not only a good listener and communicator, but its also the perfect chance to get the media companies on side.
The new government is very good at their public relations strategies and are playing the media like a yoyo. Yet because so many political commentators are still basking in the new morning Rudd sun they are yet to put the the critical pen to paper and give the Prime Minister the scrutiny he deserves.
It's somewhat disturbing that the ABC media reported how John Howard delivered a "scathing" attack on the new Rudd government's policies when the former Prime Minister did not once even mention the new government.
What's even more disturbing was how the same ABC reported former Prime Minister Paul Keating's frequent attacks on the Howard government as "interesting" and sometimes "tough". A far cry from Howard's very obvious "scathing" attack on the new Labor government.
What's even more astonishing is that the Fairfax media questioned Harvard University on why they had Howard speaking there. Questioning the merit of employing a Prime Minister who was just booted out of office. Ah......wasn't this man the leader of a country for nearly 12 years? I think he has the right more than anybody to represent Australia as a speaker of political ideas and thought considering he was a member of Federal parliament for more than 30 years.
But oh.....wait, thats it. He's a conservative thinker! Therefore his merits as a political commentator and idealist must be questioned! It seems ironic that people with such 'liberal' ideas that should be embracing and encouraging the flow of free thought and ideas are so desperate to stop conservative thinking in this country.
Jon Faine of the ABC asked the editors of The Australian newspaper in the wake of the Howard election loss whether there would be a clean out of conservative columnists considering their opinions are no longer relevant with a centre-left party in power.
Yet despite the fact that Rudd sold himself as a conservative and this was ignored by the liberal media celebrating the end of the Howard era, there were absolutely no such questions regarding a clean out of liberal thinking columnists during the 12 year Coalition dominance of federal politics.
It seems that the very people preaching the importance of free thought and the upholding of democratic ideals are the same people so desperate at crushing a very critical wing of political thought.
A healthy democracy requires opinion from both sides of the fence and whatever your political beliefs there should always be a mutual respect for all ideas.
Yet that doesn't seem to matter now that there is a Rudd government in power. The Right have been put to sleep!!!
The bias in reporting since Rudd's election has been astonishing. In the wake of revelations Rudd had decided to get rid of bonus payments to carers and seniors he announced a 'bold' plan to tackle binge drinking by cutting funding to sporting clubs. So what did the Age report as front page news the next day?
Not news about Rudd's lack of consideration for the needs of carers and the elderly, but his "bold" new plan to tackle binge drinking in this country. The new government delivered the perfect public relations cover up of bad policy and the liberal media fell for it.
Another well planned publicity stunt is the 20/20 summit approaching. Members from more than 15 media organisations have been invited to join the ideas talkfest. What a perfect way for the new Prime Minister to portray himself as not only a good listener and communicator, but its also the perfect chance to get the media companies on side.
The new government is very good at their public relations strategies and are playing the media like a yoyo. Yet because so many political commentators are still basking in the new morning Rudd sun they are yet to put the the critical pen to paper and give the Prime Minister the scrutiny he deserves.
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Comment by Andrea
V8 Supercar Pitstop
Well said! It's not just the Liberal Party that need to get their act together ... the Australian media do too.
A.
Comment by Janet Collins
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
Our situation now didn't happen overnight. The ridiculous petrol prices and the interest rate rises have just made it worse.
Janet