From time to time I do a survey of the Murdoch press... Edifying stuff, though very painful... It used to be about 80 percent anti-Julia... with a few redeeming features to balance the crap... Now the crapologists are 100 per cent (actually 99.9 per cent like those anti-bacterial sprays) against Julia... A wonder that she is surviving this onslaught. Yes, the Little Detritus (Tony Abbott) is shoved in front of our eyes, as a saviour, discreetly and not so discreetly, by the Murdoch scribes who in all fairness are so slanted they don't know they are...

And as Sydney is asked to lower its trousers and bend over for Mr Packer, and most of the pundits tell us the rape is for our own good, at least some papers point out that Packer should pay a bit more for the privilege...

Usually when the world pays attention to journalism in China, it is for the wrong reasons. Chinese reporters and the outlets they work for are routinely written off as mere government mouthpieces. But media production in China has exploded over the past three decades, and with that has come new competition for readers, viewers and revenues. That has given rise to a new kind of investigative reporting. News outlets have found that, like anywhere else, exposing wrongdoing and unearthing the odd scandal can be good for business. Investigative reporting in China is not without its limits or risks. But China is no longer the journalistic black hole it once was. Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi reports on how reporters are finding ways to produce some high quality, muckraking journalism - in the world's largest one-party state.

We hope you enjoy the show.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2012/11/2012112142559466911.html

In Australia, the media is free to tell porkies and guess what?... The media spends about 99 per cent of its energy on telling porkies. Porkies about the government, porkies about stars, porkies about the royals (most of the porkies are true, except the reverential ones)... porkies about sciences and porkies about anything that moves... All is done of course with a touch of salted truth, but the whole thing ends up being a miserable rabble of concocted stupidity. I guess it is not much better in the US of A...

It seems in the eyes of some in the mainstream media, helping the police is a bad thing. In fact, doing anything to help expose wrongdoing is seen as an act of complete and utter betrayal.

Unless you are Kathy Jackson, that is, then it is heroic.

This morning’s article in the Fairfax media from Kate McClymont portrays a couple who have been completely open with the police in a light that is less than favourable ― presumably because that’s more convenient than admitting she has been wrong and unfair in several previous articles about the pair. The truth is, McClymont’s article is utterly disgusting, especially considering it comes from a journalist considered knowledgeable on the HSU matters.

A little about the Gillelands, from someone who has bothered to find out.

The Gilleland’s, as McClymont does correctly report, were a supplier of printing services to the HSU ― supplying, amongst other things, the Union magazine. These services were never put out to tender by the Union, as reported ― but that does not necessarily make them underhanded or improper as was clearly insinuated in the article.

The services Communigaphix performed involved large volume printing and mail-outs, and as such they were paid “handsomely” ― however they also had handsome expenses. In fact, when contracted to perform these services, the Gilleland’s were paid so handsomely that they were the cheapest quote received for the work performed. Something that seems to have strangely been left out in the Fairfax report ― along with any semblance of balance.

Communigraphix performed a service which produced something tangible ― something the Union members (remember them) could hold and read. This sets them apart from other services that also did not go through a tender process, but never actually produced anything, yet were paid incrediblyhandsomely. Companies like Neranto Number 10 and Koukouvaos Consulting, both owned by Kathy Jackson, received vast amounts of member’s money for doing seemingly nothing, while Kathy also received a hefty wage from members at the same time. Some would call that double dipping; for Kathy, it appears to be business as usual.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/business/media-2/jacksonville-mcjournalism/

I know many journalists who respect Kate McClymont's research, integrity and ethics.

But I know that on this one she has goofed, unfortunately, because the characters involved in the fray "appear" to be genuine, but "may be not" according to evidence... Kathy Jackson as shown by Peter Wicks has not been as clean as some journos have made out...

But it suits the narrative — especially that to condemn Thomson — to use Kathy Jackson as a glorified whistle blower, when she is no more than a compromised player, blackening someone else for her own sins... Do I smell sociopathy?... 

...

At NBC News, the journalists reporting on the Romney campaign will continue to absorb taunts from their sources about their sister cable channel, MSNBC. “You mean, Al Sharpton’s network,” as Stuart Stevens, a senior Romney adviser, is especially fond of reminding them.

Spend just a little time watching either Fox News or MSNBC, and it is easy to see why such tensions run high. In fact, by some measures, the partisan bitterness on cable news has never been as stark — and in some ways, as silly or small.

Martin Bashir, the host of MSNBC’s 4 p.m. hour, recently tried to assess why Mitt Romney seemed irritable on the campaign trail and offered a provocative theory: that he might have mental problems.

“Mrs. Romney has expressed concerns about her husband’s mental well-being,” Mr. Bashir told one of his guests. “But do you get the feeling that perhaps there’s more to this than she’s saying?”

Over on Fox News, similar psychological evaluations were under way on “Fox & Friends.” Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist and a member of the channel’s “Medical A-Team,” suggested that Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s “bizarre laughter” during the vice-presidential debate might have something to do with a larger mental health issue. “You have to put dementia on the differential diagnosis,” he noted matter-of-factly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/06/us/politics/on-cable-news-networks-a-b...       

Keith Ablow should also examine Uncle Rupe's marbles... just for being the owner of the Fox network... Then Keith can look at his own mental health... and unversally declare without being wrong that "everyone is crazy"...

The Prime Minister has launched a scathing attack on The Australian newspaper, accusing it of a long-running smear campaign against her over allegations involving a union slush fund.

Julia Gillard has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to her involvement with the fund for her then-boyfriend and Australian Workers Union (AWU) official Bruce Wilson.

Ms Gillard, who was a lawyer at Slater and Gordon in 1992 when the fund was set up, has said she believed the fund would be used for legitimate purposes, namely to support the re-election of union officials.

The Australian today reported that in 1995, $5,000 was deposited in Ms Gillard's bank account by a former AWU official at the request of Mr Wilson.

The paper states there is no evidence to suggest Ms Gillard asked for the payment or knew of its origins.

The report said the money was provided to the union official in a "wad of $100 and $50 notes", but it is not known where Mr Wilson got the funds.

When asked about the money by journalists in Brisbane this afternoon, Ms Gillard lashed out at the newspaper for publishing the story.

"Having read today's Australian closely, there is not one substantiated allegation in today's Australian," she said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-14/pm-hits-out-at-newspaper-over-smear-campaign/4372096