When will Tony Abbott stop being an idiot and take global warming seriously...?

The prime minister, Tony Abbott, has played down the prospect of the government withdrawing unemployment benefits from people who fail drug tests, saying reports about the option were “highly speculative”.

Labor seized on the declaration as evidence that Abbott had lost control of what his ministers were saying during a crucial time for budget negotiations.

“I think all Australians are appalled that this government can’t maintain the same position for 24 hours without something changing,” the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said.

On Sunday, News Corp’s newspapers said the government was open to following a New Zealand system of stripping welfare recipients’ payments if they failed a job-required drug test, or refused to submit to one.

The social services minister, Kevin Andrews, was quoted in the front-page stories as saying: “We won't rule this in or out".

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/01/tony-abbott-report-on-welfare-penalty-for-drug-users-highly-speculative

 

I'd rather child prodigies rather than idiotic adults to rule this thingy...

 

It's been a patchy weekend with more than a few spots of rain but with temperatures set to stay above 20 degrees this week, the dog days are not quite over for Sydney.

The city survived the hottest year on record in the 12 months to Saturday. And according to a Climate Council report to be released on Monday, the past 24 months recorded the hottest average temperatures in Australian history.

''We have just had an abnormally warm autumn, off the back of another very hot 'angry summer','' Australian National University professor Will Steffen said.

It's been a record-breaking month, with Sydney registering 19 consecutive days of 22 degrees or above - 10 days longer than the previous record.

Advertisement

Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide also broke records for the number of consecutive days of 20 degrees or above, with Sydney reaching 28 days, Melbourne 13 days and Adelaide 16 days.

Sydney's skies will mainly stay clear during the week, with maximum temperatures between 20 and 22 degrees, according to the weather bureau.

''We've got rain in the eastern half of the state and very isolated thunderstorms on the coast. Showers and rain will persist [on Monday] but will clear by the afternoon,'' the Bureau of Meteorology's Peter Zmijewski said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/sydneys-dog-days-not-over-yet-20140601-39ch5.html#ixzz33Nzf5Cvw

 

 

I bet the Daily Telegraph won't mention this on its front page, unless it places a caveat that the earth was "warmer during Jesus Christ time", which is a lot of baloney, or uses another irrelevant comparison... Who knows, the competely blottos of the Daily Tele might wake up for once, and start pounding Tony Abbott for being a dangerous dork... That would be the day!...

 

Why does the media love glamorising known criminals, like Roger Rogerson, Mick Gatto and Jordan Belfort?

PETER OVERTON: Charged with murder, disgraced cop Roger Rogerson arrested live on television. 

— Channel Nine News, 27th May, 2014


MARK FERGUSON: Tonight, the notorious former detective, Roger "the Dodger" in custody, charged over a student’s murder. 

— Channel Seven News, 27th May, 2014


SANDRA SULLY: Tonight, infamous ex-cop Roger Rogerson, arrested and in custody, accused of executing a drug runner. 

— Channel Ten News, 27th May, 2014

Hello, I’m Paul Barry, welcome to Media Watch. 

And oh how the media loves a murder.

But how come that scrum was outside the home of disgraced Sydney detective Roger Rogerson at the moment of his arrest? 

Well, it was not quite a direct tip from the cops. But the police had made it clear that they were after him. 


ROGERSON WANTED

MURDER INVESTIGATION

— The Daily Telegraph, 26th May, 2014

The Daily Telegraph had landed the scoop on Monday. 

And on Tuesday, before Rogerson was found, it had more with a a front-page picture of Jamie Gao’s body (warning: graphic content) and a storyline that could have come straight from the ABC TV drama.


DEEP BLUE MURDER 

Ex cops at centre of death probe as body surfaces

— The Daily Telegraph, 27th May, 2014

So when the notorious former detective finally emerged from his home surrounded by a posse of cops, the world and his wife were waiting.


GABRIELLE BOYLE: Mr Rogerson is being taken from the steps of his family home now. Mr Rogerson, do you maintain your innocence? Do you maintain your innocence sir?

ROGER ROGERSON: We’re back to the Gestapo days now. 

— Channel Nine Morning News, 27th May, 2014

Channel Nine ran it all live on their 11am bulletin. 

So did ABC News 24, whose crew was having rather more trouble in the to-and-fro. 


REPORTER: Mr Rogerson, have you been avoiding police? Were you involved with this murder?

— ABC News 24, 27th May, 2014

That night, the arrest led all the Sydney TV bulletins including the ABC and SBS.

But it also led the news in other states. 

Now this just goes to show that crime still sells. 

And so do celebrity crims.

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4017348.htm

 

Meanwhile the earth can burn to a crisp...

 

“Rupert Murdoch is a brilliant, buccaneering innovator who built a global media empire by challenging old business models and vested interests,” a spokesman for Daily Mail Australia said on Sunday.

“How sad that the King Canutes now running his Australian print operation are so unfamiliar with how the modern digital world works.”

In one of 10 examples of alleged “lifting”, the British Daily Mail said the Daily Telegraph and news.com.au had failed to give a link to the US Daily Mail’s exclusive video of members of the boy band One Direction smoking cannabis.

“When carrying MailOnline or Daily Mail material we have discovered that News Corp often neglect to name their source and, even when they do, they most often don’t provide a link back to the original story,” a spokesman said.

 

 

Last Monday, News Corp revealed in the Australian newspaper that it was taking legal action against the Daily Mail and accused its journalists of being “copy snatchers and parasites”.

On Sunday, the Mail said News Corp’s actions were “preposterous” and a cynical attempt to damage the MailOnline's reputation.

The Daily Telegraph’s editor, Paul Whittaker, told the Australian that the Mail had come to Australia promising to hire dozens of established journalists. Instead it had taken on young reporters and forced them to “work on a production line of copycats”.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jun/16/daily-mail-australia-hits-back-at-news-corp-over-plagiarism-claims

-------------------------

Ahahahahahahhhhh!... News Limited always makes me laugh... Even it does not employ many established journalists... It employs a lot of established right-wing hacks for sure, but fewer and fewer decent middle of the road journalists...

See stories from top...

 

Why alternative media are conquering the world
Alan Austin 
13 July 2014, 12:30am
Media Technology

Alternative media are rapidly overtaking print media as the go to sources of news and opinion. Alan Austin provides 11 reasons why.

FEW CONSUMERS OF WRITTEN NEWS curious about the carbon tax repeal debate in the Senate on Thursday waited for the Friday papers. News and analysis were all online as events unfolded.

Instant access to important developments – such as the Bust the Budget rallies last weekend – is one reason online written media are gaining ascendancy over print.

 

1. Immediacy

This is the first reason the old paper empires are crumbling and online outlets growing – immediate news. There are at least ten others:

 

2. Independence

Most online outlets are small, independent and motivated by some sort of commitment to the community rather than shareholder profits.

Hence, they are almost completely free of the systematic manipulation of the Murdoch and Fairfax newspapers in Australia, all of which operate with an ingrained culture of supporting big business and conservative politics.

The overwhelming coverage of domestic politics by News Corp in Australia is Coalition good, Labor bad, with distortions, omissions and blatant lies, as needed.

Tim Dunlop recently wrote in the ABC’s online publication The Drum:

‘The mainstream media ... either oversimplify everything to the point of caricature, or they become – as is the case of the Murdoch newspapers – openly and comically partisan.’

Most online media outlets not owned by Murdoch or Fairfax offer much greater accuracy and a more complete analysis simply by virtue of their independence.

Other features of the online media guarantee greater reliability as well.

 

3. Embedded hotlinks

A complex piece by Tess Lawrence here at Independent Australia last month on the jailing of Peter Greste contained over 50 links to support her story.

These included non-government organisations, foreign news outlets, international agencies, academic papers, multinational corporations, news archives and, of course, every writer’s wizard’s wand, Wikipedia.

Having sources accessible at a click does three things: it shows the research has been done, it allows dubious readers to find instant validation, and it allows those provoked to further research to do so immediately.

Independent Australia, for instance, has a policy of providing a link on the name and the claim.

 

4. Interaction

Last Thursday, The Guardian ran a technical piece on interest rates by Greg Jericho. Conversation soon began with readers supportive, hostile and neutral. Jericho responded promptly to eight of the first ten reader comments with clarification and further data, as required.

In-depth dialogue between readers and author often greatly elucidates the topic. It is not unusual to have 300 or more comments following an online article.

 

5. Multimedia content

Most successful online print journals incorporate audio, music, TV news clips, archived videos, fresh comedy videos, instant opinion polls, photo galleries and more along with the static print.

Some analysts, including IA editor David Donovan, believe online media is more analogous to broadcasting than print.

 

6. Supplementary information

In last month’s tobacco wars between economist Stephen Koukoulas and various employees of Murdoch’s News Corp, two writers at The Australian attacked the ABC’s Media Watch for not revealing Koukoulas’s connection with the Labor Party.

They were Christian Kerr and Adam Creighton whose political affiliations were not disclosed by The Australian.

Kerr, as Koukoulas revealed on his blog The Kouk, worked for Liberal ministers Amanda Vanstone and Robert Hill in the Howard years and with South Australian Liberal Premier John Olsen. Creighton was economics advisor to Tony Abbott. 

Such hypocrisies are largely avoided by online publications, which usually have direct links to an author’s bio.

Other items of supplementary information, which are not necessary to understand an article but handy to have available at a click, include previous articles by the author and articles on the topic by other writers.

Repositories created on the site for particular popular topics provide invaluable instant archiving.

Examples of these are the Ashbygate and Jacksonville dedicated pages here at IA.

 

7. Prompt corrections

Immediately an error is detected, an online editor can correct the error in the piece and add a clarifying note at the end.

With newspapers, this takes at least until the next edition 24 hours later. Or in the case of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph it takes several months — and even then only when forced kicking and screaming by the Press Council.

 

8. Democracy

Writing for the alternative media is not restricted to recognised professional journalists. Several online outlets, such as Independent Australia, On Line Opinion and The Australian Independent Media Network pride themselves on citizen journalism and offer editorial assistance to contributors.

9. Competitive environment

Paper news sheets increasingly operate without direct competition. There is just the one local daily newspaper in most Australian states.

In contrast, there are about 25 significant online publications in Australia dealing with political and social issues. Plus even more excellent overseas outlets and innumerable accessible blogs. This, in itself, puts pressure on all of them to be current, well-researched and accurate, whatever their political slant.

Hence, those which do not meet reader expectations will soon be weeded out. It is much easier for online publications to come and go than print outlets.

New starters in Australia in the last year or so include The Guardian Australia, The New Daily and Red Flag.

In January, The Global Mail folded, so to speak. Despite a promising start with extravagant funding, a star-studded editorial team and great publicity, it lasted barely two years.

And New Matilda, which has always struggled to gain a wide audience, was closed in May by its founder until a buyer came suddenly to the rescue.

 

10. Mostly free

Articles in the majority of Murdoch and Fairfax websites are now behind paywalls, as they are at Crikey and, since April, The Hoopla.

Most other online journals are sustained by advertising, philanthropy or donations rather than reader subscription.

This is possible because production is obviously far less labour and capital intensive than printing and distributing paper products.

 

11. Instantly shared

Earlier this year Sally McManus published on IA a list of ‘Tony Abbott’s trail of wreckage’ (which she is still updating on her own blog).

To her surprise and delight, this was instantly shared by thousands of readers keen to onpass this extraordinary database. Total social media shares – via Twitter, facebook, Reddit, linkedin and others – for just that one article eventually exceeded 21,000.

Eat your heart out Herald Sun!

 

So, there are eleven reasons. But are there more?

If so, please join the discussion below and interact – for free – with the author who welcomes tweets and facebook shares and will post corrections, if required, in this competitive but democratic and mostly accurate alternative multimedia environment.

Coming soon: The alternative media part 2: Who are the players? Who are the winners and losers – so far? You can follow Alan Austin on Twitter @alantheamazing.

see more at: http://www.independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/why-alternative-media-are-conquering-the-world,6665

 

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Here on YD (yourdemocracy.net.au), we cannot claim to be "mediatic" though we relate opinions to the "news" and bring relevant links with it. No "certified" journalists work on this site. This does not mean that we do not bring you the real story. To the contrary, we do. We also push the barrow further with satire and may I dare say, some serious research and some nifty old-timers' wisdom and clear pointed analysis. See for example:  so what's the real purpose of the abbott-palmer war?...

I believe I am on the money, though it feels I am on my own as everyone else seems to be taking the line that Palmer is set out to destroy Abbott... Not on your nelly.

 

Another point about "web" news media such as this one here, is that IT IS NOT CLUTTERED with irrelevant distracting features of celebs who have been exposing themselves on a beach or have a bub or doing cartwheels. Should we mention a car accident, it would be in relation to car safety, policing of the road space, and of our future in relation to transport, including discussing electric cars.

YOU can spot a gossip rag a mile away.

It will say Kim Kardashian (with her “$22 million booty”) is divorcing Kanye West, while the one next to it on the shelf will tell you she’s pregnant with his second child — and said child

already has an album deal. With Blue Ivy.

It will read, “Kim’s baby shock!” and you will lap it up.

If this article were a movie, you’d now be watching a 20-year-old girl walk through the halls of one of the country’s biggest magazine houses.

She’s starry eyed, Bambi-legged and ready to make a good impression on her first day at a gossip glossy.

Scene 2: two weeks later. That same girl is being presented with a set of intriguing photographs of a famous person.

Would she like to break the news story behind the photos? She most certainly would!

...Blah blah blah blah blah....

So let’s give the gossip magazines a break and see them for what they are: wonderful entertainment and nutritional advice.

Because everyone knows celebrities eat only steamed vegetables and chicken for dinner. Every night.

Stop the presses: it’s a scoop!

read more: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/confessions-of-a-gossip-magazine-writer/story-fnixwvgh-1226987259062

 

It appears to me that this article has been published by the poopa-scoopa press to make light-weight of what Media Watch said about "gossip magazines" publishing lies... "yes we agree" this article seems to say "the gossip mags are full of stories that are not true, but it's a done under the umbrella of entertainment, fun and keeping these celebrities in the spotlight — and they don't mind having their fabulous bodies shown in four-colours!"

See also: http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4041171.htm

 

 

Judging the sales pitch: #mediafail

 

 Victoria Rollison

As I mentioned last week, I am researching political narrative by investigating the words that come out of politicians’ mouths and are written in press releases by their spin doctors. This research is in the field of political communications. And what has occurred to me through this research is that just about every political journalist in Australia is also interested in political communication. But the problem is, that’s all they’re interested in. The wrapper on the shiny policy launch. The sales pitch for the budget. The salesman for the new policy car. Of course Ifind any discussion of political communication fascinating and often worthy of a citation in a paper. But that’s just me. The rest of the community doesn’t need to hear about the success of the policy spin job. They care about the actual policy. The thing in the wrapper. The car the salesman is trying to sell. The impact that product is going to have on them. And that is where the political journalists in Australia let the community down. Because they never delve further into the cake than chatting with each other about the icing.

A perfect example of this type of journalistic style is Peter Hartcher. All the time. As the political editor for Fairfax’s Sydney Morning Herald, you would think Hartcher might be interested in political policy. But no. After many years of a total dedication to Labor leadership tensions due to his role as Kevin Rudd’s full-time-leak-recipient, he’s taken a few months into the Abbott’s government to work out what his new narrative might be. And predictably policy outcomes still don’t make an appearance. Instead, it would appear he’s settled on the well-worn ‘they’re just as bad as each other’ narrative to report on the Abbott Liberal government. Because that gives him plenty of opportunity to continue with his dedication to Labor bashing.

For example, this article from yesterday, helpfully titled ‘Tony Abbott’s Coalition making same mistakes as Labor’ might appear to the untrained eye as an article comparing the previous Labor government’s mistakes with the new Liberal government’s problems. But look closer. This article is not about politics. It is about political communication.

In fact I agree with Hartcher that Labor’s communication strategies were, in the most part, not up to the task of selling their highly successful progressive reform agenda and, along with disunity, were a key factor in their 2013 election loss. I’ve written about this failure myself. But, as part of the mainstream media’s synchronised failure to give credit where credit is due, again Hartcher misses to make the point that Labor’s policy success during the previous two terms was phenomenal, particularly in a hung parliament. Over 500 pieces of legislation were passed by the Gillard/Rudd government in their last term. And comparing the first 7 months of Gillard’s government with Abbott’s government is a ‘look at the scoreboard’ moment which should be impossible for journalists like Hartcher to ignore. 127 to 7. Including Abbott’s Knights and Dames farce. And it’s not like Gillard’s policy successes were minor. The Carbon Price, the Gonski reforms, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the mining tax, the National Broadband Network. Literally just to name a few. But because Hartcher has decided Labor failed to sell these policies, he’s perpetuating the perception, through his influential position of political editor in the mainstream media, that these policies were failures, when really all he is commenting on is the communication strategy employed by the politicians.

A great example of this is Hartcher’s example of one of the policies mentioned above, which happens to be the policy I’m studying for my thesis: the mining tax. Hartcher says:

“The mining tax is a prime example. A perfectly reasonable policy, based on rational economic principles, that would have given Australia some lasting benefit from a passing boom.

But it was doomed by political mismanagement. It came out of nowhere, met a firestorm of opposition, was rewritten in a political panic, and soon disappeared into ignominy.”

When you read these sentences, they seem fair. Hartcher has given the mining tax policy a sort-of-thumbs-up by calling it a ‘perfectly reasonable policy’. But there’s a key element of this ‘doomed’ mining tax that you need to take into account, which happens to be the other topic of my thesis: I’m not just focusing on what politicians say, I’m also investigating how the mainstream media reports what politicians say. Even if Labor politicians while in government were saying ‘the mining tax is a perfectly reasonable policy’ until they were blue in the face, the public didn’t hear this if people like Hartcher refused to report it.

Out of curiosity, I had a look at what Hartcher said about the mining tax the day after it was announced. I found this article: It’s not the economy, it’s the election stupid. Remember what I was saying about the ‘they’re just as bad as each other’ narrative? This was a moment where Hartcher could have analysed the mining tax policy from the perspective of a political journalist interested in policy outcomes. This is where the public could have found out how the mining tax is designed to redistribute profits from billionaires and rich investors (mostly foreign) to the people who own the resources: all Australians. This is where, just imagine, Hartcher could have given the Labor government even 500 words of credit for developing a policy aimed at reducing wealth inequality by sharing the windfalls from a once in a generation mining boom. But no. Hartcher wasn’t interested in this type of article. Instead he accused Swan and Rudd of introducing the policy with the populist motive of winning an election. To improve Labor’s sales pitch. Because, low and behold, this is the only part of politics Hartcher focuses on. And in doing so, he’s letting down his audience, he’s letting down his profession and most importantly, he’s reducing politics to a PR exercise.

read more: http://victoriarollison.com/2014/08/03/judging-the-sales-pitch-mediafail/