The conflict between John Howard and Peter Costello ran much deeper than mere leadership tensions, writes Peter Hartcher.

At the heart of the Howard government's management of the economy was a raging, unending argument.

The two most senior figures in the Government were in perpetual conflict over how the nation's finances should be structured. The Prime Minister always wanted to spend as much of the national revenue as possible. His treasurer always sought to use any available leeway to cut taxes instead.

"I had big fights with Howard, all the time," Peter Costello said last year. "Big fights."

Every year, the argument would end in a compromise, in the form of the national budget. Once that was settled, the pair would start the argument all over again. It was never finally resolved. But it was never publicly visible. Howard and Costello kept their fiscal feud a close secret.

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... until some journo in the commercial press spilled the beans... leading to the cartoon of the public broacaster's star journalists being "reviewed" at the top...

read more at the SMH

Veteran journalist Kerry O'Brien is retiring from The 7.30 Report.

''I have informed the ABC that I intend to leave the 7.30 Report in December after 15 very rewarding years as the program's editor and presenter,'' O'Brien said in a statement released by the ABC today.

''I'll begin a new association with the ABC in the new year, but one that will allow me time to take a breath and consider what else I might want to do with the rest of my life.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/kerry-obrien-to-quit-730-report-20100924-15py5.html?autostart=1

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One of the new sorry sight at the ABC is something akin to an "internal complaints unit" — a Rattus Goebbels organism with another name I forgot — possibly because it operates secretly, but it's quite large under Paul Chadwick (see at top). This department deals with the premise that all news or programs must be "balanced" and that even if there is stacks of documentation that prove someone is wrong/guilty/lying, that someone has the right of reply and porkie to the same amount on the box (or the radio) and often more — especially if they are from the right wing, the "opposition"... And when governments are involved "with a complaint" if these have a point of vue vigorously opposed say by scientists with document as proof of governmental error,  the government position is valued more and posted, while the position of the scientists and documentation is enforced to be "ignored".

Another sorry sight at the ABC has been the decimation of "cadetship" — the new young guns who used to learn the trade of digging the reality away from press releases, by operating under the guidance of seniors... Now, the young ones like their counterparts in the private media, are thrown at the mercy of press releases, professional porkyists and lying politicians — without any proper historical background and training on how they, the cadets, can be manipulated by the spruikers. So the young green-horn journalists take most of what is thrown at them without having the ability to sieve the shit from the real deal.

One can see that happening on ABC24 and on the ABC website where far too often "facts" are not double-checked (some of these young ones think that checking twice from the same source is double-checking), information is "misunderstood" and/or come straight from public relations firms or the history of the information should contradict the information presented. The information is sometimes incomplete or slanted to the right for "safety". And of course the rattus Goebbels unit is happy with the "balance" (usually in favour of the right wing, its members complaining the most) as this minimises the possibility of left-wing conspiracy controversies...

"Our ABC" is now "their ABC"...

Kerry was one of the last of the seniors who can detect political bullshit at 200 metres, but he was threatened to be dragged over the coals for it... See toon and story at top...

Viewers of ABC 24 nearly got more than they bargained for today after a man wearing nothing but a robe and his underwear attempted to flash on live television.

The man is understood to have walked straight past the station's security in the front foyer, towards the windows at the back of the set, before undoing his robe and revealing his underwear.

But the man failed to make an appearance on national television, with the ABC confirming checks of footage showed no sign of the man "or his briefs".

News presenter Jane Hutcheon was on air at the time, believed to be interviewing Penny Wong.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/abc-flasher-attempt-20100924-15q98.html

The ABC's Kerry O'Brien has won one of Australian journalism's highest accolades, taking out the Walkley for journalistic leadership.

The honour, which comes on the same night O'Brien hosted his final 7:30 Report, is one of seven awards for the ABC at this year's Walkleys.

 

Veteran Channel Nine political journalist Laurie Oakes won the most prestigious award in Australian journalism, the Gold Walkley.

The Gold Walkley celebrates the most outstanding piece of journalism in the past year and Oakes won for his coverage of the Labor leaks during the federal election campaign.

He used his acceptance speech to take a swipe at Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

"The leaks that made this story possible didn't dominate the campaign, but they played a very big role in the campaign. I don't think they should've," he said.

"[But] there was nothing else, there were no issues, there was no policy inspiration, there were no ideas.

"We had two parties led by two political pygmies."

Oakes also attacked Ms Gillard and Attorney-General Robert McClelland for their response to the release of secret US diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks.

"What they said was ridiculous," he said.

"To brand what the WikiLeaks site has done as illegal when there's no evidence of any breach of the law, I think is demeaning... I think as journalists we should make that our view."

Oakes also won the Walkley for television reporting.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/09/3089605.htm?section=justin

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Gus: on the issue of Julia being off-beam, I could not agree more with Oakes... Pity the only voice we hear at the moment is hers telling us that Assange broke the law — which he did not.

On the other issue, Julia is a much taller political pygmy than Tony ever will be.

The fact that Assange was refused bail by a court judge in England BEFORE having been proven guilty of any wrongdoing and only on a request that a lower court judge in Sweden "wants to talk to him" shows that the UK is bending over backwards to please its master's voice — the US...

The imprisonment with no charge is designed to break Assange's spirit, cut off his access to his troops, minimise access to his lawyers and/or to supporters. This is a great breach of the law in which a person is judged guilty by a two-bit horse-haired hammer-wielder, before "charges" (which are pretty trumped up — these charges would not stand in a court of law in England or Australia) have been proven.

Bail should have applied until the proper court case of extradition.

 

Another day, another story suggesting Julia Gillard's leadership is faltering.

Again, unlike the reports themselves, the denials are strong, unequivocal and, most importantly, on the record.

But the frustration for the Prime Minister's supporters is that the prevailing take out seems to be, "Where there's smoke, there's fire."

The Financial Review reported that at a meeting of top trade union leaders on Tuesday, there was an acceptance that time is running out for Julia Gillard, and that even two of her strongest supporters now conceded there was a real possibility she would be replaced.

ACTU secretary Dave Oliver was on the radio at dawn describing the reports as "plain wrong", arguing that, "The Prime Minister came to our congress several weeks ago and received a standing ovation for the work her government has done in regard to jobs and working conditions, and nothing has changed at all."

Another participant at the meeting said the report did not reflect the meeting he had attended.

Australian Workers Union secretary Paul Howes was in the United States and so didn't attend the meeting, but he would have quickly acquainted himself with the thrust of the discussions.

He tweeted: "The story in the AFR is complete BS - in fact the opposite is the case all unions are united in supporting the PM."

Linda White, from the Australian Services Union, then tweeted her support of Howes' analysis.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-20/cassidy-leadership-speculation/4141546?WT.svl=theDrum

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The journos. whether at the ABC, at the FR or anywhere else can't stop pissing in their pants at the thought of Julia being bowled over... I can see the headlines now... "our maiden bowled over"... They want blood... The journos are idiots... and as usual they stir the pot by presenting the fart of distant dunny dissent (possibly that of Fitzgibbon) as if it is the consensus...

Stop talking crap!