Fifty Years Ago Today

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Oct 292012
 

On the 29th of October, 1962 two things happened which would forever change the world we live in. In ascending order of importance these events were: The Fourteenth Day: The world sighed a collective sigh of relief as news spread that the Cuban Missile Crisis was over. In response to the U.S. having nuclear capable missiles based in the U.K., West Germany, Italy and Turkey, the Soviet Union introduced similar missiles onto Cuban soil, just 90 miles away from the American mainland. Following some back door diplomacy between the U.S. President, John F. Kennedy, and his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, the crisis ended not with a bang, but a whimper. The crisis, from the American perspective, was well covered in the movie “Thirteen Days”, starring

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Context Shmontext

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Oct 242012
 

chris murphy @chrismurphys  Can’t sell us news ‘cos we’ve got it. Can’t sell us views we don’t want ‘em.The dead end job of journalists in an online world. #auspol Following the video of Prime Minister Julia Gillard ripping a new one in Tony Abbott, there has been much discussion about the relevance of the Fourth Estate (4E hereafter). On last week’s Gruen Planet show, they hit the nail on the head. They said (words to the effect), that since everyone now has access to more information than you can poke a stick at, no-one needs the 4E to tell them what we’ve all just seen or heard. The above tweet from Chris Murphy sums up this idea perfectly. In a world where newspapers, TV and

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The Rumble In The Air Conditioned Auditorium

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Oct 092012
 

Forget The Rumble In The Jungle. Forget The Thriller In Manila. For your delectation, we are proud to present the title fight for the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Of The Media. In the Right corner, we have Bill O’Reilly. In the Left corner we have Jon Stewart. Grab your favourite beverage and enjoy The Rumble In The Air Conditioned Auditorium.

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Punchlines For Progress

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Sep 242012
 

The following video is a documentary on American comedians speaking truth to power. From breakthrough comedians such as Lenny Bruce, through George Carlin and Chris Rock, all have used humour to convey a political message. It also features clips from The Daily show with Jon Stewart, as well as The Colbert Report’s Stephen Colbert. It illustrates why both are highly respected political commentators. Punchlines For Progress: Why Jon Stewart is one of the most trusted men in America. from marie wustner on Vimeo.

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The Murdoch Virus Part 5 – Murdoch And The Internet

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Sep 162012
 

  Murdoch’s multi-media empire has relied on a 19th century business model since its inception. Whether it’s newspapers, magazines or TV, they all make money by filling in the gaps between adverts. This business model relies on the “push-factor”. The content, whether it’s articles in a newspaper, on the radio or a show on TV, are pushed at consumers in between the ads, which are also pushed at them. Consumers have little or no input on what content is pushed at them other than to turn the page, or flick to another channel or station. In order for them to charge advertisers, the content has generally been aimed at the lowest common denominator. As consumers have moved online, this denominator has been moving lower and

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Dolt vs Murdoch – The Battle For Free Speech In Australia

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Jul 132012
 

Andrew “Some Of My Best Friends Are Darkies” Dolt* has long been the champion of every free speech loving, freedom loving, Juliar hating patriot in Australia via his blog in The Herald Stun, and his Logie, Emmy, BAFTA, Walkley, Pulitzer, Nobel Prize winning, ratings busting**, TV show, The Dolt Distort. Sadly, this is no more. Recently the ability to contribute to the high levels of sociopolitical discourse by commenting on Dolt’s blog was shut down. As if the total wipeout of Whyalla on 1/7/2012 wasn’t bad enough, now the right to post racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic rants patriotic parables on Andrew Dolt’s blog has been taken away from us. Was this facility taken away by the freedom hating, un-Australian, commie, socialist, fascist, totalitarian, heathen, childless,

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The Murdoch Virus Part 4 – Hackgate

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Jul 102012
 

In Part 1 of The Murdoch Virus series, (The Virus), we looked at how Murdoch tabloids in Australia and the U.K. were responsible for the suicides of two teenagers after articles on teenage promiscuity were published with total disregard to the truth and the implications of the effects these articles would have. In Part 2, (Hillsborough), we saw how The Sun, another Murdoch tabloid, published deliberately false allegation of crowd behaviour at the Hillsborough Stadium where around 100 people lost their lives. Once again these fabrications were published with a total disregard for the effects the lies would have on the victims families. In Part 3 (Outfoxed), we saw how everything the Murdoch had learned about manipulation, fear-mongering and dissemination of propaganda was brought together

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Another Unconscionable Act From News Limited

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Jul 062012
 

Once again the Murdoch owned low brow tabloid, The Daily Telegraph, has disgraced itself. In an article on July 4, 2012, alleged “journalist” Ian McPhedran named a soldier recently killed in action in Afghanistan. This prompted the Army Chief to pen a letter to the editor. In the letter Lieutenant General David Morrison lambasted the paper for naming the soldier before this information was officially released by the Army and the soldier’s family. From the letter: The Army and the Defence Force have well established protocols for the release of names and personal details in these circumstances; protocols with which your journalists are very familiar but have clearly chosen to ignore. And: The family in this instance, whose lives are currently consumed with their own

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