The petrol price problem shows how bias of MSM can affect people’s thinking. Imagine people preferring a 5c fuel tax cut to Fuelwatch where the actual savings in knowing the cheapest fuel would be far nmore than the av 2c/lr save as in WA. It would be interesting to see what the poll results would be in WA. Rudd is having trouble because of MSM getting his message across re long term effects.

Saying that Labor really has to find a more effective way of managing the media, especially when plastic man Nelson just follows populist trends without any geuine policies.

It also indicates to me that most voters who are addicted to BS progammes like TT/CA really do not want to think at all about the proper issues and will not forsake a couple of dollars in the pocket now for a future benefit. This is what makes populist issues so dangerous in the short term.

Rudd has to stick to his guns. He is riding high in the polls and inflation will be more dangerous to him later on when it matters around election time than this problem with petrol prices. I believe high interest rates will be more deadly to him than high petrol prices. He was elected to govern, not to be popular all the time. Let Nelson try to worry about that.

I have hopes that a steady head will prevail.

If you listened to talk back radio jocks and callers before the election, you would have sworn that Howard was going to win comfortably. At least the internet through sites like this and Crikey gave an alternative, and I think a more realistic viewpoint given Howard lost.

Actaully, it makes sense – Labor voters are more keen to keep him as Opposition Leader.

I think you’re drawing a rather long bow to think that locating ABC Online in Brisbane has turned it into some conservative mouthpiece.

Antony and Possum have made some very good contributions to this debate about the role of MSM vs internet.

I do not think newspapers or magazines of radio stations etc will die out because of the internet, but they will definitely change, partly, as Possum says, in order to stay commercially viable. We will get media organisations where their websites and publications work in tandem.

And as for Bushfire Bill’s comments about Janet Albrechtson – asking ABC staff to justify her board position – what a stupid thing. She’s there because the Coalition Government appointed her. John Bannon was on the board because a Labor Government appointed HIM. It would be nice to think that Labor will establish a non-political method of appointing the ABC Board, as it has promised, but nothing has happened yet. Don’t hold your breath.

On a side issue, raised by Possum, that some ABC web headlines don’t accurately fit the stories, and may appear biased….

That’s a fair point. Remember that the ABC, until recently, was a radio/TV organisation, and generally did not write headlines at all (except for one or two items as “teasers” for major TV or radio news bulletins). Headline-writing is new to the ABC, and an astonishing amount have to be written – the ABC produces for more stories (albeit in shorter form) every day than the MSM newspaper outlets, with international, national, state, specialist and regional stories all requiring headliens to be written quickly for the web. The ABC does need to improve its headline writing.

Also, these days there’s little opportunity for MSM (including ABC) headline writers to be creative sub-editors. Web headlines tend to be boring, because they’re designed for search engines to find the story, rather than to attract a reader’s attention. Take it from me – the life of a sub-editor is more tedious and less creative than it used to be.

I would like to see a few Poll Bludgers write four-word accurate and non-biased headliens on their comments, and see how they go!