Comments on: Why has The Oz become Fox News with words?

By: jeffrey dalton

jeffrey dalton — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:17:58 +0000

Poss, I agree with you: it’s not really about any overwhelming right wing bias at The Oz – that’s always been there, it’s the cheap shots that most of their writers now seem to be being encouraged to take. There’ll always be the far right commentators like Albrechtsen, Pearson et al; but the rest don’t have to join in the general rubbishing of anything that’s slightly to the left of Genghis Khan with such alacrity. I used to buy The Oz – even though I disagreed with its slant, because it contained a clear right wing analysis that was, despite the occasional tedium, well written. Now it’s just unfathomable. And, BTW, I’ve noticed the same sort of thing with SkyNews, where they’ve started editorialising in their item headings (with profoundly stupid headings like ‘Kevin 747 Overseas AGAIN). My plea to the managers and senior writers at these organisations is: have some respect for your readers’ intelligence – especially those who do not slavishly follow your line, and if you despise the Labor Party then at least tell us why.

By: Mary Garden

Mary Garden — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:37:39 +0000

Clive CAtt (27) The RM figures suggest you are wrong. The majority are not over 50. And where is the evidence that this group tends to be ‘right wing’ whatever that means?

Possum (28) those are very interesting figures on that link to Roy Morgan. That’s a lot of readers in the 14-24 age group don’t you think? I can’t remember reading a paper until I was in my 30s, and sort of settled down. A pity RMR didn’t give a figure for 35-44, but a guestimate (based on 35-49 group) is 76000, which is not much more than the 25-34 group.

It would be great to get some industry demographics for blog readers. My impression is that those in the 14-24, even 25-30 groups are not active partipators. In one uni course, all the undergraduates said they had never commented on a blog! They were journalism students. Perhaps the over-50s, and retirees (with more time on their hands) are gravitating to this medium. I notice quite a few commenting on Pair of Ragged Claws.

And good to see some praise for George Megalogenis and Jack the Insider on this thread. As Matt Welch says in the Columbia Review 90 per cent of political blogs are ‘crap’, but ‘the action in the top 10 per cent is among the most exciting new trends in journalism’ (can’t give a link, I’m sorry as it is an academic journal). In that top 10% are also MSM blogs.

By: Trubbell at Mill

Trubbell at Mill — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:18:55 +0000

“Accepted journal of record” my ass.

Psephos, is that the same donkey that Channel 9 is trying to attach to dancers’ backsides?

It’s arse, lad. A-R-S-E. Arse. Barges for the appending to. Licking for the purposes of.

By: Psephos

Psephos — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:43:27 +0000

“Accepted journal of record” my ass. I’m old enough to remember 1975, when The Australian behaved exactly as it’s behaving now, and for the same reason – because Murdoch told it to. You need to get through your head that The Australian is not really a newspaper at all, and never has been. It’s Rupert Murdoch’s vanity sheet and megaphone.

By: feral sparrowhawk

feral sparrowhawk — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:49:56 +0000

Possum I don’t think the issue is so much demographics as writers and editors. The fact is Australia has a major shortage of centre-right thinkers and intellectuals, including people who could fill these roles. There are plenty of centre-right people in Australia, but most of them are either not that interested in ideas and debate, or are too busy being successful (in business for example) to want to work for the Australian. This has probably always been the case, but its got worse in recent years. People like Paul Kelly are the exception, not the rule.

For evidence, look for substantial centre-right Australian blogs. Not a lot are there?

That means that somewhere like the Australian either has to use people from the left or centre-left, or the hard right. Murdoch was never going to let the Oz become a lefty paper, so as the supply of right-wingers with a respect for the truth dried up the pages got increasingly filled with the Switzers, Mitchells and Albrechtsons of the world. This tends to be self-reinforcing. Without something to coalesce around (be it a newspaper or a major think-tank sane and moderate right-wingers are less likely to stick at the job of discussing ideas, as opposed to going off and making their fortune. Even a good blog would help – Catalaxy could have played that role if it hadn’t allowed itself to become such a haven for figures like Graeme Bird.

By: PASOK

PASOK — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:45:02 +0000

The whole “stimulus watch” campaign – which is still on their website – sums it up for me. Just like the Lieberal party, the OO can’t stomach the idea of public funds being spent on anything productive, so they treat it like it is a dangerous animal on the loose: “we’ll tell you when it could show up at your house and get you”.

What this also highlights is that they cannot be bothered doing their own investigative reporting, so they hope some Lieberal sympathiser on a P&C committee will email them on a school being awarded dollars and they can blow it out of proportion without looking or waiting for a plausible excuse.

Oh, and without fail there will be a weekly bile venting on “the left” and how “they” are destroying Australian and the global society. There was a cracker last week by a supposed art critic about how religion is in jeopardy.

No real or relevant pieces to the world, just plenty of tripe. You can set your watch by Albrechtsen and Sheridan. They are so predictable. “Damn those activist judges!” and “George W Bush was a great statesman!”

Without George Megalogenis and Jack the Insider, the entire operation is bereft of quality journalism and would not give anyone any reason to visit their website.

By: BH

BH — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:43:59 +0000

I find it sad that it’s no longer worth buying the Oz. Apart from couple of journos who provide factual info and a good interpretation of it there is no point in just reading journos whose opinions are less worthy than the writing found on many blogsites.

The problem is that the Oz can no longer get away with less than factual writing (e.g. the fake email story). It can be debunked so quickly.

Although partly Murdoch owned I find A-pac terrific. An interview or debate can be seen and heard in its entirety. It is then easy to pick up whether a journalist’s story is correct or not. Many are not so the media loses more credibility.

Shanahan has certainly changed and that has to be entirely due to the shellacking he got from bloggers. Milne needs to leave the scene completely – parody a supposedly good newspaper does not need.

By: Victoria Collins

Victoria Collins — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:44:24 +0000

In passing elsewhere on the internet the other day, I read an opinion, it may well have been by Bernard K., which said that Murdoch Inc. were trying to put pressure on the Rudd government to grant them a licence for a new ‘Free to Air’ TV station. Hence your comments Poss., that they are going down the Faux News road, may be more than apt.
Possibly they are orienting the online presence to synch in with their plans for a Faux Australia channel?
I seem to remember that Mr Packer and Mr Murdoch put pressure on the government of Hawke/Keating, by sooling their media interests onto them with piles of relentlessly negative comment, until they agreed to their agenda and they got Foxtel up. Maybe Mr Murdoch is of the belief that he can achieve the same successful outcome again if he tries the same tactic on the Rudd government? Ergo, they will buckle under the weight of the negative press, which they hope other media outlets will pick up on and run with, so as to have a snowballing effect and increase the damage to such an extent they have to give in.
Good luck!
What Mr Murdoch hasn’t apparently thought of in this instance is that we, the punters, have now got the internet to help us to see through their scams.

By: Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:48:00 +0000

One can see the plan taking shape.

The Coalition get some polls that give them a glimmer of hope, Costello decides to call it a day so Turnbull’s friends see an opportunity for one last hail mary. The think tank deep in the bunker decides to go for the super duper big smear to try and destroy Rudd’s credibility with the public, and of course the friendly MSM will print whatever they put in their hands so it seems, and apparently without seeking comment from aggrieved parties.

The MSM let themselves be used like a blow-up doll by the Coalition.

And you still have to ask why didn’t the papers print the fact that Rudd had said the email did not exist, there was plenty of time. And why didn’t they seek Rudd’s comments on the story in any case as any junior reporter would know you have to do. There is has been no reason given that satisfies me so I can only assume they were too slovenly, lazy to bother or simply didn’t careless.

By: Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:38:23 +0000

I think Rudd’s main beef was the Turnmail-gate story was published without mentioning that the Govt had said the email didn’t exist when they had plenty of time to insert that. And the fact that the Govt could at the time unequivocally state the email doesn’t exist is a piece of irrelevant data. In fact it is critical piece of data that tends to destroy the whole story.

To Rudd it would have seemed like they were deliberately intending to print the story without government reaction, in other words it would have seem very much like an intentional smear.

But it is typical of the MSM when they get caught out to misrepresent the position of other parties.

Quite obviously Rudd is NOT saying ‘take my word’ on everything and print nothing else, he is saying that the Govt’s comments on an issue concerning it should be included, as it always should. And we all know that is what he is saying.

Rudd gave Milne a deserved kick in the backside, taught him a lesson and now Milne is responding like a spoiled brat.