Intellectual dishonesty is pure poison – A Crikey weblog

Monthly Archives: September 2011

And Miranda’s unhinging gets sillier

September 30, 2011 – 3:20 pm

If you thought that Miranda Devine’s facile Godwinning of the “freedom to print untrue smears” saga was absurd, wait till you see her effort this afternoon: “Hypocrisy in action”, Ms Devine’s post is titled. But wait, does that make even a passing amount of sense?

By Jeremy Sear | Posted in Andrew Bolt, Miranda Devine, Posted | Comments (49)

Pure Poison Podcast #35 – The “Australian demographic of Federation”

September 30, 2011 – 1:59 pm

Web polls, At Home with Gerard, photos from blog readers’ workplaces, a bunch of stuff that we didn’t get a chance to blog about, and the ever-crazy Cut & Paste trophy (one of whose entrants gave us this week’s title). You can download the podcast, find it at the iTunes music store, subscribe to the [...]

By Dave Gaukroger | Posted in Podcasts | Comments (4)

Elsewhere: Tom Cummings on the pokie industry’s risible claims that reforms “won’t work”

September 30, 2011 – 12:50 pm

Tom Cummings at the Drum – Poker machine reforms won’t work? Don’t bet on it. The essence of their argument is that it doesn’t matter what you do, problem gamblers will always find a way to gamble… so do nothing. Let them spend their money and develop their addictions, and only then will we step [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Posted in Elsewhere, Tom Cummings | Comments (7)

Elsewhere – Rupert Murdoch’s Daily averaging just 120,000 readers a week

September 30, 2011 – 9:50 am

Rupert Murdoch’s Daily averaging just 120,000 readers a week Rupert Murdoch’s iPad-only newspaper is averaging just 120,000 readers a week, less than a quarter the number he said the publication needs to make money, an advertising executive close to the Daily has told Bloomberg. Murdoch personally launched the Daily in February, just before he became [...]

By Dave Gaukroger | Posted in Elsewhere | Comments (5)

Weekend talk thread – September 30 – October 2

September 30, 2011 – 7:06 am

It’s a long weekend in civilised east coast states this weekend, both of the major football codes have their grand finals, and the Rugby World Cup is heading towards the pointy end. Here’s something from Doonesbury that a reader thought was worth sharing about the Climate Change debate. And to exercise your reading muscles: Amazon, [...]

By Dave Gaukroger | Posted in Open threads | Comments (45)

News Limited cries “Free Speech”, ignores errors

September 29, 2011 – 11:30 am

A comparison of the content of the editorials in some of the News Limited papers today. Has “News Limited” ever rung as true?

By Dave Gaukroger | Posted in Andrew Bolt, News Ltd. | Comments (35)

Does this look like being “silenced”?

September 29, 2011 – 9:37 am

Is this the most spectacular own-goal in trollumnist history? In a column arrogantly titled “Silencing me impedes unity”, published on the front page of the Herald Sun (and news.com.au) with further pages of comment inside, Andrew clearly demonstrates how yesterday’s Federal Court judgment did no such thing. He writes hundreds of words about race, making [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Posted in Andrew Bolt, Posted | Comments (191)

Elsewhere – Freedom of speech rides on

September 29, 2011 – 6:27 am

Freedom of speech rides on The Federal Court ruling against Andrew Bolt amounts to an attack on poor journalism, not on journalism itself. David Marr via The Age

By Dave Gaukroger | Posted in Elsewhere | Comments (24)

I’m not saying “I’m not saying” because apparently it’s no longer worth saying

September 28, 2011 – 4:58 pm

A Federal Court judge has dared to dismiss the classic “I’m not saying…” disingenuous tabloid disclaimer for which Bolt is infamous in today’s judgment. What the columnist had said, after a column relentlessly suggesting precisely the opposite of what he now denied saying: I’m not saying any of those I’ve named chose to be Aboriginal [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Posted in Andrew Bolt, Posted | Comments (24)

Elsewhere – Andrew Dodd at the Drum, and @robcorr’s response

September 28, 2011 – 4:45 pm

Andrew Dodd at The Drum – “The Bolt decision will have implications for us all” In essence this case was lost on this point – the belief by the judge that ‘people should be free to fully identify with their race without fear of public disdain or loss of esteem for so identifying’. @Robcorr retorts [...]

By Dave Gaukroger | Posted in Elsewhere | Comments (21)