Intellectual dishonesty is pure poison – A Crikey weblog

Category Archives: ABC

Tony Abbott’s faux concern for Thomson reported as something other than laughable

May 25, 2012 – 1:07 pm

I just love journalists running Tony Abbott’s new faux concern schtick as if it were something other than a transparent demand to be appointed PM: This morning Mr Abbott, who has been leading the political assault on Mr Thomson, shifted the emphasis of his calls on him to quit. He called on Prime Minister Julia [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Posted | Comments (16)

If the sentence was so outrageous, why does News need to exaggerate it?

May 11, 2012 – 5:55 pm

See if you can spot in this story on news.com.au about an 18 year old jailed for manslaughter today, what his actual sentence was. You can’t, because it’s not there. Just the minimum sentence.

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in News.com.au | Comments (4)

Unemployment drops, but because Labor’s in power it’s a bad thing

May 10, 2012 – 1:16 pm

The ABC reports the drop in the unemployment rate in almost as negative a way as if there’d been the predicted rise: “Jobs shock”? We were so surprised by a good result that we’re going to portray it as if it were terrible:

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Posted | Comments (20)

No he wasn’t

May 6, 2012 – 11:37 am

An ABC story on a tragic incident in a remote community: When the violence stopped they found a man and a woman had been beaten with a blunt object. Superintendent Peter Gordon says the man’s injuries are horrific. “He’s got head injuries – it looks like he’s been scalped, the skin has come detached from [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Posted | Comments (8)

Why would the ABC quote the AVN?

March 21, 2012 – 10:49 am

A concerning story today about the re-emergence of whooping cough due to new strains of the disease becoming more prevalent. Just as concerning is the decision to seek comment from the Australian Vaccination Network‘s Meryl Dorey. The AVN is an anti-vaccination lobby group and Meryl Dorey has no medical qualifications, so it seems reckless of [...]

By Dave Gaukroger | Also posted in Posted | Comments (37)

An obituary sledge

March 17, 2012 – 5:02 pm

Margaret Whitlam has died at 92. A sad day for Gough and for the many people whose lives she touched. And I’m not convinced that certain lines in her ABC obituary were particularly fair to publish at this time. These remarks about Malcolm Fraser: [In a 1993 interview] she also spoke of her anger at [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Posted, Tim Leslie | Comments (26)

A MINISTER HAS RESIGNED. PREPARE TO GO BANANAS.

February 22, 2012 – 8:12 pm

The Foreign Minister has resigned! This means that the Labor leadership is “in crisis” for some reason!!!11!!1!!!! If you want to completely lose your sh*t about it – just like a real political journalist – then HERE IS THE THREAD TO DO IT. In the meantime, here’s the Pure Poison liveblog of the afternoon’s events: [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Open threads | Comments (79)

Journos desperate for a leadership spill to keep talking about the fact that they keep talking about a leadership spill

February 3, 2012 – 1:42 pm

The lead story on the ABC “news” site right now isn’t something that’s happened, something important that someone has said, or something that’s been announced. It’s self-fulfilling speculation about leadership speculation. Seriously? “How much longer?” How embarrassing… for the ABC. The headline when you click through is “Increasing speculation over PM’s future”. “Increasing speculation”? You [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Posted | Comments (62)

Pure Poison editors jointly win “Australian of the Year (who runs a media blog on Crikey and isn’t Margaret Simons)”

January 24, 2012 – 11:57 am

For those who care, apparently the Australian of the Year award will be announced on Wednesday evening. Which makes this headline on the ABC News website now a little confusing: Wait – what? Barry Humphries was awarded “Australian of the Year” in the UK? Or is there some kind of separate award for the UK-based [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Posted | Comments (12)

And Pure Poison predicts the ABC further losing credibility

January 4, 2012 – 3:36 pm

This is a front page story at ABC News online right now: I’m embarrassed for them. They do realise they don’t have to repeat every bit of drivel they find on the wires, right?

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Posted | Comments (14)