Book review
This book should be read by anyone who is concerned about the many nasty oligarchs that now influence so much of our lives.
Category Archives: the media
When journalists sane wash
A significant number of commentators have called on the media to stop sane washing bad behaviour of particular politicians and their lackeys. This call went unheeded during the run up to the last US elections and so a gang of self serving mobsters are now in the White House. I would have expected better from the The Atlantic.
NCA propaganda fools the ABC
When a government exercises significant influence over media outlets, propaganda and alternative facts easily become the message that people hear.
Equity in the media
We are not there yet
Sometimes we fool ourselves that equity is being treated seriously by most sector of society.
clarifying Macron
Just so no one gets confused…
A WORD or TWO on Facebook
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ABC heritage under attack
A WORD or TWO on Facebook
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A WORD or TWO on Facebook
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The New Yorker
A great magazine cover!
photoshop gone wrong
This is an official white house photo (or at least a cropped version)
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt Pepper’s 50th birthday
I cannot be! That it is 50 years since at around 11pm when I was suppose to be asleep in bed, that I heard this music coming from the lounge room.
Scientists say – what?
It had to happen. According to recent reports – roast potatoes were in the frame for causing cancer. Science says…
Trumpland gets even weirder
OMG – is this really 2017 – or 1984. Click on image for the story
Trump and the media
click on the image for the wise words about dealing with Trump
Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey‘s new posters
click on the image for the story behind these ‘we the people’ posters
The Media
Did Media Literacy Backfire?
click on the image for the article
Journalism
A word or two on the media and journalism – click on the image above
Journalism
What’s wrong with journalism today?
Picking up on an online article by Dr Martin Hirst where he lays out some of the problems with journalisms – I offer the following additional thoughts.
The ABC being Turnbulled
click on the image for The Guardian story – and weep about how Turnbull has set the ACB up to be dragged into the gutter.
Why all the super buzz about the supermoon?
Trust your ABC – no longer
A report that signals the ever increasing problems Australians have with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (the ABC) inaccurate reporting on issues.
The Art Newspaper – Still Wrong on The Bishop Museum
An update on the issue of a misleading article in The Art Newspaper. Click here and scroll down the page to see the latest on this story
The Art Newspaper – Wrong about The Bishop Museum
An open letter to The Art Newspaper( 29 July) plus correspondence (5 August 2016)
Over many years I have accessed the Art Newspaper and when appropriate have either passed on links or have posted articles online that have links back to the Art Newspaper.
Continue reading The Art Newspaper – Wrong about The Bishop Museum
Clive James
Trump Baby
Another sign of wonder. This one we came upon while walking down a street in Auckland. That hair should be a registered trademark.
Journalism in Australia
Comment on Australian Journalism
I have long been disappointed by the quality of Australian journalism. This includes the quality of the work being done through the ABC as well as most mainstream media. It has become far to easy to churn out any story without checking facts.
Hack Attack Nick Davies
2nd Notice: New Book
Hack Attack by Nick Davies
Just to remind you that this book is worth reading. Sadly the ending is a bit depressing in that Nick considers the power elite have reshuffled a little but carry on a s before.
It has also been interesting to read the story of Rebecca Brooks. The question has been posed elsewhere, was she just a user of the corporate and political systems in order to climb the ladder to join the ranks of those in power?
When news gets weird
Commentary: when the news gets weird
Most days the news is too predictable in that most sources simply churn out whatever the others are churning out.
Team Australia
click on the image for the First Dog on the Moon Cartoon
Nick Davies Hack Attack
Notice: New Book
Hack Attack by Nick Davies
I had read and reviewed Nick Davies former revelatory book, click here. Now Nick follows through with the more worrying story of the damage that has been done to the media following the phone hacking scandals.
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
Opinion:
Be Afraid, be Very Afraid of balance as provided by the ABC
Once upon a time I was a rusted on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) watcher. I relied on the ABC, and SBS, for most of my news and current affairs.
Over time as a reaction to the style of gotcha journalism that became the norm on the ABC, radio and TV, I started watching less and less. Today as the result of this quiet reduction in watching and listening to the ABC, I have found that I now routinely do not watch or listen to the ABC.
Judeo-Christian
Opinion: what is the government doing?
and now we have a misuse of the term Judea-Christian
I would recommend first reading the Wikipedia contributions on the use of the term, Judea-Christian (click on the image).
This term, Judea-Christian, is being thrown about by our Rabbott government and its appointed camp followers who are to review the yet to be implemented National Schools Curriculum.
There is now doubt that this carefully orchestrated use of the term Judea-Christian is in fact a nasty stirring up of discrimination.
Cultural Writing
Opinion: Cultural Criticism
The current state of Cultural Reviews and Critical Comment
Recently the Guardian ran an opinion piece on the Barangaroo development on the eastern edge of Sydney’s CBD. The author pointed out that she had been involved in the project.
I suggest that the author failed to declare that they had been more than just simply ‘involved’. In fact they had been a leading professional on the team that had won the design competition, that had then seen their designs criticised publicly by people such as Paul Keating, then had their wining design rejected by the client and a new design developed and the contracts awarded to other teams.
The Media
Opinion: The state of Australian Media
The Democracy experiment continues to be under threat
An article from the Asia Sentinel hits the mark on the media issues in Australia.
A milestone of a dubious kind was passed in Australia recently when it was discovered that the number of public relations practitioners had for the first time exceeded the number of journalists actually working as reporters and editors. (Hamish McDonald)
The full article is a good read. Click here.
Blame everyone else
Amazingly Stupid People can still get headlines
Yes those retail dinosaurs are still with us.
All those stupid consumers were supposed to spend up big after the recent federal election. The election of the Rabbott was supposed to bring about a boost to consumer confidence.
Flat Earth News
Review: Book
Flat Earth News, Nick Davies 2009
Just when you though the media and news reporting was crap, along comes a book that proves your worst thoughts on current journalism.
Nick Davies went out on limb as he has criticised his own profession. I suspect he did not win too many friends.
He was reporting on the facts based on his own research and experiences from inside the tent on what had happened to contemporary journalism and why we are now subject to so much ‘churnalism’. Continue reading Flat Earth News
Media (2)
Very topical speech, reproduced online in the Guardian Australia.
Katharine Viner, deputy editor of the Guardian and editor-in-chief of Guardian Australia, has reproduced her speech on The rise of the reader: journalism in the age of the open web.
It is long. A good read.
Truth is out there?
Julia’s ‘murderous rage’
An article in a paper today by Alecia Simmonds stopped me in my tracks.
In the piece she discusses the reporting of the conversation between Anne Summers and Julia Gillard in Sydney. Alecia questions why the reporting concentrated on the statement by Julia when she referred to ‘murderous rage’. Alecia point was that such reporting was about manufacturing controversy yet again. There remains so many celebratory aspects of this event to be highlighted and discussed but too many reporters have yet again chosen to concentrate on making a headline as some form of criticism.