politicalowl

Reading, watching and listening to journalists today as they reacted to Peter Dutton's comments on the literacy and numeracy of prospective asylum seekers reminded me of one of the most dispiriting periods of my time in politics. I was allowed to sit behind the one way mirror as a skilled researcher chatted with several groups of swinging voters about what they thought of the issues of the day and what influenced their views. For 30 years I had practised my journalistic craft and imagined that my words of wisdom influenced what my readers thought. How ego pricking it was to hear ordinary and often intelligent Australians explain how they turned the page when they saw a headline about electoral politics. Words of wisdom they might have been but influence they had not. And it was not just newspapers that the voters generally ignored. Talking heads on television fared no better. The words of last night's news were not remembered with just an occasional memory of the subject mat...

Political speech for most people can be expensive rather than free. Australia's defamation laws make it so. And it's not even a matter of losing a court case at the end. Even for winners the costs of lawyers along the way are crippling. The system is stacked against any person trying to expose what they consider to be impropriety. So thank goodness for public figures like broadcaster Alan Jones. Call him a shock-jock if you will but he is one of the few media commentators well paid enough to say what he thinks despite the attempts by politicians to silence him with legal actions. Some times Jones pays a high price for his outspokenness. Damages payments can be expensive. But that does not stop him from keeping on speaking out. As he did during the last Queensland state election when he relentlessly kept pursuing Liberal National Premier Campbell Newman and state Treasurer Jeff Seeney by suggesting they “prostituted” themselves in support of an LNP donor’s controversial coal m...

Rupert Murdoch, fearing company’s future, told Sun journalists to get ‘act together’ on Labour coverage  - The News Corp chairman –  who owns The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times – visited London at the end of February, and reportedly warned journalists on his tabloid newspaper of the threat a Labour government would have on the company. Last week, in its manifesto, Labour pledged to ensure that no “one media owner should be able to exert undue influence on public opinion and policy makers”. It said: “No media company should have so much power that those who run it believe themselves above the rule of law.” This appears to be a reference to the News UK (the UK’s biggest national newspaper publisher) and the hacking scandal. The Independent reports this morning that the News Corp boss, who has made no secret of his dislike of the Labour leader, told the editor of The Sun, David Dinsmore, that he expected the paper to be much sharper in its attacks...

That’s how 7News saw things this morning. It pretty much sums up the attitude of most of the media. Notable exceptions were the two biggest selling Murdoch tabloids and the ABC. The socialist leaning ABC? Yes the ABC website preferred Mr Spock and a Russian murder. For the PM it was a straight report on meetings in New Zealand. The Melbourne Herald Sunalso  was very low key on page seven while the Sydney Tele relegated its coverage to page nine with: Up in Brisbane  The Courier Mail  brought out the egg eater to whip the leadership speculation along. Laurie Oakes had his column elevated to page one, where soe people might actually notice it, rather than being hidden in the boring opinion pages as in the other tabloids. Laurie’s message? Uncertainty about whether a leadership coup would help or hurt the NSW Coalition could be a key factor if Abbott earns another reprieve. That is all it would be. The last couple of weeks have provided strong evidence for ...

Reporting on an opinion poll giving the public view of the New South Wales upper house: From the website of the Tasmanian Parliament: The Legislative Council of Tasmania A Message from the President of the Legislative Council, The Honourable James Scott Wilkinson, MLC. The Legislative Council, which is the Upper House in the Tasmanian Parliament, is a unique parliamentary institution. Established in 1825 as the original legislative body in Tasmania (then Van Diemen’s Land) it is the only House of Parliament in the Commonwealth, and probably in the world, that has never been controlled by any government or any political party. It has always had a majority of independent members making it a truly genuine House of Review. The Legislative Council has extensive constitutional powers, but Members are conscious of their powers and responsibilities and make their decisions accordingly. The independent nature of the House makes for meaningful debate of the issues without the r...

@sprocket___ Abbott knighthood a joke and embarrassment. Time to scrap all honours everywhere, including UK. — Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 27, 201 @sprocket___ Abbott knighthood a joke and embarrassment. Time to scrap all honours everywhere, including UK. — Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch)  Be afraid Tony Abbott, be very afraid. The worm has well and truly turned. See  The Abbott nightmare came on waking up