Comments on: Journalism and political bias in Australia: Melbourne and ANU study

By: Adrien

Adrien — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:04:23 +0000

Indeed… the demands for progressive taxation appear in the Principles of Communism of June in 1847 before reappearing in The Communist Manifesto
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Yet another one of Karl’s stupid ideas.

By: Fran Barlow

Fran Barlow — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:23:12 +0000

Ginja@103

Indeed… the demands for progressive taxation appear in the Principles of Communism of June in 1847 before reappearing in The Communist Manifesto

By: Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:37:00 +0000

could somebody tell me if it has any obvious bias.
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Yes. The Australian is Murdoch’s paper for the Australian intelligentsia. He does this wherever he goes. Most of his newspapers go downmarket. He keeps one ‘posh’. The discourse is catered directly for the ‘smart set’ and advocates an orthodoxy that includes free markets, the Anglo-Saxon world’s interests militarily etc.
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All papers have a bias.

By: 16 year Old

16 year Old — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:26:08 +0000

I haven’t really noticed a bias from the ABC but you would suspect that it would be more slanted towards the government in power as thats were they get their funding. Not being a reader of the The Australian, could somebody tell me if it has any obvious bias.

By: Adrien

Adrien — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:10:08 +0000

I thnk the differene is that those who mostly espouse a socialist vision tend to think of society as a collective and care mostly about issues to do with equality. Liberals think mostly abut individuals. The political parties tend to share these roles. Socially the Libs are more colletivist than the ALP.
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Conservatives tend to siply be conservative. Therefore conservative people rejected WorkChoices. A regulated labour market has been a traditional part of the culture. But that’s economics. There are other issues.
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And the voting patterns of different socio-economic slices have to do with class interests. I think ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ tend to be categopries that don’t always travel in perfect symmetry with class interests.

By: Ginja

Ginja — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:02:14 +0000

P.S. From memory Marx listed progressive taxation as one of his minimum demands – I don’t think it featured part of his utopian vision which would have done away with private property altogether.

…but I’m no Marxist, so I couldn’t say for sure.

By: Ginja

Ginja — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:53:08 +0000

I wouldn’t disagree with too much of that, Adrien.

I’m a social democrat (a more accurate description than socialist) but if someone wanted to call me a socialist I would lose much sleep over it.

The point is, you don’t have to be a socialist to embrace progressive taxation. Thoughtful conservatives have embraced progressive taxation.

I’ve had this argument too many times with friends, but I think – know – that the differences between Left and Right are real, profound and will continue to be important. Until someone explains to me why people in Mt Druitt vote overwhelmingly Labor while people on the North Shore vote overwhelmingly Liberal, I won’t be convinced that politics has changed all that much at all.

By: Adrien

Adrien — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:31:36 +0000

Ginja – although real left-wingers would know the difference between a Trot and a Social Democrat.
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I would say that anyone who isn’t politically ignorant should know that. The Left and Right are aliances of viewpoints and associations. Neither are homogenous. Nor is the arrangement stable. Altho’ certain dichotmies persit in reappearing.
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And if you’re going have fruits from the far-right on Insiders, why doesn’t my side get a go?
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Hear hear.
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And even though progressive taxation was one of demands in Marx’s Communist Manifesto, none of the things I mentioned are specifically socialist.
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I’d say prgressive taxation is a socialist idea. In the sense that socialism advocates certain policy instruments and considers things from a certain view. I’m not a socialist but I think it’s a valid viewpoint and contributes. Those who are socialists really should stop apologizing.
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What’s going on here, Ginja, is surfeit of the Left ascending for the first time in a long while. The media tends to reflect the audience more than anything else. If you don’t believe me have a look at the marketing dictates of Hollywood in the early 70s sometime. And they lag behind. They’re not going to sack Bolt and replace his column with Waleed Ali’s. But if, say, Rudd and Obama’s agenda’s work and they’re re-elected the media’s tune will change.
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It will for reasons of class interest never go too far to the left however.

By: adrian

adrian — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:53:55 +0000

Speaking of climate change, be afraid, be very afraid. At least this report my force some to appreciate the magnitude of the problem.

By: Ginja

Ginja — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:19:11 +0000

Thanks Helen, too.

The interesting thing is that the anti-Left bias in media commentary doesn’t have that much of an effect on the broader electorate.

Look at the media commentary about unions and Work Choices at the last election. Most of it concerned how Rudd needed to pull those scary union officials into line. Yet, out there in real Voterland, people weren’t worried about scary union officials, but they were deeply concerned about Work Choices.

I think the same goes for global warming. It’s my guess that most workers even in industries directly affected by the CPRS think that something needs to be done.

However, I think The Australian, for instance, does have an effect on the political agenda – for politicans timid and silly enough to take The Oz seriously.

But I pose this challenge for anyone out there: name any commentator who is firmly on the Left who has appeared on ABC TV lately.