Our weekly (mostly) look at media spin tactics: let’s dissect the PR and propaganda that aims to blow one’s own horn, bury one’s errors, resurrect the shambling zombie corpses of well-flogged deceased equines, and ooh look! A Big Distracting Thing!
The first question is always cui bono? The second question is what’s really going on?
Please note – this thread’s just for the analysis of media manoeuvres and their intended effects – discussion of other aspects of issues of interest belongs elsewhere. e.g. browse the archives | roundtables | open thread
The major spin for mine emerges from the ALP national conference over the weekend and argues that, somehow, refusing to sell uranium to India is a silly idea because they’re decent chaps who would never do the wrong thing. Oh, no, no, no. They’re sensible unlike their hysterical neighbours who are already demanding fair sharesies of Australian yellowcake.
Not so much reaping the whirlwind as creating it.
A couple of headlines for a story about a decision in the ANZ customer class action :
The Age – “Bank fees class action hits snag”
Courier Mail – “ANZ bank: Judge clears path for class action on fees “
Remember how I said the media narrative about Rudd was dead?
It’s not! Lead story on the SMH today.
The ALP need to get rid of Rudd now. Enough is enough apparently. I can’t wait to see ALP figures like Graham Richardson and Mark Latham aggreeing with this.
Interesting how News Ltd missed this story although The Age and SMH covered it as did the Insiders on Sunday:
http://m.theage.com.au/national/lib-policy-costings-exposed-by-ruling-20111130-1o773.html
Shush Wantok…it’s all about Rudd. I’m writing up an opinion piece for News Ltd now that’s an exercise in recursion. I’m going to allege that the leaks about Rudd are by Rudd about Rudd by Rudd about Rudd by Rudd (collapses in a dizzy heap.)
Murdochistan has a strange gravitational effect, all the current stories on Google News about the federal government appear under the heading “Kevin Rudd”, regardless of issue or content.
Speaking of the Murdoch press, someone was handing out free copies of The Australian outside the Perth central railway station this morning.
Even at that price, Tim, it’s hard to see how The Australian could compete with The Big Issue or even Green Left Weekly.
Still, it’ll boost their circulation figures …
Same thing this morning.
http://news.google.com.au/
News with Nipples looks at the media scrum again: When journalists stalk a child, episode 2
@CMMC, I’m not seeing that in Google News myself – not in my personalised news version, and not in the standard version either. Of course, these days Google provides an “individualised search result” based on our previous browsing/clicking habits, so perhaps it’s not surprising that we wouldn’t be seeing exactly the same thing.
What I am noticing is News Ltd chucking a giant tanty over the ABC being awarded the Australia Network contract.
Tigtog @ 12:
Of course, that’s after next to no coverage in News Ltd papers of the matter for the past few years when the contract for Australia Television was put out to tender…
Never understand why mortgage rates are the only rates that get focussed on – what about credit card or business rates or agri lending or the ATO rate on tax bills – there are plenty of different instruments that could have their rates adjusted for the benefit of many.
Article today on the drum, Sinclair Davidson IPA “Selling the ABC and other tricky media issues” , “To sum up; there is no good reason to increase media regulation in Australia. There is no good reason for government to own media in Australia. To the extent government does own the media, that media should be used to provide soft propaganda services to the region. There is no good reason why the whole of the ABC couldn’t be put out to tender rather than bits and pieces.”
Sinclair Davidson is a professor of economics at RMIT University and a senior fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs :,comments are open all night support our ABC.
OBR said:
Mortgage = house = Australian dream = castle = existential
Credit card = consumption, debt = morally suspect/Judeo-Christian taboo — neither a borrower nor a lender be
Simple enough.