Continuing an irregular series commenting on how the election looks to commercial tv viewers: commercial free to air is the biggest single source of information for voters.
On Channel Nine in Brisbane tonight, the sole election story was the seventh to be broadcast (the first six all being about crime, including ritual calls from the Queensland Police Union for more powers). The ninth story, on Masterchef, which of course is a Channel Ten show, was longer than the reporting of the election.
The election coverage was introduced by saying that Julia Gillard had been rocked by the polls. That must mean Newspoll, because Galaxy and Essential Research are positive for Labor. But they went without a mention, and the debate only got a couple of grabs, apparently last night’s news. Julia Gillard was shown in Launceston talking to hospital patients, intercut with vision of Kevin Rudd back in his visiting the sick days. Tony Abbott got longer in Brisbane, where it was noted that he was with his wife, but a kid didn’t know who he was. Not a mention I heard of the policy announcements each made – Gillard on training for emergency nurses, and Abbott on indexing childcare rebates again, and reintroducing an occasional carer’s payment for non-working parents.
Meanwhile, in the parallel universe that is ABC News 24, I switched over to The Drum where Chris Uhlmann, Fran Kelly and two white men in suits with glasses are still endlessly dissecting the campaign as I write. I don’t know who the two white men with glasses are, but one appears to be there to be a Labor spokesbot, so the other one is presumably there to provide balance. He’s wearing a pink tie, but they’ve got the same haircuts and glasses.
A tale of two campaigns from 6.00pm to 6.23pm.
The Murdoch media seem to be all over Tony Abbott and making out that he looks like a winner. So maybe people are seeing him and thinking OMG! and quietly polling for Julia Gillard. The Punch and Julia show last night was very disappointing, considering the spectacular sparring that these two are capable of. Why can’t the two of them just relax and punch each other out? They know they want to.
But the thing I can’t stand the most about this campaign are the phalanxes of journalists who are bemoaning what a bland, boring, cynical, minder-monitored and focus-grouped sham of a campaign it is. Every day, column after column – Peter Hartcher, there’s one on the SMH today, even Laurie Oakes is calling them pygmies and opining that both of them think they can con their way into the Lodge. I seriously don’t want to read any more crapulation posing as ‘political analysis’ on this campaign, I’m so bored with the media coverage.
Mr Pink?
Chris Uhlmann – once stood as a candidate for a conservative Christian party.
Fran Kelly – ‘Breakfast’ session on Radio National, a constant stream of right-wing talking points.
So now we’ve got both conservative hacks together in one place kicking Labor.
And the ABC has the hide to insist it is “balanced”.
It’s a joke. Put the broom through the bloody place!
As I was saying on the polls thread, the Newspoll result is being used by the media to drive a narrative that Abbott’s gaining traction. That’s probably as much because they need a horse race to maintain interest, fill up column inches, waste pixels, etc. ABC tv news just led with “Labor’s poll lead has evaporated”, before getting to the 2PP, and without mentioning the other polls.
@3 –
Really, Cuppa? I knew he was a former seminarian, like Abbott, and I noticed on The Drum he knew what a “Damascene conversion” is!
Incidentally, Paul Bongiorno on Ch. 10 is an ex-priest.
cuppa
Did you also comment as follows on Crikey on 7 May 2010?:
“Chris Uhlmann himself stood as a political candidate some years ago – for a minor Christian party”
Can you enlighten us (no pun intended) on which minor Christian party and when?
Cuppa, please don’t get personal with the backgrounds of ABC journos. It’s unbecoming.
Besides, anyone who read Piers Ackerman’s blog the other day and the comments within know that the ABC including the two mentioned journo’s are left wingers who are going too easy on the ABC.
There has to be some irony in the press complaints about a boring election when there own way of reporting the campaign, ignoring much of the policy and then misreporting what they do write about, contribute to the approach taken by the parties. Chicken or the egg?
The lead story in the Herald Sun today is about footballers slipping over on grass. This is the mother of non campaigns.
Funny, when thewy run election stories on ABC 1 & 2 the Coalition story always runs first, then the Government story. I thouight the Government of the day was supposed to come first. And that’s Labor. Oh, hang on, this is our ABC. And the Libs should’ve won the last election. I forgot.
Sam, the grass stuff is related to a botched turfing job, or more rightly a whole sequence of them over quite some time, at the new holy of holies in
Melbourne, Etihad stadium. Too many players are going down with serious leg injuries because of it and the players have got so fed up with the league’s stymieing of real action to deal with the OHS aspect, that its led players to propose a strike or boycott of Etihad, until AFL management finally get off their fat arrogant arses and do something.
There is a story there, the subtext is industrial relation and employer duty of care as a low priority.
Not deserving of p1, true.
But if you read the daily Murdoch tabloid, you already know you are not going to find out too much about the real world,at all.