Tony Abbott’s case for government
We’ve seen an increasing volume of bluster from the Coalition over recent days – clearly a coordinated strategy given the almost identical choice of words used by each front bencher (allowing for a lapse on Joe Hockey’s part – “centre [...]
The politics of the ALP-Greens alliance
I won’t bother to link to the media denunciations of the ALP-Greens agreement – suffice it to say that Paul Kelly thinks the Labor ‘brand’ is in danger (oh no!), someone or other is probably red baiting, and there are [...]
The media, ‘reform’ and the interregnum
In my article for The Drum on Monday, I observed: What will be most interesting over the next few days and weeks will be whether the Australian commentary machine’s momentum finally switches – an actual event has occurred, but the [...]
Federal election 2010: The end of Paul Kelly's neo-liberal consensus
One day it would be interesting to research whether Paul Kelly was the first to proclaim the importance of the ‘narrative’ in Australian politics. Certainly, it’s been his leitmotif. And central to his two door-stopping tomes on recent political history [...]
Brumby vs. Rudd (and sundry other premiers)
With the announcement of substantial funding for aged care closing the Commonwealth’s offer to the Premiers on health policy ahead of the COAG meeting next week, the National Health and Hospitals Network roadshow reaches the penultimate stage in the drama. [...]
On Paul Kelly and political history
I referred in an earlier post to Paul Kelly’s style of commentary – a mix of oracular pronouncement and portentous ponderings about the primacy of narrative. I actually read his March of Patriots a while back, and planned to review [...]
Political media FAIL
Richard Farmer: No government this morning. For the first time since I have been preparing the breakfast media wrap for Crikey I could not find a story to list this morning that quoted a Federal Government Minister. The whole attention [...]
Tim Soutphommasane, ideology and narratives
The Australian is running a series on defining the left (!), kicking off with a contribution today by Tim Soutphommasane. Soutphommasane is apparently the go to person at the moment for all things social democratic, having written a book arguing [...]
Legacy wars
It was the political debate of last week, and we missed it. But that’s ok – so did most of the rest of the population, I would imagine. The columns of The Australian were full of the ‘legacy wars’ – [...]
The Liberals' two hour strategy
In discussing Joe Hockey’s latest musings on the need for tens of billions of dollars of spending cuts yesterday, I wondered whether the Libs had conceded the next election, and were trying to position themselves for the one after. I [...]
Of media narratives, truth and narratologies
By Mark Bahnisch on November 17, 2009
It would be interesting to study the role of the economics editor. In Australia, at least, those papers and media outlets which employ such a person appear to see the role as enforcing the BCA line on liberal economics, even [...]
Posted in Advertising, Culture, Economics, Markets, Media, Politics, Sociology, The Web | Tagged Andrew Charlton, BCA, commentariat, confession, Culture, cyber-utopianism, discourse, economic policy, economics journalism, ideology, Kevin Rudd, March of Patriots, marketing, Michael Sutchbury, michel foucault, Monthly Essay, narrative, narratology, neo-liberalism, Paul Kelly, policy narrative, productivity commission, reason, Rudd government, Sociology, therapeutic cultures, truth | 46 Responses