Rupert Murdoch elected in Australia :-)

[Guest]

I think it was inevitable, and I think bearing in mind the electorate's antipathy towards Gillard it would have been even worse for Labor if she hadn't been replaced. I do think Parleycross is right, Abbot is very much in tune with how the vast majority of Australians feel about their country and the wider world.

 

So I guess this will mean that "the boats" will stop this week, and that Gina R will be announced as Australia's new Environment, Overseas Trade and Justice Minister?! :wink:

[Guest Guest66881]

I think it was inevitable, and I think bearing in mind the electorate's antipathy towards Gillard it would have been even worse for Labor if she hadn't been replaced. I do think Parleycross is right, Abbot is very much in tune with how the vast majority of Australians feel about their country and the wider world.

 

So I guess this will mean that "the boats" will stop this week, and that Gina R will be announced as Australia's new Environment, Overseas Trade and Justice Minister?! :wink:

 

 

Not a bad start then:wink:

[MARYROSE02]

Yes I do.......the Daily Telegraph is a typical Murdoch tabloid and the "Coalition Gazette" even though a broadsheet is not much better.

 

 

"Typical" as in everybody wants to buy it? And you obviously don't read The Australian on a regular basis, otherwise you would be aware that ALP supporters and ministers (well, they WERE ministers) often contribute articles. Let me just check today's edition. Yes, there's a piece by Craig Emerson (former minister in the Gillard Government) as well as an objective article about Bill Shorten.

[MARYROSE02]

Ironic thing is that Murdoch could have run a blanket campaign in favour of the ALP and they still would have been kicked out. Craig Thompson, Peter Slipper, Eddie Obeid, et al, ad nauseam. Even the Fairfax Press was sick of Rudd and Gillard.

[Guest Guest66881]

I was banking on the high speed broadband for my xbox speeds, 'said the local i can vote now person'.:wink:

[Bobbsy]

Ironic thing is that Murdoch could have run a blanket campaign in favour of the ALP and they still would have been kicked out. Craig Thompson, Peter Slipper, Eddie Obeid, et al, ad nauseam. Even the Fairfax Press was sick of Rudd and Gillard.

 

Not true.

 

Yeah, not all the Murdoch press has been as openly hostile as The Telegraph but Murdoch has been running a subtle anti-Labor, pro-coalition spin campaign in his media holdings for years. All the perceptions of Australia being in a financial crisis when, in reality, it has the healthiest economy in the developed world can be traced straight back to Murdoch. It's a great example of "say something often enough and it will be believed".

 

Had Murdoch been spinning the other way, just think of how he could have played up the "Australian debt as a percentage of GDP is a third of that in the UK" or "Australian unemployment still the lowest in the Western world" stories.

 

It was a relentless and subtle chipping away at the truth.

 

No, the men in grey in the Labor Party didn't help any with their US-supported coup against Rudd. That was stupid politics--but if Rudd hadn't been brought back, the defeat would have been turned into a rout.

 

Anyhow, I'm getting old but I really hope the world eventually wakes up to just how dangerous Rupert Murdoch is when he propagandises his right wing agenda in the USA, UK and Australia (and probably elsewhere).

[flybyknight]

Those of us with an IQ above 80 know what it means.......unfortunately the majority of voters out there in slobsville don't qualify......they think that NewsCorp is the Gospel.

 

thing is, if you have your name everywhere, and a fairly large chunk of the media telling the simpletons that any vote that isn't for you is wasted. then to them, its the way to feel like you 'won' by choosing the right guy.

 

if the policies i read in other threads on here are in any way accurate, its a sad day for Australia, and an even sadder day for the world at large. an iq above 80 is about right, i guess in a country where legally you have to vote, if you can program the knuckle draggers, you're at least half way there. its pretty sad.

[flybyknight]

Not true.

 

Yeah, not all the Murdoch press has been as openly hostile as The Telegraph but Murdoch has been running a subtle anti-Labor, pro-coalition spin campaign in his media holdings for years. All the perceptions of Australia being in a financial crisis when, in reality, it has the healthiest economy in the developed world can be traced straight back to Murdoch. It's a great example of "say something often enough and it will be believed".

 

Had Murdoch been spinning the other way, just think of how he could have played up the "Australian debt as a percentage of GDP is a third of that in the UK" or "Australian unemployment still the lowest in the Western world" stories.

 

It was a relentless and subtle chipping away at the truth.

 

No, the men in grey in the Labor Party didn't help any with their US-supported coup against Rudd. That was stupid politics--but if Rudd hadn't been brought back, the defeat would have been turned into a rout.

 

Anyhow, I'm getting old but I really hope the world eventually wakes up to just how dangerous Rupert Murdoch is when he propagandises his right wing agenda in the USA, UK and Australia (and probably elsewhere).

 

we need a 'like a lot' button on this thing!

[Guest Ptp113]

Oh and you know him personally do you?!

How would you know really?! And for your information - I do know him. We're not mates, but he does live one street away from me and I can assure you that despite whatever you read about him in the press, he is a fantastic MP for Warringah and I am sure he will be a wonderful PM for Australia too.

You obviously haven't met him then?

[Slean Wolfhead]

"Typical" as in everybody wants to buy it? And you obviously don't read The Australian on a regular basis, otherwise you would be aware that ALP supporters and ministers (well, they WERE ministers) often contribute articles. Let me just check today's edition. Yes, there's a piece by Craig Emerson (former minister in the Gillard Government) as well as an objective article about Bill Shorten.

 

I think the point is about media bias is that Editorials will always be biased and rightly so, but they should be marked as Editorial opinion and on the inside of the newspaper, just the same as sponsored stories have to be identified as "advertising" at the top of the page, so that readers know this isn't an impartial piece. They do that for advertising because generally, people can be pretty stupid and not realise that they're reading a deliberate biased advert and can believe it as fact, so why not for politics when exactly the same issue is at stake?

 

The Murdoch press don't do that, they place a cartoon on the front page and push for whichever party is going to support their business, but their greatest trick is convincing people to follow their line even if it's detrimental to them.

There was a famous 1992 front page in the Sun saying something like "If Labour Wins will the last person to leave the country turn off the lights". This was during a recession where people were suffering and the Government trailing in the polls. The opposition had held a victory party the night before the election, they were that overconfident. The Government had a stunning unexpected victory and the next day's "The Sun" had a front page saying "It Woz The Sun That Won It". They had turned the tide and made turkeys vote for Christmas, a brilliant piece of propaganda.

You can't get more blatant than that (Murdoch was pulled up on this at the Leveson enquiry last year and had no choice but to admit that it was a "mistake", because it was contrary to every line he'd been uttering about his newspapers lack of influence and bias, just like he's done in Australia over the last month.)

One of my mates was an unemployed tiler and he voted for that Government who'd failed to help him find a job for the previous 2 years, totally ignored his sector and slammed people like him for not getting off their backsides and working for nothing. He said he voted for them because he read it in "The Sun" that the alternative was even worse, and because they'd "never done him any harm and my mum's always voted for them". Even though he was on the dole and at the lowest ebb of his working life.

Newspapers and politicians know that for all the policy making, Q+A sessions, all the hard work campaigning and doorknocking, there is a large enough proportion of the voting public to swing an election who are so ignorant that they can be influenced by a cartoon and a 12 word headline.

In Australia just the same as in the UK, they're the same societies with the same culture, so the same tricks work on both countries populations.

Murdoch knows this very well, that's why he sent Col Allan back to NewsCorp AU in July from New York to "advise on Editorial strategy", and why Kim Williams resigned a week later......and all this bias began immediately. Murdoch wanted Australia back to serve his company, and Murdoch wanted the Australian hick culture to vote for his interests. There is no other explanation, he decided to control the pawns.....with your newspapers controlling 70% (?) of print media, that's a big deal.

Thus, control of the press when they can say what they like without producing any analysis or evidence is a massively powerful tool. You don't need to explain policy or finance because you assume that most people can't be bothered to read it, check facts for themselves, understand it, or even work out how it will affect them. They're happy to be told what to do. A cartoon with a funny face can work miracles.

 

Labor were rubbish, good policies but unprofessional, divided and very bad at implementation. The public services do need a sharp kick up the arse over here, the import/export balance is poor, and work methods and efficiency over here are way behind the West. They deserved to lose for not diversifying the economy and reigning in spending earlier....BUT :

The worst thing they've done is allow an Opposition leader to get elected without stating his policies or clear costings, with him being elected as PM saying that "everything is on the table". That is really dangerous. I don't think a lot of Australians have understood what this could actually mean for them, in their desperation to give the Government a kick in the teeth...just the same as the UK people in 2010 who did exactly the same and have regretted it ever since as even the people who voted for change have been hammered.

The worst Government is the one that makes it up on the hoof, or works off a secret plan that hasn't been publicised; they don't have to stick to a firm set of mandated policies because they weren't forced into producing them to get elected....so they have a free mandate to do what they like and to whom they like..even the people who voted for them. A lot of those folk at the bottom end of the food chain will one day remember back to a cartoon and a silly face and see that was the only policy they voted for.

[Guest]

I think the point is about media bias is that Editorials will always be biased and rightly so, but they should be marked as Editorial opinion and on the inside of the newspaper, just the same as sponsored stories have to be identified as "advertising" at the top of the page, so that readers know this isn't an impartial piece. They do that for advertising because generally, people can be pretty stupid and not realise that they're reading a deliberate biased advert and can believe it as fact, so why not for politics when exactly the same issue is at stake?

 

The Murdoch press don't do that, they place a cartoon on the front page and push for whichever party is going to support their business, but their greatest trick is convincing people to follow their line even if it's detrimental to them.

There was a famous 1992 front page in the Sun saying something like "If Labour Wins will the last person to leave the country turn off the lights". This was during a recession where people were suffering and the Government trailing in the polls. The opposition had held a victory party the night before the election, they were that overconfident. The Government had a stunning unexpected victory and the next day's "The Sun" had a front page saying "It Woz The Sun That Won It". They had turned the tide and made turkeys vote for Christmas, a brilliant piece of propaganda.

You can't get more blatant than that (Murdoch was pulled up on this at the Leveson enquiry last year and had no choice but to admit that it was a "mistake", because it was contrary to every line he'd been uttering about his newspapers lack of influence and bias, just like he's done in Australia over the last month.)

One of my mates was an unemployed tiler and he voted for that Government who'd failed to help him find a job for the previous 2 years, totally ignored his sector and slammed people like him for not getting off their backsides and working for nothing. He said he voted for them because he read it in "The Sun" that the alternative was even worse, and because they'd "never done him any harm and my mum's always voted for them". Even though he was on the dole and at the lowest ebb of his working life.

Newspapers and politicians know that for all the policy making, Q+A sessions, all the hard work campaigning and doorknocking, there is a large enough proportion of the voting public to swing an election who are so ignorant that they can be influenced by a cartoon and a 12 word headline.

In Australia just the same as in the UK, they're the same societies with the same culture, so the same tricks work on both countries populations.

Murdoch knows this very well, that's why he sent Col Allan back to NewsCorp AU in July from New York to "advise on Editorial strategy", and why Kim Williams resigned a week later......and all this bias began immediately. Murdoch wanted Australia back to serve his company, and Murdoch wanted the Australian hick culture to vote for his interests. There is no other explanation, he decided to control the pawns.....with your newspapers controlling 70% (?) of print media, that's a big deal.

Thus, control of the press when they can say what they like without producing any analysis or evidence is a massively powerful tool. You don't need to explain policy or finance because you assume that most people can't be bothered to read it, check facts for themselves, understand it, or even work out how it will affect them. They're happy to be told what to do. A cartoon with a funny face can work miracles.

 

Labor were rubbish, good policies but unprofessional, divided and very bad at implementation. The public services do need a sharp kick up the arse over here, the import/export balance is poor, and work methods and efficiency over here are way behind the West. They deserved to lose for not diversifying the economy and reigning in spending earlier....BUT :

The worst thing they've done is allow an Opposition leader to get elected without stating his policies or clear costings, with him being elected as PM saying that "everything is on the table". That is really dangerous. I don't think a lot of Australians have understood what this could actually mean for them, in their desperation to give the Government a kick in the teeth...just the same as the UK people in 2010 who did exactly the same and have regretted it ever since as even the people who voted for change have been hammered.

The worst Government is the one that makes it up on the hoof, or works off a secret plan that hasn't been publicised; they don't have to stick to a firm set of mandated policies because they weren't forced into producing them to get elected....so they have a free mandate to do what they like and to whom they like..even the people who voted for them. A lot of those folk at the bottom end of the food chain will one day remember back to a cartoon and a silly face and see that was the only policy they voted for.

 

 

Brilliant post, and an excellent summary of just how effectively the media influence the 'passive' voter. I remember during the 1992 UK election how The Sun was at pains to stress it's 'impartiality' throughout the campaign, and then on polling day pulled the Neil Kinnock 'light-bulb' front-page. I think the odious headline you've referenced came about as the Tories freely acknowledged that without Murdoch's support Labour would have won. I'm sure Murdoch will not be slow in reminding Abbot of the debt he owes him.

[Parley]

Murdoch is not stupid.

He backs whoever he knows is going to win. He just jumps on the bandwagon

[Peach]

Murdoch is not stupid.

He backs whoever he knows is going to win. He just jumps on the bandwagon

 

No he chooses who he wants to win and backs them. That isn't a difficult concept to get your head around.

[Johndoe]

Murdoch is not stupid.

He backs whoever he knows is going to win. He just jumps on the bandwagon

 

No, he creates the bandwagon and drives it.

[Bobbsy]

No, he creates the bandwagon and drives it.

 

^^^^

 

This. Murdoch has a very specific agenda and uses his media to brainwash the gullible into believing him against their own best interests.

[flag of convenience]

Murdoch is not stupid.

He backs whoever he knows is going to win. He just jumps on the bandwagon

 

Nothing of the sort. Politicians court Murdoch. He hasn't quite got the sting in the tail he once had but still formidable.

[flag of convenience]

I think it was inevitable, and I think bearing in mind the electorate's antipathy towards Gillard it would have been even worse for Labor if she hadn't been replaced. I do think Parleycross is right, Abbot is very much in tune with how the vast majority of Australians feel about their country and the wider world.

 

So I guess this will mean that "the boats" will stop this week, and that Gina R will be announced as Australia's new Environment, Overseas Trade and Justice Minister?! :wink:

 

Gina said the other day that felons with non violent records should be able to buy their way out of prison. Sounds she may be lining up for Justice Minister, if they can whack a few more million on the take home, tax free pay. Such sentiments will no doubt get a big tick from our new government.

[flag of convenience]

"Typical" as in everybody wants to buy it? And you obviously don't read The Australian on a regular basis, otherwise you would be aware that ALP supporters and ministers (well, they WERE ministers) often contribute articles. Let me just check today's edition. Yes, there's a piece by Craig Emerson (former minister in the Gillard Government) as well as an objective article about Bill Shorten.

 

I read it most days and it is a mouth piece for the Libs. The occasional article by a member of the progressive side of politics does not infer a balanced journal.

[Guest]

Gina said the other day that felons with non violent records should be able to buy their way out of prison. Sounds she may be lining up for Justice Minister, if they can whack a few more million on the take home, tax free pay. Such sentiments will no doubt get a big tick from our new government.

 

Would they be criminals who are inside for tax evasion, insider-trading, breaching federal laws around worker safety and environmental vandalism?. I'd imagine she's got a list already prepared. :smile:

[Guest]

I read it most days and it is a mouth piece for the Libs. The occasional article by a member of the progressive side of politics does not infer a balanced journal.

 

Quite right. A bit like when The Sun used to carry a column by Ken Livingstone.

[starlight7]

Many people in the intelligent state (Victoria) read 'the Age'- which is nauseatingly and unrelentingly PC and left wing and not part of Murdoch's stable. They still voted Liberal. People are not as stupid as you seem to think when it comes to their hip pocket.

[Sir Les Patterson]

I read it most days and it is a mouth piece for the Libs. The occasional article by a member of the progressive side of politics does not infer a balanced journal.

 

When Howard was in government it was euphemistically known as "The Government Gazette"........in the last three years more and more so the "Opposition Gazette"

[starlight7]

The real reason the Libs got in was the constant back stabbing and instability of the Labour Party. Apart from KRudd himself of course.

[MARYROSE02]

The Fairfax Press is mostly pro Labor, and Murdoch is mostly pro-Liberal, but they are hardly Pravda-like in their bias. I enjoy reading the Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax) and The Australian (Murdoch.)