Dear Newspapers

Here is my open letter to the mainstream media publications - the so-called (or once proclaimed) "News" bearers of our country.

Dear <Daily Tele / The Australian / SMH / etc, etc>

I'm just wondering why we constantly have to be subjected to slanted, cherry-picked 'opinion pieces' by your journos under your masthead?

I want facts. News. If your journos want their opinions out there instead of gathering facts for their next story, send them to Wordpress or Blogspot, just like this. Here. Like I, an ordinary citizen, have done.

Why? Your publication is a NEWSpaper. News. N. E. W. S. News. Remember News?

Opinion pieces have overtaken your publication's ability to provide quality coverage of anything, most of all politics. And you don't even give your readers the right to respond to your numerous opinions! You just put your slanted views out there for the world to see as if its fact - cos it's under a News masthead.

One more thing... about your colleagues on TV (which is often you, as well). Stop interviewing each other to spout more of your opinions. You are not the News! (I'm especially talking to you Sky News Australia) Reminder - You are meant to report the News, not BE the News.

I can't take you seriously anymore. I'm going to have to break up with you.

Don't contact me anymore. No more emails, don't tweet me, and please stay away from my Google and Safari. You are ineffective in providing the service you promised me. It's over.


Goodbye

Kind Regards,
Rachel
QLD

Eye on Coal Seam Gas Industry

David vs CSG Goliath

Well it's a hot button topic, and getting hotter all the time. I've posted on the CSG industry before, here and here. It's certainly shaping up as a David versus the international mining Goliath, and the state Governments, certainly those in New South Wales and Queensland, seem to be on the side of Goliath.

I just thought I would do another quick blog and post links to some pertinent articles I have come across, for those wanting to keep an eye on the state of the industry. This first one, in particular, is a big worry. Residents living in the Tara residential estate west of Toowoomba in QLD have reported nosebleeds, chronic headaches, nausea and rashes. One resident claims he can even set his dam on fire. All since CSG activities began in the area.

The community claims residents have been lied to about the effects of CSG mining, so this is one to definitely keep a close eye on. I will add to the list as I come across more stories.

• Residents of TARA, QLD claim nosebleeds, chronic headaches due to water contamination of CSG mining 

http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/protesters-want-qld-minister-to-drink-csg-water/

• NSW Labor opposition claims a secretive new Liberal National Party policy weakens CSG mining controls

http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/labor-secret-nsw-policy-weakens-csg-controls/

• The Coalition says it will 'get around' a new law to force the federal government to take responsibility for coal seam gas, giving power for environmental assessments to the states to speed up the approval process and boost the CSG industry.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/30/coalition-coal-seam-gas-law

Independent Online Media

Don't think the recent change of Victorian Premier was a 'smooth transition'? Want to know the truth about the NBN? Think the media is beating up leadership speculation to the detriment of real news? Wonder what ever happened to the Peter Slipper case or the whispers the 'Costello Audit' in Queensland was under the scrutiny of the CMC, but never heard of it again?

Following on from a couple of recent posts ranting about the bias of much of today's main stream media, I thought I would compile a list of Independent Online Media that readers of especially politial journalism can turn to to get either another perspective from that of MSM at worst, or at best totally unbiased fact reporting, as pure journalism was meant to be.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, and I will add to this as I come across more.

Please feel free to suggest your own in the comments at the bottom.

BTW - I'm still moving to Mars...


Independent News Sites; 
Crikey;
New Matilda; 
Independent Australia; 


Independent News Blogs;
The Hoopla; 
Online Opinion;  


Political News Blogs;
Politically homeless;
Australian Independent Media Network




WARNING; These sites will not appeal to listeners of Alan Jones', nor readers of Andrew Bolt, or others who only partake in partisan, biased and outright blatant nonfactual rantings of those in the extreme right la-la land, who prefer spin, prejudice and discrimination. Jes' saying...

THE MONTHLY MARCH 2013 HIGHLIGHTS

Thank you to THE MONTHLY and editor John van Tiggelen
Refreshing perspective and well said

EDITOR’S NOTE

“We’ve got your back, Prime Minister,” was how Paul Howes waved Julia Gillard off the stage at last week’s AWU conference on the Gold Coast – a slightly chilling pledge from a self-professed faceless man of the Labor Party. But who did have her back, if not Howes? Was it his friend and predecessor as AWU national secretary, Bill Shorten? The press gallery had been asking the question all week. On Wednesday the Australian’s front-page headline even went so far as to dare him: “SHORTEN URGED TO END PARALYIS”.

Shorten didn’t miss a beat. What paralysis? The journalists would have to scrape elsewhere to sustain their negativity between poll releases. For two and a half years they’d willed Gillard to be dead meat. It was as if she’d never governed. As if she hadn’t got through key reforms. As if she hadn’t managed one of the most precariously balanced coalitions in the history of federation. As if the key Independents – conservatives, both – weren’t still admirers. Of course there had been blunders; there always are in hindsight. Take asylum seeker policy (see Robert Manne’s essay). Or the mining tax. Two and a half years ago Gillard had the foresight to acknowledge that Rudd and Wayne Swan’s Resource Super Profits Tax was a dog. It now turns out her (and Swan’s) replacement tax is little better. All the same, as you’ll find conceded meekly in the business pages, it probably is better.

The media pack knows all too well Kevin Rudd’s personality is utter anathema to good governance. That’s why News Ltd campaigned so hard to bring him down in the first place. He began his revenge by compelling Gillard to appoint him foreign minister, and has behaved wickedly ever since. At no stage has he shown any inclination to place his party’s interests ahead of his own. He privately continues to fulminate about “Lady Macbeth”, while leaving it openly clear that, although he won’t challenge for the leadership, he’d like to be drafted.

Yet the gallery bangs on and on about his popularity. Why, yes, the last Fairfax/Nielsen poll shows twice as many Australians would prefer Rudd to Gillard as their prime minister. But half of those Australians are coalition voters, who likely include the mischievous as well as the misogynist. Well away from the front page, one finds Labor voters prefer Gillard by 53% to 45%. So where is the story? After all, twice as many Australians would prefer Malcolm Turnbull to Tony Abbott, too.

Under Rudd, the Labor Party was rightly pilloried for taking a they-love-me-they-love-me-not, poll-driven, focus-group-based approach to government. Gillard put a stop to that. Now the Labor Party is pilloried for not heeding weekly popularity surveys such as Nielsen and Newspoll.

There was another national popularity poll out last month, barely reported. The circulations audit for the latter half of 2012 revealed sales of the major newspapers, including the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian, dropped between eight and 15%. Meanwhile the Monthly’s circulation went up 10%. We won’t be joining any pack; hence our cover story. The interview and photo shoot with the seven female ministers took place almost three weeks ago in Parliament House. Anna Goldsworthy’s report is superb and telling: it’s about respect. There’s not enough of it.

John van Tiggelen
Editor

http://www.themonthly.com.au/

Tony Abbott would lose federal election if held today, new poll says

27 February, 2013
 

New poll shows reverse in polling trend

A new Soapy Poll released today shows 100 per cent of voters would not vote for a Tony Abbott lead LNP if the election was held today.

The Soapy Poll, conducted yesterday on behalf of Rachel’s Soapbox, showed startling results that have been named the ‘funeral notice’ of the LNP according to unnamed sources from within the Party ranks. 

The extreme unpopularity of the Leader of the Opposition, dubbed Negative Tony, is a wakeup call for the LNP say some anonymous insiders. As one pollster commented, "It has gotten to the point where I have to mute him from the news when he comes on. He has nothing positive to say, and he is doing nothing to build up his credibility with forward thinking Australian women."

"As far as I can see, Tony Abbot just continues to damage the Liberal Party brand, and his relentless negativity, as well as his poor communications towards the current Prime Minister, are just cementing my vote for Labor," one anonymous voter said. 

Recent polls have shown that Malcolm Turnbull is a more popular choice for opposition leader, and according to the unnamed sources Turnbull has the numbers needed to topple the unpopular Abbott. 

The Soapy Poll clearly shows that the LNP would have a better chance of winning at the September election if Turnbull was in charge. 

This poll result is backed up by a recent QandA program, whereby the audience expressed a view to see Malcolm Turnbull in the top job under any party. In recent correspondence from the author to the Federal Member for Wentworth in regard to the question of LNP leadership, Mr Turnbull replied "Thank you", clearly indicating that he was not putting the idea in cryogenic storage.

According to the poll, 100 per cent of responders think Julia Gillard is doing a good job as the Prime Minister, despite ongoing reports from main stream media that everyone thinks she is the worst Prime Minister ever. 

This is the view espoused especially by veteran political journalist Michelle Grattan. And far right wing columnist and antagonist Andrew Bolt, and ostracised shock jock Alan Jones. And News Limited. And Sky News; who all go on and on and on about the leadership speculation despite actual news taking place all around them.

However, speculation as to the LNP leadership has been growing within the media ranks since the release of this most recent poll, where 100 per cent of respondents agreed the ALP policies were better than the LNPs, which they occasionally heard about on ABC News and more often from independent online media outlets.

Of the one person polled by Soapy, 100 per cent said they believed Australia would be worse off under an Abbott lead opposition. 

Following the release of the poll, Rachel’s Soapbox asked Mr Abbott if he was concerned about his tenure as Leader of the Liberal Party at today’s presser, but he said he was not taking questions from the media. 

Written in sarcasm font for Rachel's Soapbox on behalf of unbalanced media reporting and question-shy opposition leaders. The views expressed in this article don't necessarily represent the views of the author. Much.

Leadership speculation AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN!!!

Yep, here we go... AGAIN … Arrrrrghhh... Enough already!

I can only presume that the Main Stream Media (MSM) is either trying to make the ALP look as unstable as possible, or they hate Julia so much this is their way of getting their own back.

If the tone of some of the non-MSM eulogy articles about veteran political reporter Michelle Grattan’s departure from The Age is an indication, it could be the latter (Grattan's Impact). She has been after Gillard to ‘quit’ for quite some time, amongst others. (Grattan - Why Julia should quit), (Andrew Bolt).

Or maybe it was the now globally infamous misogyny speech that made the male dominated media titchy, and they can’t stand to see a woman, especially Julia, in charge for another three years. (Unleashed), and (Gillard's Misogyny Speech one month on) 

Or maybe – if all the positive NLP rhetoric and reporting can be used as an indication; it is in fact the former. They simply want a Liberal Government in power, for whatever reason. This can be evidenced by the constant negative spin towards the ALP, no matter what they do or say, and positive spin towards the LNP and negative Tony, examples of which are far too many to list. A quick Google news search will demonstrate this.(Google News search)

I don’t know… we plebs can only speculate. But what I do know, is all the speculation hype is over the top; over-imagined; a non-story. And this time around even more so than the many, many times before. Surely there are more important things going on in news in the world?

Rudd, after all, has put the issue in cryogenic storage. (Rudd doesn't want top job)

But even that is not enough for MSM to put up and shut up and get on with real reporting. No… now the angle is… what will it take to melt Rudd out of cryogenic storage. It’s an endless circle (or is that circus?). (Rudd waiting for a Gillard meltdown) 

Can you tell I’m typing very hard on my keyboard at the moment?

Some recent examples of this endless cycle of a non-story include the notorious Sky News Australia. Constant reports on the 24 hour news channel are about the leadership speculation. Yesterday (Fri 22 Feb '13) Sky show The Contrarians devoted almost an entire show to the subject! Perhaps they should change their name to Seinfeld – the show about nothing.

A Galaxy poll of a mere 800 Queenslanders– Rudd’s home state - taken on behalf of the Courier Mail, were asked their opinion on whether a Rudd-lead ALP would make them more likely to vote for the ALP in the next election. Apparently just over 500 polled said yes. In the eyes of MSM, this small sample of Queenslanders' opinions converted to proving the ALP will win the next election if Rudd was leader.

This tiny poll was reported askew right across our beloved MSM, with headlines like “Galaxy poll result could fuel push for Kevin Rudd comeback as Labor leader”, and “Galaxy poll finds Kevin Rudd would lead Labor to election victory if he regained ALP leadership”, including the prime time TV news shows.

"KEVIN Rudd would catapult Labor into an election-winning position if he was reinstalled as leader, according to a new Galaxy poll taken for The Courier-Mail."

BULLSHIT. This poll was a small sample, in Rudd’s home state, commissioned by the Courier Mail to give themselves, and MSM, more fodder to keep the story alive. Marketers won’t take any poll with a test sample of less than 1000 any credence, by the way.

So what about all the polls that say that Malcolm Turnbull would be a more popular leader than Tony Abbott? Where are those harping stories? They barely get a blip on the radar. (Turnbull preferred as coalition head) 

And then there are all the over-opinionated opinion pieces. As if there wasn’t enough opinion in the news pieces! This is one recent abhorrent example I stumbled across from the Sydney Morning Herald, which I believe even out-does the worst of the worst, from former Australian Financial Review columnist and day editor Alan Stokes, in this piece written in his new position as SMH columnist. (Dear Julia, it's time for a dignified exit speech)

How are we supposed to read any news articles in the SMH with any semblance of serious regard when this is the staple of their opinion pieces? Really? And I’m not on my own there if the comments under the piece are to be considered.

"This is written by Alan Stokes who wrote "The biggest issue facing concerned Australians is surely how to get Malcolm Turnbull to become prime minister" on the 21st November 2012 in the Fin Review." for example.

 

It’s enough to turn you off MSM news for good! Lucky for us, independent news websites and professional news blogs (no, not mine) are popping up all over the place and gaining in popularity, ready to take the place of the flailing traditional MSM, who seem to be unable to foresee their own approaching demise.

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, again, again now; report the facts, MSM. Leave the speculation and opinion and bullshit to the bloggers, and just feed us the news. Unbiased. That, after all, is meant to be your job! 

Journalism CODE OF ETHICS - CRIKEY!

News Blogs; Crikey; Politically homeless; The Hoopla; New Matilda; Online Opinion; Independent Australia;

Thanks to Independent Australia

Article: Is mainstream media biased?

Update 10.03.13
P.S. Twitter just showed me this little gem, and thought it was a relevant share re; views expressed above on veteran political reporter Michelle Grattan, by blogger Victoria Rollison; an open letter to Michelle Grattan. Well expressed!