Our ABC, Dominated and Intimidated

1-10

Introduction to Our ABC, Dominated and Intimidated

Some may wonder why a series entitled News Corp Narratives would include a book focussing on the public broadcaster in Australia.

The News Ltd narrative of the Gillard years

The theme of several of these narratives is that during the prime ministership of Julia Gillard, the distribution of news and opinion in Australia was shaped by the ideology and business interests of the media baron who dominated the media scene. This particular narrative will make the case that the public broadcaster, the ABC often marched lock step with the narratives, the distortions and the personal attacks of the behemoth that dominated Australian news media.

The organisation that controlled two thirds of the print media, had a dominant stake in the cable news channel, and a strong influence in free to air television ran with the dominant narrative that the Gillard minority government was in constant crisis; that Gillard leadership was illegitimate and constantly under threat of being terminated by Kevin Rudd whose every thought, deed and action was treated as the most important news of the day – of any day, perhaps of every day; that lack of civility, personal abuse, sexism and even misogyny were justified because that was what the Prime Minister and the government deserved, and the government in Australia was so awful – after all there was a preoccupation with the polls which were a mere reflection of the only narrative of the News Ltd media was feeding the Australian people – that it was terminal. There was virtually a strike on the discussion of policy and ideas. There was minimal scrutiny of the opposition which the forces of News Corporation were determined to install in government as soon as possible. The ill feelings towards the government and towards the Prime Minister in particular were very personal.

The silenced narrative

The ABC was also very proactive in silencing the other narrative of this period of government. It was as if there were severe restrictions on the reporting of good news, and there was plenty of good news with the Australian economy a standout performer among its peers in the developed world in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. ABC commentators and various ABC programs minimized and often refused to entertain any good news as they became consumed by the hyperbole of the media giant about disasters, crisis, dysfunction, assassinations, nightmares, lies, and incessant to the point of the obsession, Kevin Rudd.

Australians were poorly served by their ABC during the Prime Ministership of Julia Gillard

Australians did not see a growing economy rising from 15th to 12th place in the world.

They did not see themselves, the Australia people blessed with the highest mean wealth in the world giving them one of the highest standards of living.

They did not see what the three major credit agencies saw about the Australian economy when they gave it a AAA rating for the first time placing their country in a very exclusive club as well as putting a lie to the opposition and media hysteria about out of control debt.

They did not see what the OECD saw in 2013 when it judged Australians were living in the happiest place on earth as measured by a combination of factors, including above average household net-adjusted disposable income, employment, civic engagement and life expectancy.

They did not see what The Economist saw when 5 years into the Labor administration it determined Australia was the second best place in the world to be born in 2013

They did not see the outperformance of the Australian economy as measured by indicators of job creation, unemployment, growth, strong currency.

They could not understand that a woman could make herself available to lead her party and be elected unopposed and win an election for her party which many had conceded would be difficult.

They did not appreciate that Julia Gillard had out negotiated the leader of the opposition against the odds to form minority government.

They did not appreciate that she held the minority government together taking it to full term, providing stable government (the reality as opposed to the three years of jabbering about impending doom from the microphone jockeys and word merchants for the most part on the payroll of the one media conglomerate). Australians could have missed that much legislation, indeed an exceptionally high number of bills, were being passed that served their needs.

They did not appreciate the focus the Labor government placed on education with a significant spend during the GFC which would ensure generations of Australians would benefit from improved school facilities to the GONSKI report which promised Australian children, especially those doing it tough, better education into the future.

They saw nothing praiseworthy in the increased pensions during the Labor years which allowed older Australians a better quality of life.

Australians took for granted the vision that conceived the National disability scheme and the boldness to implement a trial of the scheme.

As climate became more extreme, Australians did not appreciate that the Gillard government by introducing what was referred to as a carbon tax was actually taking out some insurance on the quality of life of future generations of Australians, encouraging technologies that would serve the Australian economy for years to come, and accepting its responsibility as a world citizen playing a leading role in addressing a major problem facing the planet.

A group think enveloped Australian media as the tradition of a fair go was abandoned

Our ABC could not congratulate our first female PM on her first year in the job and celebrate a remarkable Australian. They became entangled in the agenda of the News Ltd press which was able to declare there would be no acknowledgement of successes, there would be no celebrations, and there would be no parties. It proved too much of an expectation to expect our ABC to show some fairness in the magnitude and scope of the assault on the PM by the media conglomerate whose main interests were in a foreign country and whose record for playing king maker in several jurisdictions trampled ethical behaviour and practices, stifled rational debate and pushed the boundaries of civil behaviour.

They, the collective that manned the assets of our ABC, could not hold the line when the bullies of the media playground demanded they join in the muck raking over the AWU slush fund.

They, the men and women of our national broadcaster for the most part did not hear the speech by the PM condemning the sexism and misogyny of the leader of the opposition which resonated around the world as the PM listed a litany of statements and behaviours of the leader of the opposition which would offend many decent people. Our ABC went with the group think and for the first time during the term of the Gillard government reached for the collective dictionary the news limited chorus of defenders of bad behaviour offered.

This narrative is not a happy story for believers in an Aussie fair go

The narrative begins with the badgering of the hapless Barrie Cassidy by Andrew Bolt which sets the tone Barrie Cassidy accepted for The Insiders over three years covered by this story.

The narrative covers the adolescent delight of Tony Jones every time the Rudd narrative was weaved into Q and A which one guest in exasperation said would be more aptly named Rudd and Answer. If anything could excite the boy in Jones more than parroting or enabling the parroting of fantasies about knifing, assassinations and blood on the floor (all offered without a dictionary in sight), it was a focus on the Prime Minister’s bum, doubtlessly a situation that would never have arisen if the Prime Minister had male appendages.

The narrative touches on the predictable Marius Benson on ABC News radio delivering the front page of News Ltd publications or salivating about News polls or inviting employees of the News Corporation to start each day with what could have been the coalition news.

For the major part the ABC was a willing follower of the narratives and the agenda that was set perhaps in foreign board rooms, perhaps in the boiler room of The Australian or the in the bowels of the daily Telegraph or wherever employees of the News Corporation delivered their Masters voice. But there is also evidence that pressure was brought to bear, a pressure that earned for Chris Kenny in the narrative the title of News Corp Minister for the ABC; a pressure that marks the unprofessional badgering of public broadcasters by Murdoch Media personnel in several jurisdictions.

This narrative comes to a sad ending for anyone who deplores bullying especially by packs, who cheers for the underdog, who believes David really had a chance against Goliath. It ends sadly for former lovers of our ABC who flounder in our disappointment with a belligerent Leigh Sales confirming what the News Ltd dominated media including the ABC had determined would be the only narrative they would entertain- that being the removal of the Prime Minister. After resisting the relentless pressure for almost three years enough members of the Labor caucus Party capitulated.

Australia’s first female Prime Minister left Australian politics with the dignity with which she had served.

Our ABC was left to rebuild its independence in the face of an intensified assault from forces, that as well as the agents of the News Corporation, included members of the government and big backers who saw as left wing anything that was not in complete harmony with the needs of the powerful and privileged.

Part 1

2011

The scene is set - Our ABC brought into line

Chapter 1

A Venomous Voice- Not too extreme for our ABC

On Sunday, March 13, 2011 (just 6 months after the formation of the Gillard government) Andrew Bolt writing in the Brisbane Courier Mail, a News Corp publication begins, Julia Gillard on Wednesday looked journalists in the eye and told them yet another lie.

One of the most effective exponents of hate media is having a practice run for his engagement later in the day as a guest of the ABC.

In other places in these News Corp Narratives the gay abandon and unfettered arrogance with which agents of the News Corporation’s both in Australia and in the USA can accuse their elected leaders of lying has been noted. It is what hate media does. It does not bother with issues but attacks the person with an intensity that needs to destroy.

Those familiar with what has in other places in these musings being referred to as Fox 101 where the agents of the corporations level accusations of unacceptable behaviour at opponents while they are in the very act of displaying those very same unacceptable behaviours with a mastery their opponents (without the backup chorus assembled by the assets of a multinational news and entertainment conglomerate) can only dream about. This is a classic display from a master giving a polished display of looking in the eye and telling yet another lie… And yet another lie… And yet another lie, while accusing the target of the corporation’s attack of looking in the eye and telling yet another lie.

The statement suggests a lot about Andrew Bolt. It sounds like he is totally on message as a propagandist for Conservative (rich wing) politics. Others wonder how many lies one would have to tell before the next lie could be described as yet another lie.

His discrediting of the government continues describing an overseas visit by the Foreign Minister as, a long and aimless tour of the Middle East. Others could see this as an example of Australian people being looked at in the eye by Andrew Bolt and being told yet another lie.

He continues with music to the ears of the opposition and to his employers who long for a more corporate government to be in charge again by absurdly claiming, We have two people abroad acting as our Prime Minister. Meanwhile, back home is our third Prime Minister, Bob Brown… but I digress. By many measuring sticks, including access to facts and information and knowledge of the Westminster system others could be see this absurd claim as another example of the Australian people being looked at in the eye by Andrew Bolt and being told yet another lie.

Others do not see him digressing but rather dutifully playing to all the current talking points in the armoury of opposition both Parliamentary and News Ltd.

But there is more. He continues, There is a rift, all right, in an already poisonous relationship between Rudd and the woman (the woman not being given any respect by the News Ltd operator would be the Prime Minister of Australia) who knifed him.

That could be seen as another example of the Australian people being looked at in the eye by Andrew Bolt and being told yet lie. The only poison being sprayed is that which Andrew Bolt is releasing into political debate and civil discourse in Australia. The only knifing others can see is of the fourth branch of government in Australia by the unethical practices of the Corporation Bolt is an employee of.

Where others see the workings of democracy and a touch of hyperbole in the commentary, Bolt sees poison and a knifing. But he is not alone. Thanks to the intensity of the News Corporation campaign during the last election and the meek acquiescence of the bulk of the rest of the media, the last Australian election was dominated by a change of leadership in the Australian Labor Party. While it was a highly newsworthy event, it may not have merited the acres of print space and hours of talk time during the campaign at the expense of discussing issues which affected the quality of life of voters.

The article continues, Rudd already deserved to be sacked for selling out our foreign policy interests to seemingly promote instead his own grand ambitions.

Others are also concerned about Bolt selling out his journalistic responsibilities to seemingly promote party political propaganda and advance his standing within the News Corporation, let alone looking the Australian people in the eye and telling them ´yet another lie."

Bolt sanctimoniously concludes, no government – no nation – can have its foreign affairs Minister knowingly set a foreign policy at odds with that of his Prime Minister.

Others think that if you make up the facts you’re entitled to make up whatever conclusion you like.

A busy morning for the News Corp man, invited by our ABC to continue the spray

Andrew Bolt is rewarded later in the morning for the partisan hackery and the vitriol he writes in the News Ltd papers with a second invite within a month onto the ABC program The Insiders. (The ABC is funded by taxpayers in return for a service that includes news, information and facilitating of public debate.)

On Andrew Bolt’s previous appearance on the national broadcaster’s, The Insiders a few weeks earlier he wanted to see a journalist fired because Bolt did not agree with that journalist’s treatment of an issue detrimental to the leader of the party Bolt is currently bolted to. Bolt with Donald Trump delusions, wanted a journalist fired on that occasion and wants the same fate for the Foreign Minister a month later. In the mould of his counterparts at the Fox News Channel in the USA, it is not sufficient to debate, disagree with and critique (often with people in their absence and without the right to any defence); it is preferable to dismiss, destroy and eliminate those who must be hated.

The Insiders on March 13, 2011 begins with an introduction that is a collection of every negative thing that can be found about the fledgling minority government that week. Tony Abbott the opposition leader is featured in a video clip as one of the critics and would have been pleased with the PR that he and his party received.

In the first segment discussing the papers, Andrew Bolt accuses others of making political capital out of the nuclear accident in Japan because they showed concern about the possible dangers. He then proceeded to make his own case in favour of nuclear energy in very political terms. Andrew Bolt speculates in agreement with the host that it may show that nuclear reactors can withstand the worst of earthquakes but he warns not to underestimate the ability of the Greens to beat it up. In doing so he tries to make political capital and shows little concern for those who may be victims of accidents. (He downplays the Chernobyl accident saying that only 50 people died as a result it. Surely Andrew bought would not be looking the Australian people in the eye and telling them yet another lie?)

Then a beat up on Kevin Rudd segment begins with Andrew Bolt saying, He is a disgrace. He is trying to insert himself yet again in the news with some sort of beat up about the nuclear emergency and demanding information from the Japanese Minister as if he doesn’t have better things to do… And here’s this, this (with contemptuous wave of the hand) showboating saying, You know, give this information. We demand…"

He continues, Let me tell you the danger we face from this reactor in this (holding up his hand to make a zero) zero and here he is showboating. He is a disgrace.

For those who missed it the first time he repeats with ire his assessment of the Foreign Minister as showboating and a disgrace.

He is totally allowed to dominate the early part of the program on our ABC preventing any other views being expressed or debated rationally.

A film clip of the Prime Minister in Washington follows with the heading The Pep Talk.

Cassidy then says, Andrew, before you make the obvious point setting up the stage for a mock fest. Cassidy and Bolt are privy to sharing obvious points as is apt to happen when one is in the clutches of the groupthink that was engulfing Australia’s news limited media at this time and would persist until the election two an a half years later.

Mock Fest on your ABC

Kerry-Anne Walsh, described as a political commentator finds the Prime Minister, fawning, grovelling and sickening… I was embarrassed by it. This sets up a giggling duet with Andrew Bolt. Because of course Julia Gillard is the first Australian PM showing fawning, grovelling and sickening behaviour to a leader of our most prominent ally, except possibly for Menzies who swooned when he did see the Queen but pass him by, or Harold Holt who went all the way with LBJ, or John Howard who went all the way into the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with George Bush based on faulty intelligence or perhaps another lie. No one can deny she is the first female Australian PM to relate in a friendly way with the leader of the free world. Kerry-Anne was embarrassed. The boys were delighted.

Malcolm Farr also makes fun of the Prime Minister’s emotions showing little understanding of the context in which she is enveloped when making her speech.

Bolt found it, so strange, an overreaction. She has clearly been stung by this thing about being cold and unemotional and she didn’t cry in front of the Black Saturday victims. She didn’t cry out in front of the Queensland flood victims but she does cry when she remembers someone walking on the moon.

She of course is not the cat’s mother but the Prime Minister of Australia who presumably because she is a woman is not responding emotionally correctly to please this little chorus. This collective group may be uniformly embarrassed by the PM’s responses during the American visit but there would be many occasions when others would be embarrassed by the sexism and collective insensitivity of the News Corp dominated Australian media during the next two and a half years. This is a typical of the media’s disgrace during the Gillard years- she just could not please them until she would bow to their collective desire to vacate her post in favour of the man Andrew Bolt wants sacked as Foreign Minister.

Cassidy, trying to bring the conversation back into the realms of grown-ups, points out the context of the emotional moment of addressing Congress.

But, in what might be seen as mean and nasty, Andrew Bolt wants to keep kicking, oozing sarcasm, So she wasn’t crying for the man on the moon. She was crying for the excitement of being there. Is that what you’re saying?

Could anyone imagine such presumptuous, derogatory, and nonsensical criticism of a male Prime Minister based on perceptions of what appropriate emotional responses should be? The panel accepted the tears from the male Speaker of the house in the USA as he listened to the speech, brought on by what to him must have been a moving speech by the Australian PM, with only brief comments but subject their female prime minister to shellacking more deserved by someone who has caused serious damage somewhere.

Walsh then asked whether the prime objective was to ingratiate herself with her hosts, which would of course be a terrible thing to seek to get in the good books of our closest ally and significant trading partner. She is not finished with her denigration and criticism and ends by saying that the Prime Minister’s trip went unnoticed in United States. One could get the vibe here that when other Australian Prime Ministers, ones of the male sex, visit the United States they are much more noticed than when Julia Gillard visited. This panel is not satisfied to mock the Prime Minister on her overseas trip; it wants to take all credit from her. That too is a theme that dominates journalism in Australia for more than two years and the ABC is as much part as its corporate colleagues of the denial of any credit to the Prime Minister during the period.

Let us hope that Walsh is not looking the Australian people in the eye and telling them yet another lie. There is evidence many in America did notice the Speaker of the House brought to tears by the speech of the Australian Prime Minister.

There is a long segment about halfway through the program talking about how disruptive Rudd is as foreign minister.

One of the panellists, Malcolm Farr also a News Corp journalist but still worthy of being classified a professional journalist, is highly critical of Rudd’s performance.

Cassidy makes the case that Rudd is undermining the government by appearing on other programs that morning before the acting Prime Minister appears on The Insiders.

Both make valid points.

What is illogical, and perhaps a case of looking the Australian people in the eye and telling them another lie is that for the next 30 months these four will be part of a news limited chorus of hundreds (hope hundreds is not another lie) who will predict, campaign, demand that Rudd who is undermining the government be installed as leader of that government. The imperative to get Rudd back into the Prime Minister’s job before the next election was as intense as the need of the News Ltd led chorus to get the government replaced.

Bolt reiterates his criticism of Rudd for demanding information of the Japanese, which may be a legitimate point that needed to be repeated. But Bolt has a much larger agenda, This government is descending into the greatest farce since Khemlani days. This is a joke. (Others may see that as a case of looking the audience of the ABC in the eye and telling yet another lie.) We now have not just one Prime Minister. We have two prime ministers; in fact we could argue we have three prime ministers, with Bob Brown setting the Greens policy.

That is definitely yet another lie as Bolt’s poison shot has nothing to substantiate it in reality and in fact his destructive fantasy even if by resorting to the News Ltd approved dictionary (the one that became the bible of establishing that Tony Abbot was not a misogynist) could allow more than one prime minister, it would nevertheless be unconstitutional.

Kerry-Anne is delighted at how clever Bolt is and has another giggle. Perhaps it is his ability to deliver Liberal party talking points that she is amused by. Perhaps she cannot accept that a woman can be Prime Minister in her own right and perform on the International stage, get record legislation passed through the Parliament and deal with the media mischief and a little by Rudd and his followers at the same time. By this stage less than 20% through the term of the new government the collective that was Australian journalism was trapped in the one story that would consume them for the rest of this Parliament until Australia’s first female Prime Minister would be replaced by a man.

(On Wednesday in the same News Corp paper as Bolt was featured in on Sunday morning, a letter to the editor was published which said, Australia must be the only country in the world that has three Prime Ministers – Julia Gillard, Bob Brown, and Kevin Rudd. The letter was not signed by Andrew Bolt but appeared in the News Corp publication, selected by News Corp editor, parroting a News Corp employee. The same day the same News Corp publication panned the Gillard’s speech to the US Congress.)

The News Ltd propaganda machine would go to any lengths to get its political party into power even to the extent of poisoning political dialogue in Australia. They had a record of doing just that in the United States where the Fox News Channel is round the clock propaganda for the more corporate party.

Bolt has a lot more for our ABC listeners and he comments on the dysfunction between this critical relationship, between PM and Foreign Minister. He continues saying, the difference is profound in terms of emphasis… a huge difference.

Others might again see yet another lie in the hyperbole because, agree or disagree with Rudd, like or dislike him, he would most likely participate competently on the foreign stage as a representative of Australia.

No restraint on or challenge to poisonous hyperbole on our ABC

Bolt is on a roll, This has turned out to be a disaster for Julia Gillard – the whole trip to Washington. He says contemptuously, not in control of foreign policy… comes across as weak… and someone who isn’t even in control of her own government. And then showing that like his counterparts at the News Corporation in the United States nothing is too trivial to use to denigrate the non-totally corporate national leader he continues, being so addicted to spin, and so trivial (with emotional expressions also worthy of his FNC counterparts in the States) so essentially trivial.

He makes a big issue about the footy in the White House and hounds the host until he agrees it is inappropriate. Others familiar with the use of Fox 101 on FNC would see that it is Andrew Bolt who is, so addicted to spin, and so trivial, so essentially trivial. Other would suggest Bolt’s assessment of the trip apart from being the type of venom he is highly paid to inject into political debate may also be a case of looking the Australian people in the eye and telling yet another lie. Others were more than a little disappointed with Barry Cassidy for cowering