The Greens oppose the CPRS not because it is too weak, but because it will point Australia in the wrong direction with little prospect of turning it around in the timeframe within which emissions must peak, says Senator Christine Milne.
SMH shows Mike Carlton the door
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Mike Carlton, one of The Sydney Morning Herald’s most popular columnists, has been sacked after refusing to write for this weekend’s edition. During his breakfast program on Fairfax-owned Radio 2UE this morning, Carlton idly mentioned that he would not be filing to the Herald where journalists are staging a three-day strike. On hanging up his headphones at 9am, Carlton was phoned by Fairfax group editorial executive Phil McLean who asked whether he would be sending his regular column. When Carlton said no, McLean reminded Carlton that he was a contributor and that the strike “has nothing to do with you”. Carlton disagreed saying that he had been a member of the journos’ union for more than 40 years and that he would not contribute to a non-union produced paper. At this point, McLean reportedly told Carlton that his contributor’s contract was terminated by reason of his failure to file copy. Carlton’s Saturday column is widely regarded as the “best read” in the weekend edition and every readers’ survey places him at the top of the list of most favored contributors. He has been a regular columnist for the Herald since returning from a successful career in London commercial radio in the mid-1990s. He now finds himself in the uncomfortable position of being sacked as a contributor to the SMH yet working for a Fairfax-owned radio network. But for how much longer? Meanwhile, part of the jobs purge at the country’s oldest media group involves the dismantling of the in-house legal unit responsible for reading and checking articles for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and The Sun-Herald prior to their publication. The unit has an undisputed wealth of experience in navigating the defamation laws, fighting defamation cases and mediating others. Solicitor Mark Polden and long-serving legal unit secretary Pat Batistic have been given redundancy while the other member of the legal team, Richard Coleman, has been parachuted into a position with Michael Gill’s business magazine group. Presumably, Fairfax’s defamation watch will now be out-sourced to Freehills as part of the cost-saving package. What a joke. Note from the editor: What happens to The Sydney Morning Herald when the journalists go on strike? Open today’s edition and see. Emblazoned across the front page is the two-deck headline:
Yes, sans journos, Fairfax’s Sydney flagship simply became filled with puff pieces for the Big End of Town to beat up on Barry O’Farrell and the Coalition for failing to support the Labor Government’s ever-changing, farcical plans to privatise electricity. There was not a single skeptical voice in the SMH’s pages reflecting the fact that between 60 and 80 per cent of the general public oppose the sale (a majority of Herald readers!). But what do you expect? When bean-counters take over the running of newspapers it is only natural that they should celebrate bean-counting. They’re not interested in jobs, families, public services or public opinion — it’s all about private profit. |
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14 Comments
Thats about it for me! Will be reading the Australian online and buying the weekend Australian on Saturdays.
How about Mike Carlton writing a weekly column for Crikey?
Mike Carlton’s column has long been the first thing I’ve read in Saturday’s SMH (Alan Ramsay’s has been the second). Edgy, honest, incisive, it has been a testament to free comment. Sacked for union solidarity? Let slip the waterfront dogs. Like Perry, I’ll save $2.30.
Fairfax is pretty much the tip of the melting media and communications iceberg. Radio and television are similarly on the downhill slide with dollar-driven managements all bent on discouraging us from listening, watching and reading. Regional Australia has lost local and even relevant content with shopping cart networks bulk-buying licences to bounce city-centric content off their transmitters. Who in Tweed Heads cares about a Sydney suburban bank-holdup while their searching the local river for the body of a young man and his baby son? Check out the industry ads asking for journos to work in Sydney and Melbourne with the requisite they have detailed knowledge of Brisbane and Adelaide! That’s one network’s contribution to keeping them in the black and us in the dark. And don’t expect vision from the scene of a mid-north coast fatal shark attack - the local television studios have only one journo and one cameraman and both are more than 50-kays away. Oh… the reason we bin the local newspaper? For years we read Rural Press’ advertorials that diced reality reporting for fluffy spin on topics such as the local nursing home. It closed down within months of the fairyfloss article- because of standards breaches. The Australian media has nothing to do with information, facts, debate or even industry training these days which is why Kevin Rudd should add a media industry revolution to complement his demand for better education outcomes.
What happens to The Age when the journalists go on strike?
Today’s (Monday’s) Age appers to be 30-40% advertisements.
Is this where the Age and SMH are heading?
Well, there goes Saturday mornings! Loved to start the weekend with a laugh and Mike Carlton always provided that. Irreverent commentary at its best! A column that will be sadly missed!
Sad to lose Mike Carlton but what gooses these Fairfax bosses have become. Outsourcing their legals as a cost cutting exercise must be the biggest joke so far. And especially to Freehills. I’ve just run a case against Fairfax (I settled) but the bill for Fairfax from Freehills must have been frightening-expecially for a small matter like mine. They are spending shareholder’s money afterall and feel no restraints-even my lawyer said these guys are out of control. If I was a Fairfax shareholder I’d be very very afraid-everything might look rosy now with terrific profits but this endless dumbing down will have a roller coaster effect and send the circulation downhill fast.
This is slightly more catastrophic than Carlton being shown the door. Fairfax is the first visible, alarming sign that Australia’s electronic and print media has hit the skids. Radio, television and newspapers each and jointly have lost their intended purpose of communicating relevant news and entertainment to the masses. The pursuit of profit has shaved creative, credible and researched material in regional and city centres to the bone. Radio and TV licences all farmed out to media ‘networks’ now commandeering the public airwaves, they relay the bare essentials from Sydney and Melbourne. Which is why at Ballina your local radio station reports a ‘News Now’ pile-up on Sydney’s M-1 instead of the multi -B-double catastrophe you’re actually witnessing!!! From Victoria to Qld generic low-grade immaterial programs bounce off transmitters purchased by these shopping trolley mentals who desperately hope ‘one size fits all’. Is it any wonder Australia is tuning out, turning off and not reading the thin, implausible and amateur media packages it’s being served. Here’s another mountain for Rudd to negotiate.
“A successful career in London commercial radio”
I’ve got to laugh at this bit.
Carlton was an absolute disaster on London radio and attracted very poor ratings.
Some things never change.
And have you seen how big the frigging photos are getting. It looks more like Who Weekly than a newspaper these days. I give up on them now. I can get my crosswords and Sudoku from other places…. Like Who Weekly. I actually know someone who work quite closely with Kirk. Said he’s not a bad bloke at all. But Jesus - this is just stupid. Surely they have some idea what brand equity is, and how it’s now dissolving before their eyes???
re alex mitchell on mike carlton, while defending barry o`farrell, alex mitchell conveniently forgets to mention that O`Farrell and his coatition mates intend to sell our energy suppliers as soon as they get the chance, they are playing crass politics, and got caught out by the governments quick thinking, the 20%of swinging voters, you know the only ones vote that really counts, see thru blatant politicking, and can spot a phony a mile away, just look at what happened to howard., the state libs are not a sure thing for 2011.
Mike Carlton was one of the main reasons I bought the Saturday Herald. They’ve just saved me $2.30.
I agree with Alex’s general thrust - heading back from the CBD today I was looking at it and thought ‘this is not Sydney’s newspaper’. True - it’s just my reaction and really just over the layout today, but I reckon I’ve got enough political intuition to say quite a bit of rusted on readership got unrusted today. The headline doesn’t even match up with their own coverage recently.
1. today - the $3B reduced selloff agenda arguably even more profitable to business avoiding the liabilities future and present of the generators,
2. yesterday - noting “Private sector already building power stations with 1500MW of generating capacity” in a graphic next to article by Marian Wilkinson Environment Editor readers may recall on their screens recently on 4 Corners visiting the Arctic north.
Henny Penny Iemma is busy telling us all the lights will go off, but everyone knows a 10-20% conservation measure like water savings can be achieved easy over the next 6 years to 2014. He just isn’t credible on this issue. What a pity.
Any paper which gets rid of a competent (if occasionally tedious) journo like Carlton, and keeps Miranda Devine, (whose sense of writing, journalistic ethics, consistency and intelligence is, shall we say, elastic) deserves what it gets.
I am not opposed to a variety of opinion - I don’t think Henderson or Sheehan shoudl be sacked - they continually annoy and aggravate me, but at least they can construct an argument, and write well enough to keep me interested.
Vale Fairfax