Costello’s ABC attacks should be addressed
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The ABC is “hostile territory” for conservative politicians, says Peter Costello in his latest op-ed. “With the ABC,” Costello wrote this week for Fairfax, “the line of questioning is always predictable. It always comes from the Labor/Green perspective.” The former Treasurer says he decided to unveil his insights into institutional bias at the ABC because, “I am not now at the mercy of the media so I can afford to say what everyone on the conservative side of politics knows.” But this is no rhetorical flourish — Costello presents a catalogue of evidence to support his claims of ABC bias:
Costello’s insinuations, which he presents as facts, are an outrageous attack on the ABC’s most senior journalists and managers and its board. If his catalogue of bias is right, many of the ABC’s leading journalists and managers should be sacked because, according to Costello and “everyone on the conservative side of politics”, they are guilty of systemic unprofessionalism, breaching the ABC’s Editorial Policies and Code of Practice, and essentially hijacking the national broadcaster’s airwaves to present a structurally biased coverage of politics. Of course, attacking ABC Leftism is a long-established practice by conservative politicians. But to suggest that the ABC’s flagship daily current affairs programs have a “consistent” editorial bias is not about politics, it is an attack on the very heart of the ABC’s editorial professionalism. If Costello can prove he is right, the journalists and managers responsible for these programs should be sacked and ABC current affairs should be overhauled. If his allegations can’t be substantiated he should be sued for libel. |
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20 Comments
What, you don’t agree with me? Bias!!!
I did not read the article but I did hear Phillip Adams rebuttal on LNL yesterday. It was quite amusing to hear PA list the programs and broadcasters the ABC have commissioned to “balance” the perceived bias. Of course Peter Costello did not acknowledge any of these in his op ed. Did he mention the the number of ABC staffers etc who have gone on to work for the Liberals or coalition Govt? Did he mention the army of shock jocks and column writers who slavishly support the conservative line unquestioned?
It appears the conservative side of politics are very sensitive to any who do not join a cheer squad for them. The reaction most often is to then attack the organisation rather than answer the issues raised.
Goodness me, is Peter and the conservative view that we should only Australian versions of Fox news? I still believe the best source of balanced reporting with some depth is the ABC.
Ah, the perennial argument led by conservatives.
You know, in the bigger scheme of things, I think they may have a point in as much as radio and TV talk programs usually attract presenters and producers with ideas, and who are fired with zeal for change of one sort or another and this makes for interesting and entertaining listening/viewing.
If we look at various dictionary definitions of characteristics of the term conservative: “opposed to liberal reforms; resistant to change; conforming to the standards and conventions of the middle class; unimaginatively conventional” they don’t bode well for those who would put themselves forward as entertainers of mass media audiences.
With digital radio and TV technology now offering multiple channels, perhaps the ABC should have three separate networks on each medium labelled: Left, Right and Don’t Care.
Meh who cares, its the ABC , the very definition of irrelevent.
madeinaustralia: the andrew bolt of crikey respondents. always provocative.
i bet you wish we had a more active news channel here, perhaps something like fox news ala glenn beck etc etc
You’re just another posturing lawyer in parliament, Costello. You’ve been in our face for decades, yet whinge about ABC bias. Shedloads of ABC staff have consorted with Liberals, as you well know. Why no complaint about the gross bias in the Murdoch commentariat? Poor Phillip Adams has to “balance” that entire kennel of ferals. Then there’s the ratbags’ chorus of shockjocks.
I’ll say this politely just once Peter: piss off. Elope with Alan Jones.
This ridiculous article is either feigned self righteous leftist indignation or unconscious psychologically blinkered denial.
Only the vast emptiness of space in lieu of grey matter could honestly assert that ABC news and current affairs programming is balanced.
It would be like asserting that The Age has a balanced perspective overlying its leftist liberal bias. Until Costello there was not a single regular conservative opinion expressed.
Costello’s oozing misery appears linked to the Liberal Party or his religion selling him a dump. If he can’t find a core belief, a reason to crusade and a place to preach his cause he’ll make sure the playing field is even. Now that litigation has been mentioned Costello could consider suing the Liberal church and its oppressive former leader for emotional and psychological damage arising from deceptive practices.
I think Costello secretly wishes he could be useful to people, like his brother is.
I agree with JamesK that there definitely is a left-wing or Labor/Green bias at the ABC.
However, I like the programme ABC Q&A because there is always at least one non-left-wing person on the panel, even if it’s only one out of five. That’s an improvement on the usual pattern. So it’s not all bad.
The bias that is utterly evident in the ABC is never mentioned in any of the contrived squabbles, such as this, that erupt from time to time.
The ABC is outrageously biased towards Zionism. In this, it apes it’s ugly big sister, the British BBC. There are many fine independently-minded BBC political journalists - but most of them have already left. Australia’s public broadcasting - a smaller talent pond - has been even more comprehensively culled.
More broadly, the ABC is Judeophilic (ie. shows pro-Jewish bias) to an extent that makes balanced discussion next to impossible on many of the most important issues of the day - not only issues relating to the middle east, but concerning any topic in which Australia’s organized Jewish Lobby has a notable interest.
Examples? So numerous, I barely know where to start. Here’s a couple.
Take the reporting of religious affairs. Rachel Kohn, who hosts the BC’s religious affairs coverage on Radio National, is a Jewish Zionist extremist. Extremist? Surely not, you may be thinking? Ah, but did you hear her interviewed by Philip Adams on LNL back in 2000, wearing a different hat for once (not the ABC’s ‘Religious Afairs’ correspondent, but Rachel Kohn the Zionist ). In the discussion that ensued, she refused to criticize Jewish settlers on the West Bank! In terms of the current debate, one might say, she takes the side of Likud, not Obama. That, in my opinion, is extremist.
Rachel is too canny to wear those views on her sleeve in her day job. The Religion Report doesn’t push extremist politics overtly. What it does do is subject all major religions to serious critical scrutiny, with one notable exception: Judaism.
While one often hears an ABC Religion Report probing into conflict over sexuality in Christian Churches, or interviewing ‘moderate Muslims’ about ‘Islamic extremism’, I have yet to hear a single program discuss Judaism where the line of interviewing and investigation wasn’t softball and sympathetic. Rachel (and others such as Steven Crittenden) may have produced reports that subjected aspects of Judaism to serious critical scrutiny, but I haven’t heard them.
It’s the same in film reviews - another aspect of the ABC’s cultural reporting. The silly couple who appear weekly on TV to discuss movies are so egregiously Judeophilic it’s beyond a joke. I happened to watch the week, several years ago, when Mel Gibson’s The Passion was reviewed. When they came to scoring it 1-5, they gave it a negative score! I’ve never seen that, before or since, on their crass show. Most of the time, of course, they discuss mainstream Hollywood movies, so the problem doesn’t arise…
Yet while accusations of left-wing bias and right-wing bias at the ABC are de rigeur - and strewn around like confetti at a wedding - I have yet to see anyone in the mainstream media discuss the issue of Judeophilic bias, which to me seems far more blatant than anything on the left-right axis.
Enter Syd from the parallel universe twilight zone where what’s left is right and what’s up is down.
What an incredibly bizarre post.
The BBC being accused of being pro-Zionist!
What next?
Smirk shits me more now than when he was in politics. Go figure.
i don’t think there is any doubt about the ABC being pro-ALP….. it is obvious.
I prefer David Spears on Sky any day of the week!
@ JamesK
A few links from the parallel universe on the issue of BBC bias:
http://www.gla.ac.uk/centres/mediagroup/badnews.htm
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-News-Israel-Greg-Philo/dp/0745320619
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/01/what_is_really.html
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/01/27/tony-benn-tells-bbc-of-their-pro-israeli-ways/
@Syd Walker
“The BBC pro-Israeli? Is the Pope Jewish?”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article715471.ece
And a few more links from this universe:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-451138/Report-BBCs-anti-Israel-bias-stay-secret.html
http://www.bbcwatch.com/
http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2007-03/bbcbias.htm
http://www.biased-bbc.blogspot.com/
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1205420751207
http://www.redress.btinternet.co.uk/edavidsson.htm
I was a member of the Friends of the ABC from its inception until my recent retirement and met quite a few people from the ABC and was not aware of any left-wing bias of a polemic nature. During my time, Bob Mansfield did a very balanced and reasoned enquiry into the question of left-wing bias and could find no evidence of systemic bias. Later Richard Alston, then Communications Minister initiated a similar enquiry, though I suspect that his terms of reference were “I KNOW that the ABC is biased - now find me the evidence”. He did find one or two examples upon which some complaints could be based, but very many others were found to be without foundation.
If you define modern left wing politics as finding out what is wrong with the nation and wanting to put it right and you define conservative politics as noting what is right and wishing to preserve it, then one could argue that the ABC has a left-wing bias. (I use the term conservative rather than right-wing, because to me the latter represents the wish to preserve power, riches and privilege as a matter of right). Given that in modern politics, most senior politicians have shrunk from being people of real convictions and passion to being mere talking heads, broadcasting a tape prepared by an army of spinmeisters, some aggression is in order, to try and get out the underlying information that the public are entitled to. This is true of both sides of politics and some of my more entertaining moments on TV recently have been watching Kerry O’Brien trying to break down the walls of obfuscation manned by Penny Wong and others. More power to their elbow, I would say.
@ JamesK
I was interested to read your list of links. Thanks for your research.
I particularly recommend the last link on your list, which quotes the words of Elias Davidsson:
As a Palestinian Jew (person of Jewish parents born in Palestine at the time of the British Mandate), I have at times been flabbergasted by the pro-Israel bias of the BBC and its reluctance to deal with Israeli policies of outright racial discrimination (as defined in international human rights treaties) and with the racist nature of Zionism as the state ideology permeating Israeli legislation and practice. I have not the financial capacity to undertake an assessment of BBC coverage but wish to urge the BBC not to let itself be bullied by the oppressors of my Palestinian brothers and sisters…
Like to cite any more references that support my basic proposition?
@Syd Walker.
Happy to have the references I cited speak for themselves. But you are right: the last attempts to rebut the arguments from BBC Watch.
Elias Davidsson(whoever he is) also says in the same article:
‘The BBC is acting wisely by refusing [refusal by the BBC to label certain Palestinian organizations as “terrorist” organizations], particularly because certain states have, for political reasons, decided to criminalize these organizations.”
Oh and among the “terrorist” organisations is Hamas.
Those “states” include Britain, Japan, Australia, U.S.A., Canada and Jordan. And also included are the member states of the whole of the European Union.
Please feel free to use my mis-reference of Elias to support your nonsensical prejudice anytime.
@ JamesK
I suggest you consult with your ideological friends before citing any more articles from the quite excellent, but vigorously anti-Zionist Redress website.
They may be wondering which universe you are in.