October, 2011
Crikey Says: Another wheel falls off Murdoch train wreck
Should it surprise anyone that the corporate culture that produced industrial-scale phone hacking in Britain was also at work elsewhere? Hardly.
Denmore on Bolt: the #1 journalistic imperative should always be the truth
Even our most respected media observers have been arguing against the Andrew Bolt High Court ruling. But here’s something to remember: freedom of speech is crucial but the truth is more important, writes Mr Denmore.
Facebook and eBay join forces for social media expansion
Facebook and eBay have announced a new partnership intended to smoothly integrate Facebook applications with e-commerce platforms, Reuters reports.
The Left still believe Obama is right
Barack Obama’s record low opinions polls have fed speculation that the political left have abandoned him. Data from Real Clear Politics suggests they are still very much on side, reports Adam Sorensen.
Passion or need? Sophie Mirabella’s insatiable thirst for power
Sophie Mirabella spends so much time with political powerbrokers that she is regarded — certainly by herself — as a genius. Her passion is indisputable, according to Politically Homeless, and Tony Abbott will never get rid of her.
Freeze frame fame: single shot Scorcese recreations
Courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar, you can now watch Keanu Reeves in Taxi Driver, Kate Bosworth in The Age of Innocence and Ben Kingsley in Gangs of New York. A bunch of Scorsese films have been recreated — but only in single shots.
film reviews 
Red State and Take Shelter: two ripper new films
This week two scorching new films arrive in Australian cinemas: Kevin Smith’s horrific political/religious commentary Red State and Jeff Nichols’s must-see psychological mind bend Take Shelter, writes Luke Buckmaster.
Latest news from Grasberg mine strike, West Papua
A YouTube video has been circulating depicting Indonesian police brutally breaking up protests in West Papua, Indonesia. However the vid is most likely of an unrelated protest, writes NAJ Taylor in Crikey’s new international politics blog This Blog Harms.
Qantas pilots enlist shareholders in campaign against management
Qantas pilots are enlisting shareholders in a campaign against management, who they say is ruining the airline, reports Ben Sandilands.
‘Brave’ Gillard passes carbon tax
Crikey media wrap: It may be the policy that eventually brings down the government, but there was joy in parliament yesterday as the lower house passed the controversial carbon tax bill.
Questionable claims from Tiger Airways
Tiger Airways Australia has corrected claims it has made about the fares charged by its competitors while it was grounded as unsafe by CASA. The company has committed some very question acts, writes Ben Sandilands.
Argus and Crawford rail against basic accountability
One of the biggest problems with Australia’s corporate governance over the past few decades has been the way a clubby network of powerful Melbourne-based directors have worked against the basic principle of accountability for poor performance.
Kisses all round as clean energy bills pass the House
When the last vote finally came to adopt the 18 clean energy bills as complete package, former Slater & Gordon lawyer Adam Bandt broke into a broad grin, his election night pronouncements 14 months ago having born fruit.
Israeli soldier’s release a win-win
As Israel celebrates, and the world welcomes, the release of soldier Gilad Shalit, Hamas, the Islamist party controlling the Gaza Strip, has emerged with a significant victory in its push for Palestinian political supremacy, writes freelancer Nigel O’Connor.
Property collapse: at last we’re catching on …
About three years after Crikey started warning readers about an impending residential property collapse, it appears the mainstream media have finally caught on.
Rundle: carbon tax a monument to Labor, and testimony to a burial
The carbon tax will be Labor’s historical triumph; if a post-Labor Senate can lock it in, then it will be, for the Gillard government, a monument –- and like all monuments, testimony to a burial.
The long and winding road that leads to Olympic Dam
More than six years after an excited South Australian government began spruiking a state mining boom, the proposed $20 billion expansion of South Australia’s Olympic Dam mine is getting close to a real deal, writes Kevin Naughton of InDaily.
Rundle: with the ALR gone, time to rethink our public sphere
Battle was joined again, in the pages of The Drum, over the corpse of The Australian Literary Review, the twice-dead journal once wrapped in the clammy embrace of The Australian.
Kohler: surrounded by Europe’s standing armies
Thomas Jefferson definitely got it right 200 years ago when he warned that banks are more dangerous than standing armies.
Grieving Jobs without worshipping Apple? It’s all Steve’s design
Perhaps the loss of Jobs also hammers home another loss of jobs, as the much-vaunted “creative class” that overwhelmingly uses Apple products — and defines itself at least partly by this use — is turning out to be increasingly illusory and economically unsustainable for its workers.
The quality journalism project: iconic Ita Buttrose
Is there anything in journalism that Ita Buttrose hasn’t done?
The surprising head of #occupysydney: a 60-something activist
#occupysydney is an example of how well-developed networks operating outside the public eye, writes freelance journalist Adam Brereton.
Letter from...: Dadaab, with ‘Furka’ and ‘Turka’, no one’s going home soon
Dadaab’s population has hit 450,000. That’s as big as cities such as Bristol or Antwerp. Or a camping trip three times the size of Glastonbury, where no one gets to go home, writes Rafiq Copeland, a freelance writer in Dadaab.
