A certain slack-jawed wonderment ran around the room at yesterday’s Media140 conference in Sydney, when a senior News Ltd journalist rose to spruik the vested corporate interests of her employer…
Columns / Crikey Says
All locked away in our digital ghettoes
With the decline of the mainstream media, we’re also losing something social media cannot provide. What about the viewpoints that we don’t want to hear, but should?
leaked The ATO’s business needs: lest we forget
The ATO has asked tax office managers to balance their “business needs” against a minute of silence for Remembrance Day next week.
A late scratching for Abbott
Eleven people are missing, perhaps lost at sea, off the Cocos Islands. One is confirmed dead. Who does Tony Abbott choose to blame?
Rudd leads the nation, not the ALP
The Coalition should give up — its best and brightest have left politics and now work for Kevin Rudd. And Rudd’s power as national leader now looks unassailable.
From WA premier to Wesfarmers lobbyist?
Former WA premier Alan Carpenter joining Wesfarmers as its chief spinner and lobbyist is, in a word, a disgrace.
Poor Packer has had a gutful this morning
It was fat puns aplenty at News Limited this morning, with lots of unflattering photos running of rival media mogul James Packer. What point were they trying to make exactly?
Australia takes its pick of the refugee litter
Humanitarian migration allows Australia to siphon off the best-educated and most-talented citizens of embattled countries, while poorer refugees remain trapped in camps and on leaky boats.
The big stories: monster sharks and porn stars
Here’s the top stories that Australians are reading today, according to News Ltd. Lots of sex, sharks, gangs and Penthouse scandals. Paywall time?
Calm down, no rush on CPRS
Apparently the CPRS isn’t that urgent. Otherwise, why would debate keep getting delayed by both the Coalition and the government?
Oops Even his own team get Bolted
Alan Kohler may have been the main target of Andrew Bolt’s latest attack, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t also accidentally take a jab at his boss.
The Trioli Awards
Crikey honours ABC2 host Virginia Trioli’s finger-twirling candour with a new award for public waffle.
Does journalism still need a separation of church and state?
News.com.au editor David Higgins believes the commercial-editorial division is a “luxury” the media can no longer afford. Oh dear.
The parallel universe of Canberra
Malcolm Turnbull’s finally got the green light from the Coalition to negotiate on the ETS. Too bad all the party politics means the key issue gets ignored.
Murdoch works the news cycle
When it’s time to hold News Corp’s AGM over in the Big Apple, Rupert Murdoch knows exactly when to run it so it gets lost in “put out the trash Friday”. A nice way of avoiding the Aussie news.
When will our nation’s “oh shit” moment come?
Yesterday on Crikey’s environment blog Rooted we began a discussion looking at that moment when it dawns that climate change is a problem of pressing, desperate urgency. When will Australia get there?
Why people smugglers are smug
Why are there suddenly an increase of boat people arriving on our shores? Because they’re all looking to exploit Labor’s bleeding heart and lax immigration laws. Right?
What Murdoch thinks of the media
The latest piece of measured media commentary from Rupert Murdoch shows him declaring that “the Philistine phase of the digital age is almost over”. Is he making sense?
Stimulus is doing its job
The benefits of the stimulus package are being examined right now by the Economics Committee. But it’s the jobs saved or supported by the stimuli that are the only important economic indicators at the moment.
Hey Hey it’s the internet
With Hey Hey’s blackface scandal, it’s not so much that community standards have changed in 20 years, it’s that thanks to technology it’s easier for the audience to make its feelings and displeasure heard.
No neutral territory between Mike Rann and the media
The murky controversy surrounding SA premier Mike Rann is now a public, not a private, matter. The demilitarised zone between Rann, the media and the voters has been well and truly breached.
A study in alternative realities
Compare the meeting last week in Oxford of the world’s most eminent climate scientists with the divided mess of Australia’s parliament, with disagreements over the CPRS and Copenhagen.
Why no one watches free-to-air TV anymore
Commercial networks can afford to treat viewers how they like when it comes to sport, because they are protected from competition by the anti-siphoning scheme. No amount of angry fan outrage will see any change.
