Megaphones watch: Alan Jones speaks out on gay rights and moreThe Power Index’s Matthew Knott presents what Australia’s most powerful Megaphones (including Alan Jones, Miranda Devine and Piers Akerman) have been up to over the silly season.
Piers Akerman
Political snippets: Gillard, “a substance not style person”, should not change
The very worst thing Julia Gillard could do would be to try and change into something she is not.
ABC’s Insiders: as balanced as a fat kid on a see-saw
The ABC’s Insiders may include an equal number of panellists with diametrically opposed views, but that doesn’t make it “balanced”, says The Political Sword. One David Marr does not equal one Andrew Bolt or Piers Akerman.
Crikey Says: Beware the supermarket shopping asylum seekers
Brisbane’s Sunday Mail dispatched its snapper to a shopping centre to pap its front-page target. No, not a celebrity, just a mother and her two daughters. Or, “suspected immigration detainees” as the paper captioned them.
Warning: Akerman’s global warming quote logic will melt your mind
News Limited columnist Piers Akerman is at risk of being sued for defamation after today revealing he misquoted the former head of the IPCC while accusing him of promoting climate change alarmism. However, Akerman is not conceding that he made a mistake, but is triumphantly flourishing a different quote as evidence of his vindication, writes Crikey intern Matthew Knott.
Is Piers Akerman fabricating quotes from the IPCC?
Is News Ltd’s Piers Akerman the source of an alarmist climate change quote that has for years been attributed to the first head of the IPCC, Sir John Houghton? That’s what the UK’s Independent is claiming.
A tale of drinking, driving and bloody idiots
Some nice confected tabloid outrage at the increasingly negative Herald Sun today, with a cover story of a drink driving charge from seven years ago. Compare that to a rather similar drink driving story about the Hun’s own editor.
Crikey Says: Growing battlefield momentum inside the Sceptics Army
Of the two climate change wars currently being waged across the globe — the war against climate change and the war about climate change — it’s War 2 that’s now occupying the most territory.
Literary Adelaide the scene of a journos’ dust-up
There is a dust-up in literary Adelaide, with leading editorial contributors to the Adelaide Review severing its connections with the publication amid disputes over payment.
The Conservative Commentariat Knitting Circle
Featuring the Cane Toads for a Free Tibet Action Committee
Beecher: the choreograph of the commentariat
Synchronised indignation has been a trademark feature of the Australian media commentariat for years, writes Eric Beecher: the past week’s episode started with a stirring landmark speech about climate change by the Prime Minister at the Lowy Institute.
Reading between the lines on the NRL-Howard coverage
Once again, Piers Akerman has written a story about a News Ltd investment without once mentioning that his employer has a deep involvement in the issue.
Akerman sees meaning for Rudd in “chk chk BOOM” girl
Oh, Piers, you have this magical ability to take the week’s big story — no matter how disconnected it may be from politics — and somehow tie it negatively to Kevin Rudd.
A short history of bossy Herald Sun headlines: Read it now!
The Herald Sun’s new editor appears to be issuing front page directives in the manner pioneered by the paper’s far-left doppelganger Green Left Weekly.
The (overcrowded) grassy knoll on the Vic bushfires
As the fires still rage, the body count mounts, and most media outlets discuss the merits of Australia’s “stay or go” fire strategy, a select few commentators (read: loonies) are actually seriously discussing the possibility of “forest jihad”…
Sydney media finds new hate figure — Premier Rees
Nathan Rees appears to have committed the cardinal sin of not asking Fairfax and News Ltd if he could have their permission to become premier, writes Alex Mitchell.
Piers Akerman embraces recycling
I was pleased to see that Piers Akerman is once again seeking to draw the nation’s attention to an article I wrote almost two years ago and delighted that Piers is now embracing recycling, writes Richard Flanagan.
What’s happening at the Daily Telegraph?
What’s happening at the Daily Telegraph? The circulation figures aren’t the only reason for the question. Over the last few months, to this reader at least, the Tele seems to have subtly changed editorial direction, writes Margaret Simons.
Where now for the Howardite propagandists?
Regime change in Australia has had a wondrous impact on the conga line of Howardite commentators in the mainstream media, writes Alex Mitchell.
Perhaps someone does read Greg Sheridan
In this morning’s Australian the man modestly billed as “the most influential foreign affairs commentator in Australia” turned his attention to Australia’s gun boat diplomacy over Japanese whaling, writes Richard Farmer.
How the pundits got it oh so wrong on Afghanistan
Crikey / Jeff Sparrow / Monday, 7 September 2009
Given the almost universal recognition that the Afghanistan campaign has become a bloody mess, it’s worth revisiting some of the pundits who initially sold us the war.