Cable leaks war on News Corp: Hold the front page!
If the first casualty in war is truth – even a war involving News Corporation – then the second casualty is Vince Cable. Ironically, they were both hit by the same bombshell. The British Government’s Business Secretary is yet another victim of a current outbreak of honesty. Perhaps it’s just his small ‘l’ liberal-democratic naivety or perhaps collateral damage from several months of WikiLeakage – 2010 will forever be known as the Year of WikiLeaks – but Cable … Read entire article »
Don’t try this at home, children
The release by WikiLeaks of tens of thousands of confidential US government emails has turned the spotlight on some serious and long-submerged issues about honesty in public life. The US Government and many others mentioned in these supposedly secret emails are genuinely embarrassed and understandably angry that they have been made public. They and their supporters outside government – including sections of the media – say it is impossible to undertake sophisticated modern diplomacy if everything one … Read entire article »
Australia failed to score – so what?
Losing the bid to host the 2022 World Cup may seem like the end of the world to Australian soccer fans, but as the teeth grinding and recriminations slowly fade, the rest of the nation issues a collective sigh of relief. Those uninterested in football – Australia still doesn’t know what to call “the world game” – will be relieved on several fronts. Of course many will tut-tut at the unfairness of the process and the insult … Read entire article »
SBS’s lost decade – an accident or vandalism?
When retiring SBS Chair Carla Zampatti steps up to receive the plaudits of employees at the broadcaster’s end-of-year party tomorrow night[1], it will mark the end of perhaps the most destructive era in the multicultural broadcaster’s 34-year history. Many fine words will be spoken, reams of media releases praising her time at the helm will be distributed — but nothing will be able to disguise the fact that, on balance, her tenure has been a flop. While the broadcaster … Read entire article »
Who let the racist cats out of the bag?
Attacks on Indian students in Australia — and the protests they have sparked — have given the nation another of its periodic chances to examine its credentials as a friendly, peace-loving, multicultural society. This happens every couple of years, usually prompted by dramatic headlines which most recently have ranged from anti-Lebanese riots in Cronulla to increased arrivals of boatpeople. This time the issue revolves around racism: Is Australia a racist nation or just home to a … Read entire article »
Can the ethnic lobby save Australia’s multicultural broadcaster?
Everyone was very polite at a senate estimates hearing in Canberra whenever talk got near a possible merger between the ABC and SBS. ABC managing director Mark Scott declared that his organisation was “committed to working with SBS to identify joint efficiency savings around our distribution and transmission”. His SBS counterpart Shaun Brown boasted that this was his idea from the 2020 summit and he wanted to “fully explore” ways to “benefit both broadcasters”. Their Minister, Senator Conroy, … Read entire article »
Who is killing SBS?
To say The SBS Story is hagiographic might be to overstate the matter — but not by much. Part-funded by the Australian Research Council as part of a linkage project with SBS, this book veers between genuine independent academic critique and the kind of slick corporate giveaway that could easily have been commissioned by SBS’s own marketing department. This is a shame for readers wanting to know why Mary Kostakidis really resigned, why David Stratton and … Read entire article »
ABC NEWS
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- US spies in the Australian outback – the story of Pine Gap is one of don't ask, don't tell
- Iran signals no retaliation plans after suspected Israeli drone attack
- Higgins's rape tested — and largely found wanting — the political leaders of the day. An uncomfortable truth still lingers
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