Australia has always been aligned with military empires: first the British Empire and now that of the USA. In the current era this alignment is misguided. It comes with enormous social and economic costs and does not protect us from current threats – indeed it makes us more of a target. There are alternatives, and we can work together towards them. (more…)
Category: Media
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The ABC’s racism review is scathing. Can Aunty find the strength of character to properly address it?
I am writing this because no one at the ABC — whose producers invited me onto their coronation coverage as a guest — has uttered one word of public support. Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me. I don’t hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure. (more…)
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The impact of China’s rising soft power
A recent article in the US journal Foreign Affairs, written by Daniel Mattingly of Yale University argues persuasively that: “China’s Soft Sell of Autocracy is Working”. (more…)
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Is this how western media would report Netanyahu’s killing by Hezbollah?
Western journalists claim to report the news objectively and fairly. If they really did, this is what coverage of Netanyahu’s assassination might look like… (more…)
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Alice in the Australian Wonderland as government demonises victims of terrorism
The context to my article below is today’s extreme media, and Dutton’s and the Albanese government’s hysteria regarding the appearance of the Hezbollah flag at this week’s protest against the Gazan genocide and bombing of Beirut in Melbourne. (more…)
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The media campaign against Julian Assange
The liberation of Australian journalist Julian Assange in late June ended an ordeal lasting 14 years. But it does not lessen the responsibility of his persecutors. Washington, London and Stockholm all acted with the complicity of an institution supposed to speak truth to power and to protect the innocent – the press, for once, were not very supportive of another journalist. (more…)
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Media complicit in the crimes of Israel
The pro-Israel bias in Western reporting makes the media utterly complicit in Israel’s war crimes, including when Israeli soldiers throw Palestinians off a roof. (more…)
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Sri Lanka voters reject privileged elite – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: New leader will aim to end crushing austerity. Plus: China unveils economic rescue package; Indonesia’s middle class is shrinking; Beijing-New Delhi ties key to Asia; Pope Francis wants to visit China; Thailand plans mass same-sex wedding party. (more…)
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Standards are slipping at the embattled ABC. Here’s how it can fix itself
The first time I went into the BBC’s Broadcasting House in London (it was 50 years ago), I was struck by the inscription on the foyer wall that encapsulates the corporation’s royal charter. It stated the BBC’s role was to “inform, educate and entertain”. (more…)
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Albanese’s social media gesture confirms the primacy of bipartisanship
The New York Times published an article last week by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and pollster Will Johnson. Haidt has spent many years researching how smartphones and social media affect the lives and mental health of the generation which has been using them since the cradle; i.e. American Gen Z-ers. (more…)
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We’re all like Golems condemned to life stuck in an Overton echo container with Hanrahan
Counting down the months til the next Federal Election, it’s hard not to feel totally depressed. Anthony Albanese and the gang have obviously been hard at work, pursuing change on a broad range of issues behind the scenes, trying to clean up the mess left by the LNP. But there’s no joy. No sizzle to the democracy sausage. (more…)
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On war crimes and Western hypocrisy
The death toll has risen to 12 from Israel’s terror attack in Lebanon on Tuesday which detonated explosive materials hidden in thousands of pagers. Another 20 people were then killed in another attack on Wednesday with a second wave of explosions, this time using walkie talkies and home solar energy systems. (more…)
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Invisible Israeli influences tip the balance
The Palestine/Israel narrative in Australia is skewed by the influence of underground forces. (more…)
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Pager slaughter in Lebanon, humanity of no consequence
Thousands of Lebanese citizens, injured or murdered by apparent Israeli planted explosives in pagers and other communications devices, are referred to as Hezbollah operatives, even though victims have included small children. (more…)
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The Jewish Chronicle has long served as a vehicle for Zionist propaganda
A British publication that takes pride in its status as the oldest Jewish newspaper in the world has lately faced enormous embarrassment after highlighting an “exclusive” investigative report that was dismissed as a fabrication by Israeli media as well as military and intelligence spokesmen. (more…)
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Watch football on commercial television and take your chances
So the Australian Government has decided that one way to curb the disastrous level of gambling is to impose restrictions on television advertising during sporting programs. While we might all wish it luck, the saturation advertising of games of chance during football coverage suggests that it is being out-manoeuvred. (more…)
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The AUKUS project is being submerged in twaddle
Cameron Stewart recently attempted to vaunt the virtues, so to speak, of the AUKUS nuclear submarines via an article in The Australian newspaper. In part, it’s threaded together with tufts of intellectual fluff from Kim Beazley, his one-time offsider, Paul Dibb, Peter Dean from the United States Study Centre in Sydney, Mike Pezzullo formerly of the Department of Home Affairs and John Blaxland from the ANU. (more…)
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Rupert Murdoch’s real-life succession drama is underway in a Nevada courtroom. What might happen next?
A unique court case has begun in Nevada this week. At stake is the future of the Murdoch empire. The case, which began on 17 September local time, is scheduled to run (in secret) for two weeks, and sometime after that the Reno Nevada County Probate Commissioner will make what will probably be the biggest decision of their career. (more…)
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The road to hell is paved with good intentions: Do not ban social media for kids
Social media platforms allow users to interact with others, have conversations, share information and create web content. There are many forms, including games, blogs, wikis, social networking sites, photo-sharing sites, instant messaging, video-sharing sites, podcasts, widgets, virtual worlds, and more. So, with the government considering a ban on social media for children where do we start this impossible task? (more…)
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Pearls and Irritations awarded an Ink & Impact award
At a lavish ceremony at the Highline Venue in Bankstown, NSW on Sunday, 15 September, the independent Australian Muslim Times newspaper celebrated its 10th anniversary. (more…)
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The Pope’s visit? The Sydney Morning Herald had more important stories to cover
Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the world’s one billion Catholics, arrived in Indonesia on 3 September. He then travelled to Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore, before returning to Rome on the evening of 13 September. (more…)
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A wave of censorship – Israel is the last collapsing rampart of ‘Western civilisation’
Israel was created as a rampart of “Western civilisation” in the barbarous east, but now the rampart is at risk of being overwhelmed. (more…)
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ABC’s belated reporting on 7 Oct helps justify genocide
Mick Hall analyses an Australian Broadcasting Corporation story — 11 months into a genocide — on the Israeli military’s use of the Hannibal Directive to kill its own citizens. (more…)
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Desperate junta even more brutal – Asian Media Report
In Asia media this week: Myanmar recalls retired veterans. Plus: Race starts for Japan’s new PM; US Gaza stance an obstacle for AUKUS; Kolkata protests over gruesome rape-murder; China-Africa summit strengthens South-South ties; Pope’s Indonesia visit contradicts ‘clash of civilisations’. (more…)
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A five-minute scroll
On X today: US Politicians launch a bill against China’s world leading genomics team and Andrew Wilkie addresses arms trade with Israel. Witness the devastation for a 13-year old in Palestine while Palestine takes its permanent seat in the UN General Assembly. Finally, a moment from the US presidential debate – Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on Israel, the Middles East and Ukraine. (more…)
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SBS television and ‘distressing material’
It would be unfair to describe SBS television as the Australian media outlet most addicted to violence. It would be unfair unless every other outlet were scanned for their saturation with violence. At first sight however, it would seem extraordinary should any other television channel share the SBS preoccupation. (more…)
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Murdoch to Musk: how global media power has shifted from the moguls to the big tech bros
Until recently, Elon Musk was just a wildly successful electric car tycoon and space pioneer. Sure, he was erratic and outspoken, but his global influence was contained and seemingly under control. (more…)
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A five-minute scroll
Taking just five minutes to scroll through X, these are the first five posts we witness, the stories often not picked up in our mainstream media. (more…)
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Australian academic’s bid to be heard over Age claims dismissed
On 3 July 2024, The Age’s Chief Reporter, Chip Le Grand, emailed, called and sent a text message to my phone, posing a series of bad faith, disingenuous accusations and loaded questions which cast me as a “holocaust denier” and anti-semite. “October 7 denial, like holocaust denial,” Le Grand wrote to me, “has taken many forms, including quibbling over the number of Israeli civilians killed, shifting blame for atrocities away from the perpetrators and on to Israel, greeting survivor stories with scepticism or demand for proof, or otherwise seeking to minimise, justify or qualify the nature of the atrocities carried by Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups.” (more…)
