A lesson in skewing the conversation; Morrison’s gloss wearing thin?; promoting US election conspiracy theories; and kid-glove treatment for Gladys.
The mainstream media had a field day with Australia Day/Invasion Day.
The ABC ran an article outlining events for January 26 across the country.
The article unambiguously referred to Australia Day in the first two words – and simply went on to mention that for many First Nations people, they regarded the day as Invasion Day.
However, the politicians and the media threw a massive collective dummy spit.
First, The Australian misrepresented the story on social media, claiming the ABC had used Invasion Day and Australia Day interchangeably (false). While the headline used both titles, the article itself was very clear.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher thus had his talking points, regurgitating The Australian’s line. Fletcher similarly claimed the ABC “suggest[ed] the two were interchangeable”:
The Australian Financial Review’s Phil Coorey ran the exact same story.
Business strategy working
As reported by Business Insider, News Corp has “a track record [of] using highly editorialised news coverage to drum up interest in their coverage of a topic … It’s business strategy as well as ideology”.
In the end the ABC article removed all but one reference to Invasion Day.
Scorecard: Government 1, ABC 0.
Morrison’s gloss wearing thin?
Meanwhile, it seems the mainstream media may be beginning to tire of Scott Morrison. The Fin Review ran a searing criticism of him from former Labor prime minister Paul Keating:
It also published an article attacking the Morrison government’s draft media laws that would force tech giants Google and Facebook to pay news organisations for sharing their content.
News Corp also finally came out against Morrison for failing to shut down Craig Kelly over his controversial (read: scientifically incorrect) beliefs:
The Australian gave room for Barnaby Joyce to air his marital issues:
The Herald Sun gave Bill Shorten a pen to campaign for changing the date of Australia Day:
Could they be setting the scene for a leadership challenge in the Coalition?
While Josh Frydenberg is the heir apparent to the leadership of the Liberals, his authority as the senior Victorian is set to be tested in the preselection battle for the seat of Menzies.
Interestingly, Frydenberg, in the 2019 election, registered the lowest Liberal vote in his electorate for 97 years, suffering an 8% swing against him. The Treasurer was almost unseated by Greens candidate Julian Burnside.
Business as usual
Elsewhere, however, it was business as usual.
Nine Entertainment (Sydney Morning Herald) was busy pumping out Berejiklian puff pieces …
… and otherwise allowing Rowan Dean (Financial Review) to continue to subtly promote US election conspiracy theories.
The Australian, meanwhile, reminded us that the paper, the Coalition government and the Institute of Public Affairs were all on the same page, making a splash of Tony Abbott’s new job.
The irony seems lost on all three that the Coalition has been in power for the majority of that time.
Own Goal: IPA report a ringing endorsement that Coalition policies have failed
Michael Tanner is completing a Doctor of Medicine/Doctor of Philosophy. His writing explores the intersection of economics, the media and public health. His writing has also been published in The Age. Michael’s Twitter handle is @MichaelTanner_
Comments
5 responses to “Confected outrage all in a day’s work for News”
If the Fin made a habit of printing articles like those titled “Media code is a Stalinist show trial”, there might be fewer unsold copies sitting outside newsagents’ premises. This article is a rare, honest description of the false economics of the argument being pushed by the government under the guise of its malleable competition tsar. An explanation not even made as clearly by the ABC which also has skin in the game of sharing in the nonsense about Google stealing content when, in fact, it promotes traffic to them. I wonder if Ross Gitten has been as outspoken in any of his writings.
ColdFusion has a Youtube channel in which, among other things, they recount episodes of digital disruption. The stories mainly relate to digital devices or services (e.g., MySpace) that have grown and been superseded in recent memory. Rod Sims should watch a couple of them and reflect on the fact that, in the case of the media whose interests he is backing, the technology involved is decades if not centuries older and must by now be prepared for a measure of disruption. Advertisers big and small spend their ad budget with Google because it is seen to give better value. Simple.
Then to the Australia Day/Invasion Day pile on. It gives me great pleasure to note the significant involvement of aboriginal artists and themes making up the 90-minute Australia Day Live on ABC TV. This must have been seen by many more people than the offending ABC article. Even the National Anthem and You are the Voice were partly sung in language! Messrs Morrison, Fletcher and Ms Hanson must have been beside themselves, yet I saw no mention in the media of the ABC getting its own back in spades. Just as with same-sex marriage, our leaders continue to follow the community.
The NY Times had a recent article titled “An Australia With No Google? The Bitter Fight Behind a Drastic Threat”. It was interesting and troubling that so few of those commenting on that article understood the points made by Richard Holden in the Fin.
Ex-Fairfax Nine Entertainment (with placeman Peter Costello at the helm) continues its deterioration. Its world coverage section is essentially fake news. Unrepentant;
Some good news: late afternoon outside newsagents and shops selling newspapers, huge piles of unsold AFRs.
Always the best article of the week! Thanks, Michael!
Remind me, who was Tony Abbott again?
The suppository-of-wisdom – does that ring any bells for you, Hans?