I still have some mates from uni/cricket days who are dyed-in-the-wool Liberals, and I still manage to have civil conversations with them, despite their political views. Whenever I mention the blatant bias of the Murdoch media, they tend to reply that this only counteracts the supposed Left-leaning work of the Fairfax newspapers, and the nefarious ABC. I try telling them they obviously haven't read the Fairfax papers in the last couple of years, as the shift to the Right has been pretty heavy-handed.
I remain gobsmacked that they printed anything as out-of-touch with reality and relevance, and as nauseatingly sycophantic, as James Massola's feature in the last week of the campaign on the 'lovely' Jenny Morrison. For those who missed it, he actually wrote that if only Jenny could meet 50.1% of voters, her husband would have a job for life. Perhaps James thought this was already the case, as he bade farewell to any journalistic credibility with that effort.
As for the ABC, I had noticed a couple of obvious Sky After Dark 'plants' in David Spears and the appallingly rude Fauzia Ibrahim, whose pro-Right bias was obvious. It wasn't til the campaign was underway that I realised how many commentators / interviewers on the ABC had either eagerly embraced the chance to become LNP cheerleaders, or at best felt obliged to join the media scrum in piling on Albo for any mis-step, while ignoring almost every gaffe or blatant lie from Scummo.
The years of Liberal moaning about the alleged Left-wing bias, the message from Liberal-chosen management and board members, not to mention the savage budget cuts, were all taking their toll.
It also struck me as absurd that allegations of large-scale, prima facie corruption were broken by 'Four Corners' and by YouTuber Friendly Jordies, only to be studiously ignored by the rest of the media. These were stories that would have at least been looked at (or more likely, thoroughly investigated) by the Fairfax newspapers in their prime.
When Albanese said at the start of week 3 of the campaign , post his Covid isolation , that he 'still had a mountain to climb' , I was certain he was referring to the bias he had to overcome in the mainstream media.
Their performance during the past six weeks has been appalling, day after day. From the proprietors down. That Murdoch, Stokes, Costello were repudiated along with the LNP at the ballot box on Saturday is telling. Their antics & hysterics have almost certainly gifted the ALP two terms of government.
The media sure have failed to call out Morrison's bullshit. But 'without a seaside view in Sydney for the first time in history'- not quite. There's one electorate, held by a former Prime Minister, that has a nice view of Cronulla Beach.
I still have some mates from uni/cricket days who are dyed-in-the-wool Liberals, and I still manage to have civil conversations with them, despite their political views. Whenever I mention the blatant bias of the Murdoch media, they tend to reply that this only counteracts the supposed Left-leaning work of the Fairfax newspapers, and the nefarious ABC. I try telling them they obviously haven't read the Fairfax papers in the last couple of years, as the shift to the Right has been pretty heavy-handed.
I remain gobsmacked that they printed anything as out-of-touch with reality and relevance, and as nauseatingly sycophantic, as James Massola's feature in the last week of the campaign on the 'lovely' Jenny Morrison. For those who missed it, he actually wrote that if only Jenny could meet 50.1% of voters, her husband would have a job for life. Perhaps James thought this was already the case, as he bade farewell to any journalistic credibility with that effort.
As for the ABC, I had noticed a couple of obvious Sky After Dark 'plants' in David Spears and the appallingly rude Fauzia Ibrahim, whose pro-Right bias was obvious. It wasn't til the campaign was underway that I realised how many commentators / interviewers on the ABC had either eagerly embraced the chance to become LNP cheerleaders, or at best felt obliged to join the media scrum in piling on Albo for any mis-step, while ignoring almost every gaffe or blatant lie from Scummo.
The years of Liberal moaning about the alleged Left-wing bias, the message from Liberal-chosen management and board members, not to mention the savage budget cuts, were all taking their toll.
It also struck me as absurd that allegations of large-scale, prima facie corruption were broken by 'Four Corners' and by YouTuber Friendly Jordies, only to be studiously ignored by the rest of the media. These were stories that would have at least been looked at (or more likely, thoroughly investigated) by the Fairfax newspapers in their prime.
When Albanese said at the start of week 3 of the campaign , post his Covid isolation , that he 'still had a mountain to climb' , I was certain he was referring to the bias he had to overcome in the mainstream media.
Their performance during the past six weeks has been appalling, day after day. From the proprietors down. That Murdoch, Stokes, Costello were repudiated along with the LNP at the ballot box on Saturday is telling. Their antics & hysterics have almost certainly gifted the ALP two terms of government.
The media sure have failed to call out Morrison's bullshit. But 'without a seaside view in Sydney for the first time in history'- not quite. There's one electorate, held by a former Prime Minister, that has a nice view of Cronulla Beach.