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The Forum > Article Comments > Word of warning Auntie - your slip is showing > Comments

Word of warning Auntie - your slip is showing : Comments

By Graham Young, published 10/8/2010

The ABC is supposed to be unbiased, but her Internet trail shows she has a lean

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Just about all commercial Telly has no journalist anymore, only shock jocks, opinion pieces and tabloid crap. The SAD part is the ABC is headed in the same direction. Journalism is dead art, and I think that is the heart of the issue. If all news outlets Telly and print actually employed journalist and reported the news rather than give us their opinion it would be a great thing.
As a lefty I don't watch the Drum mainly because I'm not interested in hearing other people’s views on these topics. Can you just give me the facts.
Posted by Kenny, Tuesday, 10 August 2010 10:12:48 AM
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My definitions of Leftist: 1. Someone who disagrees with George W. 2. Someone with more compassion than Genghis Khan.

Left used to mean socialist, but there aren't many of those left. Now it means someone who actually wants some information, instead of just fact-free shock-jock rants.

So you see the alleged "left" bias of the ABC is a bias towards actual knowledge. And without knowledge there is no civilisation. Just barbarians like this author, and The Oz.

Yes and of course the commercial media are grossly biased to the right, but that's alright. We still have to pillory poor old Auntie for actually knowing stuff, because anyone who's well-informed is a threat.
Posted by Geoff Davies, Tuesday, 10 August 2010 10:26:19 AM
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It is not surprising that the ABC audience and perhaps its presenters have a leaning to the “Green Left”- the “bias” is inherent in its charter http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/ABCcharter.htm:

...to provide within Australia innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard...
(and)
to provide:
...broadcasting programs that contribute to a sense of national identity and inform and entertain, and reflect the cultural diversity of, the Australian community;

How does this connection between “Green” and ABC “bias” work? Simply, the charter speaks both explicitly of “intellectual” activities, in terms such as “innovative” and “inform” and implicitly in terms such as “high standard” and “cultural diversity” and the Greens are now predominantly the party of the intellectuals.

I use the word “intellectual” not as a compliment or pejorative, but in its dictionary sense:

“...capacities for abstract thought, reasoning, planning and problem solving, the use of language, and to learn (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectually).

This is not to imply that the Greens have any monopoly on intellectual activity, or even to suggest that their intellectual activities lead to correct or better outcomes than others- it is just that they have a greater propensity for using these mental activities than other significant political groups.

Until recently, the so-called “Right” had little use for intellectuals- some would even suggest that “Right-wing intellectual” is an oxymoron in that libertarianism emphasises self-interest above the collective interest that obsesses the minds of the “Left”. The likes of Nietzsche and Ayn Rand were amongst the exceptions and it is not surprising that they are the idols of the so-called “Right-wing think tanks”. Their sentiments can often be heard on the ABC Radio National’s program “Counterpoint”.

The ALP, once considered the natural home for intellectuals, is now characterised by institutional rigidity and decadence coupled with individual pragmatism and opportunism. Hardly a place for innovation or the free flow of information.

Hence the rise of the Greens- the party of ideas and ideals and the belief in collective action for the common good- and its natural alignment with the ABC’s prosecution of its charter.
Posted by Jedimaster, Tuesday, 10 August 2010 10:27:14 AM
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How about someone telling us whether OLO is biased?
Posted by mikk, Tuesday, 10 August 2010 10:27:32 AM
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Arjay,with respect to an investigation to what really happened on Sept 11 I would not be at all surprised if there was a world-wide absolute suppression order on this issue ever being discussed in the mainstream media.

Even though hundreds of thousands (even millions) of people are familiar with the various alternative well researched explanations that are available both in print and online.

The results would be too shocking.

Meanwhile this essay describes how the media works. Such is particularly true of the right-wing media--Fox and Murdoch "news" for instance.

http://www.dabase.org/popdisgu.htm

The token right-wing show on the ABC, namely Counterpoint, is so intellectually vacuous and culturally illiterate, as to be painful.

With occasional rare exceptions it is full of mediocre right-wing group-think. The two hosts never seriously challenge their guests.

The fact of the matter is is that the ABC is a valuable cultural resource which enables any and everyone to access all sorts of resources elsewhere---from both sides of the culture wars divide.
Posted by Ho Hum, Tuesday, 10 August 2010 10:31:20 AM
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Commentators like Tony Jones and Kerry O'Brien give both sides of political spectrum a run for their money and have a heightened BS meter.

Much more so than a Bolt or an Akerman would towards a Conservative. Even Albrechtson rarely concedes a point to the 'other side'.

All media has a bias, a good one will reveal it less frequently than another.

ABC is pretty good in this regard.
Posted by pelican, Tuesday, 10 August 2010 11:15:40 AM
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