Bias in media is dependant on where one's frame of reference begins.

In comparison to the Murdoch media, the moderation displayed by the ABC would appear to be left of centre. However, compared to Green Left Weekly, or say some Public Radio stations or other such media, the ABC looks more mainstream, if not veering towards the right.

Whatever ever 'right' and 'left' means any more, anyway.

Generalisations like "believers in climate change are left leaning" or "those who fear boat-people are right leaning" are as absurd as they are misleading. I find it hugely ironic that Rupert himself accepts climate change as having anthropomorphic origins and Labor is as complicit in fear mongering about boat-people as the Liberals.

The ABC is held to more standards than any other media in Australia. For example, someone like Andrew Bolt would not last a minute in the ABC as his commentaries would not pass even a light scrutiny for facts.

Finally if Auntie's slip is showing (and I do not believe it is), would someone please tuck in the Herald-Sun's jockstrap? Not pleasant to see and completely useless if searching for truth in journalism.

I often listen to the late night radio on the ABC, but not much more. This is a far cry to when all the tuners of my electronic media gear was rusted on to the ABC, when they still gave a reasoned presentation.

For the last couple of mornings I have been a little slow retuning my radio, & have found myself listening to AM. What a garbage red rag that is.

Some woman, labeled, I think, a political reporter, was doing interviews with politicians from each side of the spectrum. This occurred on both days, so must be a segment.

The interesting thing, both days was that she started with the liberal, & it was her aggressive "bull dog" argumentative attack on him made me aware of the radio. It was quite virulent. This was, remember, two segments on 2 separate days.

She was then all sugar & honey, [it was dripping off], dealing with the labor polly. In both interviews she was actually gently leading them to what she wanted. It would appear she thought that she could put them in a better light than they could themselves. Not surprising really, it was obvious she has a very high opinion of herself.

This lady was the type you would not want on your side. She is so biased that you would expect any thoughtful person would be turned off whatever she was pushing.

About the only useful thing the ABC can do today, is to keep the chattering classes busy talking to each other, & out of real peoples hair.

To many of us in Gippsland ABC Radio is the official 'green' broadcasting media. A secondary use is as a broadcaster of Government propaganda.
High Priestess Jill Redwood rings Reporter Mark De Bono and dictates the events to be reported on. A current big ticket item is that Hazelwood Power Station in the Latrobe Valley is to be closed. Generating a large proportion of Latrobe Valley electrical power, some of us wonder why such a minority as the Greens has had so much media power gifted to it.
A year or so ago, some joker placed a newspaper advert stating that the East Gippsland Greens HQ had moved to the ABC Radio studios in York St Sale.

Graham,

If the ABC leant to the left, it would be OK. It would just be another leaning tower among the skyscrapers of misinformation.

The problem with Aunty is the lack of a solid foundation.

There, as suspended in mid-air, this group of people, always the same, repeat themselves at nauseam, quote here and there some decrepit have-been with a string of letters after their names and bore their audience to tears.

It is their duty to do so, by order of the State, which, as we know, pays them as well as Politicians, Academics, Policemen and a host of Public Servants for the sole purpose of annoying you and me.

The other skyscrapers of misinformation have solidity in bankers, industrialists, insurers, professional and all sort of groups with aspirations legally justifiable.

And so, you and I, not entirely innocent either, pay our taxes in order to exactly be annoyed.

Somebody sometime thought of a name for all this. Was it Leviathan?

I not surprised that this appeared in the Aus?
The facts are selectively chosen and the conclusions are a strrrreeeeeeetch.

Reporting (aka journalism) in the lame street media is designed to attract an audience for commercial reasons, consequently they are unreliable.
e.g. Our local paper has published 3 ads 14 coalition front 3 page, articles, 3 editorials V 2 page 3/4 and one general Lib V labor single topic comparison , nill green or other (3 of them). When challenged for bias they blamed the other parties for not supplying photo ops of ministers etc!

Off line I've been told it's partially allocation of resources and commercial agreements (buy one get editorial space)and low hanging fruit.

This raises two points in my mind with the commercial media favouring the opposition for commercial reasons are the Libs begrudging a credible alternative to the 47% (5-6%swinging voters) space?

The ABC's 'balance' (side A's View then side B's)be seen a either bias or mistaken for objectivity. The media's idea of balance personality or media skill based not necessarily factual or informative.

In fact Aunty has it's survival motivation it needs to attract an audience i.e. entertain, sensationalise.

ABC 24 opened with the " exposure" of *ex* PM Rudd not attending every national security committee meeting! However, he did attend the important ones and was informed of what took place. In short an irrelevant beat up and unhelpful to labor.

Additionally there are a plague of talking head discussing "horse race politics" (discussing endless polls),retro-analysing strategies, that smirking Canberra reporter telling us what we have just watched and complaining about the lack of simplistic differences.

Where is the analysis of the other parties and what the policies really mean.

PS: the GW reference to AGW happening comes from Aust Science Institute survey.
Which in my mind confirms that we as a nation are in scientific literacy is going backwards. Perhaps what is commercially efficient isn't necessarily appropriate in Education (or health).

Auntie Goes with the most easily salable story and is simply media light.

“….ABC viewers are more likely to be older, better educated, in a non-manual occupation, rural, politically interested, left-wing, and favour the National Party and Greens leader Bob Brown”.

Perhaps, I am missing something in the above statement. Where are the similarities between the National Party and the Greens?
However rather than dwell on that point, any article that spends every paragraph quoting percentages of this group, attitudes of that group, staff versus corporate attitudes, entrenched or otherwise, is bound to have been created be a frustrated statistician.

The poor old ABC.

The original publisher of this article was the Weekend Australian where collected under one roof are the Murdoch trained conservatives. The deservedly much-maligned, erstwhile Australian Murdoch saw the recent expansion by the ABC into a 24 hour TV news channel as something he decreed was not in the interests of good broadcasting, a subject of which he sees himself as the undisputed master with his trashy Fox TV rubbish, poisoning the airways with misrepresentations and the worst city newspapers, The Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun.

Be thankful that we have an alternative service of dedicated and yes, unbiased reporters from around the globe, producing shows like Foreign Correspondent, Four Corners, Media Watch and the best radio broadcasting for news and foreign affairs.

Long may it continue. It is unique in the world.

Go and find some ABC bias, write to the media people at the ABC stating your concerns and then be prepared to receive back a detailed explanation of the circumstances and statistics to justify their approach, whatever it was. They’ll be right because they do take their role seriously and because they have the temerity to comment of the feckless Abbott and his tribe of incompetents, remember they also comment on the disloyal and superficial Gillard and her rightwing, leftwing, anywing at all, sycophants.

For the choice of candidates you have this year, don’t blame the ABC. You will cast your vote for one, who will be as bad as the other.
222 years since Australia was settled by white folks, and this is the result.