Hi again Cohenite,

No, not naïve at all. Well, maybe a little bit sometimes. Zealot? Yes, definitely a zealot. For factual accuracy, fair comment, honest reporting and just plain decency in our interactions. (Plus world peace, an end to global poverty and free dental care for men over 62.)

Regarding the Wilson matter, Anthony, the problem you have is that your linked article is by Andrew Bolt. You simply cannot claim this as a source of valid information, can you?

Twice now Bolt has been found by courts of law to be a serial liar. Several times he has been found by reputable external bodies, including the Press Council and Mediawatch, to be a liar.

In the most recent court case, the judge found more than 19 instances of assertions "shown to be factually erroneous", comment that was "unsupported by any factual basis and erroneous", asserted facts that were "untrue", contentions that were "incorrect" or "grossly incorrect", inferences which leave "an erroneous impression", "gratuitous references" based on "a selective misrepresentation", and omissions which "meant that the facts were not truly stated".

That was in just two articles.

So we cannot believe anything written by Andrew Bolt, can we? Nor, for that matter, anything in any publication run by the Herald & Weekly Times, which the judge found guilty of inseminating “racial hatred” and “racial vilification” and articles which “contained errors of fact, distortions of the truth and inflammatory and provocative language”.

Those who do read Bolt and HWT, as with those who listen to 2GB – to return for a moment to the topic in hand – will inevitably find themselves profoundly misinformed.

Bolt and the Murdoch press have never reported fairly on the PM and the ALP, have they, Anthony? Nor have political reporters with Fairfax since 1990. With Tony Abbott currently on the nose and Gillard resurgent, why would they start now?

Sexism by Jones, Anthony? Try these:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/04/australian-radio-host-female-leaders

Or, if you only want your news via Murdoch:

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-panic.-its-alan-jones/

Cheers, AA

Alan; your response to the evidence presented at Bolt is disingenuous; are you saying the Power of Attorney and the procedure whereby it was executed are made up, fabricated by Bolt?

Are you saying the material released by Slater and Gordon about their interview with Gillard and the admission she made about the application for association are false and made up by Slater and Gordon?

Your position is at best confused; the fact that people like Bolt and Pickering and Smith are presenting this information does not impugn the evidence; or are you saying that only people deemed acceptable can present evidence; that is, people like yourself who agree with Gillard and who do not entertain any taint on her behaviour and past, are entitled to make criticism and present evidence against her? But you would not do so ever?

That's a Catch 22.

I put it to you; does the evidence suggest Gillard misrepresented the application and did not properly witness the signature on the Power of Attorney?

Hi again Cohenite,

Having worked in the Australian media most of my life I’m starting to get the hang of it.

We all have our angles. When I ran a Friday half-hour religious current affairs show on Radio National in the early 1990s we had our aims. One was to get our top stories onto ABC News through the day Friday, then into Saturday’s Age, and – just occasionally – also onto AM or PM.

A bit earlier I wrote for Nation Review. Our goal there was to prepare lengthy exposés the dailies wouldn’t touch and get MPs to privilege them by reading them into Hansard.

The shtick of Andrew Bolt in Melbourne and Piers Ackerman in Sydney is to emulate the incredibly successful Kelvin MacKenzie in Britain – world famous for writing stories he knows are false but wishes were true. And then seeing how many readers swallow the fabrications, watching the damage it causes their victims, and hoping the defamation payouts will be within budget.

This became known as the ‘Murdoch effect’ – and was great sport until it began to unravel recently in the UK. (Google: Kelvin MacKenzie fabricated news)

So, Anthony, we should all know by now that much of what Bolt/Ackerman/MacKenzie write will be false and aimed at damaging their enemies. And we should know that they and their colleagues are laughing out loud at the poor saps who believe their concoctions to be true.

So, no, Anthony, I won’t bother even reading Andrew Bolt. Find evidence from a source with no recent convictions for malicious racist fabrication and I will look at it for you.

“It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.”

- Joseph Heller, Catch 22

AA,

" Have you counted the number of time Jones has been found by the Australian Communications and Media Authority to have fabricated his ‘information’?"

No Alan, I haven't. With AJ presenting nearly every morning with new information about Labor's incompetence how many were shown to be incorrect. I would guess that a fraction of 1% were found to be incorrect.

If you are a zealot for the truth then I assume that you will be demanding an apology for the sexist comments made to function including most of the cabinet, who only condemned the comments well after the event. I guess you are only a zealot for your version of the truth.

Also:

"Pretty sure you will find every ALP member, male and female, were appalled at Slipper’s behaviour and are relieved he’s been sidelined."

Except every single ALP woman supported him in the parliament.

However, what I find most disturbing about your article is your desire to silence AJ. I believe speech should be free within the boundary of the law and people have the right not to listen. You obviously don't listen to AJ, but also want to make sure that many others who do cannot.

Except every single ALP woman supported him in the parliament.
Shadow Minister,
ALP woman ? Is there such a being ? Forgive me but my personal observation shows me that there are only highly vindictive & incompetent females in that lost group.

Alan, you are completely partisan; you ignore the grotesque sexism and misogyny coming from the left and focus on poor old Jones; the example you gave about his alleged sexism was pathetic; the women ARE wrecking the joint: Roxon's gross interference with the Slipper case and Gillard's disdain for married women; have you heard her say anything about the wives of her paramours or the unfortunate Mrs Thompson? And I repeat, they all supported Slipper, they voted for him! And yet you say:

"Pretty sure you will find every ALP member, male and female, were appalled at Slipper’s behaviour and are relieved he’s been sidelined".

Alan, they VOTED for him!

Alan, your unquestioning loyalty to the ALP/Green/left side of politics is so evident that anything you say is worthless; and your attempt to silence a genuine voice, Jones, in the political debate shows your contempt for freedom of expression.

This country is going down the gurgler and all this talk of sexism is a deliberate distraction.

And just so you know that I am not partisan; I used to be a member of the ALP back in Whitlam's time; the ALP of today has no resemblance to what the ALP of 40 years ago was.