Alan Austin..."One big advantage of the alternative online media is that we can reference other sources to bolster our claims" The problem with the plethora of blogs and alternative on-line news and opinion sites is each are only seen by relatively few people compared to mainstream TV and Newspapers, therefore it is immensely difficult to create a 'groundswell' of opinion in favour of change..
Praxidice: Are you suggesting that all homosexual males and females are more or less identical in their thoughts and actions? Do you think all heterosexual males and females are equally similar? If not, why not?

Labor has spent over $200m of taxpayers' money on political advertising so they no longer need the ABC as head cheerleaders. The ABC along with the most economically incompetent government in decades should be ditched

Funding of the ABC has one remaining benefit, as I cant tolerate the inane commercials from other TV and radio outlets with the advertised program wedged into some small segments during the program period. I KNOW THE ABC HAS PROMOS but there is not the quantity of insane, inane commercials as regurgitated on the other audio/visual media.

On the "biased" accusation I can only comment that I have over 50 years being a swinging voter, concentrating on understanding issues and abilities of the candidates, I am really becoming infuriated with many ABC commentators and their programs for the gross inequity eg the loading with topic bias supporting parrots, and the repetition of the inevitable little "sayings" put out by politicians/spin doctors, and the commentators passing off their OWN /? ABC OPINIONS as NEWS/INFORMATION.

IT MAKES IT VERY HARD WORK TO UNDERSTAND THE REAL ISSUE TO MAKE A THOUGHTFUL DECISION. I dont want their opinion pushed onto me, I want the real unbiased information so I can make my decision! It really is time consuming to hit the web and dig out background info that isnt equally, heavy duty garbage.

So I can only judge the ABC and I am now NOT such AN ABC SUPPORTER, which breaks a habit of a lifetime.

A democracy requires its citizens to make informed
choices. If citizens or their representatives are
denied access to the information they need to make
these choices, or if they are given false or
misleading information, the democratic process becomes
a sham. It is therefore important that the media
not distort facts and publish only what they consider
newsworthy or have a specific political agenda and
bias. Under such circumstances the people cannot use
their rights in a meaningful way.

The ABC is definitely not perfect - but it is better
than most of what's currently available.
It would be a shame to lose it.

Alan I guess compared to where you are, Oz could almost seem OK. However I suggest you ask Ford how good Oz is. You do know they have given up on Oz don't you, or are you too far away to know? Or perhaps some of the mining ventures not being started, due to our blow out in costs.

Hell you could even ask some of the miners being put off, as their employers can no longer make mining work in Oz, & shut their mines.

Lexi sweet you say of the ABC "It would be a shame to lose it".

Sorry but the shame I feel is that others around the world may hear our ABCs rampant left propaganda, & believe we are too dumb to see through it. Thank god only a few, only a few.

Hello again,

Thanks for this conversation.

@individual, re figures on journalists with non-academic background:

The Murdoch phenomenon of employing writers to fabricate news stories is recent. If Praxidice is right and most journos today have degrees, this hasn’t improved quality.

But why would it?

@Lexi, re “were these to go we would all be the poorer.”

They wouldn’t necessarily go, Lexi. Just funded by media owners, not the taxpayer.

@Spindoc, re “Do you mean your evidence or our evidence?”

It’s possible to show many media assertions are false by accessing verifiable objective data. In fact, it’s easy.

For example, an academic [highly educated] in The Australian this week claims “And until Labor's growth blockers are well and truly gone, an enduring return to the fiscal strength of the Howard years will remain a dream.”

Then we simply look at data from independent authorities here:

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/country-list/gdp-growth-rate

We see clearly that growth through the Howard years was ordinary – about average in the OECD – but during the Labor years excellent – almost best in the world!

Most economists rely on objective data. Economists paid by the global criminal Murdoch media organisation just make sh#t up. Not hard to prove.

Re “it’s the same for everyone and is not confined to Australia.”

It is substantially worse in English-speaking countries, Spindoc, and particularly Australia. That’s based on tribunal findings as well as less formal surveys.

One other nation with an equivalent problem is North Korea:

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=27274#.UbLdtNhGacc

Re: “By what means does the Government gets it message to the people? Same as everyone else Alan! What’s your point here?”

Simply that Australians, like North Koreans, get their news filtered by agencies that block important items of information and insert other items which are false.

Refer here:

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=14806

Re, “Silly point … such a list would exhaust my post limits.”

I offered three examples. 143 words. Can you find three examples supporting your claim, Spindoc?

Re, “Yep, they all have. Now define “fairly” for us and “accomplishments”.

Three accomplishments were offered, numbered 1 to 3, above. Would you like more?

Thanks. Back Monday.

Cheers,