I'd agree with the writer that opinions, beliefs and attitudes are taken at face value or fact by Australian media, then transmitted as a truth.

Good exmaple is Bob Birrell and his 'research' on population, immigration etc. whom has a posse of willing acolytes including Fairfax, News, ABC, Macrobusiness and various public figures such as Dick Smith, Kelvin Thomson, Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones, Jon Faine etc..

Too many journalists do not understand science or research.

An opinion, belief or idea about a (usually binary) relationship between cause and effect e.g. immigrants = environmental damage, one of Birrell' pet memes, needs to prove correlation (by looking at all factors), empirically test, replicate and then present as a causal link.....

However, too often in (our monocultural) Australian media journalists possibly underestimate or ignore their own culturally specific biases and prejudices, e.g. WASPish types talking down about NESBs as do most MPs (though the Senate is quite diverse).

Issue is not just opinions being passed off as fact, but that journalsist either don't get it, or they agree with the personal views of the 'researcher'?

Hi Incomuicardo

While its tempting to have non-politician, authoritarian General-Junta type ruling over us I think a philospher-king should get the guernsey.

Philospher-king-queens should be elected like the Logies by TV viewers.

Hence Australia's first philospher-king is http://youtu.be/t3ENUqV5-bw

Victa!

plantagenet

After that video, I have now changed my mind regards being governed by a king or queen. That leaves a religious figure to govern us, or politicians from political parties to govern us.

I don’t think either would place much emphasis on establishing facts.

The coalition cut funding to CSIRO, but previous to this, the Labor government cut funding to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/budget-cuts-how-asic-the-abs-and-the-ato-are-turning-off-the-lights-20140609-zs16p.html

Both political parties seem just as bad as each other at trying to hide facts, by cutting funding to organisations that establish facts.

So kings and queens are out, being run by a religious figure is out, and our political parties smell.

So that leaves who to run the country?