Summarising the left wing supporters of the ABC, we get this.

Mikk just ran into the arena and let fly with a mouth full of abuse towards Tony Abbott. Not much of an argument there, Mikk. But thank you for displaying just how shallow the thinking of lefties is, when you can't even think up an argument to support your opinions.

Cobber the Hound implied that the left wing view was "reality", that the ABC was "independent media", and that the latest attack on the ABC was some sort of Abbott red herring to make people stop "looking at Liberal policies." Well, to begin with cobber, the ABC is not "independent media" if it is paid for by the taxpayer and it is obliged by it's charter to produce unbiased news.

Foxy went in to bat for the "foolish, misguided young man" who has publically declared previously that two female journalists should be gang raped on live TV. It is funny how the left wing sisterhood sticks up for the Muslims who think that thinking women should be raped, because the sisters think that minorities should be protected, and they simply hate Tony Abbott.

Pericles tried the old "freedom of speech" ploy. That sounds funny from somebody who probably supports 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. The ABC should have freedom of speech, Pericles. But it's charter obliges it to produce a balanced presentation. Having a Q&A panel composed of an intelligently left wing person, a mildly left wing, a moderately left wing, and a totally rabid, mouth frothing, left wing nutcase, is not a "balanced" panel.

Craig Minns, Ponder, and Susieonline tried the lame old excuse that the ABC is not biased at all. The only thing wrong with that logic, is that even lefties like Robert LePage know that the ABC is biased. LePage justified the bias by implying that it balances out the commercial media which he claims has a right wing bias. Even if his opinion were true, it does not excuse the fact that the ABC is not abiding by it's charter.

LEGO, I did not suggest that the ABC is never biased, I pointed out that the general quality standards of its reportage are high and that this, unsurprisingly, is confronting to those who think that the best thing for everyone is just to do as they're told and not ask questions.

Lawrence Kohlberg defined this as "conventional" Stage 3 thinking and he suggested that most people should reach that stage of reasoning about morality by about puberty.

He also pointed out that some never grow out of it. What a clever chap he was.

Toni Lavis gave three good reasons why the ABC is the best channel but they were all pointedly ignored by LEGO because they didn't fit his narrative that everyone who loves the ABC loves it because of the left-wing bias it demonstrates and for no other reason.

I'm two episodes behind in 'Doctor Who' which I'll probably be catching up today. I'll be sure to keep my eyes peeled for any overt left-wing bias. I haven't really seen any so far. About the closest you get is the Doctor's eternal battle against the Cybermen, who are distinctly fascist. They certainly never grew out of 'Stage 3 thinking'.

But it's a new Doctor and a new companion and maybe the writers decided to risk alienating a lot of their audience by making them both raving pinkos. Amy Pond is from Scotland and statistically unlikely to support the British Conservative party. But the eleventh doctor is friends with Winston Churchill and over 900 years. Older people are more likely to vote conservatively, so there is a very good chance the Doctor is a tory. I love him all the same.

Craig,
We don't need to know about everything the state or the government do, however the government have nobody to blame but themselves dues to the fact that they allowed themselves to be drawn into this ridiculous "openness and transparency" debate.
As Neil Young wrote in Greendale "Talking to the media aint a privilege and it aint an obligation neither", it's up to politicians whether they engage with media or not, I'd suggest that it's not in the interests of anyone to deal with them.

I thought you wrote that you were not communicating with me anymore, Craig Minns? I was living in hope, but you have come back to annoy me. I said that I would return fire if you tried it on me again, so here goes.

If you are now claiming that you have never said that the ABC is not biased (double negative), then you agree that it is biased. I agree with you. The ABC has a persistent and entrenched left wing bias. But the ABC was set up to provide quality, unbiased reportage, not to be politically partisan and to be the taxpayer funded PR media for the Labor Party and the Greens. If it can not do it's job, which was defined by an act of parliament, it should be abolished by an act of parliament.

Now you are saying that the ABC reportage is "high quality." How you equate biased reportage with "high quality" is beyond me. Perhaps you think that always presenting a biased, left wing view as the truth, and always being totally negative biased towards right wing (nationalist) views, is the definition of "high quality?"

Foyle: the court accepted that he had shown no intent to carry out the threat. That is why the sentence was so short.

If I stood up on a plane in the air & said, “ I’ve got a bomb!” & later said, “just kidding.” Do you think the Judge would give me a light Sentence? No the Sentence was one of those stupid ones that Judges give out nowadays, especially if they don’t want to upset the moslem community.

Three reasons why I watch the ABC in preference to any other channel:

1: Snobbery.
2. I’m one of the Upper Class.
3. My $h!t don”t stink.
I surmise that you would only read “The Australian” because only the best people read a Broardsheet.

SOL: it was probably a mistake to have the obviously disturbed Muslim fundamentalist on a live TV show.

I disagree. It showed to the Australian people just what your average moslem is like & that’s a good thing.

SOL: For all the lies Abbott has told, and the poor decisions he has made since being PM.

That’s pretty par for the course for any Politician. Isn’t it.

Well said LEGO.