How a senior lecturer in media and communications could come to the conclusion that John Howard muzzles the media is beyond me.
Most of the journalists of this country have been out to get him from day one….only a handful give him a fair go…no matter how well he does.
Of course he prefers to be interviewed by those who give him a fair go…he’s not stupid.
The piranhas of the press gallery, those with the big spreads in the SMH and Age, are lusting for his blood, have been writing him off for years…..have given him every pejorative label under the sun, called him by a long list of names intended to smear ( all proudly collated in one headline by one newspaper a few years ago, to show just how devilishly clever they thought they were)…… ridiculed him re his hearing amongst other things….forecast , with relish, his perceived imminent demise on numerous occasions…only to be shockingly disappointed….. given him credit for exactly nothing….so then he’s going to expect to get professional and balanced treatment from them?
And then there are Labor’s ABC and SBS, where my tax dollars go to fund a cosy retirement pasture for former Labor staffers , whose mission in life is to snow the Australian people into fulfilling their dream and my nightmare , in the form of a Labor federal government.
Of course Howard knows he's in enemy territory on the ABC.
We get a kick out of watching the angst of Tony Jones, Kerry O’Brien et al, as they try valiantly to ensnare him with their insolent gotcha ‘interviews’…every question a trap, and the trap dodged every time.

It’s not manipulation that the PM uses….it’s just good old Aussie straightforwardness, nous, and insistence on giving his answer to the question, instead of letting them tell the viewers what they believe he thinks….or trying to trap him into an answer they think they can use against him.....and, shock-horror...he wants to finish his answers!
They can’t handle this, because they’re in the business of manipulation and misinformation….they can’t handle ‘real’.

Spider - calling journalists compulsive liars is a bit much, and yeah, they appear to have ADHD - it comes from having a deadline either every day, or on radio, every hour. Plus, generally it's not like that's just one story - a radio journalist has to get 5 minutes, which is generally about five stories every hour.
A print journo does more than one story a day, and it has to be finished by the end of the day, so there's only so many lines of enquiry that can be followed up.

So yeah, they had ADHD - but perhaps instead of blaming them for it, you could assess the system they're operating under.

Mr Mack, we are all immensely grateful for your contributions here, all of which have been along the lines of this one:.

>>Being a bit provocative, I left a few posts last night on this site suggesting correspondents should get up off their big, fat bums and do something instead of sitting at their PCs pontificating<<

It is a long time since anyone has been quite that provocative Mr Mack, so you can probably understand why no-one has reacted; I expect they are all still in shock.

Still, I have no doubt that your brilliant apercu will soon have an effect, and we will begin to see contributions that, if failing to match your incisive and mordant standards, will possibly become closer to your ideal.

Having said that, we wait with bated breath for your first contribution to the debate - any debate, in fact - that doesn't simply scoff and sneer. I have no doubt that we have earned and thoroughly deserve your contempt. But it would be really good for us to understand what it is that we need to aspire to.

After all, it would be a shame if you just popped your head in to make fun of us mortals, then disappeared without letting us know what we are missing, wouldn't it?

Actually, now I think about it, it wouldn't.

Pericles,

You're being a bit pathetic buddy!

I'm not having a go at what contributors have to say. There are many clever comments here overall.

My objection is to the forum. The Howard Government and other pollies will never find you here. That's why I say jump off those butts and tell them what you think directly.

OK, I sent a message to a State Minister in Victoria over this weekend but I doubt he will read it. Some public servant will and may, or may not, bring what I said to the Minister's attention.

But at least that is better than contributing to this chat where my comments, clever or otherwise, will achieve zip.

What I am inviting you all to do is find the email addresses of the pollies and send your comments to them also.

I have made numerous contributions to this site - many of them negative, I'm afraid. But my point is to redirect worthwhile comments, wasted here, to the attention of our political representatives in Canberra or State Capitals.