Ever since the great lie-fest of 2002, when the case for war was MADE - literally, Marlene and I made it our business to scrutinise the world's media on the web every morning.

We compare that to the TV news - starting with the German (English) news on SBS - and working our way all the way through to Lateline on the ABC. We record stuff on the set-top hard-drive and make comparisons. It's a labor of love, but we have become current-affairs junkies. Marlene is disabled, so this is a great way for her to keep her "hand in".

Conclusion: SBS World News was easily the best, fairest, most informative, and least likely to contain the ready-made propaganda pieces trotted out of the sausage-machine.

For those not already in the know, the phenomenon of the sausage-machine has crippled the US media. The modus operandi was to howl about left-wing bias, while forcing government approved (and sometimes made) news nuggets down the throats of the news staff. Those who resisted were discredited and often lost their jobs.

So it was cruel to see Senator Alston stamp the courage out of our beloved ABC News and current affairs. We watched as it drifted away, like a leaf down a stream. Truly a monstrous theft - the hearts and brains of the Australian people went with it. It all went without a murmur.

Senator Alston - jihadist for the bogus war on terr'r - oh well done!

But don't worry Branko. We are seeing the all new singing, dancing news team at SBS yielding to the inevitable pressure of the sausage factory. It should be easy now they are the last ones standing.

If any of the SBS team are reading this thread - our hearts go out to you.

Chris and Marlene - XX

I am curious to know what would satisfy the Status Quo Preservers in our community. I sometimes watch the Dubai news broadcast, they sometimes show the horrific results of American bombings in Iraq: People going around picking up the blown-apart limbs of children, etc.

SBS never shows graphic footage like this even though a balanced coverage would seem to require it since we get to see and hear all about all the tragedies that befall 'Allied troops' and their families. Despite this SBS is accused of bias - I think they are simply not biased enough for 'the Coalition of the Willing'.

DJ1 - I don't believe I engaged in any "cheap name calling" - such as "one-eyed lefty", for example!

Branko, using capital letters (which is shouting, in internet etiquette) doesn't make your argument any stronger. You simply do not support any of these accusations with facts; rather, you repeat assertions made by others that are similarly unsupported by facts.

You say "the question is, am I telling the truth?". No, I don't believe you are, and no matter how you shout or repeat yourself, the fact remains your argument is unsupported by independent research.

What is my real motive? To find the truth, to encourage dispassionate research and debate. I repeat, I'm in the middle of a full time PhD on this subject - I've done my research, and there is nothing of substance to support your claims.

As for calling people "mental midgets" - please, have some decorum. You are just proving that your argument can't be sustained without resorting to personal attack.

For everyone's information: I don't consider myself left or right. I am conducting independent research and have no agenda. Oligarch may be interested to know that I have recently co-edited a book entitled "Social Cohesion In Australia". I do not support any so-called cult of the minority. Australia is not Britain; I know, I was born in the UK and have lived there as an adult and we are NOT a British society culturally.

I'll be replying more fully in my own article for OLO soon.

Emma.

Emma, I did not claim that Australia was still British. As a second generation Australian of German descent, I can assure you that I have no misty-eyed longing for the grand old days of the British Empire.

Australia has long outgrown its former status as a "branch office of empire". Our forebears succeeded in forming a unique Australian identity, distinct from Britishness. Heavily Anglo-Celtic influenced, but uniquely Australian nonetheless.

Australians aren't interested in a return to the pre-1901 past. Rather, they are sick and tired of being constantly denigrated with the mantra that we Australians have no worthwhile culture of our own and we simply have to accept an entirely new extrinsic vision for Australia - multiculturalism. An ideology which places the culture of the migrant minority above our own distinctive Australian culture and Western civilisational background. An ideology which undervalues the cultural unity required to keep a nation together. An ideology which preaches diversity at the risk of transforming Australia into a mere cohabitating space for disparate ethnic tribes.

Our identity, shared values and common national memory are being sacrificed in order to make non-Western newcomers feel more at ease. Immigrants no longer arrive in Australia to become Australian. Assimilation has become a dirty word, and recolonisation is now the unstated reality.

On a side note Emma, have you read a recent report by UK-based think tank Civitas? In its paper entitled "A Nation of Immigrants?", Civitas warned that immigration could lead to the social and political fragmentation of Britain and that it may have reached a "tipping point" beyond which it could no longer be seen as a single nation. It seems that even the Brits aren't really British anymore.

Emma, its nice that you want to polish up my act, but it seems you are doing your best to avoid the points I am making.

I realise you have a penchant for neo-Marxist relavitism and believe that your "idealogical superiority" warrants you to claim that I need video evidence signed in triplicate by the Pope and a JP before I am to be believed, but that is just your miserly way of not facing the horrible truth.

Like--
1. Former SBS presenter Vladmir Lusic has given at least 18 interviews to radio programs, newspapers and magazines about his removal from SBS. In all interviews, which span a 16 year period he has maintained the exact same line - that the Yugoslav government wanted his removal from the Vox Populi program and through its consulate in Sydney it used its influence within SBS to achieve this as his programs were upsetting it.

2. Evidence you say?--- look at the SBS Charter, specifically the part that says its programming should reflect the contemporary ethnic make-up of Australia. Then go to any TV Guide. Unless most people in this country happen to be inner-western Sydney urban gay proffesionals with an interest in Buddhism and a penchant for conspiracy theories, what relevance does the Charter have to reality?-- I'll make it easy for you-- NONE!

3.I am unsure what motivates Sasha Uzunov, however one point, which you seem to avoid like the plague that he makes is 150% spot on-- and that is, SBS should show equality to all and not play favourites. Although it does not bother me as such, it is interesting to note that there are large numbers of SBS staff that are of Greek background whilst none seem to be of their protagonists....all purely a coincidence I am sure!

And of course, there is the re-broadcasting of the news from China- from a government whose human rights record is in the Middle Ages.

And you have the hide to pick my words apart…to think that my taxes once paid your salary so as you could live in pixie-land!..yuk!

Emma, after reading some of your remarks more closely, I must say that you are in the running for the Fidel Castro People's Choice Award for Manure Distribution.

For example, in one of your earlier attempted rebutals of my piece you said "… the Vietnamese news program he refers to was indeed removed from the schedule following community protest. This occurred before Shaun Brown's tenure as MD, during the time that former MD Nigel Milan was in charge."

Now, if you read my article you would note that I never referred to Shaun Brown as the MD, but rather as "Shaun Brown, Head of SBS TV", but I am stooping down to your petty levels now aren't I?

The fact is that regardless of who said what to whom and when, the question remains, as to what kind of moronic organisation would pull such a stunt anyway?...the answer of course is SBS.....I am just surprised they didn't start running the Voice of the Khymer Rouge radio program for the local Cambodian community?...I am sure you would find a way to stick up for that decision too.

And then when you can’t discredit me in a meaningful fashion, you revert to racism.

You know Emma, using my ethnic background to try and devalue my argument is about as low as you can go--- but since you once worked at SBS, I am not surprised.

Furthermore, you are annoyed that I refer to those on the Lunar Right and the Loony Left as ‘mental midgets’….are you admitting that you are one of these weirdos that define themselves as such?...if you really must know, I firmly believe that people who go around calling themselves ‘Left wing’ or ‘Right wing’ are actually mentally retarded.

And lastly, in terms of your line , “The kind of inter-ethnic dispute this author apparently disdains are in fact the basis of his own article.”

Sorry Comrade Emma, but its SBS that started this by taking sides in the first place and by not being objective like a proper news provider- so I am just pointing out the obvious.