GGF,
You seemed to have read my post and only digested only those points that suit YOUR bias.

Additionally you seem to have missed the KEY point that The ABC and SBS as public media tend to be more OBJECTIVE than the commercial media.
You are remembering only those times when his questioning didn’t follow your beliefs and forgetting the times when the ‘conservative’ side got “free kicks”. “The good a man does is oft interred with his bones but his mistakes live on” (apologies to the Bard)

On Q&A his job is to moderate i.e. make sure all points are fairly made and they stay on point, program flow and on time. In the last show the pro war lot got several egregious points through unchallenged. He is not there to put an argument.
When all is said and done the ABC current affairs (including Lateline) presenters are there to present a Middle Of the Road program. That includes clarifying the issues not to turn it into a blood sport inquisition, a court or a definitive debate. Neither are they there to prove they’re smarter than the subject. That’s the orbit of Shock Jocks and Commercial media 'experts'. Just because a PRESENTER doesn’t ask the questions you would doesn’t mean BIAS. As listed above there are other issues to balance.

I like the ABC assumed that you the reader had enough smarts to decide the issue for yourself requiring the ABC to present SOME of the fact objectively in the time and space available. Unlike the commercial media the ABC does not tell you WHAT to think nor does it indulge in ad hominem arguments(eg Group think claims). They are usually the last resort of someone whose argument is either emotionally based or has no substance.
I also reject Left, Right bias unless defined.

This left/right media debate reflects the political debate between the ALP and Conservatives.

Both sides agree on the fundamentals of the wage slave system; they just have slight differences about how best to run it.

examinator ..

That's my opinion OK, and no comments from some pompous twit attempting to "correct" me will change it.

You just can't help yourself can you - someone has a different opinion and you feel it is your role to address it. Get over it .. I don't much care what your opinion is on my opinion.

I was responding to the article, which on the whole was very good and attempting to respond to the question - did you actually read it?

Examinator,

Forget the commercial television stations. They produce rubbish by the bucketload. When the ABC is compared with the Australian newspaper it is clear that there is a difference in perspecvtive. The ABC, in my opinion, runs a similar line to the Age newspaper, although perhaps not as far left.

Whoever it was who suggested Andrew Bolt and Janet Albrechtsen were good examples of right of centre intellectuals is having a laugh. The have shrill counterparts on the left like, Phillip Adams or John Pilger.

Real right of centre intellectuals would include Paul Kelly, Helen Hughes, Noel Pearson, Andrew Norton and Jennifer Marohassy among many others.

You say >> “P.S. Right/Left are subjective lables with no definitive meaning”

So why do we find it so easy to identify one another? The left/right breakdown of the political spectrum separates the public into those who believe in big gov’t and intervening often in peoples lives; from those who believe in small gov’t and people making their own decisions.

Passy,

It’s so sad isn’t it. That the major political parties in this country have actually noticed, and acted upon, the clear and obvious failure of socialism as an animating principle, is at least one example of politicians learning from the mistakes of others.

Cazza

You say >> “The reason we have little balanced political commentary is because the 'simplistic Right' as Chris Lewis calls them appears to be totally consumed by hatred of anyone with a slightly left of centre view”

I don’t know how you failed to notice the culture war currently underway. There is plenty of flak coming the other way, I can tell you. The loony left seems to believe that those to the right of the political spectrum don’t care about anybody but themselves, are hostage to the interests of big business, and hate minorities. Whilst this is obviously nonsense, it still a constant retort from the loony left.

Open, robust debate is needed, from a range of sources. However, it requires background to engage, failure in this is perilous.

To step it up, on grave matters, and observing Online Opinion welcomes solid contributions, on a very serious matter affecting all Australians, I recommend to the editors of Online Opinion an article available over the internetwritten by an internationally recognised authority in economics. Readers should find it a very interesting read too, as well as directly germane to the concern about the adequacy of public debate, noting such material as the article linked is supressed by the mainstream media. Why? To save time, here is the link for the editors and readers of Online Opinion.

http://brookesnews.com/081703manufacturing.html

PaulL>"So why do we find it so easy to identify one another? The left/right breakdown of the political spectrum separates the public into those who believe in big gov’t and intervening often in peoples lives; from those who believe in small gov’t and people making their own decisions."

This is the greatest scam and delusion of our political discourse. I let it pass for stevenimeyer, but I won't for the second or third times.

The right is no more individualistic as the left. They are one and the same, but with different emphasis. People don't get it and I actually constantly shake my head with pity when I see someone from the right take the moral highground and make sucha proclamation. It makes me sick hearing these people repeat the adage like complete idiots.

Neoconservatives and the religious rule the right. The individualists live in a bubble thinking they are on the correct side of things when they are not. Paul for one is heavily socialist in many areas, socialism being defined as one supporting the state/government control of the citizenry and social engineering. I have some contempt for people like Paul who go around looking down their noses at people on the left who are more or less identical to them. These people need a slap in the face. But you won't see it from people from the left because people from the left share the same values.

So let me make this clear. The Right, DOES NOT SUPPORT INDIVIDUALISM OR LIBERTY. PERIOD. They are statists and authoritarian, just like the left.