Malcolm, I could not agree with you more.

Any notion that the media is not as significant an influencer of public perception than the content itself is almost completely dead.

There's no single, credible source as there was in days gone by; to form a perspective, individuals are now, more than ever, required to carefully analyse the different opinions before forming their own.

This brings your comments on fact-based reporting into even more stark relief, as the content is all too often incorrect (or worse still, politically aligned) & the need to get the story out as quick as possible undermines factual reporting.

Thanks for the great article.

Ab-so-bloody-lutely. Australians would be better off asking their next door neighbour what was happening rather than relying on the media.

The commercial news media have hyped themselves out of arena of public discourse. There is no longer the language left to describe commonplace events such as Mrs Fergusson, a pensioner of Fortitude Valley being smothered to death by her 13 cats. Shock! Horror! Who's to blame?

If you want to see the daily use of the maximum superlative, log on to The Adelaide Advertiser. The fires in Victoria are a HOLOCAUST. I get the idea but ...

'hordes'

No Screws, hoards. They were hidden away.

No.

If you wished to use it incorrectly, knowingly, as a pun, then 'hoards' - with inverted commas.

But easier to get a proofreader.

Is 'oops' that hard to say?

My pun, Screws.

>>No. If you wished to use it incorrectly, knowingly, as a pun, then 'hoards' - with inverted commas. But easier to get a proofreader. Is 'oops' that hard to say?<<

But not my article, I'm afraid, so you may have picked the wrong target.

But if it makes you feel better,

'oops'