The public has an expectation of honesty from their leading sources of news. Unfounded charactor assasination when discovered should be retracted.

I was falsely accused last week of being a Cybersquatter and "anti-jewish" by a story in the Sydney Morning Herald. A story which was then copied and rewritten by all of the other major tabloids before going international.

I had purchased the domain name http://www.bindiirwin.com and emailed the Irwin's manager John Stainton offering to transfer it over to Terri Irwin for free. John Stainton admitted recieving my letter on September 11 and was very appreciative. Weeks before these stories accused me of trying to profit from the death of Steve Irwin.

http://projectorion.proboards28.com/index.cgi?board=stories&action=display&thread=1160028046

The reporters had been fed false information by a Wikipedian administrator who quoted links to old messages at a closed political forum not even visible to anyone at the message board. If anybody here knows of a political forum which doesn't contain heated controversial topics then please let me know.

Then a reporter named Richard Finnila at the Courier mail followed up one libelous story he'd written about me with another accusing me of trying to profit from Liberal and National politicians domains.

http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/story/0,,20551434-3102,00.html

If he had bothered to do any research he would have discovered that these domain purchases were also attempts to secure them for their rightful owners. I am in fact a Liberal myself. I am also a party volunteer.

I responded to his story by posting a reply and directing all of the domains in his article to it.

http://projectorion.proboards28.com/index.cgi?board=stories&action=display&thread=1160443025

Mr Epstein the Director of the Liberal Party for Queensland called me on the phone and confirmed that he and his fellow liberal party colleagues had been given misleading information.

Just how many of the stories in the press are true and how many are completely fabricated I don't know. Should we establish new laws to reign in maverick writers like these?

If a person can be villified for securing a top level celebrity domain and saving the Irwin family a fortune then how can we trust anything the newspapers write?

Wayne,
If what you say is correct,I guess now you know what Pauline Hanson went through. What could not be taken out of context or another spin put on it was simply made up. This put her and ON always on the defensive.

It was corruption and collusion that put Pauline in jail.
Finally she was aquitted of the trumped up charges but at great cost in legal fees. She still has not got back any of the $500,000 she gave back to the Qld. Electoral Commision and remember that they would have sold up her home to get that money. You don't have to go overseas to find injustice.

Wish you luck in getting these matters cleared up.

When Pauline was locked up I grabbed my swag and caught the train down to the prison where protestors were gathering. Not many of us showed up because Pauline had asked people not to. Just in case it upset the judge at her next hearing. I'd missed that news and a few people had decided to go anyway.

Her son came and shook my hand. He'd written a song about the whole affair and had personally performed the lyrics. Another guy had really come prepared. He had a tent, barbq and you name it. The place had been difficult to find so I volunteered to go down the main road with a big placard and direct people.

Mobs of kangaroo's came hopping by our little encampment. Guards came out for a chat. They actually agreed that her arrest was wrong too. It was a very cold night and I'd wished I'd brought along more blankets. My thin canvas swag and aging sleeping bag let the cold right through to my bones.

I actually met Pauline once when I used to work as a security guard alongside customs officers at Brisbane Airport. I picked up her bag out of the X ray machine and handed it to her as she came through the VIP terminal. It was just before an election and she looked scared.

I didn't agree with all of her policies but John howard certainly adopted many of them.

Seems like you might be a stalker of celebrities mate.
Pauline, Bindi, who else have you tried in on with?

(I think) the biggest concern with Hansonism was the gun lobby.

But on the subject of media, i wanted to focus. The trouble with truth, as put by waynesmithy is this. The media is like a big magnifiying glass. The closer you get to it, the more you see. Same goes to if you use media in a practical media sense. For the media and the state, both need desperately to be seen in a good light: so hold that thing at arms length.

Just like in QLD, where Dr Death has been avoided on more than one occassion. It seems both state and media are afright of looking closely at the smudge that is Dr Death. Yet both are their for our supposed benefit. Hmmph, i say. As time goes by, such disasters are being normalised. I cant help but worry that in time both will be completly irrational, and we'll all just have to accept it as a given, because the two will be off freaking over far greater things such as rising sea levels, tides of refugees and so-on.

God bless Australia (by that i mean our living domestic population).

Sounds like you might be a Sydney Morning Herald reporter Rainier. With a talent for making libelous statements like that you should be.

I registered the Bindi domain to stop this happening to it.

http://www.terriirwin.com

That's what happens to celebrity domain names that negligent managers don't purchase. They get bought up by advertising agencies and Cybersquatters. I knew immediately the second I saw that name hadn't been registered yet that somebody had stuffed up. The Media would focus on how Steve had died for about a week. Then they'd focus on his funeral. Then his family. In particular Bindi. These other domains disapeared very shortly after I secured it.

http://www.bindiirwin.org
http://www.bindiirwin.net

An American bought them. Not too great a loss as the dot com is the most sought after and popular domain extension. Have no idea if he will hand them over if asked. By law they are now his.

The Sydney Morning Herald reporters should be sacked over this trash.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/bindi-website-squatter-abhorrent/2006/10/05/1159641438737.html

Atleast the internet literate are on my side.

Internet Polls.

Is Wayne Smith who bought BindiIrwin.Com a Cybersquatter?
http://www.opinion.com.au/5201_Is_Wayne_Smith_who_bought_BindiIrwin%2ECom_a_Cybersq.htm

Perhaps you would like to see what others would have done with it?

What would you have done with BindiIrwin.Com?
http://www.opinion.com.au/5199_What_would_you_have_done_with_BindiIrwin%2ECom%3F.htm