Lexi - I don't want your appreciation but thanks, I want to know did you learn something from it or did it change your perceptions on media a bit?

Dear Philip,

The link merely confirmed my views.
That's why my appreciation.
Rupert is certainly a force to be
reckoned with.

Jayb,

The Australian is made up from authors of all political stripes, and all write stories as they see them. The conflicting messages are from journalists looking at different life stories from different angles.

A recent survey on political views held by journalists within Newscorp found that roughly 40% were coalition supporters, 20% greens and 40% labor, which is a pretty representative spread. The ABC was only about 15% coalition, and the hackneyed blogs like NM and IA have no conservative journalists whatsoever.

So whenever the question of balanced reporting is raised, Newscorp is by far superior to any other rag, even when Rupert gets involved.

Burnside and Loewenstein that Lexi cites as experts, are self confessed activists, and while better versed than most, are not experts. The rest are ex teachers etc.

Singing the praises of The Australian is commendable.
Though it's not to everyone's taste.
However attempting to downgrade independent media
sources like New Matilda, is not.

New Matilda publishes around 20 articles per week covering
Australian politics, business, consumerism, civil society,
international affiars, media and culture. It includes
political cartoons by well known cartoonists like Fiona
Katauskas, Lindsay Foyle, and has articles by international
and Australian writers. It's regular contributors have
established reputations in their fields of expertise.

Still, if the world consisted simply of some self-evident
reality that everyone perceived in exactl the same way,
there might be no disagreement among observers.

The truth of the matter is that how we perceive things is
not determined by what exists "out there." It is shaped
by what our past experience has prepared us to see and by
what we consciously or unconsciously want to see.
Knowledge and belief do not exist in a vacuum; they are
social products whose content depends on the context in
which they are produced. A fundamentalist preacher will
tend to view pornography in one way; the owner of a
stri-club in another way. Each will be inclined to
perceive facts selectively and to interpret them
accordingly.

Now, now, Lexi......

One must question Murdoch's little stable of bipartisan media outlets.

After all, Fox News in the US actually has the motto "Fair and Balanced".

A bit like East Germany was officially titled "The German Democratic Republic".

I notice the complete lack of any left whinger complaining in 2007 when Rupert Murdoch was actively campaigning for Rudd. At this point he felt that Labor could do a good job.

6 years of disastrous policy stuff ups, incompetence and debt has obviously changed his mind, and suddenly he is the bogey man. Then Lexi and Poirot feel the need to retreat apologist blogs like NM or IA that keep putting out the party line, that debt isn't bad, the pacific solution didn;t stop the boats, and that the 100 000% increase is just a huge co incidence, that Thomson is innocent, and there is just a huge conspiracy against him, etc, etc.