Poirot, Do not concern yourself with the Murdock fish wrapper The Daily Telegraph. and its attacks on Labor, Old Rupes is rather upset with Labor, something to with him being cut out of the action with broadband and his cable network. Besides most readers of his rubbish papers would not vote Labor regardless. Its been well documented what kind of person Murdock is, and its not very nice to say the least.

P,

Firstly, when Newscorp was advocating a change to labor, I never heard one peep from any of the left whingers on this or any other site. Quite the contrary, the right to advocacy by the press was supported actively. Now that the advocacy has changed, suddenly it is the "hate media" and the left tries to impose censorship.

A privately owned newspaper, blog etc has perfectly the right to advocate for change. It has the responsibility to report the facts accurately, but opinion should never be silenced.

The ABC however, has never deviated from left of center, and has continually run uncritically the government line on climate change, etc even when there compelling evidence the contrary. The "media watch program where the libs and newscorp were continuously bagged is a prime example.

So princess, take the plank out of your eye, take a good look at the whole issue before you disappear in a puff of hypocrisy.

M,

I don't recall Murdoch indulging himself in 2007 anywhere near the likes of what he's unleashed against Labor in this campaign.

It's so blatant, it's almost ridiculous to talk about democracy and this campaign in the same breath.

I'd like to see the ABC come out with the Hogan's Hero garbage or some such dodgy high-jinks.

There is no comparison between what Murdoch is doing and the ABC's leanings.

I'd love to see how you'd accept it if Murdoch was slopping his "ethics" all over the Coalition.

You'd be running around in a right tizz and shouting to the rooftops.

P,

The Hogan's hero outfit was not an election issue, rather a response to the crude attempt to impose censorship. That was entirely justified.

Newscorp as a privately has no ethical imperative not to refrain from advocacy, the ABC as a solely publicly owned and funded organisation does, and has that in its constitution. It fails miserably in this regard. On its talk shows it guest are at least 2:1 ratio left wing to conservative, and often devoid of any conservative voice.

Its reporting continually runs the labor party line, and any pretense of balance is ignored.

in 17 minutes rudd will take on..all comers

Online
Ask Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Anything On Reddit From 6pm

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/08/ask-prime-minister-kevin-rudd-anything-on-reddit-from-6pm/

Paul
My logic is a Labor win but Rudd not as PM. That is, he does not win his own seat but another leader is put in his place. I would imagine that would be Albanese in the short or long term given he is Deputy.

SM
I dispute the majority want to "vote this mob out" given recent polling. Even if it were true, is it the media's role to tell us how to vote. Their role is to provide facts on policies and investigative reporting to keep politics honest. How do you know what the majority wants?

Frankly I think there is much room for democratic reform and more participatory democracy but I am purely speaking as things are for the here and now.

Hasbeen
There is much written about the supposed flaws in a minority government. But we know what happens when one side wins majority in both Senate and LH. We get workchoices and other potential policies that were not presented to the electorate before the election. One LNP candidate said today that the LNP policies on workplace would only be on the table after the election. What the heck? The candidate may have expressed herself poorly but the inference is clear - IR to be reviewed after the election. IR reform is a good idea but it has to be balanced between employer and employee rights and LNP has history of bowing to big business. Which is why political donations should be far more scrutinised and reformed to ensure nobody can 'buy' a policy position.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-29/workchoices-sudmalis/4920352