I must have my daily newspaper, life would come to a halt without it.BUT...why must we have a new dontmissit sensation every week? Why does every utterance of Kevin and John have to be made headlines ? Who cares?
And if there is nothing of note happening in Australia, you can be sure a Hollywood star will fill a page or a footie hero will do something stupid.Again.
Australian media is the font of trivia. And is dumbing down Australia.I wish I could do without it.

There is one major way that the media meddle in the political process: the constant promotion of economic growth and everything that feeds into it. As TRTL says; the media is out to make money, and they will by and large say what their advertising clients want to hear.

As both major parties are in accordance on continuous unending economic growth, this doesn’t appear to affect politics that much. But it does, because it cements in the minds of the masses the message that Costello et al tell us constantly; that we’ll all be rooned if we don’t have ‘healthy economic growth’, for ever and ever.

It greatly helps in keeping the minor parties with an environmental / sustainability charter out of the picture and in causing any that do manage to stay in existence to work within a paradigm of accepted continuous growth instead of opposing it.

It short, it hugely biases our whole political outlook, at a time when we desperately need to gear our society onto a genuine sustainable base, which necessitates limits to growth.

The media have thus been hugely culpable in assisting political parties and big business in taking us ever-more rapidly towards a point of huge economic and social upheaval.

Ludwicg
Of course you are correct. Anybody with the very basics is aware that.

Let me share this with the others who seeem to think media have no effect.

When newspapers began several years ago, proprietors made explict use of them to advance their own political agenda.

Nothings changed.

It is not a matter of whether we like it or not The West Australian and the Sunday Times are an organ of the Conservative Parties The Packer Famile and The Murdoch Family have always undermined Democratic Socialists and supported Conservatives and Social Democrats. This is the system in which we live whether we like it or not. It does mould and manipulate peoples minds the media is not democratic and it quite easily sways the electorate at crucial times such as an election or referendum. In Britain there is a pressure group named The Campaign For Press Freedom not very successful but argues on the cause for what is right. We as a family purchase National Newspapers on every day of the week these Newspapers are have been relentless attacking Alan Carpenter and before him Dr Geoff Gallop two of the most capable sincere and honest people you could ever wish to meet. These Newspapers also relentlessly attack Grg Combet and Sharon Burrows again two of the most sincere honest and capable people you could ever wish to meet. Yet never ever a mention in the Press about families who are genuinely finding it hard to live in this prosperous Country of ours. Disabled people forced to go to work many working poor. Many workers coerced to sign Individual Contracts under the Australian Workplace Agreements. Young couples with babies having to bid at an auction for rental accomodation. House Prices way far out from a working persons reach whils tax concessions are given to those who negative gear with a score of properties it has become obscene. Howard Government subsidising Health Insurance and Private Education to the detriment of Public Hospitals and Government Schools again so shameful. Billions of Australian Dollars spent on the Iraq Invasion surgically dropping cluster bombs on innocents. Promoting the most unsafest form of power with no regard for the life that will be residing the surrounding locations whether it be fission or fusion. This is how our Newspapers brainwash us all today we are told our water has to be privatise railways.

It is not a matter of whether we like it or not The West Australian and the Sunday Times are an organ of the Conservative Parties The Packer Famile and The Murdoch Family have always undermined Democratic Socialists and supported Conservatives and Social Democrats. This is the system in which we live whether we like it or not. It does mould and manipulate peoples minds the media is not democratic and it quite easily sways the electorate at crucial times such as an election or referendum. In Britain there is a pressure group named The Campaign For Press Freedom not very successful but argues on the cause for what is right. We as a family purchase National Newspapers on every day of the week these Newspapers are have been relentless attacking Alan Carpenter and before him Dr Geoff Gallop two of the most capable sincere and honest people you could ever wish to meet. These Newspapers also relentlessly attack Grg Combet and Sharon Burrows again two of the most sincere honest and capable people you could ever wish to meet. Yet never ever a mention in the Press about families who are genuinely finding it hard to live in this prosperous Country of ours. Disabled people forced to go to work many working poor. Many workers coerced to sign Individual Contracts under the Australian Workplace Agreements. Young couples with babies having to bid at an auction for rental accomodation. House Prices way far out from a working persons reach whils tax concessions are given to those who negative gear with a score of properties it has become obscene. Howard Government subsidising Health Insurance and Private Education to the detriment of Public Hospitals and Government Schools again so shameful. Billions of Australian Dollars spent on the Iraq Invasion surgically dropping cluster bombs on innocents. Promoting the most unsafest form of power with no regard for the life that will be residing the surrounding locations whether it be fission or fusion. This is how our Newspapers brainwash us all today we are told our railways and water has to be privatised.

I regard Kim Beasley as one of my party's greats, and without shame both pushed for his leadership, dreaded Creans and Latham.
But pushed for Kim to go, I would be more than happy to have Kim as PM, in fact only Bill Shorten could please me more.
But Australia did not agree.
No perfect world for us Demos, it has always been the work of the Medea to report the news.
Often they do make the news they report, but short bottom Johny is just as unsaleable as my great man Kim.
Do we wait until the rubble stops falling or have conservative Australians the will to tap the little beggar on the shoulder?
If not the after wash will provide me endless joy for months after the crash, now why has our Medea not yet reported on Howard's wifes impact on his leadership?
I await with a huge grin the unmasking of Jenny after the election.
Remember that tree planting thing? I see a new screen saver in the making for each day of 2008!