Monthly Archives: January 2014

ABC Bias – Bias: “an opinion different to mine”

One definition of bias is ” an opinion that is different to mine”.  Obviously “your ABC” as opposed to “our ABC” is showing signs of bias.  How dare they say things that are un-Australian.  How dare they criticise government.  Who do they think they are – News Limited during the dark days of the Labor government?

Last night they were beating up the CFMEU.  As they only report biased news, obviously the union is innocent.  Another victim of an ABC vendetta.  Let’s just ignore the problems in the Construction industry.

But seriously folks, if Tony Abbott says they are biased, who do we believe?  Mark Scott or Tony Abbott.  This is the same Tony Abbott who invited a bunch of News journalists to dinner to thank them for helping him become Prime Minister.  He obviously has a good understanding of “independent” journalism.  The same person who was grilled mercilessly by Alan Jones when he was opposition leader.  I am surprised he didn’t think AJ was biased as well.

Then we come to the reporting of the Indonesian spying incidents by the ABC and the Guardian.  A few facts.

  • First, the Guardian were going to report it anyway, and the ABC joined them in releasing the information.  If the ABC didn’t report it, the news was still going to be out there in the public arena.
  • Second, nobody has claimed the ABC told lies in their reporting.  In fact, the government confirmed it was the truth.
  • Thirdly, the ABC provided the government the opportunity to comment on the allegations.  They were trying to present both sides of the situation, but the Liberal government was reluctant to contribute to the discussion.

I must be confused by the term independent as in “an independent ABC”.  Somehow I thought that meant they were free to report all news as long as they did not distort the facts.  According to the interpretation of the Prime Minister, “independent” means report all news that supports the government position. Suppress all other news.  Yes, I am confused.

At least Malcolm Turnbull has come out and supported the ABC.  It is a triumph of personal integrity over party propaganda.  He will probably pay for it somewhere down the track, but remember one thing Malcolm.  There is always a job for you in the Labor party.  It is probably closer to your personal values anyway.