There it was yesterday. A plethora of Australian journos standing mic in hand in front of the Champs Élysées or the Eiffel Tower reporting on the French presidential election.
The trouble was what they were doing was not reporting. Or to be more precise, they started with a little reporting and then moved quickly on to speculation and opinion.
Welcome to Australian media’s version of the Kon Tiki tour. With elections looming in the UK and the French National Assembly in June and elections in Germany in September, it’s all aboard the bus. When you get there, don’t worry so much about factual reporting. Tell us what you reckon.
On last night’s ABC News at 7.00pm, the ABC’s European correspondent, Lisa Millar, spent the first five seconds repeating the result and then moved full steam into divination. To be honest, it wasn’t her fault. She faced questions posed from the desk in Sydney from newsreader, Juanita Phillips, all of it demanding a “What do you reckon?” response.
Ms Millar spent the bulk of her report waxing on what might happen by Christmas and beyond.
Full column here.
Jack, who stole the ABC?
I long for the days of the old tune heralding ABC news broadcasts, and the reassuring voice of James Dibble who opened with a simple factual “here is the news”. No bullshit, no embellishment, no opinion just factual reporting. If he could last 27 years doing it that way, why in the name of journalism hasn’t one electronic outlet radio or TV tried it out again?
Bollocks. We were always fed a lot of propaganda mixed in with some real news. Now, anybody with a degree of curiosity is finding out every day what really happened.
“Great nations are just an operating front………………………………………………….” At least Bucky told it how it is.
Even now the story of the man made disaster that will almost certainly effectively bring on human extinction is deliberately ignored by the media.
But lets face it, that’s how we like it.
Bollocks right back at you JB. You seem to revel in the fake news and rewritten history we now endure.
I’ve twigged, you were the alter ego for Edward G Robinson in Soylent Green. Go on, admit it, it’s because you like it. Have you got your hemlock securely close by?
I’ll bet you wont debate me tho! Go back to sleepy sheepie.
What medication is ScoMo on? On 730 he sounded like he’d been partying with the Shark’s chairman. Talk about motor-mouthing
🙂
What you are seeing is the Holy Spirit at work.
what excise regime does that fall under?90proof? 150proof?
Overproof spirit at work.
Not at all. Relatively speaking Morrison’s presentation is low key and understated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIioOvwaT3A
LOL!
thankfully our deaf signing gentleman from Mandela’s funeral was otherwise engaged
I just thought he had a stutter.
There is one solution – never never watch the news or any current affair show on TV.
The news is entertainment and the current affair shows are no more than talking head comment – but the biases of the commentators are never stated up front.
One can get a gist of what is happening from going to the ABC website and clicking on news – that way one can find out in 30 secs instead of watching some person, purported to be a journo, on site talking into a microphone for “atmosphere”.
Similarly with the Australian web site.
In my view the wrong person won in France but — so what — nothing I can do about another vacuous pretty boy with no track record in government but with some very determined long term aims getting elected in a country that has been spiraling into bankruptcy for the last 40 years..
Those whose goal is total globalization at the expense of 60% of the population are too well organized at the moment.
I am willing to bet that the French will not give him any power in Parliament.
JS – do you mean that Marine Le Pen should have won?
I hope not.
Well said and correct. Not necessary for a journalist to be there really. And rather than getting the journalist’s opinion they could at least interview an “expert” and get their educated guesses. Perhaps best if we leave opinions to the weather people.
Having ploughed my way home tonight through the parliamentary triangle, I was astounded at the amount of traffic that seemed to be fleeing it. Is the budget going to be that bad? Quite staggering really. But that’s just my opinion.
I welcome this piece Jack. I have grown more and more cynical about the quality of the evening (or any) TV news as presented by the commercial channels. SBS knows there’s a world out there and, for all the shit that the cabbage-heads of the world lump on the ABC, they still have a news service that is streets ahead of the commercials, who are step-by-step devolving their programmes into light magazine pieces. I’d like to list some pet hates and observations if I may:
• There is zero point in reporters sending stories from the myriad places where nothing is happening, as they do continually. E.g., someone has been shot and is in hospital, so some ditzy blonde is dispatched to stand outside said hospital and mouth a miserable few facts that the talking head in the studio could have just as easily told us. WHY? No access to the victim so what’s the point? And they stand outside people’s houses for no good reason when they are locked up or whatever. WHY? And so on.
• Most news bulletins now feature some footage taken on someone’s phone or dashcam from China, Russia, Uzbekistan or wherever of amazing escapes or cats driving cars or some such shite. Why? Because it’s good footage. Not remotely newsworthy in the scheme of things but ‘interesting’. Nothing you can’t see on Youtube of course.
• Everything that goes wrong for any reason whatever is lambasted as ‘botched’, as if journalists never made mistakes.
• If small children are harmed or missing, it’s always ‘little’ Freddie or Shani or Jai or whomever, with accompanying sorrowful voice. Always ready to pull the tearjerk, rather than report the situation. We are capable of recognising pathos, we don’t need it jammed down our throats.
• Any incident at all where the perp has not been apprehended means they are ‘on the run’, regardless of whether they are or not. As I’ve noted before, they could be at home in their slippers, feet up with a cup of cocoa watching Home and Away.
I could go on. I might yet.
Please do.
Getting there
That was some vent, TV.
There’s enough that’s interesting happening in Australia and around the world at the moment, which doesn’t need embellishment by reporters. Jeez, you couldn’t make up the stuff about The Donald.
Are you still at ABS?
Good post, Trivalve but there’s no need to call me a cabbage head!
Well, someone reading the blog for the first time might not have realised it yet.
Cheese eating, frog!
Kraut kopf!
But it felt right. 😉
Sorry Milton but If it’s green and looks like a cabbage and smells like a cabbage, fair chance it’s a cabbage……..
He was referring to Dutts
Yes, possibly an unwise metaphor. I was referring to every…person…who sees bias and evil across the ABC. They should get a right-wing opinion show on just to calm them down a bit. No-one has ever seen the potential of my suggestion of a tonight show hosted by Alan Fels and Bernie Fraser. It would be gold, and might calm down some of the trembling kitties in East Berlin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgWPnPvOcZE
TV just a couple of mine to add;
We don’t have storms anymore it’s a ‘weather event’
Why is it necessary for a journalist to stand in the middle of a cyclone to warn everybody to stay indoors?
(Sent from Heathrow. Pint in hand)
What! You’re calling it the pint now?
Sounds better than a half JB 😩
Pint sized? Marginally better Razor.
It’s quicker than saying “Two of, six hundred and forty millilitres please”. This speeds service and eases congestion at the bar.
And we don’t have gales, which we’ve had for millennia, we now have ‘damaging winds’.
You know TV, when you get a head of steam up, it’s a sight to behold!
Everything is ‘iconic’. It shits me to tears. The omni-directional, multi-purpose, all-weather, universal thread adjective. Writing is a craft and too few develop the skills, so quite a lot of reportage is not engaging, or just boring. Many present relevant facts in a random order rather than from most to least important. Some ‘facts’ obscure rather than light the topic. I agree with Trivalve’s comment about magazine content. Brisbane’s A Current Affair on 9 is an insult to a person’s intelligence. Current Affairs content = 0, but you can always find the best bargain at a DFO, or not very helpful information about products advertised on 9. I rely on traditional outlets as I don’t have any social media accounts, but content and quality have slipped. Thankfully sport reportage hasn’t suffered to the extent of general news.
Remember when the PM or some distinguished politician would be interviewed on ACA? Last millennium, to be fair. They must be paying Tracy Grimshaw a motza to keep a straight face.
You maybe confused. I think that was in black and white. Grimshaw is getting money under false pretences. She must have a great agent.
What would you call this blog G if not social media, it certainly ain’t a traditional outlet! It is also resplendent with fake news, multiple links and repetitive bullshit. I think it and it’s convenor are iconic!
I’ve never used facebook or twitter so I don’t know how this compares. From what I’ve heard about social media this blog would be the peak of decorum.
My favourite traditional outlet is any public bar on Friday night. 😉
Fake News or just a bloody Fake! The new French President-elect Emmanuel Macron who has gone on to mock POTUS Trump in an election video where he promised he would ensure that, if elected, France would keep its Climate Change initiatives. Of course as we all know Trump on day 1 or 2 deleted all reference to Climate Change on the WhiteHouse.gov website, such is his opposition to this Unproven Science, despite the bleatings of “some”. No early trip to the White House for you young Emmanuel, and a shabby start too imho. France has just gotten rid of one failed Socialist and they don’t need another!
http://tinyurl.com/l2aa668
I wonder how France will meet its Climate Change commitments when it has to close down all those aging nuclear power stations?
Well perhaps they will build some more nuclear power stations?
Don’t worry JS, it’s all academic now.
A report in the SMH says the stuff coming out of the Tundra in Alaska due to thawing is Carbon Dioxide. News to me – every other report I have seen says it is methane.
But there again they also had a very erudite report originating from the NY Times about Trudeau’s star war socks and the message that it was sending.
If your lake catches fire then it looks like methane to me.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/bubbling-lakes-methane-seeps-alaska/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/bubbling-lakes-methane-seeps-alaska/
It’s all over but for a lot of shouting.
Driving near Derbyshire last weekend JS and saw one for the first time. Five cooling towers. They sure make an ‘impact’ on the landscape!
Indeed JackSprat and so many problems ahead for Emmanuel , he’s young , green and wide-eyed it would seem. The “honeymoon” period may well be a short one imho.
Marine le Pen, done like a dinner. By a boy! Suck it up Enery. Hahahahahahhhadeehah!
Henry, Trump is the lap dog of the fossil fuel industry. You seriously think the narcissistic sociopathc s**t for brains isn’t fully aware of the implications of AGW but that is outweighed by his own personal selfishness? Get real Henry, the preening idiot has been installed by vested interests.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/06/dont-look-away-now-the-climate-crisis-needs-you
Goodness me, Mr Baptiste, your “saltiness” today caused your humble correspondent, Henry, to blush. As for trumpeting (excuse the pun) Climate Change sadly we are in “Witch Doctor” territory my dear fellow, a most Unproven Science and until it is proven must be treated as all other hocus pocus is, ignore it as POTUS Trump quite rightly has done so! Cheers good buddy.
I’ve just been checking the JTI blog Noss. The strategy is working but back off a bit mate. Don’t pretend to be THAT stupid or readers will become suspicious. Is this the link you were talking about?
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/executive-order-proves-trump-just-a-fossil-fuel-industry-stooge-with-a-presidential-pen-greenpeace/
Trump is a piece of work alright, climate deniers are the pits, but the POTUS really is something else. I’ll put the link up next time I reply to you on the blog.
Keep up the good work you clever clown.
Ahhh yes…dat Kontiki moment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KUachS1LP4
Have to keep the plebs distracted. Speaking of, I’m terribly disappointed we didn’t have a nuclear war a couple of weeks ago. What a build up and what a fizzer.
Your tongue in cheek comment noted, Mr Baptiste, and thank goodness that nasty Kim Jong-un was brought to heal by POTUS Trump. I, like you am sure, still look forward to Kimmie accepting Donald’s invitation to meet with him at the White House in the not too distant future. But a question of protocol arises and I do wonder should Vlad Putin have that opportunity first? Cheers.
Called Kimmie. Kimmie says no, big fat false hair capitalist pig president can dip his eye in badger droppings. (A colloquialism, I’m not sure what the significance is but it doesn’t sound polite.)
So much for your notions of “protocol” Nossy.
Hang on in their JB old bean. Still at least three and a half years to go. Might get lucky yet.
I’m pessimistic Razor. The proles are getting some serious traction in the quest to remove the big red button from The Donalds cot. He’ll go to water anyway, that sort of thing could result in some serious ordnance coming through the White House fenestration. If there is one thing Donald really cares about, it’s Donald.
I seriously doubt any President has ever had the capacity to initiate a nuclear war without the approval of higher authorities. And I don’t mean God or the Coca Cola company.
Do they teach entrail reading in J-schools in Australia? I might give it a try with the students doing business plans for me–their revenue projections are pretty dodgy now.
Goat entrail reading has been regulated to the shithouse, Dwight. First came the insistence on wearing gloves then the offal was offlimits for consumption afterwards. It just got too hard.
And let me say 9 out if 10 Australians are better off for that regulation JTI.
And then there’s the question of whether the entrails were Halal or not. There’s a killjoy on every corner these days.
It’s a dog’s breakfast mate.
I wish I could go away for the next five days to get away from the budget. It is going to be on the TV, the radio, the internet, facebook and the print media, non stop in your face, maximum volume.
We were better off when all we had was our daily paper and the BBC world service.