Not completely unrelated – just heard this absolute beauty.

John Simpson was apparently an illegal immigrant.

Stick that in your pipe & smoke it, Brendan Nelson!

I have not watched Today Tonight so, if I had not seen this particular edition of Media Watch, I would not know of the type of rubbish they produce. I was really quite amazing! The thing that annoyed me was that Today Tonight’s producers seemed to show no shame.

Peter, I refuse to give patronage to trash journalism. Like you, I’d have never seen the TT episode if not for Media Watch. However, I have the benefit of being educated as a journalist and I worked in the field for some years. I can smell rotten journalism a mile off. As a result, I don’t usually bother with bent news.

I don’t consider myself particularly uninformed if I don’t read anything in the news.com.au domain nor watch TT or ACA. These outfits are only of interest to me when they become news themselves, usually by bending or utterly falsifying the news- which they seem to do remarkably often.

I occasionally have the misfortune to be near a television when Today Tonight or ACA are on, and they usually astound with their sheer repulsiveness.

Media Watch and the 7:30 Report are two of the best show on free-to-air television in Australia. Fact.

[…] As more of this story unfolds, it is becoming clear that this while event was an internal Lieberal Party stoush designed to unseat leader Grogden. The Telegooph was a willing participant in this campaign of half-truths, demonstrating their commitment to yellow journalism. […]

Y’know, i am a high school student and am in FTM (Film, Television and Multimedia),and “homework” this week was to watch TT. Why? To witness how it was able to flip stories around to different (and ultimately untrue) perspectives and convince its audience. We have come to the agreement that TT is a load of crud. The amount of apologies they have to make due to all the misrepresentations they air is ridiculous. And they sensationalise everything! Perhaps they should pull it off the air?

But…but… the ratings are so high that they can charge a motza for the ad breaks! Why kill the golden goose just because it lays a few eggs? 😆

Very true..weez. Very true. Can’t say i’d call it golden, but that’s just my point of view, im sure the stations see it your way too. I think what we all need is some quality television. No more of this hard core, “the end is nigh” type reporting. i listen to the news for facts, all these extra little shows are just feeding grounds for pessimists. i say more comedy! people need to lighten up. 🙂 anyway, thanks

Aliyah, there’s a lot of folks who are absolutely as jaded and distrustful as you of commercial/corporate news- and for good reason.

The only commodities journalists ever have had that are worth a damn are their integrity and your trust. When they blow those out of the water, as TT, ACA, the Daily Tele, Faux News, etc etc have done, they’re just entertainers- and I can think of MUCH better entertainers, can’t you?

News via comedy is a going concern- think Chaser and Jon Stewart. Satire is a much more powerful vehicle than wowserism.

call me young and naive but As long as they don’t push a touchy moral boundary, and it is funny, i take something out of it. Mind you, lots of them, do tend to push boundaries, but i guess that’s showbiz. People like you or they don’t. They see you’re point of view or they despise you for it.

I don’t think it takes any naivete to see the Chaser or Stewart as valid news sources, albeit with a bit of editorial commentary in the delivery. The Chaser’s APEC stunt cast a cold light not only on the war on terrorism but the absurdity of the APEC security. Viewers wouldn’t find the stunt amusing unless they were informed about world events. If the viewer wasn’t well informed, s/he might be prompted to learn more.

I’m not quite sure what moral boundaries you are concerned about.

Sometimes the Chaser boys do go after the wrong target, ie pulling a stunt which inconveniences a working stiff at the front line instead of the corporate loonies responsible for a silly policy or advert, such as monkeying about in the checkout line at a Woolies to needle their CEO or ad agency or trying to move furniture on a city bus to lampoon State Transport policy (if that’s what they were doing). I cringe when they do crap like that. The APEC stunt was a little better aimed than most.