Portrait of a douchebag: How MediaWatch got used to grind an axe
Tuesday August 31st 2010, 9:39 pm

What a douchebag looks likeFairfax reporter Adam Turner made the grave error of referring to Tony the Abbott in rather foul terms while livetweeting the Mad Monk’s post-election speech- and found himself the subject of a segment on MediaWatch. This indiscretion got Turner reprimanded by his boss.

[Adam Turner] has received an official first and final warning.

— Statement from Paul Ramadge (Editor in Chief, The Age) to Media Watch, 26th August, 2010

Well, okay.

Doubtless, working journos damage their credibility when they make such crude commentary about politicians who are the subject of their reportage. Does nothing for the credibility of the reporter nor the news op they work for. Turner deserved to be upbraided.

Now… if the person who dobbed Turner in to MediaWatch had been Helen Lovejoy, who in pureness of heart and filled with innocent desires, both to improve the standard of Australian journalism and to protect the virgin eyes of her Twittering 9 year old daughter, alerted MW, that’d be one thing.

But the dobber wasn’t Helen Lovejoy.

The MediaWatch informant was one Robert Candelori, an out-n-proud right-wing nutjob who simply wanted to cause trouble for a journo who made an untoward comment about his favourite politician.

Candelori set about gloating and bragging about causing some grief for Turner:

Hahahaha – I reported @adam_turner to media watch, and they’re playing it! #mediawatch

Wow, how ’bout that.

Despite Candelori’s claim in this tweet

@guru_kscope I’ve got nothing to be afraid of because I’m not in the habit of using vulgar expletives to describe politicians or others.

…Candelori is about as squeaky clean as a dunny brush as regards his use of colourful language in political discussions:

RobertCandelori swears like a Scottish Comedian

Ranked: 174,376th worldwide Swears: 93 Score: 95 of 100

Consequently, Candelori’s complaint about the shocking, SHOCKING, I TELL YOU language used by Adam Turner stinks of utter partisan hypocrisy and mean high-school girl tattletale politics.

When called out, Candelori put on his very best nonchalant act

@renailemay @weezmgk I’m quite enjoying the wet lettuce twitspit #mediawatch

Before gloating over dobbing in Turner, Candelori’s Twitter profile proudly told us all about his ‘family biz,’ Candelori’s Ristorante + Bar on The Horseley Dr in Smithfield NSW:

But after Candelori was called on the carpet by Renai Lemay and myself, Big Rob’s Twitter profile suddenly changed:

Wow, where did the reference to the ‘family biz’ go? So much for that nonchalant act, eh? Maybe an elder Candelori advised young Rob that foul-mouthed bitchy political commentary isn’t so good for the ‘family biz.’

Huh, maybe it’s not just journalists who need to mind their civility in public political discourse.

Rob, let me tell you what you are: you’re a hypocritical bitch. You make Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan look positively macho. There’s a picture of you in the dictionary next to the definition for ‘catty.’

MediaWatch can’t necessarily be faulted for being used to drive some Liberal douchebag’s political agenda… but MW certainly should be mindful of the possibility. Moreover, at the end of the day, just how newsworthy was this little snit? Was it as good as David Marr’s keelhauling of Alan Jones and John Laws over ‘Cash for Comment’?

I don’t think there’s any Walkleys in this one, dearest MediaWatch.

You can do better.

-weez


11 Comments so far
Leave a comment

I love that I now have a hate piece.

The funny part in all this is that people think journalists shouldn’t suffer the exact same scrutiny they apply to politicians and others.

And whilst Mr Turner is not a member of the Canberra press gallery, the reality is that leading up to the election he had things to say in regards to the National Broadband Network and the proposed mandatory ISP filter. All fine. His final pre-election analysis on which of the major parties should get the gong basically concluded that whilst Labor sought to filter the internet, their policy was more tolerable than no NBN at all under the Coalition. No problem with that, he is entitled to hold that opinion.

But when you start calling politicians c**k-suckers and a-holes, you bring the journalism profession into disrepute. This wasn’t a “private” comment as some have tried to argue, it was a public comment on one of the world’s most prominent social networks. And given his previous policy analysis in the Age and SMH online sections, makes his comments all the more relevant when it comes to holding him to account.

I stand by everything I have said and done. I don’t seek to run away from any of it.

Comment by Robert Candelori 08.31.10 @ 10:16 pm

HERP DERP DERPITY DERP HERP!

Comment by Governmetn Computer 08.31.10 @ 10:25 pm

Is this a hate piece, Robert? You should read more of mgk. This is a straight documentary. This is a hate piece.

I agree- I don’t think that journos should be exempt from scrutiny- and I’ve said as much above. I cringe when some of my fave journos expose their partisan biases in tweets. It’s not a good look.

Now, as I’ve said, if you were Helen Lovejoy, dobbing in Turner would be perfectly fine.

However, young Robert, where you put footprints all over your tallywhacker is when you started bragging- and showed the world who you really are and what your actual motivations for complaint really were. Catty, bitchy, childish and absolutely full to your collarbones with teenage hubris.

Glass houses, bro. Hope you weren’t looking for one of those hat thingies for your doubtless superior eatery.

Comment by weez 08.31.10 @ 10:29 pm

I was actually surprised, not gloating. But in any event, I’m not bothered. I have a public account for a reason – I am not afraid of the scrutiny.

If people are going to wax lyrical about how Adam Turner was poorly treated, then they should be arguing for people to adjust the privacy settings on their Twitter accounts (and other social networking accounts). Otherwise, everything said in public is fair game.

Nick Sowden, a former fellow Liberal, wasn’t even a journalist, yet he was smashed to pieces by the media earlier this year for some inappropriate tweets about Barack Obama made in jest. He was also suspended from the Liberal Party.

So, all I’m saying is that the media has got to be prepared to face the same scrutiny, not accuse others of a “beat up” because uncomfortable truths are exposed.

Comment by Robert Candelori 08.31.10 @ 10:41 pm

What a pointless and crap article. Adam Turner deserved to be laughed at and mocked.
Get a grip ‘Weez’

Comment by Scott 08.31.10 @ 11:29 pm

Robert, where have I waxed lyrical about how Turner was hardly done by? Feel free to point out those waxy lyrics.

The ‘beat up’ is you driving a political agenda under the guise of promoting better journalistic practise whilst being absolutely guilty of the crimes of which you are accusing others.

Comment by weez 08.31.10 @ 11:36 pm

Scott, Robert deserves just as much mockery- and he’s getting it right here- and at a great price, I might add. xD

Comment by weez 08.31.10 @ 11:37 pm

Well there’s a restaurant I won’t ever visit or recommend. Right wing bile and talking points with Pasta don’t go to together. I wonder what whine you serve with that?

Comment by Phil 09.01.10 @ 10:43 am

@scott – Except Media Watch didn’t report it correctly, provide the correct context or do any research on which dickhead was dobbing him in. They just tried to get him fired. Perhaps they could, y’know, spend some time looking at the abject shite on the commercial networks rather than bullying soft targets and people who can’t fight back.

The great news is this internet troll is forever going to be labelled a rat thanks to any internet search. He hasn’t heard the end of it. We’ll see who’s laughing in the end.

Comment by john 09.06.10 @ 3:17 pm

Tony Abbott sets HIMSELF up for ridicule with his self righteous, condescending, mysogynistic views and Candelori shows poor taste in supporting him. Has Candelori ever heard of “Freedom of Speech”? The journalist has every right to his opinion of Abbott (which is shared by a very large number of Australian citizens! It seems that he and his ultra right-wing party can dish out the dirt on anyone and everyone but can’t take it! Tch! Tch! Thank God, the better person won the last election in the end …

Comment by Katie 10.27.10 @ 9:44 pm

After reading Turner’s unspeakable unmentionable unprintable language, I tried to clutch my pearl necklace whilst fainting onto the divan, but they squished right through my fingers. WHERE IS MY PARASOL? I think I am getting a case of the vapours. Or consumption.

Comment by Helen Lovejoy 11.09.10 @ 8:49 am



Leave a comment

(required)

(required)





Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function show_subscription_checkbox() in /home/www/machinegunkeyboard.com/wp-content/themes/benevolence/comments.php:155 Stack trace: #0 /home/www/machinegunkeyboard.com/wp-includes/comment-template.php(1618): require() #1 /home/www/machinegunkeyboard.com/wp-content/themes/benevolence/index.php(28): comments_template() #2 /home/www/machinegunkeyboard.com/wp-includes/template-loader.php(106): include('/home/www/machi...') #3 /home/www/machinegunkeyboard.com/wp-blog-header.php(19): require_once('/home/www/machi...') #4 /home/www/machinegunkeyboard.com/index.php(17): require('/home/www/machi...') #5 {main} thrown in /home/www/machinegunkeyboard.com/wp-content/themes/benevolence/comments.php on line 155