Re your comment; "A1 - I do support freedom of speech. I am not the one bagging the media and trying to shut down the politics forum. ..."
Are we meant to understand by that comment that you think we should not be criticising our media & subjecting it to scrutiny? Are you suggesting that if we raise concerns about the performance of our media - as Awesome1 has done - that we are attacking freedom of speech?
IMO we should have serious concerns about the excesses, shortcomings & downright abuses which characterise our very self-indulgent media; to illustrate:
. It is my experience that our media promotes its own editorial positions to the detriment of alternative views - as an example, none of my comments have ever appeared on Andrew Bolt's blog, so that I no longer bother to try or even read or watch anything he produces.
. The gross invasions of privacy committed under the pretense of 'in the public interest', including the regurgitation of material sourced from overseas absolutely sickens me. Lest we forget that media pursued Diana, even literally until her death & then profited via ghoulish publication of what happened.
. Concentration of media ownership - even Wodonga's highly awarded & profitable local rag, the Border Mail, was recently taken over by the Fairfax media.
. IMO highly inflammatory, even iciteful outbursts from shock jocks such as sending Julia Gillard out to see in a chaff bag are worthy of time in prison. What impact do people think it has on the likes of Anders Beivis?
. Our media is highly selective in what it decides to inform us about, we actually miss out on most of what is happening since 'the media creates the news'. That prompted me to use sites such as the URL below. IMO our media censors what we read!
. Our media rarely informs us about what underlines viewpoints expressed - even as regards running scare campaigns which affect the sharemarket - we don't know what investment strategies our media moguls are employing.
. IMO many of our journalists regard themselves as the alternative to our elected politicians. They thrive on the direct access they can gain & the opportunity that provides to influence public policy. For that reason alone, they need to be held accountable & required to be transparent in declaring their information sources to the PUBLIC!
. Our media does not conform to its own 'Code of Ethics / Conduct' - I was stunned when I read that for the Mrudoch Media since massive slabs of it just appear to be totally ignored. So much for self-regulation, what a sick joke that is.
IMO some of the practices of our media represent abuses of our freedoms & therefore must be challenged. If I pay to buy a newspaper I have every right to pass judgement on its content, the views of journalists & the behaviour of editorial staff.
