Palmer gives a handout Is there any more vivid and depressing illustration of the state of modern media than the ad on the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald this morning? Clive Palmer, whose long-running campaign against reality has filled the coffers of advertising departments in all the major newspapers — even those who dedicate every other issue to portraying him as a prize tool — has added another frame to this shitshow reel, shifting listlessly from vaccine scepticism to lockdown protest.
Palmer has pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Nine and News Corp over recent years. But putting anti-lockdown hysteria on the front page while New South Wales is ravaged by a ruthless strain of COVID, and while anti-lockdown protests are already putting the state’s health system at risk really raises the question: is there anything they wouldn’t print for the right price?
That was then, this is now, this is still now Queensland has the highest rate of vaccine hesitancy in the country. Let’s check in with the messaging from its chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young on the AstraZeneca vaccine, to see how she’s working to put that right:
- Young, June 30: “I don’t want an 18-year-old in Queensland dying from a clotting illness, who if they got COVID probably wouldn’t die. Wouldn’t it be terrible that our first 18-year-old in Queensland who dies related to this pandemic, died because of [AstraZeneca]?”
- The Courier-Mail, August 1: “The Queensland Children’s Hospital is on standby to take COVID-19 virus cases with 10 children under 10 among the state’s latest new infections.”
- Young, August 1: “I said I didn’t want 18-year-olds to have AstraZeneca and I still don’t.”
What the Rudd Ah, former prime minister Kevin Rudd. Say what you want about his virtues and flaws, the guy approaches language with the same uncanny and haunting approach as the questions Blade Runners ask to find out if you’re a replicant.
On last night’s Four Corners which was looking into Australia’s disastrous vaccine rollout, Rudd summarised his criticism of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s lack of interaction with Pfizer’s CEO thus: “The smart thing to do is just to pick up the Alexander Graham Bell and have a yak, and see what you can shake out of the tree. That is where he has failed.”
Well. Indeed.
The Sky’s limits We in the bunker have been surprised as we flicked to the centre of the last few editions of The Australian to find its media section eerily silent on Sky News’ seven-day ban from YouTube. Surely there weren’t enough ABC employees behind a pot plant or tweeting something with colourful language to completely squeeze it out of that paper? We thought media censorship (when it’s aimed at News Corp) was a huge concern for it? Remember when its Franco-like coverage of its own Bill Leak ended up running for more words that the entirety of 1984?
So why ignore the silencing of its stablemates? Could it be a further sign that rest of News Corp is cutting Sky loose? Rather than an example of the Oz ignoring bad news, could it be — like The Daily Telegraph ditching Alan Jones’ column — a sign that it simply doesn’t want to be associated with the grotesque carnival of Sky after dark any longer?
Charlie you ask, in a rhetorical sense no doubt,
“..is there anything they wouldn’t print for the right price?..”
Charlie may I remind you that we live in a capitalist economy (and a free-market one at that). Surely you do not expect any large corporation or business mogul to behave in an ethical or socially responsible way, if that kind of behavior is going to get in the way of making a profit. To be fair, sometimes they do. But such behavior is the exception rather than the rule.
If a profit is to be made Charlie, the capitalist class do not care about the consequences of their actions, whether those consequences include war, destruction of the environment, rank exploitation of the vulnerable or destruction of communities.
The capitalists can smell a profit like a shark smells blood in the water. And if the conscience of one member of this class causes them to hesitate and not do something unethical or immoral, then at the speed of light another member of that class will quickly fill the void.
I would remind you of that old comment that is attributed to Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (better known as Lenin) that:
“The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”
Is it really any wonder that the mainstream media published those advertisements?
and here in the totally non-hypocritical Crikey we await another damp Schwab anti-lockdown piece in 3… 2… 1…
Clive/Costello :- It’s funny how cheap it is to buy dignity in the gutter.
The Oz are selective in their hard right nut case-ism.
Climate? They go all Matt Canavan on us at every turn.
The pandemic? That’s bad for business.
The useful idiots are no longer thus.
“Remember when its Franco-like coverage of its own Bill Leak ended up running for more words that the entirety of 1984?”
That’s than ❗️
The Australian is busy with children transitioning and unisex toilets. It’s a major issue.
Well this is Nine Entertainments overseen by the recidivist offending Liberal crim Peter Costello