The culture wars are in full swing across the Australian media landscape this week, and while the Voice referendum and hostilities in the Middle East have provided plenty of fodder for bad faith opinion writers in the nation’s broadsheets, some of the more traditional battlegrounds still saw action.
Q+A guest confronted after panel
Advertising guru and ABC regular Dee Madigan is no shrinking violet, but even the long-time Labor operative was taken aback at being confronted late at night outside the ABC’s Southbank studios last week after appearing on Q+A.
Madigan was stopped after a show that reflected on the outcome of the Voice referendum by “citizen journalist” Bill Thompson. Thompson, who in 2019 as a questioner on the show told the panel that “no person living in Australia today should be entitled to any special benefit or recognition based on race”, recorded the interaction and uploaded it to his YouTube channel, taking umbrage at Madigan’s use of swear words. A normal interaction, then.
“Do you think that’s an appropriate way for an intelligent–”, Thompson began, before Madigan walked away with an apt “I don’t give a fuck what you think.”
Speaking to Crikey, Madigan emphasised the gendered nature of the confrontation: “I don’t think he really understood the difference between approaching someone outside when there’s people around or in the daytime after Insiders, and approaching a female at night on an empty street.
“Often guys don’t get that because they don’t have that lived experience on what is like to be female. He does go up to people all the time, but they’re not women by themselves at night.
“That he thought it was okay to tell me what he thought about my language — you know, I didn’t ask him!”
Guests on the national broadcaster regularly engage with the public in a markedly different way from those at commercial stations, particularly on Q+A, and the ABC told Crikey security protocols are regularly reviewed to that end: “We regularly review security arrangements for studio broadcasts to ensure we have the necessary protocols in place.”
News Corp takes aim at Zampa
Since the departure of national men’s cricket coach Justin Langer, the News Corp papers have been particularly loud in their criticism of the team, with captain Pat Cummins’ relatively mainstream views on anthropogenic climate change regularly criticised in the opinion pages as a woke distraction.
This week, Holt St’s knives pointed towards free-spirited leg spinner Adam Zampa, who had the temerity to appear to not sing the national anthem before Australia’s group stage clash against Sri Lanka in the World Cup.
“Storm erupts as Aussie doesn’t sing anthem,” cried news.com.au, with the storm in question being what the article describes as the “small-scale backlash” of a single commentator, X blue check Rosita Diaz (who has no discernible expertise in cricket, but makes very clear her opposition to all things woke and communist).
The article (which for reasons unknown lacked a byline) went on to make clear it was not suggesting that Zampa’s choice was linked to the result of the Voice referendum, despite a paragraph linking the two.
If that wasn’t enough, News Corp’s most-read digital offering doubled down after the team’s next game against Pakistan. “‘Burn him at the stake’: anthem storm erupts,” read the headline. Freedom of expression is alive and well at the game’s biggest rights holder.
ESPN’s Rohan Connolly described it as a “piece of filth posing as a news story”, and another industry figure bluntly told Crikey: “Cunts. [It demonstrates] you can be a vulture and still make a living. Utter, utter garbage. Outrage always gets clicks, but what do you stand for as a publication and as a journalist?”
Cricket Australia declined to comment when contacted by Crikey.
This all happened in a turbulent week for the News Corp cricket contingent, with the departure of esteemed senior cricket writer Gideon Haigh. Haigh, widely considered one of the finest cricket writers ever, departed The Australian after 12 years, and with his departure came the end of his cult podcast with fellow senior cricket correspondent Peter Lalor, Cricket Et Cetera.
The podcast came to an abrupt end on October 6, with Haigh telling The Grade Cricketer that unsuccessful efforts were made to keep the popular production alive in the face of a stonewalling News Corp. It appears to have been replaced in the interim by Will Swanton, who wrote a piece of his own this week dedicated to Zampa’s sins vis-à-vis the anthem.
ABC cops the third degree
The ABC has faced a grilling from Senate estimates — one of the Coalition’s favourite pastimes. Managing director David Anderson fronted the environment and communications legislation committee and fielded questions from Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson over an interview conducted with Hamas’ head of international relations and former health minister Basem Naim, on 7.30 with Sarah Ferguson on October 17.
Henderson, who hosted the Victorian broadcast of the program known as The 7.30 Report in the 1990s, called it a “disgraceful interview” that “undermined the ABC’s credibility”. She criticised the ABC’s director of news, Justin Stevens, saying he was “fundamentally failing in his job”.
Anderson stood by the interview, calling it “editorially justified”: “By interviewing one of their leaders we were able to test … some of the propaganda and outright lies being spread by Hamas. This is editorially justified to interview that representative given the heinous act that they did, to challenge them on the claims and the misinformation that they spread.”
Anderson was also forced to respond about Middle East correspondent Tom Joyner, who reportedly said reports of beheaded babies amid the conflict were “bullshit” in a WhatsApp group of international journalists.
“I know that Mr Joyner is quite remorseful and apologetic for the words that he used,” Anderson said. He also stressed Joyner’s right to procedural fairness in dealing with the matter internally.
Moves
- The ABC is joining the climate bandwagon, making the first hire in its new climate and regional team. Edwina Farley joins as editor, coming from the national regional reporting team.
- Andrew Probyn has landed on his feet after being “flabbergasted” at his redundancy from the ABC in June. He joins Nine News as the national affairs editor.
Tweet of the week
Wow. Is this the first article referencing the Gaza conflict that we can actually comment upon? I for one, would like to know what evidence for the baby killings and other atrocities exists. I’m not claiming that this didn’t happen, but I’d like to get something like an exact story from those on the ground. And I’d like to know how this stacks up with the death toll of kids in Gaza. It’s like any of our reporters can’t even question the official Israeli line without the Right of politics and media jumping on them instantly.
Though not specifically about the conflict, Maeve’s article yesterday allowed for comments.
Whoa… I must have missed that due to a recent reflex of assuming everything Gaza related was closed for comments.
Same as the “evidence” waved around by BB’s spokesbot aka President Isaac Herzog last week that Hamas corpses had (full colour) plans for making chemical weapons, whilst under fire one assumes.
Rather like the passport of Mohammed Atta being found in the Twin Tower rubble – presumably made of the same indestructible stuff as ‘black’ boxes.
Or meeja gullibility
Even Biden walked back from that. Of course our bosom buddies the Saudis behead people on a regular basis, but who cares? Yesterday the present spokescum for Israel proclaimed that they always abide by international law. I have no regard for murderers like Hamas, but Israel has not upheld international law for decades, which is part of how we got here.
There was a very good Foreign Correspondent episode a fortnight back which dealt with what it is like to be Palestinian and living in the West Bank. Hammas are appalling, but some of the stuff the Israeli settlers are doing is well beyond the pale.
One should be cautious when reporting on running events or live news vs. waiting 72+ hours for clarification, but MSM doesn’t do that.
On ‘stuff the Israeli settlers are doing is well beyond the pale’ as allies of the and being given agency by the corrupt far right Netanyahu regime which averted its gaze from both settler provocations on the West Bank and security aka Hamas/Gaza.
Both regimes have been submerged into the broader Israel vs. Palestine narrative and partially absolved of responsibility, described by Prof. Sam Vaknin as ‘narcissistic codependency’ bypasses the interests of civilians.
Nobody’s excusing Hamas. We’re all just wondering how evil Israel can become and still get away with it.
Yes.
Criticism of Israeli government policies does NOT equal anti-semitism, and empathy/support for Palestinians does NOT equal support for Hamas.
From what I gather, that more or less goes without saying around here, which makes this a refreshing refuge from the frenzied red mist…
Who sings the anthem anyway, other than when being forced to learn all the verses in primary school? Australians have always been apathetic towards singing the anthem. It’s not like Zampa turned his back or sat down ffs.
Aussies are NOT hand on the heart for the flag or the Anthem. My father, on Kokoda twice and then on the bloody beach head battles of Buna, Gona & Sananada always insisted that the troops he was with never fought under the flag but for Australia
Exactly. If every sportsperson who doesn’t sing the anthem is in fact making a political protest, then the revolution is closer than I realised.
Those shrill yet disingenuous bleaters know how full of sht they are, but they also know they can still drag the Overton window to crazytown with enough repetition.
As one of many who cannot easily tolerate the unfairness, inaccuracy and pontifical profiteering of Australian commercial media and sometimes the ABC, I read and occasionally scribble here. We are misinformed constantly, underinformed regularly, poorly informed usually. As well, I dislike the anthem and do not sing it openly. I dislike the flag which is a Menzies stunt to replace the red ensign with liberal party indoctrination colours. “We” fought under the union jack in W W 1 and under the red ensign usually in W W 2, so the old diggers are dishonoured. Currently a century or more of increasingly violent and righteous international zionism is suppressed and universal violence now is distorted, for there is no doubt that israel is the result of a murderous and thieving aggression against the will of never consulted residents of Palestine, the old British mandate. All violence today must be condemned, and the “impossiblity” of a two state solution must again be revived. Secure and accepted borders are the only way of world peace to have ever had a chance…
Gotta admire ‘typical ABC leftie’ Henderson – after the way she, in Corangamite stood to benefit through Sports Rorts, before she lost that ‘not for sale’ seat, to re-emerge as an unelected appointed senator – holding forth on anyone else’s “undermined credibility”.
“Israel has he right to defend itself “
By killing children. About 2000 so far.
Two wrongs. Which one is worst?