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The ABC needs a journalist to head the organisation

The departure of David Armstrong as the managing director of the ABC is not surprising given that he was another management type trying to manage a news organisation and realising at last that weasel words and public relations do not really work when it comes to journalism.

In the past, the ABC has been at the forefront of producing simple, but effective journalism, be it for the small screen or radio. That has meant displeasing a lot of people, especially those on the right side of politics, who tend to apparently believe the fact that when government money supports an organisation, its services can be used for self-aggrandisement.

It is telling that none of the top three managers in the ABC has ever worked as a journalist. Justin Stevens has been a producer, Anderson is a management man, and Kim Williams has no experience in the trade either. Continue reading “The ABC needs a journalist to head the organisation”

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Albanese should realise not everyone can second-guess his intentions

It is more than a little surprising that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has got so much blowback for his announcements at the Canberra women’s rally against domestic violence.

Albanese has never made any secret about his goals during his first term: everything would be aimed at getting re-elected and all that he promised to do during the election campaign would be done. He said that on day one.

That’s why he went ahead with his Voice referendum, even though it became patently clear well before the referendum that he would lose and lose badly. The only change he has made to any of his pre-election promises was to tweak the third-stage tax cuts in a way that he was sure would not have any impact on his poll numbers. Continue reading “Albanese should realise not everyone can second-guess his intentions”

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ABC and the AFR begin the rehabilitation of Mike Pezzullo

Many politicians and public servants in Australia enjoy an incestuous relationship with journalists and have long done so.

Such relationships often leave the journalist compromised when some hidden detail about an interview or story is exposed, but those in this category do not mind being outed as long as they get what they deem to be an “exclusive”.

Mike Pezzullo, the former Home Affairs secretary who was terminated last year following 14 breaches of the public service code of conduct, is one person who could never be described as humble, not even by his best mate. Continue reading “ABC and the AFR begin the rehabilitation of Mike Pezzullo”

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Indian media try to blackball ABC reporter in bid to suck up to Modi

Chamchagiri is a Hindi word that refers to the practice of flattering or appeasing a superior or a person in power. It is the best way to describe the manner in which Indian media are prostrating themselves in order to blackball Australian journalist Avani Dias and portray her expulsion from the world’s biggest democracy aka India as being due to every other reason apart from the inability of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accept a little criticism.

The manner in which journalism in the country has changed since 2014 when Modi first took office is very accurately portrayed in this Al Jazeera video.

Dias was denied a visa after her program Sikhs, Spies and Murder: Investigating India’s alleged hit on foreign soil was aired on the ABC ‘s weekly Foreign Correspondent slot in March.

Continue reading “Indian media try to blackball ABC reporter in bid to suck up to Modi”

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Bledisloe II result needs to be viewed in context

Australian rugby has been so battered and bruised this season — four losses in four games — that anything even remotely better than a hammering is hailed as something akin to the second coming.

That could be why journalists are slobbering over the national team after it lost narrowly to New Zealand at the death in the final international rugby game of the southern season. Australia led for more than three-quarters of the game, but could not hold together in the second half the way it had in the first 40 minutes.

To put the game in context, one has to bear in mind that New Zealand made 12 changes to the team that had beaten Australia the previous week. Given that the silverware on offer for the southern season — the Rugby Championship and the Bledisloe Cup — had both been won, New Zealand coach Ian Foster treated the game as a way to test out some new faces and see their worth. Continue reading “Bledisloe II result needs to be viewed in context”

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Australian rugby needs an Anglo-Saxon coach if it wants to win

Australia will be able to regain something of its former glory in international rugby only when it is coached by an Anglo-Saxon. The Wallabies, as the team is known, may go as far as the world cup final, but will not win until a coach who can understand the prevailing dominant Anglo culture within the team is guiding its fortunes.

Australia takes on New Zealand in a Blesisloe Cup game on 29 July. Courtesy YouTube
Australia takes on New Zealand in a Bledisloe Cup game on 29 July. Courtesy YouTube

Australia has won the rugby World Cup twice. In 1991, Bob Dwyer was the coach; in 1999, it was Rod MacQueen. Both white men, steeped in the same culture as the team.

But now, things have changed quite a bit. There are a fair number of non-whites in the team, predominantly from the Pacific Islands. This is partly because the game tends to come naturally to people from that part of the world and partly because the pool of youngsters from whom one can select possible players is getting smaller and smaller. Rugby is a game mostly played in private schools and is an expensive and physically demanding sport; thus, the numbers who take it up are small. Continue reading “Australian rugby needs an Anglo-Saxon coach if it wants to win”

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Seventy-two minutes of froth: SBS show The Kingdom is an exercise in narcissism

The SBS documentary, The Kingdom, deals with – well, I thought it was about the church known as Hillsong until I watched it. Turns out that this isn’t the case; it’s actually about Marc Fennell, the presenter, and his quitting of the church. It is narcissism at its very best.

Marc Fennell. Courtesy SBS
Marc Fennell. Courtesy SBS

This would become apparent to the perceptive viewer right at the start of the 72-minute documentary when it opens with a view of Fennell’s chubby face. Such views are common, with the camera sometimes favouring his visage from the left, at others from the right. Not to mention views of him walking purposefully down some street or the other in a T-shirt that is a few sizes too small for him.

But if the documentary had been named Marc Fennell’s Hillsong experience or How one man grew disillusioned with Hillsong, it probably would have attracted much less attention than having a title like The Kingdom [a title that was used for a 2007 film about Saudi Arabia]. At least, one is inclined to think so. Continue reading “Seventy-two minutes of froth: SBS show The Kingdom is an exercise in narcissism”

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Andrew Probyn is an excellent PR operative. The ABC did well to let him go

There has been much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth over the recent sacking of Andrew Probyn, the political editor at Australia’s taxpayer-funded broadcaster, the ABC.

Andrew Probyn. Courtesy Sky News/ YouTube
Andrew Probyn. Courtesy Sky News/ YouTube

If one were to believe all the praise gushing forth about this doughty individual, then he was a combination of all that is good about journalism.

But Probyn’s last contribution to the ABC shows that he is much better suited to a role in the public relations industry. That is, if one goes through his documentary Breaking the code, which, to be blunt, is one of the most sickening exhibitions of sucking up to some of Australia’s intelligence operatives. Continue reading “Andrew Probyn is an excellent PR operative. The ABC did well to let him go”

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Bairstow was out, sure. But it was the end of the over and…

There’s one little fact that’s been left out when talking about the incident in the second Ashes Test, when Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey stumped his English counterpart Jonny Bairstow. And that is the fact that this happened at the end of an over.

Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey.

There have been numerous other cases of batsmen being run out in a similar manner cited, but none of them was at the end of an over. In earlier years, once the ball had landed in the hands of the wicketkeeper at the end of an over, it was considered to be dead.

In other words, you could not use the ball to effect a dismissal at that stage. Continue reading “Bairstow was out, sure. But it was the end of the over and…”

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Alex Carey did not cheat. But Steve Smith did, at Newlands in 2018

As Steve Smith makes his 100th Test appearance at Headingley — the game started at 8pm AEST on Thursday — an attempt is being made to rehabilitate a man who brought Australian cricket into disrepute at Newlands, South Africa, in 2018.

Crocodile tears? Steve Smith on the verge of tears at Sydney Airport on his return from South Africa after the sandpaper incident. Courtesy ABC News
Crocodile tears? Steve Smith on the verge of tears at Sydney Airport on his return from South Africa after the sandpaper incident. Courtesy ABC News

The Australian’s Peter Lalor writes that Smith was joking with his colleagues when the incident with Jonny Bairstow in the second Ashes Test at Lords occurred and the crowd started chanting “cheat” at the Australian players.

Apparently, Smith thought the team would now understand how he had felt after the Newlands incident, when Australian Cameron Bancroft was caught on live TV using sandpaper to scuff up the ball.

There’s a big difference, a gap as wide as can be, between the two incidents. Continue reading “Alex Carey did not cheat. But Steve Smith did, at Newlands in 2018”