August 2007 Articles, Thoughts & Resources

Journalism failing the hate test

(27/08) excerpted from Crikey.Com article by David Flint | " ... One of the most damning assessments of the Australian media in recent years came from the highly regarded British editor, the late Bill Deedes. He concluded:

I have rarely attended elections in any country, certainly not a democratic one, in which the newspapers have displayed more shameless bias. One and all, they determined that Australians should have a republic and they used every device towards that end.

In the last week or so, we have seen a feeding frenzy over Kevin Rudd’s visit to a strip club, even stories about a relative who was once as a stripper. In the meantime, most of the mainline media have ignored the latest developments in the Heiner affair about the destruction of evidence by the Goss cabinet relating to child abuse in a state detention centre. This is that a letter has just gone to the Premier calling for the appointment of the special prosecutor recommended by a House of Representatives Committee.

That this letter is signed by several eminent judges and other lawyers, including the former Chief Justice of Western Australia, David Malcolm, hardly a conservative, is news.

It passes the "HH" test, which I shall return to. Piers Ackerman demonstrated in the Daily Telegraph that the claim that Heiner has been already been investigated adequately is just not true. (He published the judges’ letter in full on his blog, and has been interviewed at length by Alan Jones.)

On Sunday he pointed out that a pastor who similarly destroyed evidence in relation to child abuse was charged and found guilty. This suggests that the law is being applied differently in Queensland. That’s news. Given the manufactured fervour of the campaign against Dr Hollingworth, why is there silence on this in the mainline media, and of course, on Media Watch?

Apply that "HH" test . If John Howard were close to those who seem to have broken a provision of the criminal law, wouldn’t that fill the front pages and the TV screens for weeks?

The Howard Haters would ensure that, and they would be justified.

http://www.crikey.com.au/Media-Arts-and-Sports/20070827-David-Flint.html

Read ALSO:

Hiding in the shadows by Piers Akerman

Tragic story cries out for ending - Piers Akerman

USA: Chuck Colson on God & Government

Link to Video

"A number of presidential candidates have expressed their Christian faith as they court the "values voter." CBN News asked Colson how Christians should feel about so many candidates seeking their vote.

"It depends on whether we think they're being sincere and the Bible gives us all kinds of ways of judging the sincerity of someone's profession," Colson said. "Just because somebody cries out 'Lord, Lord' doesn't mean he's going to be in the Kingdom."

Colson said it's important consider whether a person's words line up with their actions. "If their pious mouthings are unsupported by their behavior, reject them, throw 'em out," he said.

"I just happened to be in the Senate yesterday and walked by a guy who professes one thing and acts completely differently," Colson said. "Well, I have a right to judge him. He's given me a right to judge him by his own behavior. So we need to be discerning. I mean, I'm glad to hear people profess their faith. But … when it comes to picking who I want to…run the country, I'm going to look at how sincere they are."

Colson likes the job that President Bush has done so far, despite the setbacks in Iraq. And he says the president has been damaged by the political culture in Washington.

Colson explained, "I think he started out with a couple of strikes against him: his profession of faith; clearly, his faith in Christ in the debates had him targeted. And secondly, they thought the election was illegitimate. So he started with a tremendous handicap."

"But I saw Brit Hume on television the other night ask a pretty good question," Colson recalled. "He said, 'If a month after 9/11, somebody would say to the American people, 'Would you be happy if we had over the next six years no more terrorist attacks, if the unemployment rate fell to 4.5 percent, if inflation was under two percent, and if the stock market doubled. Would you be happy with that?' Ninety-nine and nine-tenths of the American people would have said 'yes'." "I think things have gone well," Colson continued.

"I think this President has lived up to his commitments. And I think he's taken a bad rap because the political system now succeeds only if you can destroy the guy who's in and you can prove yourself better and you can come in and bring your agenda.

It's become so vicious." Some polls have shown Americans think the economy is doing badly.

Why the seeming malaise in America? "Because they listen to the media," Colson said. "Bad news sells - not on CBN - but there's very little bad news on the economic front. This country is fat. We've never had it so good."

Chuck Colson on God and Government
By Dale Hurd CBN News August 4, 2007