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Insights from Quadrant
Omission as journalism
Something rather big and yet largely unremarked came to pass a week ago today in the United States, where a former Justice Department attorney admitted to federal prosecutors he had quite deliberately reversed the meaning of an email from the CIA in order to secure the warrant needed to continue spying on Carter Page, a key player in the so-called Russiagate scandal. Four Corners viewers might remember the name, as he was one of the Trump associates on whom globe-girdling reporter Sarah Ferguson attempted to project the received wisdom that the US President was actually a Russian mole. Those seeking to rate the quality of Ms Ferguson’s reporting, or simply in the mood for a hearty laugh that one person could get so much so wrong, can consult her handiwork here.
That three-part beatup remains proudly posted on the ABC’s website, where it serves as the latest of so many exhibits in the case against the national broadcaster. Yes, bias and the curse of a left-green monoculture are good reasons to doubt anything the ABC reports, including the weather, but what the Ferguson series better represents is the organisation’s greater malady: job lots of slipshod, shoddy journalism that seek to validate partisan preconceptions and persuade viewers and listeners to believe the same.
Now here is the curious part: after pumping out three hours of Russiagate “journalism” so bad, so fact-free and so laced with nod-and-wink innuendo that a brain-damaged first-year cadet might have recoiled from putting his or her name to it, the ABC appears to have decided Mr Page is no longer worth mentioning.
Search the ABC’s online archive for ‘Kevin Clinesmith’, the full name of the lawyer who doctored the CIA document used against both Mr Page and Trump, and you will find only the result reproduced as a screen grab atop this post: precisely nothing.
Were the ABC a genuine journalistic outfit, rather than a citadel of leftoid likemindedness, it would have sought to update Ms Ferguson’s expensively prepared compote of nonsense with this latest development. Basic honesty demands no less.
And, just for good measure, it might also have tapped its fulsomely staffed Washington bureau for an analysis of what Clinesmith’s guilty plea implies, most notably that he appears to have a cut a plea deal which will likely see him turn evidence against the higher architects of Russiagate’s attempted coup. Good journalists do that sort of thing — honour the obligation to set the record straight when earlier assertions are demonstrated to be incorrect.
But not at Their ABC, where it isn’t about truth but the authorised narrative.
And we pay for it.
— roger franklin
Insights from Quadrant
Bitter Harvest
now on sale
now on sale
The highly readable vivisection of author Bruce Pascoe’s compendium of errors, misrepresentations and misquoted sources depicting Aborigines as sedentary agriculturalists with ‘skills superior to those of the white colonisers who took their land and despoiled it’ is available from Quadrant Books.
With the ABC pointedly ignoring any and all critiques of Dark Emu‘s fantasies as it peddles and promotes Pascoe’s shoddy scholarship, Bitter Harvest is essential reading for those who still believe truth matters.
Insights from Quadrant
How to revitalise
Australia’s economy
Australia’s economy
Andrew Stone’s important new book lays out an economic agenda that is coherent and comprehensive, yet politically achievable over the next three to five years by a federal government with the resolve to implement it.
Addressing immigration, the housing market, higher education reform, federal‑state relations, energy policy, workforce participation, welfare reform, budget repair, monetary policy and financial system regulation, the book demonstrates that good government worthy of the respect and support of the Australian people is not merely possible but vital.
What others are saying of Restoring Hope:
Niall Ferguson: “This is an ambitious program of structural as well as fiscal reform. Let us hope there are politicians willing to take the risks inherent in such a radical strategy.”
Peter Costello: “Andrew Stone reminds us that improving productivity is the key to future living standards in Australia. He identifies a range of areas where this could be examined. The hard work of economic reform cannot be done without explaining the options and building public support.”
John Howard: “Andrew Stone has undertaken the difficult task of arguing in detail for a range of economic reforms. That he has done it at a time when, in the eyes of some, reform is in the doldrums is all the more praiseworthy. His analysis of the housing issue is impressive.”
Insights from Quadrant
Nightmare
on the Yarra
on the Yarra
A Victorian friend of Quadrant awoke in a wee-hours panic after a most unsettling dream, one he fears may be more prophecy than fancy. He jotted down what he recalled of his vision and sent it along:
With the Melbourne Cup coming up special precautions are being planned, with jockeys and horses being required to observe social distancing. To ensure compliance, snipers are being placed at strategic points to deal with riders who breach the rules, their targets selected with the help of eye-in-the-sky drones Premier Dandemic’s government has announced will soon be hovering over Melbourne and suburbs to monitor residents’ compliance with Spring Street’s latest edicts.
Animal welfare groups remain concerned, however, as the possibility of an animal being injured accidentally cannot be ruled out.
“Victoria Police has already opened fire at a 64-year-old suspected curfew violator I have been told is alleged to have driven at the officers who pulled him over,” noted Premier Dandemic. “The people of this state can be assured we are taking seriously the responsibility to aim correctly.
“Moreover, I have been assured by the CFMEU that the loss of one or two horses is acceptable collateral damage, provided the meat is donated to the union’s Meat Tray Raffle, which has become another of this government’s great successes since the purchase of tickets was made compulsory.”
The ABC and The Age, which each sent squads of newsroom stenographers to cover the announcement, were at pains to emphasise in their reports that Premier Dandemic had acted only after consulting Victoria’s key stakeholders.
“Fortunately, a Belt & Road ambassador just happened to be in town to arrange the latest loans from Beijing to strengthen Victoria’s economy,” the ABC reported, noting that the state’s current anti-COVID lockdowns, quarantines, curfews, target practice and advertising campaigns (‘Staying apart keeps us together‘) were faithful replications of the initiatives that had made China a model for the world.
As to the suspension of parliament, The Age editorialised that it was a needed measure, “as members of the Opposition, many of whom are climate deniers, persist in criticising government policies.”
Leader of the Opposition Mick O’btuse denied being a climate-change denier and stressed that his party placed a premium on suppressing greenhouse emissions by adding premiums to energy consumers’ power bills.
Before Deputy Leader Tim Schmick could raise a hand to declare that cheap energy would help get Victoria’s ravaged economy back on it feet, Mr O’btuse assigned him to serve as shadow spokesman for planning, a job that had a galvanic effect on the career of former Gliberal leader Matthew Guy.
Premier Dandemic ended the press conference with an expression of deep gratitude to the United Firefighters Union, whose members have been blitzing call-in radio shows in an organised campaign to highlight the Labor government’s many achievements, augmenting that push with social-media assaults on reporters who pose questions Premier Dandemic would prefer not to answer.
“It’s the least we could do,” a union official said. “I mean, how better to express our gratitude to Premier Dandemic for cutting the Country Fire Authority’s volunteers down to size while building our influence and membership rolls?”
Our dreamland correspondent concluded: “Why is it that a few lines of an old Animals song, ‘I gotta get out of this place’, is playing endlessly in my head? Must go now. VicPol’s SWAT Squad is kicking in the front door…”
Insights from Quadrant
Omission as journalism
Something rather big and yet largely unremarked came to pass a week ago today in the United States, where a former Justice Department attorney admitted to federal prosecutors he had quite deliberately reversed the meaning of an email from the CIA in order to secure the warrant needed to continue spying on Carter Page, a key player in the so-called Russiagate scandal. Four Corners viewers might remember the name, as he was one of the Trump associates on whom globe-girdling reporter Sarah Ferguson attempted to project the received wisdom that the US President was actually a Russian mole. Those seeking to rate the quality of Ms Ferguson’s reporting, or simply in the mood for a hearty laugh that one person could get so much so wrong, can consult her handiwork here.
That three-part beatup remains proudly posted on the ABC’s website, where it serves as the latest of so many exhibits in the case against the national broadcaster. Yes, bias and the curse of a left-green monoculture are good reasons to doubt anything the ABC reports, including the weather, but what the Ferguson series better represents is the organisation’s greater malady: job lots of slipshod, shoddy journalism that seek to validate partisan preconceptions and persuade viewers and listeners to believe the same.
Now here is the curious part: after pumping out three hours of Russiagate “journalism” so bad, so fact-free and so laced with nod-and-wink innuendo that a brain-damaged first-year cadet might have recoiled from putting his or her name to it, the ABC appears to have decided Mr Page is no longer worth mentioning.
Search the ABC’s online archive for ‘Kevin Clinesmith’, the full name of the lawyer who doctored the CIA document used against both Mr Page and Trump, and you will find only the result reproduced as a screen grab atop this post: precisely nothing.
Were the ABC a genuine journalistic outfit, rather than a citadel of leftoid likemindedness, it would have sought to update Ms Ferguson’s expensively prepared compote of nonsense with this latest development. Basic honesty demands no less.
And, just for good measure, it might also have tapped its fulsomely staffed Washington bureau for an analysis of what Clinesmith’s guilty plea implies, most notably that he appears to have a cut a plea deal which will likely see him turn evidence against the higher architects of Russiagate’s attempted coup. Good journalists do that sort of thing — honour the obligation to set the record straight when earlier assertions are demonstrated to be incorrect.
But not at Their ABC, where it isn’t about truth but the authorised narrative.
And we pay for it.
— roger franklin
Insights from Quadrant
Bitter Harvest
now on sale
now on sale
The highly readable vivisection of author Bruce Pascoe’s compendium of errors, misrepresentations and misquoted sources depicting Aborigines as sedentary agriculturalists with ‘skills superior to those of the white colonisers who took their land and despoiled it’ is available from Quadrant Books.
With the ABC pointedly ignoring any and all critiques of Dark Emu‘s fantasies as it peddles and promotes Pascoe’s shoddy scholarship, Bitter Harvest is essential reading for those who still believe truth matters.
Insights from Quadrant
How to revitalise
Australia’s economy
Australia’s economy
Andrew Stone’s important new book lays out an economic agenda that is coherent and comprehensive, yet politically achievable over the next three to five years by a federal government with the resolve to implement it.
Addressing immigration, the housing market, higher education reform, federal‑state relations, energy policy, workforce participation, welfare reform, budget repair, monetary policy and financial system regulation, the book demonstrates that good government worthy of the respect and support of the Australian people is not merely possible but vital.
What others are saying of Restoring Hope:
Niall Ferguson: “This is an ambitious program of structural as well as fiscal reform. Let us hope there are politicians willing to take the risks inherent in such a radical strategy.”
Peter Costello: “Andrew Stone reminds us that improving productivity is the key to future living standards in Australia. He identifies a range of areas where this could be examined. The hard work of economic reform cannot be done without explaining the options and building public support.”
John Howard: “Andrew Stone has undertaken the difficult task of arguing in detail for a range of economic reforms. That he has done it at a time when, in the eyes of some, reform is in the doldrums is all the more praiseworthy. His analysis of the housing issue is impressive.”
Insights from Quadrant
Nightmare
on the Yarra
on the Yarra
A Victorian friend of Quadrant awoke in a wee-hours panic after a most unsettling dream, one he fears may be more prophecy than fancy. He jotted down what he recalled of his vision and sent it along:
With the Melbourne Cup coming up special precautions are being planned, with jockeys and horses being required to observe social distancing. To ensure compliance, snipers are being placed at strategic points to deal with riders who breach the rules, their targets selected with the help of eye-in-the-sky drones Premier Dandemic’s government has announced will soon be hovering over Melbourne and suburbs to monitor residents’ compliance with Spring Street’s latest edicts.
Animal welfare groups remain concerned, however, as the possibility of an animal being injured accidentally cannot be ruled out.
“Victoria Police has already opened fire at a 64-year-old suspected curfew violator I have been told is alleged to have driven at the officers who pulled him over,” noted Premier Dandemic. “The people of this state can be assured we are taking seriously the responsibility to aim correctly.
“Moreover, I have been assured by the CFMEU that the loss of one or two horses is acceptable collateral damage, provided the meat is donated to the union’s Meat Tray Raffle, which has become another of this government’s great successes since the purchase of tickets was made compulsory.”
The ABC and The Age, which each sent squads of newsroom stenographers to cover the announcement, were at pains to emphasise in their reports that Premier Dandemic had acted only after consulting Victoria’s key stakeholders.
“Fortunately, a Belt & Road ambassador just happened to be in town to arrange the latest loans from Beijing to strengthen Victoria’s economy,” the ABC reported, noting that the state’s current anti-COVID lockdowns, quarantines, curfews, target practice and advertising campaigns (‘Staying apart keeps us together‘) were faithful replications of the initiatives that had made China a model for the world.
As to the suspension of parliament, The Age editorialised that it was a needed measure, “as members of the Opposition, many of whom are climate deniers, persist in criticising government policies.”
Leader of the Opposition Mick O’btuse denied being a climate-change denier and stressed that his party placed a premium on suppressing greenhouse emissions by adding premiums to energy consumers’ power bills.
Before Deputy Leader Tim Schmick could raise a hand to declare that cheap energy would help get Victoria’s ravaged economy back on it feet, Mr O’btuse assigned him to serve as shadow spokesman for planning, a job that had a galvanic effect on the career of former Gliberal leader Matthew Guy.
Premier Dandemic ended the press conference with an expression of deep gratitude to the United Firefighters Union, whose members have been blitzing call-in radio shows in an organised campaign to highlight the Labor government’s many achievements, augmenting that push with social-media assaults on reporters who pose questions Premier Dandemic would prefer not to answer.
“It’s the least we could do,” a union official said. “I mean, how better to express our gratitude to Premier Dandemic for cutting the Country Fire Authority’s volunteers down to size while building our influence and membership rolls?”
Our dreamland correspondent concluded: “Why is it that a few lines of an old Animals song, ‘I gotta get out of this place’, is playing endlessly in my head? Must go now. VicPol’s SWAT Squad is kicking in the front door…”
