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Bernard Gaynor is running for the Senate in Queensland on the Australian Liberty Alliance ticket, which means he has an ax to grind. All the same, political ambition notwithstanding, a matter he raises in his latest email is worth considering:

Helloooooo? Journalists? Where are you?

There’s a Walkley Award waiting here for someone with the courage to start asking the right people the right questions.

Like this: what exactly makes up the ‘Islam 101’ package presented to military, law enforcement and intelligence officers?

And this: who teaches ‘Islam 101’ to these officers?

Maybe this: do these officers ever get to study ‘Islam 201’?

Or this: are any of the instructors of the ‘Islam 101’ package not pro-Islamic?

I guess that last question is pretty important. It goes to the heart of institutionalised bias within the intelligence community. Just how, for instance, does a Director General of ASIO arrive at the conclusion that Islam is a peaceful religion, or that the Islamic State is not Islamic?

Gaynor makes a mistake, of course, in anticipating a Walkley for the reporter who raises those questions. The current holder of the Walkley for “Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique” is Waleed Aly, which should tell Gaynor everything he needs to know about the kind of “analysis” our media elite values to the exclusion of all else.

Gaynor’s thoughts can be read in full via the link below.

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