Unprincipled. Always.

Now that Christmas has come and gone, it is apparent that Santa made discretion his watchword when deciding who would receive what. Consider the Fairfax Press, for example, where the gift of new and competent editors at The Age and SMH might have made a huge difference to a pair of newspapers whose clear editorial intent over at least the past five years has been to place themselves beyond parody. Wisely, Santa chose not to waste competence on hopeless cases, as it is clear the much-needed gift of intelligent, unbiased reporting would only have been discarded with the wrapping paper. The proof is in the story that appears beneath the headline reproduced above.

The basis for that claim is an automated ReachTEL poll conducted on behalf of the Australia Institute, a far-left ginger group whose board is stacked with union officials and academics representing the Caring-Industrial Complex — the sort who always know what best to do with other people’s money. The mere mention of The Australia Institute would have given any competent editor pause, which meant Fairfax had a free hand to play it big.

The basis for the headline is bogus, as those responding to the survey were given a false choice, as per below.

No one has suggested that Sunday rates be abolished, not a single, solitary soul (other than the Australia Institute’s sly polling). The notion is to bring Sunday rates into line with Saturday pay scales — an entirely different matter that, one imagines, would have drawn an entirely different result.

But this is Fairfax we are talking about. Santa made the right choice when deciding to leave a care package of decency and ethics in his big red sack.

(Many thanks to the Fairfax insider who passed along the poll, the story — which can be read in full via the link below — and his disgust at just how low one media organisation can sink.)

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