The media

MEDIA BINGO   1. All eyes were on Sydney. 2. Ushered in the new year. 3. The envy of the world. 4. Clover Moore 5. Disappointing ABC coverage 6. Crowds were generally well-behaved. 7. Grinch 8. Sore heads 9. Bondi beach 10. Lifting of the curfew. 11. Packed harbour. 12. All police leave was cancelled. 13. Money would be better spent on the homeless. 14. Estimated 50 trillion viewers!

We live in strange and stupid times. The current uproar about ‘fake’ news and how to protect ourselves from it really leaves one wondering about mental capacities.   First of all, how does anyone come to the conclusion that ‘news’ is an objective and/ or sacred thing? Does C. Wright Mills’ ‘The Power Elite’ (1956) ring any bells? What about the debates over the last fifty years on the increasing concentration of media ownership here in Australia? What passports does Rupert Murdoch currently hold and is his home in the New World or the Old Dart?   To assume that news ‘providers’ connect with indisputable truths is insane. The media has jettisoned its role as the fourth estate and it hasn’t taken the social media platforms to highlight this development. That role was dead long ago.   Secondly, if facebook is going to flag potential fake stories on its newsfeeds, the obvious place to start is on the punters’ status updates. I’ve never seen as many ‘happy’ pe...

The standard of news and current affairs here in Sydney is at an all-time low…..and I mean LOW. What’s more, I’m fairly confident that this is the same all over Oz.  I can’t ever remember a time when there have been more references to networks’ television shows in their own news services than just recently. On occasions, it even happens on the national broadcaster’s 7.00pm news which is inexcusable. Then we have the ‘lazy Susan’ platter of topics that goes round and round and round. You know what I’m talking about………. welfare cheats, deadbeat dads, cutlass-waving mad Muslim clerics etc etc. All this passes for news. Just tonight, I viewed the ‘young royals’ touring India and Princess Mary’s/ Margaret’s/ Eugenie’s (fuck, whoever it was!) dress blew up in the wind. That was the focal point of the vision and story. Not the real news that they may have been strengthening the links between India and Great Britain. Perhaps this has been the situation all along but, to me, it seems...

  WHAT'S ON T.V.?   When I retired two years ago, one of the things that I was really looking forward to was being able to watch more TV. I know that sounds daft but it was true. Take note, I'm wild and crazy in other ways.   In the decades that I was on the government tick, I often had work-related stuff to do at home in the evenings so I listened to an awful lot of talk-back radio during those times. It was an easier medium to accommodate as I corrected scholars' recounts on 'The night I met Beelzebub' and planned lessons on box girder bridges etc etc. The little television I did watch always seemed uninteresting and one-dimensional.   However, once I was freed from the shackles of labouring for the great state I figured that unlimited free time would afford me plenty of opportunities to peruse everything the box had to offer in ways I couldn't beforehand.   But the problem is this......... In these two years of 'Choose your own wait...