Why GumshoeNews Does Not Advocate “Fair and Balanced” Reporting

by Dee McLachlan

Mainstream media personnel are no more than political lackeys — and this includes, of course, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). In my young days in South Africa, during the apartheid regime (which ended in 1990), the press was censored and dictated to by government. How is that different from Oz today?

The Media Henchmen

We can refer to some journalists as “media henchmen.” Workplace Relations Minister, Senator Michaelia Cash, has admitted that her staff tipped off journalists ahead of raids by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) on the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) headquarters in Sydney and Melbourne.

Huffpost writes,

“The revelation has fueled Labor and the union’s claims that Tuesday’s raids were a ‘political witch hunt’ designed to smear the Opposition leader Bill Shorten.”

That is probably a reasonable deduction. In which case, the police are being used politically also.

The raid was allegedly to search for documents dating back 10 years, concerning a payment by the union. The $100,000 payment (donation?) was made to GetUp (the independent online platform) by the union, that is, the AWU. The question is whether it had been approved by the union’s national executive of the union, in line with section 57 of the union’s rules.

But let us not concern ourselves with the fact that the government could have started off by asking for the 10-year-old documents — this article is about the media.

The MSM and the journalists working for them, have now become little more than henchmen or henchwomen. (Let’s not forget the 500 plus reporters that were sent off to Tasmania for a conference in April 1996 — before the massacre event.)

Senator Cash told a Senate Estimates committee earlier yesterday that her office played no role in alerting the media. But it turns out her senior media adviser later confessed to tipping off journalists. ABC reports:

“Senator Cash said her media adviser learned about the raids from a ‘media source’, but said she did not know if he was referring to a journalist, or to a media adviser who worked with another organisation.”

Really! So who is tipping off whom?

Cash’s media adviser has now resigned, but Labor says it is Senator Cash that should be resigning. She refuses to do so.

It is clear that we have lost media independence a long time ago, and the ongoing controversy over the ABC proves it.

The ABC

Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham of South Australia said it was important to look at “ensuring that news content and coverage is fair and balanced”.

So, you have all sides of politics — Labor, Liberal, Greens, and One Nation — wanting their particular version of “fair and balanced” coverage.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation put pressure on the government months ago to increase scrutiny of the ABC, in exchange for her backing of the legislation to deregulate media.

This is what the Herald Sun wrote in May 2017:

“The government has undertaken to hold an inquiry into whether the national broadcasters, the ABC and SBS, are operating on a ‘level playing field’ with their commercial competitors, and to introduce legislation this year to insert the words ‘fair’ and ‘balanced’ in the requirements for the ABC’s news and information.”

The Herald Sun also notes that the legislation would

“disclose the salaries and allowances of senior staff and on-air talent when these are above A$200,000. This follows the recent BBC example.”

Yesterday, the ABC refused to disclose the salaries of its highest-paid staff (a privacy issue). ABC’s managing director Michelle Guthrie did reveal that about 150 staff earn more than $200,000 a year. A fifth of a million dollars.

Meanwhile, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young of South Australia claims that “Pauline Hanson has a personal grudge against the ABC… We know that it [ABC] has been in her sights for quite some time, as is the SBS.”

[And it is in Gumshoe’s sights on a continuing basis.]

Fair and Balanced Coverage

What are the definitions of those two words? Here’s how “fair” is defined by Webster’s Dictionary:

Pleasing to the eye or mind especially because of fresh, charming, or flawless quality; superficially pleasing; pure; clear; not stormy or foul; marked by impartiality and honesty; free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism [etc].

Here’s the definition of “balanced”:

Being in a state of balance; having different parts or elements properly or effectively arranged, proportioned, regulated, considered; balanced diet [etc]; fair and balanced assessment [etc]

Please let us not have “fair and balanced” reporting. It will be the usual BS – very pleasing to the eye and “not stormy.”

Who needs “balance” when reporting facts? Let’s just have the facts without fear or favour.

Let’s report the truth — even if it’s foul.