tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post6909911079002722458..comments2024-03-02T12:39:23.745+11:00Comments on Oz Conservative: Are the gatekeepers really so objective?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-32218477610242225142010-10-11T01:45:51.467+11:002010-10-11T01:45:51.467+11:00Thanks for the comment Anonymous Protestant.Thanks for the comment Anonymous Protestant.Jesse_7https://www.blogger.com/profile/08732509086253241748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-56294390163047065132010-10-06T11:07:36.313+11:002010-10-06T11:07:36.313+11:00"In Australia the Fairfax press tends to be l..."In Australia the Fairfax press tends to be left-liberal on social issues but right-liberal on economics (The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald). These papers were traditionally read by the middle-class, so they encompassed the views of both the right liberal commercial classes and the left liberal chattering classes".<br /><br />The situation is very much the same in New Zealand, partly because most of our papers are owned by Fairfax as well.Mike Courtmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15226171376902020196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-48903020413609459702010-10-05T16:27:39.518+11:002010-10-05T16:27:39.518+11:00Anon. @ 11:30:00:
"The problem with a media ...Anon. @ 11:30:00:<br /><br />"The problem with a media controlled by the masses is that there is no quality control."<br /><br />I submit that this is the problem with media in general. I have grown increasingly distressed and disgusted by the sickly offerings of the MSM. Pick any one of them and you will find daily examples of poor story structure, incomplete reporting and delivery of facts, and general incoherence. Often a story will not make sense until one gets several paragraphs into it. Clarity and concision are simply not standards in their world. Syntax, grammar and editing are also notably poor as a rule. <br /><br />I read from these sources only occasionally yet my disappointment is routine. I don't know the news sources you have in mind but "quality" is running downhill in nearly all popular venues.<br /><br />The generic outlets provide only a surface notion of what is on the mind of the population at large, so there is a social value for you. To provide writing that is competent, let alone informative, requires a healthy disregard for fear of bias, and this is where the online purveyors can excel. They are not "controlled by the masses" but rather they are of the masses. I am keen to see what will emerge from the primordial Internet soup in time.leadpbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08957439101293478340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-5847103501334639252010-10-04T11:30:34.499+11:002010-10-04T11:30:34.499+11:00It's true that the professional media is biase...It's true that the professional media is biased, there's no denying that. But I can't believe any conservative would be in support of the absolute anarchy that is the "Cult of the Amateur."<br /><br />Mr Richardson's blog is well-researched, well-informed and well-written. This description fits only a very small minority of amateur blogs. Most of them are lazy, ill-informed and written in the style of someone's personal diary.<br /><br />The problem with a media controlled by the masses is that there is no quality control. Professional media may be corrupt, but at least there is some degree of quality assured. I feel that what we need is to reform the existing system, not replace it with this online free-for-all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-63567154100845246202010-10-04T07:41:03.310+11:002010-10-04T07:41:03.310+11:00Simon,
What I've noticed about the Daily Mail...Simon,<br /><br />What I've noticed about the Daily Mail is that the problem will often be stated clearly enough but not the solution.Mark Richardsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15961688379656119701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-65845881126813401842010-10-04T01:08:05.874+11:002010-10-04T01:08:05.874+11:00Sorry I meant ''The Cult of the Amateur: H...Sorry I meant ''The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture'' by Andrew Keen has gotten 2.5 stars at Amazon.com.Elizabeth Smithhttp://alcestiseshtemoa.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-51997158769373539632010-10-03T23:54:18.330+11:002010-10-03T23:54:18.330+11:00The Daily Mail's populism allows for an elemen...The Daily Mail's populism allows for an element of traditionalism, in accordance with the inchoate views of the readership.<br /><br />However even a Daily Mail writer like Peter Hitchens has views that are essentially Liberal in many matters, eg he is right-liberal on immigration, believing that there is no inherent barrier to immigrants becoming fully 'British', no matter how many they are or how alien their national origin.Simon in UKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-55635155283871245962010-10-03T18:44:10.438+11:002010-10-03T18:44:10.438+11:00''The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's...''The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture'' by Andrew Keen has gotten 2.5 starts at Amazon.com. I've checked the comments and while some of them are conservative (''goodbye mainstream left liberal media'') others exalt 'the cult of the amateur' because of the changing times. All of them agree though that maybe the cult of the amateur isn't so bad after all.Elizabeth Smithhttp://alcestiseshtemoa.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-56710004608068628262010-10-03T18:27:15.613+11:002010-10-03T18:27:15.613+11:00''And this is why I have paid less and les...''And this is why I have paid less and less attention to the mainstream media for over 15 years.''<br /><br />That's what I'm starting to do as well. I'm paying less and less attention to the mainstream media and if I do pay any attention it's usually by confirming what I am going to see or read at newspapers, books and magazines or see at the television by having a previous commentary or brief view of it at the internet (an idea of what it entails). If the idea is tolerable or agreeable (say free-markets) then I see it and if I disagree with it (say gender is a social construct or minorities deserve special treatment through affirmative action and victim mentalities or stereotyping Christians as rabid extremist creationists whom want to put creation in public schools, etc) then I don't see it at all. Hopefully the state won't monitor the internet and ban websites such as these. I get political commentary, news, etc from the internet first and then magazines, newspapers, television and books secondly.Elizabeth Smithhttp://alcestiseshtemoa.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-39532498634286342972010-10-03T13:54:21.034+11:002010-10-03T13:54:21.034+11:00Jesse_7
Objectivity is one of the basis of the rat...Jesse_7<br /><i>Objectivity is one of the basis of the rational professional society.</i><br /><br />More accurately it was one of the bases of the rational, professional society. However, "fairness" has overtaken objectivity in various arenas for some time, now. Just look at what journalists would call a "fair" piece of writing; so long as it included even a smidgeon of text from an opposing view, it is deemed to be "fair".<br /><br />In the US this can readily be seen in any number of debates; for example, in any article about abortion, there will always be a lot of text about "choice", and there will be some token bit of text, usually from a churchman, as watered down as possible. This is "balance" or "fairness". <br /><br />Another game played is to have moderate sounding words on one side, and find a rabid zealot to contrast, thereby making one position seem reasonable and the other extreme.<br /><br />Meanwhile, of course, entire points of view, entire issues, entire stacks of facts receive no attention at all, because the gatekeepers don't like them. News that undermines liberal dogma is simply not reported at all, thereby using the power of the "spike" to keep entire offending facts/opinions out of circulation.<br /><br />And this is why I have paid less and less attention to the mainstream media for over 15 years.Anonymous Protestantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-80285201325845862662010-10-03T13:42:44.431+11:002010-10-03T13:42:44.431+11:00Objectivity is one of the basis of the rational pr...Objectivity is one of the basis of the rational professional society. But the journalists also want to express their individuality, which is left, so they pitch left. We've moved beyond actually thinking they're objective though and they have a lot of egg on their face at the moment.Jesse_7https://www.blogger.com/profile/08732509086253241748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-11193842001959669732010-10-03T09:51:20.542+11:002010-10-03T09:51:20.542+11:00Van Wijk, that will be an interesting battle line....Van Wijk, that will be an interesting battle line.<br /><br />Anon, excellent!Mark Richardsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15961688379656119701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-15858282572198399332010-10-03T09:47:07.405+11:002010-10-03T09:47:07.405+11:00Simon,
In Australia the Fairfax press tends to be...Simon,<br /><br />In Australia the Fairfax press tends to be left-liberal on social issues but right-liberal on economics (The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald). These papers were traditionally read by the middle-class, so they encompassed the views of both the right liberal commercial classes and the left liberal chattering classes.<br /><br />Papers like the Herald Sun, which were once working-class papers (but are now read more widely), were a bit more populist, particularly in what they allowed to be published in the letters sections.<br /><br />The Murdoch press has become more right-liberal over time. The Herald Sun has columnists like Andrew Bolt and the Australian runs a lot of right-liberal political commentary.<br /><br />Commentary in the press here has opened up a bit (compared to the 1980s) but we don't have anything like a Daily Mail.Mark Richardsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15961688379656119701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-35838285710054502402010-10-03T07:30:57.578+11:002010-10-03T07:30:57.578+11:00In the UK broadcast media is entirely left-liberal...In the UK broadcast media is entirely left-liberal, rabidly so in the case of the BBC and Channel 4, but there are several major newspapers which present as right-liberal (The Times, Telegraph and various tabloids); with the proviso that apparently many of their journalists are actually left-liberal but towing an editorial line. I remember that the Telegraph used to even have a Catholic-traditionalist element sneaking in the back pages; that may have gone now.Simon in Londonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-80366733286251752502010-10-02T23:12:17.393+10:002010-10-02T23:12:17.393+10:00People are just striving for autonomy in news gath...People are just striving for autonomy in news gathering! What liberal could object to that?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-895561101804469422010-10-02T21:30:16.887+10:002010-10-02T21:30:16.887+10:00The federals in America understand this very well,...The federals in America understand this very well, and they are taking steps to <a href="http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/28227" rel="nofollow">seize control</a> of the new medium. Some say that their success will provide a <i>casus belli</i>.Van Wijknoreply@blogger.com