The standard of Australian journalism at the moment is the lowest I have ever seen. I know it is a world trend and online, instant celebrity is all the go these days but it would be nice to watch some responsible, unbiased news reporting occasionally.
Whether it be right wing shock jocks or self aggrandizing morning show hosts we seem to be constantly having personal opinion shoved down our throats rather than the facts being presented in a factual, balanced way. Radio announcer Alan Jones is a case in point. Now I have to say I don’t know if Mr Jones is a trained journalist or not. I do know he has written some books and I first heard of him when I was a boy merely because he coached the Wallabies. The right wing bile he spits out on his show is a disgrace and it’s a sad indictment on us as Australians that he is the most popular morning show host in Sydney and as such wields quite a bit of undeserving influence in the media world.
Now there is nothing wrong with having a right of centre view on the world but I think Mr Jones is so far right he is veering into oncoming traffic!
I got brought up to have respect for people, even those who I don’t agree with and those in authority. Alan Jones treatment of Prime Minister Gillard on his radio show recently was despicable! Condescending, arrogant, ignorant, rude. You may not like the woman or agree with what she is doing in government but surely the office of Prime Minister deserves more respect than that!
Then last night on the TV news he came out with an absolute gem. He claimed that Victoria’s former female police commissioner and premier were a disaster and that our current Prime Minister was a disaster. Well he is entitled to think that but the intimation was of course that women shouldn’t be in positions of power because they aren’t as capable as men! I can’t believe that Network 7 even aired his comments and I find it even more unbelievable that there was no uproar about it. Is this the sort of man we need in the media? Is this man’s opinions worth the millions he gets for his radio show? If the majority of people in Australia agree with this sort of nonsense then there is truly no hope for this country. I felt the urge to ring in to his show this morning and ask him of his opinions of homosexuals in positions of power but I’m too much of a gentleman for that and I know there are plenty of capable people of that persuasion so I won’t insult them.
Then today we have the ongoing saga of the “St Kilda schoolgirl” all over the news again.
I won’t go into the sordid details of why this girl is all over the TV and newspapers today but surely there must come a point where TV networks say “enough is enough” and stop giving her coverage. The girl is clearly suffering from sociopathic tendencies and needs help yet they keep going to the well and giving her airtime. Once again putting ratings over responsibility.
I always thought that the journalistic aim was to provide fair, unbiased coverage and commentary of current affairs and events but obviously I was wrong. Sensationalism and hidden agendas have taken over our media and our country is the worse for it.
For better or for worse the media plays a huge part in our lives. I would rather it’s influence be positive than for people to think that sensationalism and disrespect is the norm in our society.
Whether it be right wing shock jocks or self aggrandizing morning show hosts we seem to be constantly having personal opinion shoved down our throats rather than the facts being presented in a factual, balanced way. Radio announcer Alan Jones is a case in point. Now I have to say I don’t know if Mr Jones is a trained journalist or not. I do know he has written some books and I first heard of him when I was a boy merely because he coached the Wallabies. The right wing bile he spits out on his show is a disgrace and it’s a sad indictment on us as Australians that he is the most popular morning show host in Sydney and as such wields quite a bit of undeserving influence in the media world.
Now there is nothing wrong with having a right of centre view on the world but I think Mr Jones is so far right he is veering into oncoming traffic!
I got brought up to have respect for people, even those who I don’t agree with and those in authority. Alan Jones treatment of Prime Minister Gillard on his radio show recently was despicable! Condescending, arrogant, ignorant, rude. You may not like the woman or agree with what she is doing in government but surely the office of Prime Minister deserves more respect than that!
Then last night on the TV news he came out with an absolute gem. He claimed that Victoria’s former female police commissioner and premier were a disaster and that our current Prime Minister was a disaster. Well he is entitled to think that but the intimation was of course that women shouldn’t be in positions of power because they aren’t as capable as men! I can’t believe that Network 7 even aired his comments and I find it even more unbelievable that there was no uproar about it. Is this the sort of man we need in the media? Is this man’s opinions worth the millions he gets for his radio show? If the majority of people in Australia agree with this sort of nonsense then there is truly no hope for this country. I felt the urge to ring in to his show this morning and ask him of his opinions of homosexuals in positions of power but I’m too much of a gentleman for that and I know there are plenty of capable people of that persuasion so I won’t insult them.
Then today we have the ongoing saga of the “St Kilda schoolgirl” all over the news again.
I won’t go into the sordid details of why this girl is all over the TV and newspapers today but surely there must come a point where TV networks say “enough is enough” and stop giving her coverage. The girl is clearly suffering from sociopathic tendencies and needs help yet they keep going to the well and giving her airtime. Once again putting ratings over responsibility.
I always thought that the journalistic aim was to provide fair, unbiased coverage and commentary of current affairs and events but obviously I was wrong. Sensationalism and hidden agendas have taken over our media and our country is the worse for it.
For better or for worse the media plays a huge part in our lives. I would rather it’s influence be positive than for people to think that sensationalism and disrespect is the norm in our society.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 