The Australian,12th March 2010 p.13.
For some time now bias in our education system and the press has like Caesar’s wife been beyond suspicion.
That is until the climate change fiasco.
The media has for many years claimed to be reporting without bias the facts of any situation as they see them. That of course is a lie,why else do you think Sri Lanka banned reporters and Human rights activists from the front when the Tamil Tigers were destroyed.
War reporters have admitted that they are biased in their reporting and the American Army now “embeds”reporters in front line units,many of the reporters were furious that they could not add the bias they wanted to their stories and photographs.
Now ABC chairman Maurice Newman at the ABC’s annual leaders conference –attended by about 250 senior program makers,journalists and executives at it’s Ultimo headquarters in Sydney. delivered an unprecedented address “It was a barely disguised attack on his perception of journalistic culture at the ABC”.
He said,“How might we ensure that in our newsrooms we celebrate those who interrogate every truth,both convenient and inconvenient,create an atmosphere in which one can hold a view that runs contrary to prevailing wisdom without fear of ridicule from those with whom we work”.
“This is part of the journalistic culture we simply must get right if we are to continue to be trusted by all Australians.”
ABC managing director Mark Scott said it’s management stands by the integrity of it’s journalists and its processes.
The issue that upset Mr. Newman was the biased reporting of climate change,so let us see what the reporters said about his comment.
Presenter of ABC1′s media watch Jonathan Holmes was “outraged”.
The Friends of the ABC says Newman’s criticism of the coverage of global warming was “extraordinary and inappropriate”.
Spokesperson Glenys Stradijot says “Newman is entitled to his personal views on controversial matters. But his expression of them while he remains head of the ABC damages public confidence in the national broadcasters independence”.
She goes on “Just as worrying Mr. Newman comments look to be an attempt to influence ABC programming to be more favourable to global warming scepticism”.
Others point out this argument does not hold as the ABC board as a tax payer funded entity is responsible under the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act to ensure that the gathering and presentation by the corporation of news and information is accurate and impartial according to the recognised standards of objective journalism.
ABC science journalist Bernie Hobbs said the ABC could not give undue weight to the sceptics and thereby push a sceptics agenda.
On the other side Newman said when talking about the ABC that there is a bias towards climate change alarmists and anyone questioning the science tends to be “labelled and mocked”.
This collective censorious approach succeeded in suppressing contrary views to the main stream media,despite that fact that growing number of distinguished scientists were challenging the conventional wisdom with alternative theories and peer reviewed research,. Newman said.
In his speech Newman quoted Rupert Murdoch who pointed out that the ABC should not underestimate it’s audience and pointed to an American study that reported many editors and reporters do not trust their readers to make decisions.
This is a polite way of saying these editors and reporters think their readers are too stupid to think for themselves.
Bob Carter geologist and environment scientist with James Cook University did not have his article published because it was critical of US climate scientist Jim Hanson. And then of course there were the East Anglian Papers.
We have always known that the ABC is biased. It’s news in general are those of the Friends,the inner city elite. The only question is why should we continue to give our taxes to what is a private media outlet for the views of the inner city elite.
