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> A healthy news media sector is essential to a well-functioning democracy. This feels like a slap in the face. Whoever wrote this would be fully aware that ou

> A healthy news media sector is essential to a well-functioning democracy. This feels like a slap in the face. Whoever wrote this would be fully aware that our media sector is anything but healthy, and that our “democracy” flatlined years ago. I can only imagine that this was written by a committee that was sinking beers and laughing their asses off as they watched this post go live.

marcusverus 6y ago
Why are you air-quoting Australian democracy? Aussies have one of the healthiest democracies in the world--9th out of 167 ranked countries according to the EUI annual 'Democracy Index'.[0] Is it posh to pretend to be misrepresented and/or oppressed nowadays? [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index#Democracy_Index_by_country_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index#Democracy_Inde...
- vermilingua 6y ago
  Do you live in Australia, or follow Australian politics? If not, it may interest you to know that we once had a carbon tax. It wasn’t stalled in the house or amended into nonexistence like a lot of politically charged law, but was repealed. The influence that the coal industry (leveraged by NewsCorp) has in this country is insane. It may also interest you to know that Kevin Rudd, a previous prime minister, was (is) the subject of a relentless smear campaign on the part of NewsCorp. He was removed from power not by an election, but via a leadership spill brought on by the pressure exerted by Murdoch. It may also interest you to investigate how our second wave of COVID-19 is being reported in Australian media. The second wave began in Federally funded and operated aged care facilities; however has been branded entirely as the “Melbourne wave”, pinning the blame on the Labour Party (the opposition to the party controlling the federal govt) and its state leader. We are misrepresented. The Democracy Index is published by The Economist. They may not be owned by NewsCorp, but you can be damn sure they feel their gaze.
  - 0xy 6y ago
    The Labor party you speak of issued full-throated endorsements of metadata retention legislation as well as the encryption ban. Forgive me for not picking up the violin.
    - vermilingua 6y ago
      Oh I know they’re far from blameless, when my (Labour) MP voted in favour of that bill I was furious and she knew it. I’m not trying to defend Labour in any way, but you’d have to be wilfully ignorant to not see the persistent assault on the party by our entire media; and more so to not see that it’s working.
      - 0xy 6y ago
        Why would you go to bat for an anti-encryption mass surveillance party despite it being against your morals? They deserve everything they get for not representing a viable alternative. In 2020, it's not enough to be 98% the same as the other party with a few differences in policy minutiae. If they get dragged by the media, good. They deserve worse after betraying the entire tech industry repeatedly.
        vermilingua 6y ago
        ...remember when I said wilfully ignorant? Because, we are in a two party system (practically if not technically). You seem to be glossing over the fact that the Liberal Party, who is the beneficiary of NewsCorps fuckery, are who introduced the AABill. Labour, yes, betrayed not only the tech industry but the whole Australian public; but not out of malice, but because they’re spineless sycophants who didn’t want to look like they’re protecting terrorists. I know they say not to feed the trolls, but at least pretend to stay on topic.

marcusverus 6y ago

Why are you air-quoting Australian democracy? Aussies have one of the healthiest democracies in the world--9th out of 167 ranked countries according to the EUI annual 'Democracy Index'.[0] Is it posh to pretend to be misrepresented and/or oppressed nowadays? [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index#Democracy_Index_by_country_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index#Democracy_Inde...

vermilingua 6y ago
Do you live in Australia, or follow Australian politics? If not, it may interest you to know that we once had a carbon tax. It wasn’t stalled in the house or amended into nonexistence like a lot of politically charged law, but was repealed. The influence that the coal industry (leveraged by NewsCorp) has in this country is insane. It may also interest you to know that Kevin Rudd, a previous prime minister, was (is) the subject of a relentless smear campaign on the part of NewsCorp. He was removed from power not by an election, but via a leadership spill brought on by the pressure exerted by Murdoch. It may also interest you to investigate how our second wave of COVID-19 is being reported in Australian media. The second wave began in Federally funded and operated aged care facilities; however has been branded entirely as the “Melbourne wave”, pinning the blame on the Labour Party (the opposition to the party controlling the federal govt) and its state leader. We are misrepresented. The Democracy Index is published by The Economist. They may not be owned by NewsCorp, but you can be damn sure they feel their gaze.
- 0xy 6y ago
  The Labor party you speak of issued full-throated endorsements of metadata retention legislation as well as the encryption ban. Forgive me for not picking up the violin.
  - vermilingua 6y ago
    Oh I know they’re far from blameless, when my (Labour) MP voted in favour of that bill I was furious and she knew it. I’m not trying to defend Labour in any way, but you’d have to be wilfully ignorant to not see the persistent assault on the party by our entire media; and more so to not see that it’s working.
    - 0xy 6y ago
      Why would you go to bat for an anti-encryption mass surveillance party despite it being against your morals? They deserve everything they get for not representing a viable alternative. In 2020, it's not enough to be 98% the same as the other party with a few differences in policy minutiae. If they get dragged by the media, good. They deserve worse after betraying the entire tech industry repeatedly.
      - vermilingua 6y ago
        ...remember when I said wilfully ignorant? Because, we are in a two party system (practically if not technically). You seem to be glossing over the fact that the Liberal Party, who is the beneficiary of NewsCorps fuckery, are who introduced the AABill. Labour, yes, betrayed not only the tech industry but the whole Australian public; but not out of malice, but because they’re spineless sycophants who didn’t want to look like they’re protecting terrorists. I know they say not to feed the trolls, but at least pretend to stay on topic.