They even understand Liberal Bias in Australia

Thanks for clearing that up a bit dlowan, still it is hard to get a true sense of a country by just the brief news snippits that occasionally make the American news media.

I wish that I could say I knew more about Australia than I do, but alas, that doesn't look too likely. I have a hard enough time keeping current on news in my OWN country.

Have a great one and PLEASE go down to the local drinking establishment and hoist a pint of decent beer for me. The only time I get to have a good tasting beer here in the States is when my cousins in England can smuggle a care package to me now and again.

heehee, well I work for the "bad guys" in the commercial media and I'm a capitalist pig at the best of times so my view is obviously skewed anyway!

..but is the fact that the ABC have been forced to be so accountable not proof that there must be a natural bias that needs to be controlled?

I must say I find it rare to encounter journalists of any kind on the "right".

edit: added last two lines

Well, actually, I would dispute the bias attacks on the ABC previously.

I think they have sometimes appeared biased compared, eg, with a daily Murdoch.

Generally, they have always pissed me off as much as they make me happy, and have had both stripes of government squawking equally - which is my rule of thumb...

That is interesting re the journos - I do not know many.

Kinda depends on where YOU are, too, though?

Actually it faces those controls because it is publicly funded. Both sides of politics, when in power, control the purse strings - I think that because both sides of politics resent, denigrate and disparage the ABC is proof of its impartiality. More power to it.

Eorl - I never realised you were in Oz - knew there was something I liked about you.

If all journo's are leftist then all editors and subbies must be neocons or idiots (is there a difference :wink:). I think all Australians should watch the ABC for a minimum 15 minutes a week - at 9:15pm Monday nights.

Clarifying my idiots comment apparently a Melbourne paper had 9 pages on Kylie Minogue's breast cancer. That sort of idiocy flies in the face of Albrechtsen's feelings about media should bend to the will of the people. Most people don't really care about the big stuff if their little stuff is OK (check the last election results) so we get silly infotainment rubbish - like the Kylie stuff, the Corby worm show, help me bejeebus!

Calling all elitists - unite now! :wink:

PS how come I rarely come across a DH aussie on A2K? I know they're out there and other countries seemed to issued A2K accounts to theirs.

DH??????

Designated Hitter ? ! ? ! ?

I didn't even know you guys played baseball . . .

Richard Cranium - now I think Deb is an illegal immigrant - call the phillipino embassy!

Is one to assume that the Philippinos have special insights into the Designated Hitter rule? Are they specialists in dickheads? Your nation is so confusing.

Aaaaah.....

Setanta you're going to have to keep up or you'll never pass that entrance exam - it'll be Baxter Detention Centre for you.

Here's some notes for you: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200505/s1372738.htm

Ah, yes . . . i had been following Miss Kitty's exposition on that story, but had not made the connection here. However, i will not be arriving upon the fatal shore until such time as i have received a very generous advance on my salary as a sports announcer.

There is no left media in Australia. Well the Green Left Weekly is but that's about it. The media is right wing and adamantly conservative in its views. The Murdoch press is right wing. Anything owned by Packer is right wing. The Fairfax press is just slightly less right wing. The ABC is bullied by the right wing government and is forced to apologise for even trying to be impartial. The government wants it to fall into line and be right wing just like everyone else (except the Green Left Weekly).

As for Australian Rules football. It's simple . As my old coach once said to me "get the bloody ball and bloody well kick the bloody thing up the bloody middle and get it to the bloody goals". Bloody easy really

Bloody oath.

Oooo . . . thanks GF, you've given me what i need to become a star in Ozzian sportscasting . . .

Good Set - it's bloody easy, really. You have to study your cliches of course. And you must be ready with some repartee or lightning wit as illustrated by the following legendary exchange between two commentators calling a football game live (and I actually heard this):

"Oh will you look at that!" The commentator then "threw" to his colour man (I think that's what they call the barely comprehensible ex footballer who provides outrageous comments).
"Comment Wally May?"
"No comment!"
"Fair comment."

And you think you have a problem with John Madden.

Well, i personally have no problem with John Madden . . . i consider football broadcasts as one of the greatest soporiphics ever invented.

Setanta+television+football=long nap . . .

Set - John Madden is an icon. Aside from being an alumni of the wonderful LA Rams the bloke is a legend in sportshouting terms. Even the great Wally May (pause for reflection) must give way to John M. I think you Mercans are too complacent. But then since the passing of the great Howard Cosell I suppose it has all been a bit lacking in colour. I think perhaps that sports broadcasting in the US has suffered since Howard's passing. I enjoy John Madden, his hoarse enthusiasm is infectious. If I cared about post-modernism I would describe him in post-modern terms.

John Madden i don't mind . . . see above . . . Howard Cosell annoyed the bejesus outta me . . . he was pompous about raising the intellectual tone of sportscasting, and all the while butchering the language until you could just scream . . .


I much preferred the down-to-earth American sports icon, Yogi Berra:

It ain't over till it's over.

This is like deja vu all over again.

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

The future ain't what it used to be.

It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.

I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early.

Nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded.

You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going because you might not get there.

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.

Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical.

I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.

You can observe a lot just by watchin'.

Always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't go to yours.

Never answer an anonymous letter.

and the clincher:

I never said most of the things I said.

Actually, media analysis of politics is very much like sports commentary in Oz. There is very little serious discussion of the morality of important issues (like our involvement in Iraq or our detention of "illegal" refugees). Instead, it's a case of which side is currently "winning" the debate. It's the process, not the substance that matters, it seems. John Howard was really smart, according to most of the political press, for getting away with involving Australia in the Iraq invasion, even after the debunking of the WMD argument. None of the soul searching that occurred in the UK or the US happened here. He "won" the debate because he refused to weaken his initial position or display any doubt, despite contrary evidence staring him in the face. This made him a "strong leader" & he went on to win a landslide victory in the next election! There seems to be a barely disguised admiration in the political media that Howard can lie & get away with it so easily! When Mark Latham (former Labor Party leader & leader of the opposition) had the temerity to oppose US interference in our election process (it happened!) this was declared to be a "losing" position (according to the Libs, the media & the powers that be) & a reckless stance for a potential Oz prime minister to take. I doubt for one minute that the (much smaller) NZ government would accept such interference, but in Oz it was evidence of poor decision making & a bad tactical move. Kim Beazley, Latham's replacement, is considered more of a winner by the media because he appears to have almost no position on anything! Sadly, it seems more important by far in Oz to score the points, win the debate, impress the media, use clever tactics than to take a principled position of just about anything.

Set I just passed on the Great Yogi' comments for...comment.

"Well you've heard the Set on the Great Yogi Berra...comment Wally May?"
"I am not worthy"
"Good comment".

We know when we is beaten Set :wink: