media

Right wing extremist ABC journalists

Mon, 2007-07-02 15:07 by James Sinnamon
Of course both Pru Goward and Maxine McKew were right when they stated that journalists should not show their own bias in interviews. However this was not practised in Goward's own carreer in which she blatantly abused her own role as a journalist to promote the political career of John Howard and her own extreme economic 'rationalist' views. Does anyone remember her saturation coverage, night after night, of every development, not matter how trivial, in the long drawn-out struggle between John Howard and Andrew Peacock for leadership of the Federal Liberal Party back in the 1980's? Her interviews often contained questions loaded with her prejudice against unions and in favour of her neo-liberal economic agenda. This was posted to ABC Radio National's "The National Interest" guest book in reponse to a story "ALP/ABC: spot the difference?" of 1 July 2007. Excellent interview with Maxine McKew and Pru Goward and congratulations for researching the story so well. It's very telling that nine out of nineteen former ABC journalists became Liberal rather than Labor politicians. This hardly bears out the picture that right-wing ABC critics are trying to paint of it being massively biased towards Labor. Apart from Goward herself, another journalist who became a Liberal MP was Stephen O'Doherty - Quentin Dempster's sidekick back in the late 1980's on ABC television's 7.30 Report. He practically turned his frequent interviews with the then NSW Premier Nick Greiner (since turned tobacco industry lobbyist and toll-way builder) into a platform for Greiner to push himself and his extreme economic 'rationalist' Government. I was stuck at the time how, during these interviews, O'Doherty's eyes seemed to show reverence and love towards the man I was later to learn was, in fact, his leader. Shortly after he left the ABC became a NSW Liberal MP. Of course both Pru Goward and Maxine McKew were right when they stated that journalists should not show their own bias in interviews. However this was not practised in Goward's own carreer in which she blatantly abused her own role as a journalist to promote the political career of John Howard and her own extreme economic 'rationalist' views. Does anyone remember her saturation coverage, night after night, of every development, not matter how trivial, in the long drawn-out struggle between John Howard and Andrew Peacock for leadership of the Federal Liberal Party back in the 1980's? Her interviews often contained questions loaded with her prejudice against unions and in favour of her neo-liberal economic agenda. Another favourite role that Goward would play was policewoman of Federal Labor Government Cabinet discipline. One victim, back in late 1994, during the time of the woodchipping-company- orchestrated "truckies' blockade" of Federal Parliament, was Labor Senator John Faulkner. He differed momentarily on the Cabinet position in favour of the environment. (I can't remember the precise details). This earned Faulkner a stinging denunciation by Goward on ABC Radio National for having publicly aired his differences. I would have thought that a journalist's role was to get useful information out of politicians for the benefit of the public, not to shut them up. On the occasion of the violent scuffles outside Parliament House that occurred at the end of a Union-sponsord protest against the Government, shortly after Howard was elected in 1996, Goward actually praised Stalin. She called upon the Union movement to follow Stalin's example in dealing with radical left wing elements within their ranks, whom she blamed for the troubles. Her words, as I recall hearing with my own ears, were something like: "The union leaders should act against their left wing opponents with the same ruthless efficiency as Stalin did against his left-wing opponents". Interesting that a presumed anti-communist would, on a national ABC radio program, express her apparent approval of Stalin's crimes, or at least of his crimes against his left wing opponents.

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