By Darryl Mason
Vote Puppy! From The Australian today:
I won't add to the Election Day opinion tsunami too much, except to say that 80% of Australians are yet to vote, but that hasn't stopped the main Fairfax and Murdoch city dailies (with the exception of The Age) declaring Tony Abbott victorious, and Labor losing by up to 40 seats.
A shameful display, following on from weeks of newspaper headlines, talkback radio, tabloid morning TV all declaring "Labor Is Lost!" "Abbott To Win!"
None of the Editorials backing Abbott have anything much to say except what Abbott has already said in campaign sonndbites, he will get rid of the Mining Tax and the Carbon Tax. What else? Not much. Oh, by the way, "Trust Abbott", go on "Trust him!"
That's right, editors of major Australian city dailies are asking voters to elect Abbott solely on trust.
Trust!
But none of them mention, not in headlines or on front pages anyway, that there is no guarantee Tony Abbott will become Australia's next prime minister. A rise in votes for Independents, minor parties, the Greens, can throw the whole thing into chaos, and we might not even know who the next prime minister is going to be come Monday morning.
But you, Australian voter, clearly don't need to know that.
Here's The Australian online today (note reference to Abbott as winner, not the Liberals/Nationals Coalition)
No, your eyes do not deceive you, The Australian is still trying to wipe away the nasty known knowns about Tony Abbott by featuring him holding a puppy!
The Sydney Morning Herald declares 'Abbott' will beat Labor. All by himself? Does he still lead a political party?
One example of the 'Crushing Win' headline swamping Australian media this morning.
One of the more grim developments in our "serious" media this election has been the name-calling. Even the Australian got into it, announcing Clive Palmer was a "buffoon" on its front page.
Name-calling is the sort of trash the Murdoch media usually leaves to the likes of Miranda Devine, Andrew Bolt and other unprofitable bloggers. Not anymore. When our media so recently promised to Stop The Trolls, this kind of garbage is bad news for everyone:
And finally, here's The Australian again, with a pile of opinion and Abbott Wins declarations that are going to look even more ridiculous if he doesn't make it to prime minister, and if the Liberals don't get the majority of Autralia's vote, or the "crushing victory" announced pre-voting :
Who lost the Australian Federal Election? The big loser was clearly quality, unbiased media.
Goodbye to all that.
