Murdoch Media Reach Grim, New Low - Federal Election 2013 - Day FFS

By Darryl Mason

Sometimes it's best to learn the context of a photo, before you try and use it for political point-scoring.

Tim Wilson promotes himself as "one of Australia's most challenging opinion makers drawing on strong philosophical principles."

He's also a dickhead.

As Therese Rein politely points out, they were at the War Memorial, listeing to the names of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan being read out when the photo was taken.

Incredibly, incomprehensibly, Rupert Murdoch's Courier Mail uses the same photo to attack prime minister Kevin Rudd, without explaining where and when the photo was taken.

There is the cliff, and then there is the abyss.

(images via Twitter)

Here's a comment on the Courier Mail's own website tipping them off to the extremely inappropriate use of this photo, at 12.30am today. It took the Courier Mail 11 hours to change the photo on the story, so it was there all the way through the online Courier Mail's peak viewing time of 6am to 11am.

 And here's the original photo, before the Courier Mail cropped it, purposely cropped it to mask the true context of the photo. Fuck knows why Australian newspapers are dying.

 Appalling.

It has been pointed out, correctly, that the above photo is not the exact same photo cropped by the Courier Mail for its dirty little trick, it was the next photo in the sequence. Tim Wilson has apologised. The Courier Mail changed the photo, 11 hours later, floated the usual nothing explanation.

UPDATE: Here's today front page of the Courier Mail. PM Kevin Rudd is, of coruse, leading opposition leader Tony Abbott in Queensland:

Kevin Rudd won the Twitter poll thing hosted by the Courier Mail, by some seven points over Abbott.

UPDATE: Rupert Murdoch's Courier Mail has now pleaded guilty to publishing the photos and names of children involved in a high-profile custody dispute.

The Courier-Mail has pleaded guilty to breaching the Family Law Act during its coverage of an international custody battle over four Italian sisters last year.

The Australian Federal Police launched an investigation into the Queensland newspaper after it last year published the names and photographs of the sisters at the centre of the dispute.

Photos of the girls were published on the front page of the The Courier-Mail on May 15 and 16 last year, prompting a complaint from the Chief Justice of the Family Court.

The guilty plea came despite previous indications the paper would defend the charges.

They published the photos of the children on the front page, and were bombarded with complaints, and helpful requests, that they shouldn't do that again.

But they did do it again.

What a pack of shitbergs


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Australian Prime Minister In Punk Rock Video - Federal Election 2013 - Day Rock Out

The Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, Opposition leader Tony Abbott, a whole host of other politicians, along with the most familiar news heads on TV all appear in the video, singing along to a new Australian punk rock song. Check it out:



So how did Super Best Friends pull off such a roll-call of cameos? One member of the band is an ABC cameraman, and simply asked them to do it, as he made his way around the corridors of Parliament House.

This isn't PM Rudd's first venture into the musical arts.

Below, he shows NWA how to rock the swears:




Filth.

The Unique 'Reality' Of Newspoll - Australian Federal Election - Day 18

The Australian gets the headline it wanted.

 
Is Newspoll now conducting its survey within the offices of The Australian?

There is Margin of Error, there is poll disparity, and then there is the unique reality of Newspoll. The Ghost Who Votes with the latest numbers:

 

Extraordinary image of a 17 metre long humpback, with unborn calf, washed up off a Western Australia beach. Photo submitted to ABCNews by Ken Read: 

Malcolm Turnbull Denies Inhaling - Rudd Fails Sniff Test - Federal Election 2013 - Day 13

Macolm Turnbull campaigns in Sydney (source) :

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd meets a local in the Territory (source) : 

 More on Kevin Rudd's visit to the Territory from The NT News.

Mark Latham: That's Not Being A Sexist Pig, This Is Being A Sexist Pig - Federal Election 2013

Former Labor Party leader Mark Latham can't help but get involved in Tony Abbott's 'Sexy Time' controversy:

"It showed very bad judgement and it shows (Tony Abbott) has low standards.

"I had a good look at Fiona Scott on page eight ... and she doesn't have sex appeal at all.

"She's not that good of a sort."

"She's a rather plain ordinary-looking woman and Abbott has exaggerated massively to try and win her vote among the blokes ... "

"Tony had the beer goggles on and in politics they say it's showbiz for ugly people and I don't think she'll (Fiona) be out of place."

This is appalling.

Abbott Denies Saying Gay Marriage "Fashion Of The Moment" After Saying Gay Marriage "Fashion Of The Moment" - Federal Election 2013 - Day 11

Opposition leader Tony Abbott in conversation with John Laws on Sydney radio, discussing the rising popularity of same sex marriage as an election-turning political issue : 

"My idea is to build on the strength of our society and I support, by and large, evolutionary change," he said.

"I'm not someone who wants to see radical change based on the fashion of the moment."

Later...

"There were many a few years ago who kept telling us a republic is inevitable," he said.

"If this country lasts for a thousand years quite possibly at some point we might be a republic but I don't think a republic is inevitable any time soon and similarly I don't see same sex marriage as inevitable."

 Yes, a Republic is exactly like two consenting adults in love being denied the right to have their relationship and commitment legally recognised.

UPDATE: Boxing gloves signed by Tony Abbott up for auction at Liberals fund-rasing do in Tamworth. Image via @LisaHerbert

Liberals 'Sexy Time' Billboard Fake - Don't Encourage The Daily Show - Federal Election Day 11

Sign of the times I suppose that this fake Liberals Sexy Time billboard pic has gained 'I Like It! Great idea!' status on social media. Thinking themselves clever japesters, some are insisting this billboard is going up in Western Sydney today. It is not :

Look, after the gaffetacular showing so far in this election, The Daily Show, and willingly gullible interational media, are likely to believe anything they see coming out of Australia. We don't need to give any foreigner an excuse to run Benny Hill theme music during their coverage of our election.

Don't encourage them. 

UPDATE: A Fairfax journalist working as a campaign volunteer for Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne has been caught inteferring with Labor Party posters:

Mr Pyne says she was actually helping out and is proud of her.

"I am absolutely confident that no wrongdoing has occurred and I understand that she will be entirely cleared," he said.

"She was fixing them for the Labor Party because they'd been so poorly put up."

 So the same day we hear the Liberals and Labor are going to preference the hell out of each other to save their Two Party System, we hear that Liberal volunteers are making sure Labor election poters are positioned correctly on walls around Adelaide.

Don't be too obvious about it.

Daily Telegraph "Staff Writers" Demand Destruction Of Greens - Federal Election Day 11

UPDATE: Print edition of Daily Telegraph says editor Chris Mitchell wrote today's anti-Greens rant. But the online story says it's by "staff writers". So which is it?

After months of telling us Labor lack credibility, that key frontbenchers are complete jokes, American-owned Daily Telegraph now says we must takem seriously, but only when they're bagging out the Greens.

Is Daily Telegraph editor Paul Whittaker too busy these days to go the Greens himself? Is he outsourcing his hatred to "staff writers?"

The whole editorial is a complete giveaway.

 Vote Labor, get Liberals. Vote Liberals, get Labor. Whatevs. Whoever you vote for doesn't appear to really matter to Daly Telegraph "staff writers" as long as the Two Party System is maintained, and third party and independent candidates are marginalised, smeared, destroyed.

The Coalition and the Labor Party share similar aims for Australia. Both of our major parties know that economic growth is the key to our nation's ongoing prosperity and security. Where they differ is in how economic growth should be accomplished and in the ability to achieve this goal.

Yet the goal itself remains a bipartisan vision. Both parties believe in jobs, investment and financial aspiration.

The Greens, however, are another story. Their vision for Australia is more aligned with former communist bloc nations than anything with which mainstream Australia is familiar. The Greens are, to put it simply, a party of far-left clowns.

But don't just take our word for it. Listen to senior Labor identities....

Now that opposition leader Tony Abbott has put Australia first by putting the Greens last in Coalition preferences, Labor is invited to do the same.

The Greens represent a view that is hostile to the nation's interests and to both major parties. A bipartisan solution is needed to fix a bipartisan problem.

 The Greens aren't so hostile to the 21st century or the environment, but hey, money is money money money money.

So Vote Kony Rubbott, the foreign-owned Daily Telegraph demands it.

The Australian's Obsession With Twitter Gets Plain Stupid - Federal Election 2013 Day 11

Twitter, or even tweets, are not mentioned in this story, anywhere. The Australian's War On Twitter is an embarrasing, hysterical spectacle.
 

The Australian couldn't look any more desperate in its daily attempts to convince older readers Twitter has nothing to offer them. Lest they cancel their subscription to the Australian and go read most of the facts and figures the Autralian hordes behind paywalls on Twitter, for free.

The Australian's earlier attacks on Twitter as being an unreliable medium for distribution of information would be a bit more convincing if The Australian didn't have dozens of Twitter accounts spam-tweeting links to its paywalled content.

Tony Abbott's Sexy Time - Federal Election Day 10

The whole world is watching our federal election. News editors across the globe are following Australian journos and new sites on Twitter, and running with whatever goose like behaviour our candidates can come up with. So far, the Liberals are ahead. And Labor appeared to unveil a new strategy tonight, when opposition leader Tony Abbott or one of his candidates makes a meal of it, they keep quiet, don't get involved, and don't feed the machine with snarky quotes.

Let's see how long they can hold out without fresh carping.

"Young, fiesty...sex appeal," Tony Abbott's reasons for voters to consider the new candidate for the NSW seat of Lindsay:




Apparenlty, Sky News didn't think much of that from Tony Abbott:

Yet more fuel for The Daily Show's solid roundup of the Liberal Party Gaffe-olanche so far.



The Daily Show will be continuing their coverage, all the way through to Kevin Rudd being elected prime minister on September 7.

UPDATE: Tony Abbott is merely a Luke to John Howard the Yoda:

Mural Wars Begin - Federal Election 2013

One of the first murals targetting politicans in the Federal Election 2013 appears in Newtown, NSW.  Expect many more. Image via @Flashback

The century old figs of Alexandria Park gave up a few branches today, in the massive wind storm

Top Tip: Don't sit on a park bench in wind trying to read a book, hoping the wind will go away soon. I think I already knew that.