Fake democracy
Leaders from “approximately 110 countries were invited to take part in” President Biden’s two-day Summit for Democracy.
The complete list of participating countries can be found here. You’ll notice that Australia attended (represented by Prime Minister Prime Minister Scott Morrison), which I will get to shortly.
President Biden focused on a few issues, including “election integrity, countering authoritarian regimes and bolstering independent media.”
It is the latter that I wish to comment on.
The President clearly takes independent media seriously, requesting “$236 million dollars in the 2022 budget to support independent media around the globe,“ announcing that:
“A free and independent media [is] the bedrock of democracy,” Biden said in remarks kicking off the virtual Summit for Democracy. “It’s how the public stays informed and how governments are held accountable.”
Let’s repeat that. “It’s how the public stays informed and how governments are held accountable.”
Scott Morrison should have excused himself at that very moment. If a democracy means that you encourage independent media or independent journalism, then ours is a fake democracy.
Why?
Consider this:
Amendments to the Federal Treasurer’s media bargaining code will be tabled in the New Year.
In a nutshell, if passed, it will mean that in Australia, Facebook and Google can only publish articles from the Murdoch media, Kerry Stokes media, and Fairfax/Channel 9.
Basically, it will be ensure that the voices of independent (or dissenting) media is muffled in the lead up to the next election.
Consider also, that the largest media empire in Australia, the Murdoch media, do absolutely nothing to hold the Morrison government to account. If anything, they seem to behave like the government’s mouthpiece.
The two considerations above should disqualify us from calling ourselves true democracy.
A cross-party Senate inquiry has urged a #MurdochRoyalCommission judicial inquiry to inject much-needed diversity into our media. Thoughtful politicians should think carefully before siding with Murdoch’s monopoly against the interests of our democracy. https://t.co/pf6sFR3JEX
— Office of Kevin Rudd, 26th PM of Australia (@MrKRudd) December 10, 2021
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9 comments
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Phil Pryor -
David Stakes -
Kate Ahearne -
Regional Elder -
Max Costello -
Michael Taylor -
wam -
Terence Mills -
ajogrady
Return to home pageWe are not much of a “democracy”, with an unequal and unrepresentative senate, rigged and riggable electoral sizes, no proportional representation in the lower house, so that a squibby little hick gang of country party nongs can get into government with a fraction of the national Greens vote. We have a pustular foreigner controlling most media outlets, an “understanding” of Goebbelsian plotting in commercial TV and radio rubbish, corporate organised rigged, rorted, paid up lobbied bribio-corruptio stinkio influentio conspiracy, the overall political honesty of the Bond/Skase/Connell/Palmer type, Tax bludging, dodging, hiding, swerving.., and someone called this effing shamozzle “democratic”?? Australia is a controlled profiteering cash cow for the cunning, gutless, heartless, foreign intrusive maggot…and that needs an airheaded, backstabbing, self inflating, egofixatedick as P M. HAH.
If you look at the Google news feed now its all MSM with Sky and Murdoch Fairfax main feeds.
Thanks, Michael,
for scaring us. We do need to be scared.
We need our ‘fight or flight’ response to kick in. Fight, I reckon.
Thanks Michael, …… an alarming development, well in step with Trump’s approach to the media at their last election. Morrison’s sly and insidious ‘tricks’ need to be exposed And on the question of press freedom, Morrison’s silence on the imprisonment and the silencing of Australian citizen, Julian Assange is utterly deafening. ‘ Look over there’ he says, at poor Gladys’ ‘persecutory treatment’ by NSW’s ICAC.
Insightful, Michael. I’m a subscriber and have an article I think the AIM network could well publish, but I can’t find how to convey it. Please send an email address and a style guide if there is one. I have attached the opening few paragraphs and the closing paragraph FYI
Thanks and regards
Max Costello
Hello, Max.
Email has been sent.
A good trilogy michael, When there is no accountability, policies are more and more perceived political problems and poorly considered off the top of the head solutions. Over the last 8 years canberra has been ‘if it sounds good let’s go with a little sweetener for votes in the senate’. The result is sad biased programs are released as blights on the sections of society scummo et al think vote labor and include none of their family or friends. Despite sunrise and today being desperate for controversy, Labor doesn’t have the stomach for telling some truths and stirring the pot. The rabbott had no qualms and he was lying.
If the pollies had to publish their appointment diaries, I doubt if we would need more than a couple of base clerks in an ICAC.
ps our labor has had a brainfart that is ‘thoughtless’. and undoes all his good work
If democracy is alive and well in Australia we would by now have a Royal Commission into the bugging of the Timor Leste parliamentary offices by operatives allegedly acting on behalf of the Australian government.
Instead we have the whistleblower and his lawyer being dragged through the courts with a series of secret trials, even to the extent that our so called Attorney General is currently arguing that evidence should be brought forward to be seen by the judge alone ; even the defendants it is argued should not see the evidence being used against them.
Time for Labor to stand up and announce that there will be an RC when they assume office.
Democracy is being gamed by big media and played to benefit big business. If businesses pay large amounts of money to “influencers” to gain advantage over their competition then how much is the influence of the media outlets of Murdoch, 7 and 9 worth to the L/NP? The Main Stream Media have been a life support system and cheer squad for a side of politics that has decimated Democracy. The MSM is the problem not the solution. Advertising with these media outlets should be counted as political donations to the L/NP.