Against my better judgement I’m occasionally intrigued to take (what I intend) to be a cursory glance at what Andrew Bolt’s writing about and soon find myself – trance like – mired in a world devoid of any reality. I found myself in such a state with today’s piece, ‘How Tony Abbott was framed by an activist journalist who should calm down’. The article begins:

You cannot get a better example of media bias and malice – the gotcha journalism of the Left.

Bolt was referring to the interview where Tony Abbott told Guardian Australia journalist Bridie Jabour  to calm down after she asked a few probing questions about the $9,000 travel expenses he was forced to pay back. Here is the interview:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58mXIc6ggpo]

These are questions that all journalists should be asking, but not in Bolt’s world. Such questions should not be asked, so it was time for him to attack Ms Jabour. “Note also the aggressive tone of the heckling” he motioned his readers when presenting the above video for their amusement and concluded with the claim that Jabour was acting offensively. Quite laughable, really, coming from a person who is infamous for his constant degradation who do not sit on his side of the political fence. It’s easy to form the opinion that he might just be a bit hypocritical.

BTW, I found her manner quite calm and nonthreatening compared to this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoeGeV-7OEQ]

Amid one of the most explosive stories facing Tony Abbott since he took over as leader of the Opposition, Andrew Bolt finds it necessary to attack about the only journalist who seeks answers for questions we need to know. This is a much bigger story than a journalist asking a question in a manner not satisfactory to Andrew Bolt, as even noted by the much maligned Michelle Grattan:

It’s little wonder that Abbott just wanted to shut down the questions. Misused government funds, even if inadvertent, sounds dodgy.

Andrew Bolt gives me the impression that the protection of Tony Abbott is more a priority than the integrity of the trade he belongs. That he favours the deflection of any scrutiny towards Tony Abbott in preference to the accountability expected of him, is indicative of either the poor state of Australian journalism or just further confirmation that Abbott is untouchable as far as the mainstream media is concerned.