Truth, Lies and Media

The US midterms were the mega story of the year .. when exhausted Americans singing the songs of angry men started to reclaim their country from the brutal bullshitting Orange fascist.But the Murdoch media lost their tiny minds, with hysterical warnings that the end of western civilisation might be upon us if a cheerful intelligent Muslim called Abdul ElSayed were elected to the US Senate. Best have a Bex and a lie down News24. He’s in.Over in Trumpland the President was posting furiously on Truth Social that his landslide losses were all Fox News fault because of their outrageous practice of occasional interviews with Democrats .. around midnight he rang in to bag the presenters personally for Fox polls they’d broadcast that dared suggest he was unpopular. [from 5:20]We also investigate the toxic UK media culture that took the ratings and looked away when celebrity Russell Brand was on TV and radio and a depraved rape spree.He’s about to start a 10 year jail sentence.[from 14:30]And in Victoria we unpack why Jess Wilson’s strategy of walking out of press conferences before the questions get too hot - will backfire.[from 31:00]

It was quite the bombshell allegation for a Senator in high office to drop during Senate Estimates - that the ABC employs Hamas terrorists as journalists in its news coverage of Gaza.The ABC executives that Senator Sarah Henderson was monstering were polite but firm - despite her repeated claims that the ABC pushback was “outrageous” she had furnished no actual evidence that any of her incendiary claims were true.And that’s because they were not true.We look at the reckless right wing attack on the ABC this week .. disgraceful accusations which tried but failed to equate the national broadcaster with an abhorrent evil.[from 4:30]We also check out the anti semitism envoy's latest list of authoritarian demands to reshape our democracy in her preferred pro-Israel image.[from 11:50]And tensions have erupted at the hard right Murdoch media fun factory that is the old Sky News (now News 24) during a live-to-air dust-up over who has control of the Credlin show’s rundown and who called who a dickhead. Gold.[from 23:35]

It’s not often you see an accused war criminal on a PR blitz before his criminal trial but Ben Roberts-Smith has been telling his story to right wing news outlets while a“powerful formation” of billionaires, politicians and media line up behind him.[from 5:10]We also look at the growing calls for an end to violent political rhetoric .. Independent Monique Ryan has told the ABC it’s time for the media to stop giving hater-in-chief Pauline Hanson credence and airtime. Even as Helen Haines fights for life after being horrifically run down, the One Nation leader is defending her party’s violent cartoons which gleefully depict politicians being hit by cars or murdered. [from18:00]And the unfathomably dark arts of news priorities - look over there at the hats and the horseflesh!The Melbourne Cup gets bigger headlines than Anthropic releasing its stock market prospectus warning that its AI products may kill humanity. [from 25:30]

We look at the Murdoch media shamelessly weaponising the horrific attack on Helen Haines to bash the left - even as she fights for life in hospital - and ignoring the PMs call to lower the temperature on political hate.[from 7:20]Plus what are the electoral watchdogs doing to stop a blatantly fraudulent election ad faked up by Advance and featuring a gloating AI Dan Andrews and Ben Carroll? The far right disinformation machine is in full swing we discover. [from 18:10]And the ABC is about to broadcast its powerful docu-drama “Shake Down” - a searing look into Scott Morrisons cruel cash grab from the poor, notoriously branded “Robodebt”[from 25:40]

BRUTALISING THE WORLD ON A LIVESTREAMThe Trump administration wants to livestream the firing squad execution of a radicalised US soldier according to a gleeful US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth - triggering global disgust. The broadcast risks traumatising and brutalising countless people around the world in order to satisfy the Trump administrations lust for vengeance as a public spectacle.We contrast Hegseth's relish for unleashing “murder porn” on the public with the historic practice of asking journalists to witness and report on closed executions - the last time this happened in Australia was the hanging of Ronald Ryan.[from 4:00]We put the spotlight on the racist language (“Take Back Australia!”) woven through the Liberal National plan to slash the immigration intake - backed in by the blatant racism in One Nation’s campaign ad depicting African men as machete carriers and Middle Eastern men as suicide bombers.[from 19:00]And we are reminded that there are fine and wonderful people who have warmed our souls and enriched our lives as we farewell gentleman ABC newsreader Richard Morecroft who has died too young.[from 39:30]

NOTE TO MEDIA: VIOLENT AUTHORITARIANISM IS NOT NORMALSomeone needs to tell Pauline Hanson this isn’t Saudi Arabia or China after One Nation threatened to jail political rivals during its Victorian election campaign launch.Vindictive politicians don’t decide who goes to jail. The courts do. It’s called the rule of law.Once news outlets would have instantly called out threats that come straight from the fascist playbook. This time they covered a flagged assault on our liberal democracy as if it were business as usual - an omission Denis Muller describes as “an epic fail”[from4:20]And we note the death of author Jeffrey Archer who scammed half a million pounds from the Star newspaper by lying in a defamation case - and then went to jail for perjury.[from 18:50]But more importantly we honour the groundbreaking journalism of a giant of the industry, the ABCs Peter Manning. The former EP of Four Corners has passed away after a lifetime of exposing corruption, holding power to account and inspiring generations of reporters.[from 26:20]

Today we bring you a very special deep dive into the murky waters of corporate skulduggery.My guest is Paul Barry.He’ll be known to many of you as the long-time presenter of ABC TV’s Media Watch, but in fact he has a long and distinguished career as an investigative journalist specialising in uncovering bad behaviour by big business.Paul Barry’s latest book is called The Big Steal, published by Allen and Unwin.It’s about a couple of scoundrels called Sanjeev Gupta and Lex Greensill.Gupta pulled a series of scams around the world by promising to rescue rundown steelworks, power stations and smelters in places where these operations were the lifeblood of the community.Greensill was his banker.For years, the real story was comprehensively missed by the media, but Paul Barry has nailed it and is here to tell us why and how.You can find Paul's new book here:https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Paul-Barry-Big-Steal-9781761473517

The ABC is strangled by floods of complaints from hard right attack dogs - so we look at new reports that most of those whinges are really mass generated AI bots - you know - ACTUAL FAKE NEWS.So Denis asked one of the faker complainers if their behaviour was ethical. Still waiting ..[from 3:25]Plus Donald Trump is chucking more journalists out of the White House because he doesn’t like their reporting - so they’re suing him.[from 10:20]And what does the racist Murdoch press have in common with the trusted news providers at Aunty?We unpack the dangers of “bothsidesism.”[from 18:00]