Freedom Wars: The George Brandis speech

ABC Lateline Interview May 7, 2013 Margo: Well here it is, the Brandis speech on free speech he calls the Freedom Wars. It is not online, so Barry Tucker rang the Brandis office and obtained a copy. Thank you @btckr. I have a feeling I’ll want to write a response soon – my boiling anger at his @Lateline […]

George Brandis, free speech charlatan

MARGO: I am so disgusted with the Brandis free speech interview on @Lateline I don’t trust myself to write about it. It brought back memories of the Howard Government’s relentless assaults on free speech, egregiously denied by Brandis last night, and of his nasty record. So @NoFibs will try to drag truth back on the public […]

Nazi Greens an enemy of democracy, government decrees

By Margo Kingston October 29, 2003 Source: Webdiary “I intend to continue to call to the attention of the Australian people the extremely alarming, frightening similarities between the methods employed by contemporary green politics and the methods and the values of the Nazis.” Liberal Senator George Brandis launches a government campaign to destroy the Greens as […]

Media reform on life-support

By Kevin Rennie April 13, 2013 The near capacity crowd at the Centre for Advanced Journalism’s session The Post-Mortem on Journalism Reform: What Happens Now? belied the conventional wisdom that media reform in Australia is dead (Details and the live blog are here). The venue was the aptly named Elisabeth Murdoch theatre at Melbourne University. […]

The Post-Mortem on Journalism Reform: What Happens Now? Live Blog

Live blogging by Kevin Rennie The Post-Mortem on Journalism Reform: What Happens Now? The Chair of the Australian Press Council, Julian Disney, will outline future directions, followed by a panel discussion with ABC Media Watch presenter Jonathan Holmes, Senator Scott Ludlam (Greens) and Moderated by Director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism, Margaret Simons. Centre for […]

Mark Latham’s Webdiary interview

September 29, 2005 Source: Webdiary Margo: Mark, I thought I’d start with a few questions from Webdiarists. Mark: Yep. Margo:The first is from Craig Warton and he’s asked, if you could turn back time would you have pursued the path of politics to try and achieve your goals for Australia, or would you, perhaps, chosen another path? […]

Can the cross bench deliver citizens accountability from newspapers?

By Margo Kingston, March 27,  2013 What a predicament. All seven cross benchers and the Government are dissatisfied with the standards of newspapers and want citizens to be protected against their abuse of their power. Julian Disney, who heads the Press Council which administers self-regulation, believes there are ‘substantial problems with media standards in Australia’. Yet […]

Shanahan and Bolt doctor a quote to accuse Conroy of doctoring a quote: Welcome to Murdoch news:

By Margo Kingston March 21, 2013 Stephen Conroy said on Insiders Denis Shanahan 19 March In his evidence to the Finkelstein Inquiry into media standards, Professor McKinnon… said: “One editor jovially once remarked that he would rather double his annual contribution than have a complaint upheld.” Andrew Bolt yesterday Headline: Labor uses doctored evidence to grab […]

Absolute freedoms destroy freedom: Disney

Extract of evidence from Professor Julian Disney on freedom of expression and Australian newspapers  to the Senate hearing on media reform, March 19 There are substantial problems with media standards in Australia. A number of them we have in common with other countries… We also gather (information) from journalists as well. Journalists tend to speak […]

So who is threatening our democracy?

Is that the truth or did you read it in The Daily Telegraph? Is that the truth or did you read it in The Daily Telegraph?