WEBVTT - The Media Show | 24 May 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:05.080 Vince, It's the Media Show with Jack houting. 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:08.920 Hello and welcome to the Media Show. I'm Jack Houghton, 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.000 and tonight we'll take a look at the ABC campaigning 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:15.280 against Peter Duddon and much more. But first to the 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:18.040 biggest media story of the week. 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:22.120 Good Evening, one of Channel nine's on air stars, has 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:26.640 revealed her former boss Darren Wick allegedly sexually harassed her 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.600 in public, groping her and breathing heavily down her neck. 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.239 The revelations have sent shockwaves through the media industry, with 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:38.880 sources entering the Frey to allege that nine not only 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.800 knew about wicks alleged behavior but covered it up. Now 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:45.960 The Australian Sophie Elsworth and James Madden reported that while 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.720 Nine you of these allegations, it still gave Wick a 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:54.960 near million dollar golden handshake on his departure. One star 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:57.840 for at Wednesday's meeting asked whether there was a cover 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:01.760 up relating to Wick's behavior and was told there was not. 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.759 According to the senior managers conducting the meeting, the network 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:10.200 was duty bound to protect the confidentiality of any workplace 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:14.880 issues lodged by staff. Well duty bound in theory perhaps, 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:16.520 but then this news. 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:21.880 Broke tonight the scandal surrounding Channel nine deepens with shocking 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:26.080 allegations that the company betrayed the confidence of a high 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:31.280 profile female presenter when she raised concerns about sacked newsboss 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:35.120 Darren Wick. The on air star was horrified to discover 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:39.760 that soon after discussing her concerns through the appropriate channels 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:44.240 at nine, her confidence was breached almost immediately when the 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:50.280 top news exec was told about the complaint against him. 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:53.040 Well, joining me this week on the panel as the 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.760 Australians media writer Sophie Elsworth and columnist at the Daily 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.720 Telegraph Tim Blair. Now, Sophie, I want to start with you. 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.560 You've been doing some fantastic reporting on this well done. 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:04.360 What a story. 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.400 What do you make of how nine has has I 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:11.080 guess tried to pivot this story and the allegations of 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:11.720 a cover up. 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.800 Well, thanks for your kind words, Jack. Look, my colleague 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:23.520 James Madden and I were asking Nine questions about the 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:27.240 whereabouts of Darren Wick way back in March before he 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:32.480 departed the company and were told that he was returning 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.760 and basically there was nothing to see here. And then 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.880 suddenly on a Friday, night on March fifteen, an email 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.280 went around to staff saying he had resigned about six 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.520 point thirty that evening, and a lot of questions were 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:50.160 being raised why he was on extended leave and then 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:53.560 suddenly departed in the middle of rating season. This is 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.480 nine Channel nine's most senior news boss. 0:02:58.200 --> 0:02:58.720 And then we. 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:01.080 Exposed at the start of the week that there was 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:06.519 a complaint by a female staff member about his alleged conduct, 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.120 and this has resulted in a whole series of stories 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.840 and allegations coming out since then Jack, But they have 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.799 tried to pivot away from this story. Yesterday they announced 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.480 his replacement for your Own a Dear, but they have 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:25.280 had to deal with the fallout. They held an emergency 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.720 meeting on Wednesday. They had an email sent out by 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:33.200 Mike Sneezeby saying if anyone has concerns about inappropriate conduct, 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:37.000 to report it. So this Jack is a network, I 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.600 would say in massive damage control. 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.440 Yeah, definitely, and Tim Blair putting the allegations and the 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:45.920 substance of them to one side. The thing that I 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.800 found extraordinary about this is Sophie just mentioned briefly these 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:54.440 emails going out by the CEO reassuring staff that there'll 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:59.200 be confidential complaints. I haven't seen that kind of discourse 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.120 from a seat in a very long time over something 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:03.480 like this. 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.280 At the very least Jack, it's been and clumsily handled. 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:12.120 It shows perhaps a culture that is maybe not evolved 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.680 as rapidly as some of the areas of society. I mean, 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.799 it's long been known in the media that commercial television 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:21.360 it's a bit of an eighties hangover in a lot 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.880 of ways. The wages, the attitudes, the Christmas party scandals, 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:29.760 the allegations involved here sound very eighties. But the rest 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.680 of the organization, the rest of the culture around all 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:34.839 of that stuff, Jack doesn't seem to have sort of 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:35.840 caught up with things, does it. 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.480 Yeah, it's very interesting and obviously seven has had its 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.360 own issues as well. But for many in the media, 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.080 the news of Wick's behavior came as no surprise, mainly 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.680 because the official announcement from nine claimed that Vic had 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.440 had a sudden moment of realization while walking along a 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:57.240 beach that media was no longer in his heart. Nine 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.960 pushed out the bizarre explanation for Wicks to departure in March, 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:05.599 and its printer dutifully carried the narrative nationally. Some of 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.080 you are aware that I have taken a few weeks 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.440 off to think about my future, and after many long 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.800 beach walks and even longer conversations, I know in my 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.839 heart that this is the right time for me to 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.240 step down and leave nine. I don't want to use 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:25.000 the word retiring because I don't know how to sit idle, 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.200 but I am going to take a very long break 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.159 from what has been four decades of working as a journalist. 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.000 I'm tired and need arrest. 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:36.760 Now let's bring the panel back into discuss now, Sophie, 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:41.480 you mentioned earlier that in March when this statement came out, 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:42.440 it raised a lot. 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:43.159 Of red flags. 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.080 Privately, a lot of us in newsrooms were saying that 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:49.320 is strange, there is more to this, And you were 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.560 going to Channel nine who obviously knew about this. They 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:55.640 obviously knew a lot of the allegations. The complaints had 0:05:55.720 --> 0:06:00.160 been made and been investigated. That engaged private law firm 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.680 to investigate it. What did they tell you in March? 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:11.120 Well, I was told a given information that Wick was 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:16.760 returning Jack. He was missing from the Sydney newsroom from 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.400 about February. This is the middle of rating season, and 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.960 this is critical time for a news boss to be 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.240 on the ground, not to be on holidays. It's a 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:30.840 very odd time. And what did raise a lot of 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:34.680 questions was that my colleague and I were repeatedly told 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:38.080 Wick was coming back, there was nothing to see here. 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:42.560 And then the real alarm bells started ringing even louder 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.960 when an email went out by Nine at six point 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:51.880 thirty or thereabouts on Friday, March fifteen, which has that 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.719 statement that Darren Wick just said saying it had long 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:57.880 beach walks and he was going on off to take 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.279 a serious amount of time off. Now, this email went 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:05.440 around when I was at the Victorian Media Awards, all 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.720 the media congregated at Crown Casino. This is a time 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:13.200 you put a story out when you're trying to hide 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.520 something or you don't want coverage, and that again raised 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:21.040 lam bells. So this has been a pretty badly handled situation, 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.680 especially with the reporting that we know this week, and 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.480 I think Nine could have done a better job of 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.520 handling this, and that has been said very much so internally. 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:36.720 Yeah and Tim the entire nine apparatus as well. And 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:38.800 one thing I want to bring up as well is 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.520 that the Fairfax former Fairfax papers, the nine papers, they 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:46.680 carry this very arrogant slogan of independent always, but they 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:48.320 have run dead on this story. 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:49.920 They're covering the top line. 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.280 They don't seem to have done too much about the 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:56.360 victim who has spoken to Shari Markson my opinion, they 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:57.120 could be doing. 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.320 A lot more reporting and if it was any. 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:03.080 Other network that they were independent from, there would be 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.640 ferocious reporting from the Sydney Morning Herald. 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:09.600 Oh you're very much, way too cynical there, Jack, because 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:13.080 as we saw, as we saw yesterday, I think the 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.720 Fairfax nine paper in Melbourne, the age. I think it's 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:20.160 Leeds story was the great split in the Australian Republican movement. 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.920 Now that's news, mate, that's really a big story. But 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.560 just on nine and especially Darren Wicks talking about his 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:31.160 long walks on the beach during nine heyday in the 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:37.280 eighties when it was massively more influential politically and through everything, socially, 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:41.520 everything everywhere. George Nigas the sixty minute start, was in 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.400 an interview with Margaret Thatcher and he used that old 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.679 journalistic construction of you know, some people say that you're 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.880 a terrible evil tyrant or whatever, and Thatcher pinned him 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.240 on it and said name them, who are these people? 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:55.959 And the left all took this as a great victory 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.000 for Nigas somehow or has he actually looked like a fool? 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.640 I would say, in regard to Darren Wisony's beach walks, 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:04.360 name the beach. If he's actually working on beaches, where 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.679 the hell were they and how long were these walks? 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:09.240 Yeah, it's a very good point. 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.400 And it was a false narrative that a company whose 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.560 reputation with trust with an audience I think has been 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.960 impacted by this. It turns out it was a lie. 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:20.720 They knew he wasn't coming back, and they allowed that 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.160 lie to permeate through their print arm as well. And 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.360 that's the broader problem here. But look, moving on now 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.760 to the UK where British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:31.760 announced a general election for July. 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:32.440 Now. 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.679 It was weird, to say the least. The media strategy 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.800 appeared to be let's put Sunac out in the rain 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.480 for some reason, while activists trolled him with the labor 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:45.920 winning campaign song from the nineteen ninety seven election. 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:50.200 Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future, 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.480 to decide whether we want to build on the progress 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:56.240 we have made or risk going back to square one 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:58.319 with no plan and no certainty. 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.400 So what were the medium minders thinking? And it wasn't 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:07.600 the only bizarre decision. At Sunax's campaign launch, a Sky 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.040 UK journalist was thrown out by bouncers. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:13.160 This is where the Prime Minister is going to speak 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.679 in the next few minutes and I'm being forcibly removed. 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.040 We just simply wanted to have access tonight as Sky News, 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.640 but unfortunately we're at all that because there are pool 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.719 arrangements in place, we're not allowed it to be here. 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:27.400 This is, by the way, what we're trying to film 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.959 is the campaign event where the Prime Minister is due 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:31.719 to speak in the next couple of minutes in the 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:35.800 front of conservative activists, is eventually trying to get across 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.840 the message that we had in Dining Street today. 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:45.120 Well, Sophie, nothing says open and transparent governance like a 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.480 pair of bouncers hauling journalists onto the street. 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:51.800 Very strange scenes. What do you make of it all? 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.240 Well, it doesn't look good does it when you've got 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:01.960 a journalist being carted out. I security guards and they've 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:06.360 got footage of it, rolling footage of it, a pr nightmare. 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:10.400 Looks extremely bad for the government, whatever the circumstances, whether 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.240 or not the journalists should have been there or not, 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:14.280 this is a very bad look. 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:15.760 But it's for a. 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.400 Government that is already under siege and I think they've 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:23.120 got pretty much zero chance at the upcoming election. 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:25.600 Yeah, Tim, that's a good point. 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.760 Every poll, every single poll in the last couple of months, 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.280 shows that they are on track to be completely wiped out. 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.280 It almost looks like they've given up. It looks like 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:38.559 maybe the top media minders have gone and look for 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:41.120 another job. They don't want to be associated with it. 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:43.560 But that, to me did not look like a man 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.000 who thinks that he can genuinely win an election. 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.760 Now it looks like one of the wealthiest politicians in 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:53.000 UK history can't afford an umbrella or can't hire someone 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.480 to hold one. It's always a risky game, I guess 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.680 in British politics to make that big decision, let's go 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:03.959 out when you're in London, not five times out of 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:05.400 ten it's going to back for you. It's a real 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:09.040 coin toss. I would say about the Bouncary issue the 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.960 highed goon. All credit to the reporter for just keeping talking. 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:15.440 As you and Sophie know. First rule of media when 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.880 it camera's on, don't shut up, don't betray any panic, 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:21.320 just keep and there were no arms or ours. He 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:24.080 just kept going on. He told his story even as 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:25.880 the goon advanced him down the hallway. 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:27.000 Was impressive work. 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:29.920 Yeah, it was cool, calm and collected. We're going to 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.200 take a quick break. But when we're back, how an 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:40.480 ABC star has decided to campaign against Peter Dutton. Welcome 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:44.560 back now to the US, where some progressive presenters are 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.480 trying to figure out how to cover Joe Biden without 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:48.240 being critical. 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:48.920 Now. 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.480 In this clip, Joey Behar explains to legendary hosts Bill 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.199 Maher why she is hesitant to criticize her beloved leader. 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:01.240 I'm nervous about saying anything against Biden because I feel 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.000 that you know, not that I have so much power, 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.520 and you have some with them than I do, obviously, 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:09.360 but are you afraid that you might, you know, influence 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:10.520 the people who are on the fence. 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.040 I think you lose all credibility I do. I mean, 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.280 my bond with my audience has always been I don't 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.800 pull a punch. My bond with my orience is you're 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:19.880 not going to like everything I say. But you know 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.120 I'm saying what I really think is true. Right, that's 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:23.840 and that's. 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:27.800 Well. 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:30.800 The fact that the View is just blatantly admitting this 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.720 on air is extraordinary. But it actually gets worse when 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:37.840 Bill Maher tries to explain why we should be critical 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:40.800 of Biden. It goes in one ear and out the other. 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.880 Biden just presents as old. It's not really fair, no, 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:50.000 because he's almost the same age. Trump is almost the 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.800 same age as him, but Trump doesn't present that way. 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.520 You know, you look at somebody right away, you can 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.640 kind of just sum them up. I mean, we are 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.320 not young, but we don't present as old. Yeah, Biden does. 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.120 I saw him yesterday making that speech. I mean, I'm sorry, 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:07.080 he's cadaver like, but his brain is good. 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:08.079 He's still great. 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:15.439 Tim Blair, he's kadaver like, but his brain's still good. 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.920 Yeah, he's dead, but he's living. The view is an 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:24.760 extraordinary thing if we can get it on cable TV, 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:26.960 I guess, and various other means to look at it. 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:30.560 But from an Australian perspective, it makes the ABC look balanced, 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:34.560 It makes the Old Drum Show look as though it 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.560 was an accurate reflection of public opinion. But yeah, to 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:42.760 actually say that they're reluctant to say anything bad about 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.520 Joe Biden because it might convince people to vote the 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.560 other way. I mean the delusion involved in that sentence. 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.040 Want to present yourself as any type of journalist and 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:53.840 say that you're going to conceal bad news because it 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.680 might might influence the things the way you don't intend. 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.400 But also to imagine that you're audience of that show 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.840 contains anyone who's on the fence. Everyone in the crowd 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:10.680 is cheering for Biden. It's a unified force. And no, 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:13.600 they're not being realistic about this at all, really are they? 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:16.160 Jack Well, Sophie, I love it because it's what we 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.920 all expected. You're looking at the view and you could 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:23.600 not genuinely possibly hold that opinion. That opinion clearly isn't 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.520 your actual opinion. There's no way. And now she's admitting it. 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:31.160 She's watering down her views to not be critical because 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:32.880 she doesn't want to influence the election. 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.360 Jack, this is incredible and I expect we will see 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.800 more of this type of commentary leading up to the 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.440 US election, and by goodness, it's going to be delicious. 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.840 I mean, seriously, they're sitting there conflicted that they can't 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:54.200 criticize Biden for fear that someone might vote against him. 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.880 This is absolutely absurd, but it makes for great stuff 0:15:57.920 --> 0:15:59.400 for us to talk about Jack, So. 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.600 I say, bring, yeah, it's great content. I particularly like 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:06.240 where she says that she's powerful and Bill Marsley don't 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.280 do that. But look, let's move on now to the ABC, 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:14.080 which has been actively campaigning against the coalition's immigration policy. 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:18.800 Now here's Laura Tingle slandering Peter Dutton as dangerous for 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.760 daring to suggest a reasonable cut to immigration. 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.720 But I think what was concerning is for a political 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.880 leader to come out and say, not only is housing 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:34.480 the fault of migrants, but you can't get a childcare space, 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.840 you can't get through the traffic on the roads, you 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:39.960 can't get in to see the doctor because of migration. 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:44.920 That is lighting this thing up in a really disturbing way, 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.880 regardless of the arguments about whether there's you know, there 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.200 should be more or less migration, regardless of whether his 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.360 policies make sense. And I would say that they don't 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.840 make coherent sense in what he's put out in his 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:02.920 budget reply. You know the hot buttons he's pressing there, 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:04.960 I think are very dangerous for our community. 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.000 First of all, no one is suggesting that migrants are 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:12.879 personally responsible for those issues. The argument is that labor 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:16.720 is responsible for failing to properly manage the numbers. It 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.879 has absolutely nothing to do with the morality of the individual. 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.800 It is about what we as a country, inclusive of migrants, 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:24.680 can cope with. 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:25.240 Now. 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.520 If Tingle is seriously advocating for some sort of open 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:33.560 border policy, then all of those issues that she flags, housing, childcare, 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.800 traffic will get significantly worse. It will get worse for 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.879 the migrants who are here now. She is attempting to 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:44.879 turn a maths equation into a cultural war issue. And 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.520 this isn't even the biggest problem with what Tingle did. 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.159 The main issue is that she is on a taxpayer 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:56.560 funded broadcaster calling a mainstream reasonable policy dangerous. She's effectively 0:17:56.640 --> 0:18:04.040 campaigning against the opposition leader, I mean, Tim Blair. We 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:06.520 spoke about this a little bit from the comparisons to 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.800 the view before about the ABC's problem with bias. But 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.320 this here is somebody who is supposed to be a 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:16.640 down the line hardened political journalist, and she is taking 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.399 such an ardent side to the point where she is 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:23.360 describing the policy as being immoral and dangerous. How can 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:25.320 the ABC justify that under its charter? 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:29.240 Under its charter, it can't justify it. But the ABC's 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.160 charter is a you know, it's an ancient scroll locked 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.440 under a pyramid bury, beneath ten thousand layers of sand. 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.639 It's a it's a a not a living document, as 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.880 they say. But this is an old technic of the left. 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.520 Whenever there a subject comes up which they're uncomfortable with 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.879 or they feel that they're losing, they then go to 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:49.600 the moral level. As you pointed out, they've turned a 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.159 mathematics question into a moral equation. And what they do 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.040 is they indicate that it's dangerous to speak of this 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.440 subject at all, just totally shut it down. We can't 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.199 speak of it in any And we heard this about 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:03.879 the gay marriage debate, we heard it about the voice debate. 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:07.280 We never thinking about immigration like they would prefer to 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:09.240 have the subject taken off the table because they know 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:11.440 in a lot of ways they can't win this one 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.520 at all. And people know how the numbers stack up, 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.800 and apparently the way maths work these days is, as 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:19.399 you pointed out, ughly immoral. 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:19.720 Jack. 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:24.760 Yeah, there's an aneptitude towards as well, Sophie, politically, because 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.480 Labor wants to cut immigration as well, But the negative 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:32.639 connotations are only towards one party, and the differences in 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:36.760 their endgame policy aren't that different really on a broader 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:39.440 macro level, a lot of people, Sophie that would argue 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.480 Peter Dutton should cut it further. 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:44.040 In some areas as well. 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:48.800 So how can the ABC look at two parties, both 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:53.320 of whom want to cut immigration, but then slander one 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:54.960 party is being dangerous? 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:02.520 Well really it's comment but it's dressed up as analysis 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.680 and that's how they really try and get away with this. 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:10.159 But I think the viewers know that it often falls 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:14.919 in one direction. It's pro left, anti right, So you 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:19.000 don't really see this type of commentary for the Labor 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:23.280 or the Greens, I would argue, however, it's very commonplace 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:27.320 for the Coalition. So this is the problem the ABC has. 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.560 They have a new chair, Kim Williams. Perhaps he's going 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:31.640 to do something about it. 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.040 Yeah, well, I won't hold my breath. But let's move 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:37.159 on to stories of the week. Tim Blair, what do 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:37.760 you have for us? 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:41.960 During the week we had, back to the US, we 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.440 had Donald Trump being accused of using Nazi style language. 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.600 A fan of the president or someone campaigning on his behalf, 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:54.560 pulled together a little online ad and eagle eyed readers 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.560 discovered the word riich in there. What they didn't discover 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:01.040 or didn't care to reveal, was it Wright was buried 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:03.000 as part of a You know, it was a template 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:07.359 of old newspaper headlines available to anybody, but the fact 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:09.040 that it had been used as the background of a 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:11.280 Trump ad, and we can see it there had the 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:13.719 word right buried in there for I think three seconds 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:19.080 of airtime. Everyone from the President down absolutely condemned this 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:22.359 use of Hitler style speak, and including all the way 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:27.399 to Australia, our beloved colleague in media criticism, Paul Barrett 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:29.639 the Oversea he apparently fell for it. Look at this, 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:33.560 even by Trump's standards, that is crazy. Well, let's see 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.000 if you run something about this on Monday night on 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:39.520 Media Watch. Because it's been totally debunked. I think even 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:43.000 the template now as removed or referenced to Reich's and 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:45.719 by the way, the Reich referred to in that ancient 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.639 clipping was from the First World War, not the Second, 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:51.600 so Hitler's off the table as well. Good luck working 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:52.679 with that, Paul. 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:55.920 Barry, great topic, Tim, Sophie, what do you have for us? 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.440 So The Australian Today is just released a new podcast, 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:06.920 an investigation by reporter Headley Thomas into the disappearance of 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:12.320 a lady called Bronwyn Winfield who disappeared in nineteen ninety three. 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:16.680 Grab a copy of the paper tune into this podcast. 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:19.960 This is going to be absolutely gripping to find out 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:24.520 what has happened to this woman who disappeared nearly thirty 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:25.720 or thirty odd years ago. 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:29.240 While worth listening to, Yeah, and Hedley obviously did The 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:32.560 Teacher's Pet, which became one of the most downloaded podcasts 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:35.720 in the world actually, so it's probably going to be 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:39.360