Sunday, August 01, 2010

When a newspaper knows no shame ...



(Above: The Australian purporting to be a serious rag. What me? it exclaims, while calling for a bowl of water wherein to wash its grubby paws, it's the Sunday Terror what done it).

By 10.04 am today, The Australian had caught up a little with recent grub street events, with Rudd threatens to sue over 'spy' claims and finding the time to quote Alexander Downer's denial of The Sunday Telegraph story about Rudd being Downer's sock puppet.

The Sunday Terror, which travels as the Daily Terror online, was as shameless as ever, with Libs: Kevin 007 was our 'double agent', bylined at 12.00 am to Claire Harvey and AAP.

But how to wrinkle the denial issued by Downer? Well put it in the story, way down in the piece, so meanwhile you can have all the fun of the fair, until the spoilsport turns up to ruin the party:

Mr Downer issued a statement on the matter from overseas, not denying his comments, but saying his comments had been misinterpreted.

Uh huh. So either Downer or the Terror is in continuing error.

Let's see what Downer thinks of the misinterpration:

“Kevin Rudd was not used by me or other members of the Liberal Party as a so-called 'double agent' to leak material against other members of the Labor Party,” he said.

“Unfortunately, (the journalist) has created a more controversial story than my comments warranted.”

The Terror's seemly response to the only source for this aspect of its story? The sole basis for its James Bond graphic, no matter how much it distorts, skews, drags in red herrings, or otherwise attempts to swing in the breeze. Why natch, it's not just to run it on the front page, but to run the graphic with an 'updated' version of the story:


But of course the rag made every attempt to establish the truth:

The Sunday Telegraph telephoned Mr Rudd's spokesman, Patrick Gorman, with the Downer claims at 6.15pm yesterday. Mr Rudd responded by email, denying the allegations, at 9.27pm.

The Sunday Telegraph had attempted to contact Mr Gorman several times after speaking to Mr Downer last week to put the allegations to Mr Rudd. Mr Gorman failed to return those calls.


Yep with Rudd having just undergone an operation, what better time to slip in the surgeon's knife and demand answers! And just before the hot fetid presses started to roll, perhaps fearful that someone might shout out, for the love of the lord and the geese hold the front page.

When a newspaper knows no shame ...

And when the Murdoch media denies that it has an agenda, and is just intent on reporting the news in a fair and balanced way ...

Chortle a little, and demand Glenn Beck do a tour of the antipodes ...

But isn't the graphic lovely. So irresistible. Now the question is, was Lord Downer the goose, or is the paper the goose? Or are they geese together? Is the rag going to call Downer out for being at best a dissembler, at worst a teller of porky pigs, or fibs, or lies? A liar? Or is the rag going to admit it made an error of interpretation, or perhaps was 'economical with the truth' or took a line that suited an agenda?

Who knows. Don't hold your breath. Over a couple of minutes and it can be fatal ... but this is the rag that ran photos of a nude Pauline Hanson. Surely, it's true the woman was nude. But was it Pauline Hanson? Well we know the answer to that, and maybe down the track a court will answer the question as to the truth of the matter here.

Meanwhile, let's learn the lesson from Valuable lesson from Pauline:

The saga of the fake Pauline Hanson nude photos ended quietly with negotiations last week between News Ltd and Hanson's lawyer, Stewart Littlemore, QC.

Hanson received an undisclosed settlement and a brief apology on page two of this weekend's Sunday Telegraph, acknowledging that she was not the subject and ending with the words: "We have learnt a valuable lesson."


No they didn't, they didn't learn a bloody thing. The bloody geese ...

Oh sweet absent lord, I'm so sorry geese ... I know you're tetchy and carry on and show an aggressive streak, but I've apologised, so let's make that a perpetual carry over apology

We know you're not the Sunday Terror ...

but isn't the graphic so witty and clever?

3 comments:

  1. But then don't they put the cadet journalists who don't know any better on the Sunday rags to release stories that disappear the next day because no self-respecting journalist will fall for the lies told to them by a 'self-interested' party or individual like the devious Downer? But this is the Sunday Telegraph which is usually about a notch lower in quality (it that is possible) than the Daily Smelly.

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  2. Hillbilly SkeletonAug 2, 2010, 10:05:00 AM

    What do they care if the story turns out to have been a beat-up? It was their beat-up and it worked a treat. Which is all they care about, getting the Coalition back into power.
    Who cares about the real truth of the matter? They certainly don't. All they care about is creating a false impression and derailing the ALP campaign just a little bit more. And they succeeded marvellously. Policy? Who cares? They don't. They're a Yellow rag, pure and simple, and I'm sure the editor will get a pat on the head and a promotion after the election from Uncle Rupert. God that man is pure evil. And Australia spawned him.

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  3. I wondered at first whether Daisy Downer had put this story about so that no-one would notice the other snippet about his former bodyguard/ security adviser/ junior adviser Andrew Stark, who after the 2007 election became Julia Gillard's bodyguard/ security adviser/ junior adviser, the person who took notes for Ms Gillard at National Security meetings in Cabinet. As it turned out he gave this interview before Kevin Rudd was deposed so it was just another chance to tell us what a terrible person Kevin is.

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