Panel beater
8 March 2010
ABC Unleashed
It sounds like such a great idea for a TV show: five opinionated and articulate guests drawn from a wide range of orthodoxies and professional fields, facing-off against an engaged studio and television audience that asks tough questions which challenge each individual and spark heated debate amongst the group. Such a program idea promises insight, provoked thoughts, and a little bit of verbal biffo, which is the dream television combination for political tragics on a Monday evening. But if it’s such a great idea why does its execution in the form of ABC TV’s Q&A suck?
Lost in translation
1 March 2010
ABC Unleashed
Last Wednesday night a large group of online-organised Australians went down to their local curry restaurant and Vindaloo’d Against Violence, hoping to publicly condemn recent violent attacks against Indians in Australia that some say were racially-motivated.
Several observers of the event thought that it was a pointless stunt – and it certainly is pointless as far as preventing attacks or tackling racism goes – but I reckon there was an important point: the message it transmitted to Indians via the world’s media.
From the mouths of politicians
17 February 2010
ABC Unleashed
Every night in cities across the country, thousands of Australians weigh up their sleeping options and make a choice.
Option one: a warm, dry bed wrapped in crisp, clean sheets, door safely locked to keep danger at bay. Option two: a cold, hard slab of concrete with a filthy blanket or sheet of cardboard to stop the soaking rain, nothing to protect against the many dangers of the street.
Why would anyone possibly choose option two, some who have chosen option one wonder, and if they have chosen option two then they’re clearly not in need of our compassion or assistance. QED.
Kicking the political football
2 February 2010
ABC Unleashed
Before boarding a flight bound for Christmas Island last week, Senator Steve Fielding announced, in that uniquely self-righteous way of his, that it was time to stop using the issue of asylum seekers as a political football.
Of course, from the moment that Fielding booked his ticket it was inevitable that he was going to use the issue of asylum seekers as a political football, and announcing his intentions to the media was nothing more than another giant, looping lollipop of a kick. And just like his open-minded study tour to the US to get across the issue of climate change, Steve will probably come back from the remote Australian territory next week with a laminated graph and a fierce, close-minded certainty that everyone must pay attention to him.
Media Watch goes behind the nudes on Twitter
12 November 2009
Crikey
Two months ago I had a throwaway, smart-arse thought as I sat on the lounge in front of Media Watch, so I tweeted it:
I will seriously do a nudie run around Brunswick if Jonathan Holmes ever says “pwned” on Media Watch.
And three nights ago Jonathan Holmes said it:
Which means that Garry Linnell and Paul Kent, and their first-rate sources, to use a word beloved of the computer-gamers, have been well and truly pwned: “That’s P-W-N-E-D. And I didn’t know the word either, until I started using Twitter. I rather like it.”
What next? Meme, the musical, starring Bumcrabb and Bolt
2 November 2009
Crikey
Twenty four hours is a long time in today’s interconnected, intertubed world. Once upon a time a throwaway, smart-arse remark by a panelist on a political TV chat show would take days to grow into a meme, relying on being quoted in newspaper columns and replayed on evening news. But in the age of Twitter it takes only 24 hours for that smart-arse remark to go from being uttered on Insiders to being printed on a T-shirt and plastered all over the blogosphere.
Bolt’s blog: why the apologies will continue
16 October 2009
Crikey
No matter what you think about the man’s work, there’s no denying that Andrew Bolt writes an extraordinarily successful blog that boasts “more than one million hits a month” and “as many as 13,000 comments in a week”. There is no doubt that it’s one of the biggest — if not the biggest — blog in the country in terms of readership and participation. The effort that must be required to manually moderate every single reader comment is mindboggling, and it sounds like Bolt does a decent share of it himself (“more than 10 hours of every choked week”).
Genuinely, I dips me lid. However, as Bolt discovered this week, if a single comment is approved that causes immeasurable hurt to one person (especially if that person is a prominent journalist and opponent of the blogger), there will probably be trouble.
Difficult Kids Are A Part Of Life
22 September 2009
newmatilda.com
The Victorian Principals Association wants kids with behavioural problems out of mainstream classrooms, but public school teacher Scott Bridges thinks that would be the worst possible outcome for all involved.
Should Teenagers Get The Vote?
30 July 2009
newmatilda.com
Later this year the Rudd Government will consider a proposal to lower the voting age to 16. It’s a good idea — as long as it comes with an effort to engage kids in the political process, writes Scott Bridges
Newspapers and bloggers: isn’t there room for everyone?
2 July 2009
Crikey
It must be pretty humbling to feel your power slipping away. And not just slipping away to an equally powerful competitor, but slipping away to — gasp! — ordinary people.
Utegate raises no end of questions for the media too
22 June 2009
Crikey
Fairly amazing when you think about it. That political leaders withstand the political pressure exerted by wars, global financial crises, and overboard children, but the question of the existence of a single email, and the genuineness of that email, can threaten to end political careers.
The Politics Of Envy
26 May 2009
newmatilda.com
Most Australians enjoy a good kick at their elected representatives, but the recent outbreak of pollie-bashing over expenses is unfair and completely misses the point, argues Scott Bridges.
Everything in moderation … even for Andrew Bolt
25 February 2009
Crikey
Any blogger with a reasonable flow of comments on their site will tell you that it’s tricky to strike the right balance between giving people the freedom to say what they want, while restricting that freedom to prevent distasteful or legally questionable comments from being published.
Nothing’s off limits for Bolt’s pompous point-scoring
9 February 2009
Crikey
In July last year a newborn baby, umbilical cord attached, was found dead in a rubbish bin in regional Victoria. The traumatised local community and a stunned nation felt sadness for the child and concern for the unknown mother. There is an unspoken understanding in the media that such tragic events should not be the catalyst for political or ideological point scoring, but that didn’t stop Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt from callously using this child’s death as an excuse to lay the boot into environmentalists because the body was inside a green shopping bag.
They’re Doing It Anyway
16 January 2009
newmatilda.com
Critics of the AMA’s proposal for earlier sex education are ignoring the fact that currently many kids are having experiences long before their education catches up, writes Scott Bridges.
The Wingnuts And Tragics Of 2008
17 December 2008
newmatilda.com
From demon children to Liberal backbenchers suffering relevance deprivation, 2008 was a big year for politicians behaving badly. Scott Bridges scores Canberra’s pollies on their dance steps in and out of Parliament.
Happy Anniversary, Kev
24 November 2008
newmatilda.com
Remember this image? It represented the hopes of millions of Australians during last year’s election campaign. One year on, it’s as relevant as ever.
What Are Teachers Being Taught?
28 October 2008
newmatilda.com
Schools have been told to go “back to basics” with English grammar lessons, but it’s universities that need to pick up their game.
Are You Experienced?
18 September 2008
newmatilda.com
Malcolm Turnbull once paid rent; Nathan Rees once took out the garbage: politicians are falling over themselves to prove their struggle street credentials. But is personal experience the only way to understand what others are going through?
Why I will be watching the Senate
8 September 2008
Project Democracy
I like the Senate. Like, I really like it. Not only is it the Australian Parliament’s house of review, which is really important and awesome and everything, but it’s also a magnet for all sorts of ideological and single-issue nutjobs that make it a refreshing change for all of us political tragics who are accustomed to a diet of boring whitebread pollies such as Kevin Rudd. (Just like a Sunblest devon sandwich they’re soft and give the illusion of being meaty, but ultimately lack taste and nutrition.)
