Wednesday 26 September 2018

"Justin Milne should resign" - Andrew Bolt! *faints* (video)

ABC staff walk out today to protest against Milne; chairman of the ABC 
*Update: Milne has resigned but may be replaced by an even worse person. This from GetUp,
Justin Milne, acting ABC Chair, has rightly resigned after explosive leaks revealed he had suggested firing journalists who dared hold the government to account.

 But now the man Tony Abbott hand-picked to gut funding at the ABC – Peter Lewis – could be appointed as Acting Chair. If he is made the permanent Chair, it could be the end of the ABC as we know it. This Chair of the ABC must be truly independent and willing to fight for a public broadcaster that is trusted by more Australians than both the major parties.

 Can you sign the petition calling for a truly independent Chair of the ABC and an end to government interference? Sign here.

I'm gob-smacked :s

 For those overseas who have no knowledge of what's transpired politically in Australia today, first of all we haven't had another spill and we still have Mad Morrison as our Pentecostal prime minister. Although with the turmoil in the gov nobody here in Australia would be surprised if we did have a new PM, given the clown show this gov is and has been since Abbott was elected in 2013. 

 What has happened though has aghast the entire population of Australia. Certainly a hard feat to accomplish given this gov's many aghastness's we've endured in the last 5 long years, but indeed this is a top notch aghastness! So much so that far RWNJ Andrew Bolt has entered the fray against the far RWNJ gov that he worships so dearly. This is an indication of the new and deeper horror Australian's across the country are now experiencing about this gov.

 Some background: Milne (chairman of the ABC) is a mate of ex-PM Turnbull. Guthrie (managing director of the ABC) was recently sacked by Milne, with the support of the current RWNJ ABC board which the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison (ATM) gov has stacked with far RWNJ's very sympathetic to the present far RWNJ gov, only half way through her contract. She's seeking legal advice over this.

 Earlier today Fairfax media released a confidential email from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Chairman Milne, to the then ABC's managing director Guthrie, back in May. Milne was telling Guthrie to fire an ABC reporter because the gov "hate her". 
ABC chairman Justin Milne told former managing director Michelle Guthrie to sack high-profile presenter Emma Alberici following a complaint from then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull...

  Mr Milne’s comments were contained in an email sent to Ms Guthrie on May 8... The chairman was replying to an email from Ms Guthrie that outlined a complaint from Mr Turnbull about Ms Alberici’s political coverage. “They [the government] hate her,” Mr Milne said in the email...

  “We are tarred with her brush. I think it’s simple. Get rid of her. We need to save the ABC - not Emma. There is no guarantee they [the Coalition] will lose the next election.” Herald Sun (oh god I feel dirty posting that link)
This would be unforgivable even in a privately media owned company, well to impartial viewers anyway. Thing is (again for those overseas) the ABC is owned by the public and has been legislated to be an independent broadcaster. All it's funding comes from public money. That independence goes so far as to not even allow adds so there won't be a conflict of interest if they criticise (or not criticise) a company who advertises on the station. Political interference is anathema and legislated against. The federal gov cannot interfere in it's reporting. It's the legislated law. 

 Yet we now have a case where the chairman of the ABC (Turnbull's mate) told the managing director of the ABC to sack a journalist because the gov "hate her".

 This is a direct affront to the independence of the ABC and Australia's democracy. The ABC cannot be driven by the far RWNJ's in this gov or any gov of Australia, no matter how much the gov of the day complains about it. Australia needs an independent voice, bereft of influence from politicians and self interested corporations who may want to use the channel for their own purposes.

 Today is yet another day where this ATM gov is seriously damaged. It has constantly complained to the ABC of Emma Alberici's "biased" reporting, particularly about a report she made about the gov's (now dead) $80 billion tax cut's to corporations. She made it clear that trickle down wouldn't work in Australia as it hadn't worked anywhere else. The ATM gov didn't like it and obviously made it's feelings known to Turnbull's mate Milne. Who then wanted her sacked.

 After today's explosion of horror about this from across the country, the federal ATM gov has announced a half assed investigation into it. Not holding my breath for any investigation from this gov......

 Anyway, here's far RWNJ gov bum boy Andrew Bolt declaring that Milne must resign. This from Bolt their cheer leader. Good grief. Milne is finished:
Alberici is biased. She made mistakes. The ABC should indeed crack down on bias and errors, and Guthrie failed to do so properly.

 But this is outrageous.

 We have a close mate of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who got him the job, taking up a personal beef Turnbull had with one staffer to demand her sacking, when Alberici's failings were not sackable offences.

 Worse, Milne makes perfectly clear in this email, as reported by Fairfax, that his sacking call is driven by political considerations more than by concerns about journalistic standards or the ABC charter. He wants Alberici gone to placate the Government led by his mate, and suggests that the possible return of the Turnbull Government makes that sacking more necessary. That also implies that Milne would not find it necessary to sack Alberici under a Labor Government. This kind of political calculation is disgraceful.

Shame on the board for not quashing it immediately.

 Milne must go. Herald Sun (Murdoch's paper) 

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