Auspundits

Lies, Damned Lies & Journalism

* By Lounge Lizard

In a recent post, On Palin's Sambo Comment, Manny draws our attention yet again to the main-stream media's (MSM's) willingness to publish unverified rumour and innuendo if it happens to suit their generally left-wing political agenda. The latest target is, of course, Sarah Palin, a backwoods yokel who confesses, horror upon horror, to being a Christian and who just happens to be in charge of an administration with some 15,000 employees, net assets of over $US 50 billion and revenues of over $US 14 billion per annum.

By now we've become inured to the media's persistent failure to undertake elementary fact-checks and its constant repetition of falsehoods, especially when reporting on Republicans in the US generally and George W. Bush in particular.

A classic example is the old "plastic turkey" canard, which still won't die. As Tim Blair notes:

George W. Bush’s plastic turkey has ruled the global mediascape, from the Guardian to Pravda and the ABC, from the Sydney Morning Herald to the New York Times. This mighty bird, feasting on rich crops of gullibility and ignorance, may outlive the Bush administration. For as long as there are those who believe, the plastic turkey will remain forever real!

The ad-break debate

The ad-break debate.

This may be the defining feature of Election '07. Follows on nicely from my earlier post this morning.

(Via Andrew Bolt.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the past

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chairman, Graeme Samuel, recently gave a speech in which he demonstrates a deep understanding and appreciation of New Media and predicts that an information revolution is now underway:

...the news business [ed - the Oldstream Media] hit a pivot point this year and entered a new phase whereby most media companies were accepting the need to become more niche players...Some have tried to stem the tide by constructing their own Maginot line around their businesses and trying to lock up their premium content. This experiment has been largely unsuccessful...With such a seemingly unstoppable sea of change, some media companies are thinking seriously about no longer swimming against the tide, but trying to go with it.

Cox & Forkum's Last Bow

It is sad when talent leaves its area of expertise. John Cox and Allen Forkum are genuine masters of the sketch. Therefore, it is a sad day when Cox & Forkum are no more having dismantled their drawing boards. They have left open the odd sketch every so often, but regular art will no longer be forthcoming.

I have no doubt that in the years to come, Cox & Forkum will be understood to be the Dr. Suess's of our age: drawing attention (excuse the pun) to the idiocy of appeasement, the need for robust foreign policy in the face of evil and doing so without pandering to the PC-crowd so prevalent in creative circles.

Allen Forkum alludes to why he has decided to pack away his pencils:

But lately, for reasons I won't go into here, I can no longer afford to divert so much time and attention away from my publishing business and other personal concerns, such as my family.

I also want to stop focusing so much of my creative energy on negative aspects of daily life. There's still an ideological battle to be fought, not to mention an actual war, and I will stay engaged in some form and medium. But at this point, anything seems more appealing than immersing myself in the sewer of daily politics.

And so it seems that the depressive, self-serving nature of politics claims another victim.

All the best, John Cox and Allen Forkum, on your future endeavors.

Idea Exhaustion?

Well, a couple of days has well and truly gone, and I have produced no new post. I am refreshed and rejuvenated after my trip. But interestingly enough, I have had few ideas for a post. Well, not anything that I would consider worthy of drawing in readers. Question is: Idea Exhaustion or Information Overload?

Auspundits meet Wretchard

[From the Ed]

This afternoon, most of the Auspundits crew met with Sydney-based Pajamas Media blogger extraordinare Richard Fernandez a.k.a. Wretchard the Cat of The Belmont Club over a very long lunch. We were hosted at Lounge Lizard's prestigous Club in Sydney. We had an excellent time chatting about blogs, how blogs could most effectively be used to impact Australian politics and culture and beginning some strategic discussions on how to effect this. Richard's contributions to this end indicates why he is one of the most highly regarded thinkers on many an issue in the Blogosphere.

We also discussed many an issue: the U.S. political system (and comparing it to Australia's political system), the War on Islamism, the Battle for Iraq, the Australian Culture Wars and books (most notably, The Shield of Achilles by Phillip Bobbit).

After our wonderful meals and desserts (courtesy of the patronage of Lounge Lizard - many thanks from us all!) we heard of some of Richard's early life and how he has become who he is. I was very moved by the eloquance with which Richard shared some of his more emotional experiences. A thoroughly decent, thoughtful, honest and down-to-earth guy who has experienced what it has been like to have little and what is has been to have much.

May this will be the first of many productive meetings. Hopefully Auspundits will, over the next couple of months, begin the process of developing a strategy for effectively entering the political and cultural dialogue that is occuring in Australia which may in turn draw in some new and well-qualified contributors.

And last but by no means least
Hat tip: Lounge Lizard.

Slashdot bias

Little Green Footballs (LGF) has highlighted the moonbatishness of the social bookmarking website Digg.com. Add to this, Slashdot.org. Charles Johnson has highlighted the moonbatishness of Slashdot in the past. However, yesterday I found a disturbing omission on the Your Rights Online section of Slashdot.

New Year, New Blog

To start the New Year, I decided to ramp up my blogging efforts. Over the next year, I hope to recruit some further contributors to deepen the commentary available on this blog.

New Home

Well, herein lies the new virtual home of Manny.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will figure out how to migrate my posts from my old weblog @ Manny Is Here, to this new home.

In the meantime, feel free to peruse my previous posts.