Showing posts with label propaganda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label propaganda. Show all posts

Sunday 17 March 2024

Liberal MP for Dickson & Leader of the Coalition Opposition Peter Dutton called the CSIRO an unreliable scientific body producing "discredited" work and is now reaping what he has sown


"In the growing heat of debate over Coalition nuclear energy policy, Mr Dutton described the CSIRO’s GenCost report on the cost of electricity generation as “discredited” and “not a genuine piece of work” and suggested it was “well documented” that the CSIRO cannot be relied on." [InnovationAUS, 15 March 2024]





 

Open letter from Dr Doug Hilton, Chief Executive, CSIRO

15 MARCH 2024

NEWS RELEASE


Science is crucial to providing the data and models that allow society to tackle profound challenges; challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, transition to net zero, keeping Australian industry productive and sustainable, and protecting our unique biodiversity.


For science to be useful and for challenges to be overcome it requires the trust of the community. Maintaining trust requires scientists to act with integrity. Maintaining trust also requires our political leaders to resist the temptation to disparage science.


As Chief Executive of CSIRO, I will staunchly defend our scientists and our organisation against unfounded criticism.


The GenCost report is updated each year and provides the very best estimates for the cost of future new-build electricity generation in Australia. The report is carefully produced, its methodology is clearly articulated, our scientists are open and responsive to feedback, and as is the case for all creditable science, the report is updated regularly as new data comes to hand.


The GenCost report can be trusted by all our elected representatives, irrespective of whether they are advocating for electricity generation by renewables, coal, gas or nuclear energy.


No matter the challenge we are tackling, CSIRO’s scientists and engineers can be relied on by the community to work creatively, assiduously and with integrity.


Dr Douglas Hilton

Chief Executive, CSIRO



Some of the mainstream media headlines generated by Dutton's attempt to deny the considerable downside of introducing nuclear power stations into Australia's energy grid........


The Guardian

CSIRO chief warns against ‘disparaging science’ after Peter Dutton criticises nuclear energy costings

Douglas Hilton says he will 'staunchly defend' scientists as opposition leader repeats incorrect claim that CSIRO report does not accurately...

15.03.24


Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Nation's science agency CSIRO hits back at Dutton claim that nuclear power costings were 'discredited'

The CSIRO has rebuked politicians seeking to undermine its research showing nuclear energy would be much more expensive than solar or wind...

15.03.24


The Sydney Morning Herald

Don’t disparage the science’: CSIRO hits back at Dutton on nuclear energy

Australia's top science agency has made a rare political intervention as CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton defended his agency's findings on...

15.03.24


News.com.au

Nuclear question Dutton won’t answer

Peter Dutton has failed to answer a key question in a fiery clash with Bill Shorten over nuclear energy.

15.03.24


The New Daily

CSIRO hits back at Dutton's 'unfounded' criticism

Australia's national science agency has taken aim at Liberal leader Peter Dutton in a highly unusual public intervention.

15.03.24


The Canberra Times

CSIRO Chief defends GenCost report from political attack

Dr. Doug Hilton stands by CSIRO's GenCost report findings amidst political criticism from Coalition leader Peter Dutton.

15.03.24


The Age

CSIRO hits back at Dutton attack on its nuclear energy reports

Australia's top science agency has made a rare political intervention, with CSIRO chief executive Douglas Hilton defending his agency's...

15.03.24


Hunter Valley News

CSIRO boss defends scientists after Dutton attack

CSIRO chief executive officer Douglas Hilton has issued a rare public statement to urge politicians to "resist the...

15.03.24


The Wimmera Mail-Times

CSIRO boss defends scientists after Dutton attack

CSIRO chief executive officer Douglas Hilton has issued a rare public statement to urge politicians to "resist the...

15.03.24


Then on the same day the Centre for Independent Studies, a conservative seemingly pro-nuclear 'think tank' which also supported the No position in the 2023 national referendum and whose executive director just happened in 2008 to have been a senior adviser to former federal Liberal Party Leader Brendan Nelson and in 2009 was himself he a candidate to replace Nelson in his northern Sydney electoral seat of Bradfield, attempted to ride to Peter Dutton's rescue on social media with a whitewash of the Opposition Leader's comments and an interesting interpretation of the contents of CSIRO news release.


Centre for Independent Studies @CISOZ

CIS responds to @CSIRO's open letter.


"Not all criticisms are unfounded. If the CEO wants to defend the methods and conclusions of a particular report from criticism, he should do just that, rather than simply asserting that the report can be trusted when serious flaws still exist."

15.03.24


Thursday 25 January 2024

Byron Echo responds to claims in the Australian Jewish Association advertisement: an "extreme organisation" which "promotes one-sided warped and dangerous views"

 

The Byron Shire Echo
24 January 2024, p.2
Click on image to enlarge

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The Byron Shire Echo

Volume 38 #33 • January 24, 2024


We’ve had complaints


The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) sure did stir up a lot of complaints to The Echo, given their inflammatory and inaccurate statements in their page 5 advertisement last week.


There is no evidence that Hamas is responsible for all Gazan deaths, for example, and the rest of their claims around the Middle East peace process are contested – at best.


But that’s free speech.


It’s easy to say you support it, but harder as a publisher to actually follow through with it.


So who are the AJA (www.jewishassociation.org.au)?


Despite claiming they do not affiliate with any political party, their members are linked to far-right-wing think tank IPA, and the Liberal Party.


AJA tweet Jan 17


On January 17, the AJA tweeted

their Echo ad with the statement:

Byron Bay is known as a hot spot

for left-leaning activist types. The

local paper, The Byron Shire Echo,

is widely read and often contains

anti-Israel content. AJA decided to

take out a half page ad and share

some facts. The ad was generously

facilitated by Michael Burd. What

do you think of the AJA ad?’


Well here’s what we think:


The AJA is an organisation that should not be taken seriously, because it only promotes one-sided warped and dangerous views.


It is simply untrue to imply that Israel is an innocent bystander/victim in the unfolding clusterfuck.


Their ad appeared designed to divide rather than inform.


Unlike most mainstream media, The Echo is independent and contains a range of views from its readers and contributors.


Saying The Echo ‘often contains anti-Israel content’ is like saying that those who criticise Israel are antiSemite, or are ‘self-loathing Jews’.


As a society, aren’t we past such stupid school-yard bullying?


The AJA appears more aligned with war-mongering types, like Israeli PM, Bibi Netanyahu, than with those seeking genuine peace.


Netanyahu has forged a hardright coalition to remain in power, yet faces much criticism from within Israel over his attempts to curb the powers of the judiciary, for example. Netanyahu also faces court on charges of corruption, and it appears he needs this war to stay in power. There is no two-state solution with Netanyahu.


As for Australian mainstream media (especially Newscorp), they appear ‘state captured’ – that is, they take paid junkets to Israel and subsequently write favourably about Israel’s policies.


By contrast, Israel’s own media is often critical of its government, and there appears more freedom to report without fear or favour in Israel than here in Australia.


ABC journalist, Antoinette Lattouf, was recently sacked after posting a Human Rights Watch video describing Israel’s starvation of Gaza civilians. It’s alleged that the national broadcaster took action after complaints from ‘Jewish lobbyists’.


The Echo is not aligned with either side of the Israel and Palestine conflict.


It’s all too easy to shoot the messenger.


Instead, genuine attempts at peace are required by ‘leaders’ if this intractable ongoing disaster has any hope of resolution.


The Australian Jewish Association (AJA), like any extreme organisation on both sides of this conflict, are not helping that cause.


Hans Lovejoy, editor


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Letter to the Editor, 24 January 2024, p.12:


I live in Byron Bay and always look forward to reading The Echo. I was beyond shocked and horrified at seeing the Zionist propaganda advertisement on page 5 by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA). I certainly didn’t expect this in a Northern Rivers local newspaper.


As a non-practising Jewish woman who is completely appalled at what is happening in Gaza, due to the actions of Israeli leaders and IDF, I’m so disappointed with your choice to accept this advertisement.


Gaza has been under control by Israel for a very long time. They control all access into and out of Gaza with multiple checkpoints for children, women and men. The IDF shoots children throwing stones at them.


I don’t condone the actions of Hamas on 7 October, 2023. Killing civilians is not okay. However, the claims of beheading, rape and burning babies are not verified. Israel’s response was, and is, reprehensible and repugnant. Indiscriminate bombing of civilians and infrastructure is against humanitarian laws. Israel are committing war crimes and genocide against a race of people displaced in 1948 and harassed since then.


Entire families have been wiped out. Journalists, UN aid workers and medical staff are being killed by the IDF. No one is safe in Gaza.


The occupied (by Israel) West Bank is also an unsafe place for Palestinians to live, work and play. Settlers use violence to displace Palestinians from their homes and agricultural land.


To condone Israel is to condone genocide.


Linda Teese

Byron Bay


NOTE


The Byron Shire Echo is a free weekly independent tabloid newspaper that is published in the Byron Shire, New South Wales, Australia....

The Echo is totally owned by people who live in Byron Shire.


It is published by Echo Publications Pty Ltd, an Australian proprietary company, limited by shares, registered in 1990.


Monday 22 January 2024

In which Australian Jewish Association blatantly misrepresents the history of the Middle East and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. At the same time broadly characterizing readers of the Byron Echo as "left-leaning activist types".

 

"Hamas is responsible for 100% of all Gazan deaths" [Australian Jewish Association, 17 January 2024]



On 17 January 2024 on Page 5 of the Byron Echo, along with two local news articles - "McLeods Shoot tourist accom slated" and "Olgivie reflects on 35 years in the yoga biz" there was a single advertisement.


Nothing unusual in this independent newspaper's page layout.


However, the advertising slot did not contain the expected information concerning a bazzar, market, op shop, council notice or similar.


It contained an astonishing piece of political propaganda created by the Australian Jewish Association, which blatantly misrepresented the history of the Middle East and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.


With the exception of part of the one-sentence fifth paragraph, the distortions of fact it contained were so egregious that it took this writer's breath away.







IMAGE: The Byron Shire Echo, aka Byron Echo or Echo, 17.01.24, p.5 Click on image to enlarge



On the same day the Australian Jewish Association posted/tweeted this message on X formerly Twitter along with a copy of the advertisement:



It's important that the Jewish community and Israel are understood across Australia.


Byron Bay is known as a hotspot for left-leaning activist types.


The local paper, the Byron Shire Echo is widely read and often contains anti-Israel content.


AJA decided to take out a half page ad and share some facts.


The ad was generously facilitated by Michael Burd.


What do you think of the AJA ad? [my yellow highlighting]


[SEE: https://twitter.com/AustralianJA/status/1747433711057125551]


NOTE: 

  • Michael Burd on the subject of Michael Burd:

https://www.jwire.com.au/nothing-left-has-nothing-left/

  • United Nations Resolutions on the Question of Palestine -1946 to 2023

https://www.un.org/unispal/data-collection/general-assembly/?wpv_view_count=237041&wpv_paged=1

1.Oslo Accord 1993 - signed by Israeli Government & Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO)

2. Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area 1994 (Cairo Agreement) - signed by Israeli Government & PLO

3. Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities 1994 - signed by Israeli Government & PLO

4. Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip 1995 (Oslo II) - signed by Israeli Government & PLO

5. Agreement on Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron 1996 - signed by Israeli Government & PLO

6. Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron 1997 - signed by Israeli Government & PLO

7. Agreement on Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron II 1997 - signed by Israeli Government & PLO

8. The Wye River Memorandum 1998 - signed by Israeli Government & PLO

9. Sharm el Sheikh Memorandum on Implementation Timeline of Outstanding Commitments of Agreements Signed and the Resumption of Permanent Status Negotiations 1999 - signed by Israeli Government & PLO

10. Protocol Concerning Safe Passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip 1999 - signed by Israeli Government & PLO

11. Camp David Summit 2000 - Israel & Palestine failed to reach an agreement 

12. The Disengagement Plan - General Outline 2004 - proposal by Israeli Government in which sovereignty over West Bank settlements is asserted and an intention to maintain a military presence, along with an assertion of authority over Gaza Strip airspace and coastal seas as well as an intention to ring Gaza's borders with security forces and police population movement.

13. Agreed Documents on Movement and Access from and to Gaza: Agreement on Movement and Access Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing 2005 - Israeli Government & PLO agreement

14. Annapolis Conference Joint Understanding and Statements Joint Understanding on Negotiations 2007 - Israeli Government statement

15. Understanding Regarding Ceasefire in Gaza Strip 2012 - not attributed

16. Egyptian Initiative 2014 regarding ceasefire in Gaza Strip - not accepted by all parties. However an amended ceasefire agreement came into effect at 7pm Cairo time on 26 August 2014. In May 2021, the Israeli police raided Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, triggering an 11 day armed conflict between Israel and Hamas. This included Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. Egypt again brokered a ceasefire which came into effect on 21 May 2021.


Wednesday 13 September 2023

Australian National Referendum Question Number 45 since 1901 - State of Play 2023: this "No" case cold calling is a low act, a mongrel act - as the grown men of my childhood would have said

 

The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 September 2023, p.1:
















The campaign to sink the Voice has instructed volunteers to use fear and doubt rather than facts to trump arguments used by the Yes camp.


In an online training session, the national campaigning chief for leading No activist group Advance, Chris Inglis, detailed the anti-Voice movement's core strategy of playing on voters' emotions.


Inglis instructed volunteers not to identify themselves upfront as No campaigners as they make hundreds of thousands of calls to persuadable voters, but instead to raise reports of financial compensation to Indigenous Australians if the Voice referendum were to succeed.


"When reason and emotion collide, emotion always wins. Always wins," he said as he displayed the same quote from US psychology professor Drew Westen, author of The Political Brain.


The No case is leading in several national polls ahead of the October 14 referendum. The latest RPM poll published yesterday showed support for the Indigenous Voice slumping to 43 per cent, with voter sentiment swinging against the constitution amendment in every state except Tasmania.


Inglis explained at the meeting on Monday, August 28, that the No camp's job was to make people suspicious of the Voice and its backers, while the Yes campaign continued to cite academic arguments and documents such as the Uluru Statement.


"This is the difference between facts and figures or the 'divisive Voice'," the long-time Liberal Party staffer said. "That feeling of uncertainty, of fear or doubt, that stays. That lasts for a very, very long time."


"I'm going to hammer in a lot of this emotive language."


"If you took everything that I had just said and turned it into one little thing, this is what you should write down and remember forever so you can tell your kids, tell your grandkids, tell your nephews and nieces - that people vote based on how they feel."


Advance runs the leading No campaign Fair Australia, which is aligned with the Coalition's Indigenous Australians spokeswoman, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.


Advance was started in 2018 as a conservative counterweight to GetUp and counts former prime minister Tony Abbott on its advisory board. It claims it has a 250,000-strong supporter base fighting "woke politicians and elitist activist groups ... taking Aussies for a ride with their radical agenda".


It is not suggested that either Price or Abbott endorses the coaching methods outlined in the training session run by Inglis.


Scripts used by Advance's 10,000-strong network of phone campaigners show how they are taught not to introduce themselves as calling from "the No campaign".


Instead, they are asked to sound as if they were concerned citizens associated with Fair Australia who "heard" the Voice will push for financial compensation for Aboriginal people. "It's been designed purely for soft voters. If we had put [No] in the opening line ... that in itself will scare people, right?" Inglis told volunteers.


"It's not from the 'No campaign'... Fair Australia's soft, it's calming."


The script states: "I've also heard that some of the people who helped design the Voice proposal are campaigning to abolish Australia Day and want to use the Voice to push for compensation and reparations through a treaty. All of these things raised a few questions in my mind and made me wonder if there was more to it all than meets the eye".


Inglis told supporters that phone canvassing - using a tool called CallHub employed by successful campaigns in Europe and the US - was integral to Advance's efforts.


If 250 people attend a phone calling session, Inglis said, they could reach 15,000 so-called "soft" voters yet to make a firm decision.


Inglis, a former ACT Liberal staffer, said in the briefing that he had worked on election campaigns for about 12 years.


His briefing outlined Advance's "three-wave plan" through Fair Australia to defeat the Voice.


The strategy was first deployed in autumn when No campaigners started raising awareness of the Voice as an issue of concern.


In the winter, the conservative activists began talking about the "Voice of division".


As referendum day looms, the Fair Australia campaign has begun discussing consequences of voting Yes and asking Australians to act by rejecting the proposal….


Read the full article online at:

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-campaign-s-fear-doubt-strategy-revealed-20230910-p5e3fu.html



Saturday 19 March 2022

One Quote, One YouTube Video & four Tweets of the Week



I’m still wearing the same glasses, and the same suits,” Morrison said, in reference to Albanese’s new look. I’m happy in my own skin … When you’re prime minister you can’t pretend to be someone else.” [Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, quoted in The Guardian, March 2022]


 



Monday 6 September 2021

Media diversity and media monopolies' impact on Australian democracy are again under the microscope at today's Senate public hearing - where Sky News CEO will be asked to answer questions concerning News Corps influence


In June 2019 News Corp Australasia had ruled out any move by Rupert Murdoch's multinational media conglomerate to acquire a free-to-air television channel in Australia.


However by May 2021 a multi-year agreement had been signed between Sky News Australia (operated by Australian News Channel Pty Ltd a News Corp subsidiary) and media company Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) for a 24-hour Sky News channel to broadcast in regional markets.


The free-to-air Sky News Regional channel was launched on 1 August 2021 and broadcasts to SCA’s 17 regional markets across Victoria, Southern NSW and Queensland including Cairns, Townsville, Sunshine Coast, Canberra, Wollongong, Wagga Wagga, Orange, Bendigo and Ballarat, as well as in WIN Network’s NNSW regional markets Northern NSW, Griffith, NSW and South Australia.


Sky News Regional carries all the Sky News regular rightwing commentators, including Andrew Bolt, Peta Credlin, Alan Jones, Rita Panahi, Rowan DeanPaul Murray, Chris KennyLaura Jayes, Kieran Gilbert and Sharri Markson as well as broadcasting a three-hour breakfast show.


It would appear that the 'Sky After Dark'  format pushing conspiracy theories, misinformation, barely disguised Coalition propaganda and hard right political figures - which replicates the U.S. Fox News format - has carried over to the new channel. 


On 11 November 2020, the Australian Senate referred an Inquiry into the state of media diversity, independence and reliability in Australia to the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee.


It came on the heels of a a petition to Parliament signed by more than 500,000 people which called for a royal commission into media diversity.


This Senate Inquiry has received 3,659 submissions and, today will hear evidence from Google Australia, Sky News Australia, former prime minister Kevin Rudd, Depart. of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), and the Victorian Branch of the United Firefighters Union.


To date News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch has refused the Inquiry’s invitation to appear before it. Instead CEO of Sky News Australia Paul Whittaker will be appearing before the Inquiry today.


Apparently presenters Alan Jones, Rita Panahi and Rowan Dean have agreed to appear before the Inquiry and answer questions.


It is the opinion of more than one political commentator that Sky News Australia was an active player in the sustained push within the Liberal Party to oust Malcolm Turnbull as Australian Prime Minister.


Sky News Australia is already on the radar of major Internet platforms and social media - on the same day that Sky News Regional was launched YouTube announced it was suspending the Sky News account for seven days due to the COVID-19 misinformation it was pedalling.


Sustained concerns about the dominance of News Corp in the media industry hit a nerve last month when Fox News threatened to take the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) to court concerning the content of a "Four Corners" program titled FOX & THE BIG LIE.


Both former prime minister Kevin Rudd and GetUp! continue to voice concerns that the new Sky News Regional channel will be shaped by Rupert Murdoch into a southern hemisphere version of that toxic misinformation and rightwing propaganda U.S. television channel, Fox News.


Malcolm Turnbull, another former prime minister, has also voiced concerns about the closeness of News Corp, including Fox News, to authoritarian and conservative governments.


..the Murdoch media are much more influential within the coalition than they are in the electorate at large, just like Fox News in the States is much more influential among Republican voters than it is in the electorate at large……


The point is they are, I think, the single most influential political player in Australia but they are unelected and they are utterly unaccountable. That is what we're talking about. They do not hold themselves to traditional journalistic standards of accuracy and balance and so forth.


They would say, 'Oh look, it's a business model. We've got a percentage of the population who love being told this stuff and they like the extreme political views and so that's what we're going to do.'


Fox News in the States is commercially very successful. But that is not a justification that we can tolerate if the consequences are so much damage to our democracy”.


Sunday 24 January 2021

STATE OF PLAY 2021: We live in dangerous times



Kentan Joshi, 17 January 2021:


In March 2019, an Australian white supremacist walked into a mosque, armed with a shotgun, and killed 51 people, including a two year old boy. The man who enacted those killings wanted to wipe out those he’d been told were replacing white people, and erasing white culture. The first thing on my mind when I saw that was this article published only a few months prior.





Though complaints were made to the Australian Press Council, no action was taken to remove the article or punish the media outlet. The reason this article prompted little outcry among the employees of News Corp is because white supremacy, racism and the deadly ideology of the ‘Great Replacement’ belief system are viewed as harmless thought experiments – rather than things that lead to children being murdered by Australians with shotguns.


I wrote, a few days after the Christchurch attack:


Politics and media are each split into two factions: a large number of people who are explicitly racist, and a large number of people who refuse to accept that the other people could ever be explicitly racist. Together, they create an environment necessary, (though, on its own, insufficient) for the spawning of far-right terror and large-scale massacres”


People are already dying. Movements are coalescing. The broader media feedstock into this system hasn’t changed enough, certainly not in Australia. There are no more chances to fuck this up. Stubbornness means lives are lost. A tin ear means innocents suffer. There are no more chances, and there is no more time.


Bannon


in 2018, Australia’s national broadcaster aired a long interview between Four Corners reporter Sarah Ferguson and alt-right, Nazi-adjacent grifter Steve Bannon. Ferguson said she’d heard others call Bannon racist, and declared that “there’s no evidence that that’s what you are”. That’s the same Bannon who, prior to that interview, complained too many CEOs in Silicon Valley were Asian, and said of black Americans being murdered by police, “What if the people getting shot by the cops did things to deserve it? There are, after all, in this world, some people who are naturally aggressive and violent”.


The problem with that interview is that it provided a stream of content for Youtube videos of Bannon ‘owning’ establishment media and gave him legitimacy on Australia’s most trusted media outlet. Bannon’s goal is not making a good argument – it’s prominence and platform. The format of an interview simply gives liars a free substrate in which to deploy their craft. But the criticism of that interview was not received well by Australia’s journalists…..


Much of this problem comes from the simple fact that Australia’s media landscape is mostly white, and therefore free to see racism as a cute thought experiment. Seeing footage of police officers begging white nationalists to spare their lives because they have children hasn’t really changed that.


How do we know it hasn’t changed? Charlottesville based activist Molly Conger received a long direct message on Twitter from (at the time) unspecified journalists seeking to “interview members of the far-right”; right after Four Corners reporter Sarah Ferguson announced her departure to the US along with Tony Jones, to cover the white nationalist terrorist attacks. After some wry jokes from Twitter folks, Conger confirmed that it was indeed Four Corners and Sarah Ferguson asking to interview white nationalist terrorists. In her original post she included her reply, pleading with the team not to provide a platform.


Don’t lend them the legitimacy of your institution. Don’t publish their words uncritically. Don’t’ publish them at all unless you have a subject matter expert to dissect them and present them as the falsehood they are. This is life and death for us”.


That last sentence has a grave and terrifying reality to it, given Conger lives in Charlottesville. “I get so many death threats I can catalogue them by the gunmaker mentioned”, she wrote in 2019. Of course, it’s completely baffling why they wouldn’t ask for Conger’s perspective. More telling is that they expect her to happily pass on the contact details of people who explicitly want to kill her.


In fact, many American anti-racist activists now refuse to speak to journalists if those same journalists are giving a platform to white supremacists (in much the same way climate scientists had to deny comments if those stories also featured deniers).


A smattering of Australian journalists are tuned into the tactics of white supremacists, the alt-right and terror groups, and are figuring out new approaches to dealing with the rising terror threat of white supremacists…..


This comes at a time when these terror groups are beginning to ramp up in Australia: “Far-right violent extremism constitutes up to 40% of the Australian domestic spy agency’s counter-terrorism caseload, up from 10-15% before 2016″. A teenager from Albury in New South Wales was planning a “mass casualty attack” just prior to being arrested. Australia’s anti-terror regimes are failing to do much of anything about it. An inquiry will focus on social media, but has no mention of television, print or legacy digital media: Andrew Bolt is free to write about the white race is being wiped out by dirty ethnics, as much as he pleases.


These terror groups aren’t growing in the widespread air of suspicion and paranoia that surrounded Islamic terror in the 2000s. They’re free and unhindered. They have the support of sympathetic voices in police, political and media establishments, and they have the support of people who can’t process that they’re a direct threat to our safety. They have journalists hunting tirelessly to find ways to elevate their voices to larger audiences……


Journalists: please, don’t wait until a mass casualty attack in Australia before you decide to stop playing directly into the hands of white supremacists. There are no more chances. We are here now, and we are in danger.


Read full article here.