Mr. Jones is now on indefinite leave due to ill health.
Wednesday 14 November 2018
Does the Nine-Fairfax merger mean the writing is on the wall for Alan Jones?
With an ageing listener demographic, big brand unhappiness with 77 year-old wannabee politician Alan Belford Jones’ bitter, angry, bigoted, biased on-air persona, a string of defamation payouts by 2GB on his behalf and, his radio contract coming up for renewal in June 2019, has Alan
Jones finally reached his use-by date?
The
Australian, 12
November 2018:
Alan Jones has been
sensationally disciplined by the board and management of Macquarie Media, which
refuses to confirm or deny if it has forced its star breakfast presenter to pay
some of the costs of the multi-million defamation action brought against the
company by the Wagner brothers.
And the 2GB breakfast
announcer’s infamous interview with Sydney Opera House boss Louise Herron was
“unbecoming and inappropriate”, bosses say.
Diary is told the board
is unhappy with the top-rating veteran broadcaster over three incidents: the
Wagner defamation case; the use of the racial epithet “nigger in the woodpile”
when discussing Liberal leadership turmoil; and the aggressive Herron interview.
Macquarie Media
chairman Russell Tate told Diary: “Absolutely, we had a couple of big
issues. As you would expect, the board and management have been very mindful
about these things and decided to make sure they don’t happen again and that’s
been done. Alan is a professional. He gets it.”
Tate dismissed talk that
advertising revenues had suffered in the wake of the controversies. “Our
revenues are good, ahead of last year and ahead of forecasts.”
The price of defame
After Jones’s repeated
defamations of the Wagner family over the 2011 Lockyer Valley floods, which
killed 12 people, 2GB was ordered to pay $3.75 million, the largest defamation
payout in history after Queensland Supreme Court judge Peter Flanagan ruled the
defamation was “extremely serious and of the gravest kind”.
Tate refused to comment
to Diary if the board had forced Jones to contribute. At Macquarie Media’s
annual general meeting last week, chief executive Adam Lang confirmed
the station had insurance but he also refused to confirm or deny if the board
had asked Jones to pay. “Whether Alan is paying or not, those are matters that
we would like to keep within the company.” The legal action would cost
Macquarie about $5m and “we are prepared for that” Lang said.
But legal sources put
the total cost of the action much higher, between $8m and $10m. And other
sources at Macquarie told Diary the board had demanded Jones pay some of the
costs. One 2GB insider said board members snubbed Jones after a board meeting
at the network’s Pyrmont studios.
At the AGM, Tate said:
“We have learnt from this and there are new procedures and new rules and new
training regimes in place including in the case of Alan.”
The company also told
the AGM it had “dealt” with Jones over his widely criticised interview with
Herron.
Shareholder and
anti-gambling activist Stephen Mayne told the board the interview was
an “outrageous breach of editorial standards”. Lang said: “I agree it was
unbecoming and it was inappropriate. Many in the community including some
internally were offended by the way in which he handled Louise Herron AM in
that broadcast. We have dealt with that directly with Alan.”
Jones was enjoying
record audiences, Lang said.
Macquarie Media is 54.5
per cent owned by Fairfax Media, whose chief executive Greg Hywood sits
on the Macquarie Media board. Nine Entertainment is due to complete its
takeover of Fairfax next month. How any of this affects negotiations over
Jones’s contract, which expires mid-next year, remains to be seen.
Mr. Jones is now on indefinite leave due to ill health.
Labels:
2GB radio,
defamation,
shock jocks
Tuesday 13 November 2018
Like Turnbull before him, Scott Morrison fails to connect with voters
According to Newspoll
it is Australia’s
leading public opinion polling company . Established in 1985, we have
Australia’s best track record having estimated the outcomes of every state and
federal election since our company was founded.
In its national
opinion poll released on 11 November 2018 Federal Primary Votes came in at:
Liberal-National Party 35 (-1)
Australian Labor Party 40 (+1)
Australian Greens 9 (0)
Pauline
Hanson’s One Nation 6 (0)
These results
gave this Two-Party Preferred Voting breakdown (based on 2016 federal election
preference flows):
The Australian, Twitter, 11 November 2018 |
AAP General Newswire, 11 November 2018:
Bill Shorten has
narrowed the gap to Scott Morrison as preferred prime minister as Labor extends
its lead over the coalition in the latest Newspoll.
The coalition government
has slipped further behind Labor in the latest Newspoll as Bill
Shorten narrowed the gap to Scott Morrison as the nation's preferred leader.
The Liberal-National
coalition now trail Labor by 10 points after slipping to 45-55 on a two-party
preferred basis, according to the Newspoll published in The
Australian on Sunday night.
The coalition’s primary
vote fell by a point to 35 per cent - two points higher than the record low of
33 per cent.
Labor's primary vote,
according to the national poll of 1802 voters, sits at 40 per cent - only the
third time it has hit such a mark in almost four years.
The coalition has been
behind on the primary vote since the leadership change in August.
Mr Morrison's latest
effort to win back votes - his bus and plane tour of Queensland - appeared to
not work with voters with his net approval rating sinking another five points
to minus eight.....
Labels:
elections,
poll,
statistics
Monday 12 November 2018
This Christmas advert has been banned from TV in the UK for being too political
This Christmas advert has been banned from TV for being too political.— Dan Lewis (CWU NW Chair) (@Think_Become) November 9, 2018
I think what's happening to our rain forests should be banned for being criminal to life on earth.
This needs to be the most viewed Christmas advert ever! Do your best Twitter! pic.twitter.com/c9YEbVyIuw
Labels:
#standup4forests,
advertising,
censorship,
orangutans,
palm oil
FauxMo is not cutting through so he's started the flag routine
The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 November 2018 |
Standing in front of two Australian flags, interim Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison has "called out" violent, extremist Islam, saying it is the biggest religious threat to Australia. Scott Morrison says radical Islam threatens Australia's way of life.
Given Morrison history of politicizing his own extreme religious views pushback was inevitable.......
Dear #PMScum, over the last few years more people have died on #Manus & #Nauru at the hands of yourself and Dutton than have been killed by terrorists in Australia. Since you are both extremist faux-Christians, I'd argue that you are more dangerous than Islamic extremists #auspol— John Wren, Fair Dinkum Scomophobe (@JohnWren1950) November 10, 2018
Australia's faux prime minister now has an Australian flag behind his desk as a photo opportunity prop and religious images showcased for effect. Dog whistles discreetly kept out of sight. Yep, a hard right PM at the helm following the US GOP campaign playbook pic.twitter.com/B8PapxjG4l— no_filter_Yamba (@no_filter_Yamba) November 10, 2018
Labels:
Scott Morrison
Sunday 11 November 2018
Australian Politics 2018: the emperor's new clothes
i360 sits on the
bleeding edge of technology, delivering innovative products and services
through the strategic use of data, software and analytics. Bringing together
this unique set of data science, marketing and analytical capabilities, i360
drives innovation and results for our customers in both the political and
commercial spaces…..Using predictive
modeling and state-of-the-art grassroots tools, i360 helps candidates and issue
advocacy organizations target the right individuals with a strategy guaranteed
to make an impact whether at the local, state or national level. [https://www.i-360.com]
It’s no
secret that the Liberal Party of
Australia has contracted the services of data miner and political
micro-targeting analyst i360,
a conservative-aligned platform funded by hard right US billionaire brothers Charles
and David Koch.
i360’s services were used in this year’s South
Australian state election and it is rumoured these services will be available to Liberal
Party sitting MPs during the 2019 federal election campaign.
It’s no
accident that interim Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison (who
had a Kiwi grandfather and a mother who was a New Zealand citizen by descent)
has suddenly turned himself into a virulent ‘ocker’ - complete with an Aussie beer or
meat pie in hand, thumbs forever standing to attention when cameras begin to
click, spewing forth g’days and fair dinkums ad nauseum while sporting a cheap Australian flag lapel pin on his
business suit jacket. Togged out in hi-vis vests whenever possible. Wearing a veritable parade
of caps for less formal media moments as a "good bloke' and nicking the moniker “ScoMo” from
other Facebook users for his own public relations purposes.
No recognition of his own multicultural background for Scott Morrison - it might offend the One Nation supporters he is so obviously wooing!
No recognition of his own multicultural background for Scott Morrison - it might offend the One Nation supporters he is so obviously wooing!
One has to
suspect he is personally getting a calculated makeover by a professional
image manager. If the image advice is coming from Finkelstein and Kunkel they are definitely not earning their salaries.
The problem
for Morrison is that he has been a federal MP since 2007 and was a Cabinet
Minister from September 2013 until he became prime minister in August this year, so his underlying character is widely known to the national electorate.
A man without a genuine empathetic bone in his body; single-mindedly ambitious, self-righteous, arrogant, prevaricating, unwilling to accept responsibility for the consequences of his ministerial decisions, a shameless dog whistler and, a victim blamer from way back who believes that political or business success and/or personal wealth are visible manifestations of God's approval of the individual and consequently lacking success and wealth indicates moral failure.
His track record as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (18.9.13 to 23.12.14), Minister for Social Services (23.12.14 to 21.9.15) and Treasurer (21.9.15 to 26.08.2018) precludes him from ever being considered a good bloke.
His track record as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (18.9.13 to 23.12.14), Minister for Social Services (23.12.14 to 21.9.15) and Treasurer (21.9.15 to 26.08.2018) precludes him from ever being considered a good bloke.
So it was
inevitable that the artifice of his new persona would be mocked……
The
Guardian, 7
November 2018:
He didn’t want the job,
it was handed to him – just ask him. But now that the mantle of greatness has
been thrust upon him, Scott Morrison,
ScoMo to you thanks, is going to take that mantle, put a surf cap from Mick
Fanning’s mum on it and serve it meat and three veg. Fair dinkum. He’s the
nation’s daggy dad and, just in case you weren’t aware of it, he’s going to
stone the flamin’ crows and show you just how ridgy-didge he is. Below are some
memorable quotes. But who said them? Our 30th prime minister, or an Australian
icon?
Top of Form
1. "That’s why you keep backing it in. If
something is working well, you should back it in. And that’s what we are doing
here."
Scott
Morrison
Alf
Stewart from Home and Away
2. "The right is
constantly procreating while the left is grooming a dead dog."
Scott
Morrison
Cleaver
Greene from Rake
3. "No wonder the
country’s in a mess."
Scott
Morrison
Ted
Bullpitt from Kingswood Country
4."We’ve got a
future CEO of the farm down here, I reckon. He’s pretty keen on the ice
cream."
Scott
Morrison
Bill
Heslop from Muriel's Wedding
5. "This is me
doing what I do – I’m out, I’m listening, I’m hearing and I’m doing."
Scott
Morrison
Kenny
Smyth from Kenny
6. "It’s a simple
rule: pants first, shoes second. That always usually works for me."
Scott
Morrison
Alvin
Purple from the movie of the same name
7. "Feels good to
be on the road again. Feels like a drug. Not an illegal drug, a good
drug."
Scott
Morrison
Russell
Coight from All Aussie Adventures
8. "Mate, I think
I’ll take you down to Canberra and let you give the boys a bit of a
rev-up."
Scott
Morrison
Barry
McKenzie from The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
9. "People don’t
hassle me. It’s always very friendly anywhere in the world."
Scott
Morrison
Paul
Hogan
10. "Lily and I had
a great time yesterday doing the hot lap with Mark Skaife and coming down it
was a bit like doing the Wild Mouse."
Scott
Morrison
Steve
Irwin
11. "And yeah, fair
dinkum, we should be supporting Australian businesses."
Scott
Morrison
Darryl
Kerrigan from The Castle
Image Credit:The Guardian
Saturday 10 November 2018
Tweet of the Week
#GhostBus is now on its way to Townsville with #TruthTruck in hot pursuit. #qldpol #auspol pic.twitter.com/XNbWfy9DLj— David Marler (@Qldaah) November 7, 2018
Labels:
#MorrisonGovernmentFAIL
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