Labor Leaders

When the Nine Network announced during the week that former Labor leader Mark Latham was working with 60 Minutes on election campaign coverage, a spokesman said he was there to give his insight and insisted it was “not a square-up or an exercise in character assassination”.

Really? He certainly “squared up” to Julia Gillard when he barged at her at the Ekka Show in Brisbane and gave her what one newspaper called “the handshake from hell” before unleashing a spray (complete with finger wagging) over ALP objections to his involvement with the Nine Network.

Now the network’s chief executive, David Gyngell, has called the Prime Minister to apologise for the incident. On ABC TV’s Insiders this morning Julia Gillard made it clear she was annoyed by it, but Latham is still lurking around and his work as a commentator by a major national network is contributing to the continuing spiral of campaign distractions being driven by former Labor leaders.

Continue reading "Has Channel Nine crossed the line by using Latham?" »