Media

Is this the greatest ever send-up of 24-hour news? Warning: contains strong language and hilarity. From The Onion.

Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

On 10 March 1876, Alexander Bell called Thomas Watson.  By today’s standards, unremarkable.  But in 1876, he had made the world’s first telephone call.

Some 130 years later, today’s World Telephone Day celebrates that call, in an environment very different from Alexander Bell’s. Telephones of various types, shapes, colours and sizes are enmeshed in our everyday lives. 

Today’s phones are personal and business necessities.  They can be fashion accessories.  They’re more compact, more mobile, and we rely upon them more than ever before.

Continue reading "A step backwards for the phone on its birthday" »

Like a teenage son with busted car or a call centre operator who rings at dinner time, you only hear from Kerry Stokes when he wants something.

Billionaires - real ones, not the fly-by-nighters who appear suddenly on the BRW rich list and disappear just as quickly one year later - are notoriously private people. But years can pass without a significant public performance from Stokes.

Sure, he pops up every six months to deliver another set of opaque accounts from the Seven Network. But you know he only does that much because he has to. (Seven, being a listed company, has a few shareholders other than Stokes himself.)

Continue reading "A rare sighting of the lesser-spotted Kerry Stokes" »

I can’t remember who said it, but when Sally McLellan won silver in the 100m hurdles at the Bejiing Olympics, someone described her joyful reaction as what sports stars sound like when they haven’t had any media training.

There was none of that tedium about taking it one hurdle at a time, about sticking to the strategy, no irritating thank-yous for her sponsors (if indeed she had any), no psychobabble about self-belief and running the mental race. Rather we saw pure, unadorned joy, with the odd expletive thrown in for extra colour.

“Oh my God, is this real? You’ve got to be kidding me, right?” McLellan said. “Did you see me? Did you see how pumped I was? I was more pumped than I’ve ever been in my life. Shit, I could see a girl passing me but kept running my own race. Amazing. I can’t believe it.”

Continue reading "Gone with the spin: Tiger and the insincerity industry" »

Sunday morning television can be a riot of fun.

First we had Ross Garnaut on Meet the Press confirming that his modelling for climate change predictions was done on the balance of probabilities, surely when one is giving support to the ETS, the big tax on everything, it should be on the basis of beyond reasonable doubt. But with all the fudged modelling of the IPCC, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, just alarmed.

Next we had the spectacle of David Marr – who writes for Fairfax beating up on Piers Akerman who writes for News Limited because Marr did not like the way ‘the Australian’ reports the news.

Continue reading "Sunday morning slugfest" »

As the spotlight rests on Tiger Woods following his admissions he was a sex cheat, we ask ourselves ... can Tiger change?

Can Tiger change his addictive behaviours which threatened to derail his life? History is our greatest measuring stick when we look at a person’s character and whether they are capable of change.

I believe in the old saying that a leopard can’t change its spots. But can Tiger change his behaviour which has dictated his wayward life in recent years?

Continue reading "Tiger says he’s a cheater, can a leopard change its spots?" »

Is Stephen Conroy a patsy? Or is he merely an innocent but accomplished networker who believes in spending time with all the key stakeholders, to borrow a flaccid phrase from modern management, across the communications portfolio?

I’ll leave those elements of the debate to others. I have no valuable insight into communications policy and am mindful that any opinion ventured would be viewed by cynics as the product of the Murdoch microchip we News Limited drones apparently have implanted in our brains. But I will try to examine the perception that has been created as a result of the $250 million rebate for free to air television, and the role of Conroy and the networks in creating it.

By way of ludicrous understatement, it’s worth noting that it is certainly a spirited debate, and one which underscores Kim Beazley’s conviction that his own tenure in the communications portfolio was time spent in hell.

Continue reading "Maaaate, can you believe they’re saying we’re suss?" »

At about 3 o’clock tomorrow morning AEDT Tiger Woods will face a room full of “friends and colleagues” in Florida, and the world’s TV networks, to take the first step in rehabilitating his image after three months of tawdry sex scandals.

According to the golfer’s official website: “Tiger plans to discuss his past and his future, and he plans to apologize for his behavior.”

“While Tiger feels that what happened is fundamentally a matter between him and his wife, he also recognizes that he has hurt and let down a lot of other people who were close to him. He also let down his fans. He wants to begin the process of making amends, and that’s what he’s going to discuss.”

Continue reading "What should Tiger say?" »

IF you’ve been following the tech media this week, you’ll know that Google is in hot water over one of the most serious privacy breaches in its history.

You’ll likely have heard that Google launched a new product, called Google Buzz,  that was meant to create a social network out of its email users.

And that major privacy flaws in the product led to abusive men getting access to the details of their ex wives, political activists finding their contacts made public for investigators to peruse and journalists having their sources “outed”. I’m one of those journalists.

Continue reading "How Google managed to reveal my sources" »

Watching Kevin Rudd struggling on morning television every Friday must be a particular form of torture for the Prime Minister’s advisers.

Over the past three weeks Rudd has been unable to answer questions asked live by viewers to Seven’s Sunrise program, and on two weeks has had to promise to come back seven days later with replies.

So much for the immediacy of television. The viewers would have been batter off sending him a letter.

Continue reading "The sun is setting on Rudd’s Sunrise strategy" »

Another week, another internet service that needs joining to see what the hype’s about. The web was supposed to make life easier, but all it seems to be doing lately is inventing more ways to bombard people with babble.

Google Buzz‘s launch last week was wrapped in an increasingly familiar aura. As with the iPad launch, there was huge excitement from some nerdy types but a resounding verdict from much of the public has been a sigh and a shrug.

Instead of capitalising on excitement, new products have to overcome fatigue. There’s the effort setting up yet another profile, then somehow remembering to check back on it in between reading the news, monitoring tweets, Facebook status updates, doing the footy tipping, watching that Hitler video everyone’s talking about and getting to your reading recommendations all while trying to manage your phone and email inbox.

Continue reading "I’m sorry but the internet is starting to suck" »

Note: This Well Readhead entry by Leigh serves as an introduction to the special one-off piece she has filed, which is published directly below.

I may be telepathic. I can foresee what will appear in this year’s Christmas Day package on the 7pm ABC news - a grab from the Catholic Archbishop, a grab from the Anglican archbishop, shots of the homeless being served lunch at a shelter, shots of kids unwrapping presents if the reporter’s lined up a family early.

There could well be vision from Bethlehem of a Nativity re-enactment. The Pope in St Peter’s Square obviously. If the journalist gets really lucky, there might be some quirky sidebar such as a surfing Santa or a dog that can bark jingle bells.  And call me crazy, but I’m going to predict that on Christmas Eve on Channel Ten, the price of prawns will be skyrocketing.

Every journalist knows that there are certain stories that show up annually on the assignments board.  They’re so formulaic, the packages are almost identical from year to year: Australia Day, Anzac Day, the Easter Show (cue reporter piece-to-camera on a sideshow ride) and New Year’s Eve (Sydney’s fireworks are always the best in the world). 

Continue reading "Well readhead: breathing life into anniversary journalism" »

Some people get all the luck.  Paul Welsh is surfing with his son, gets bitten (sorry, that should read ‘savagely menaced’) by a docile and mostly harmless Wobbegong and out come the cheque books. 

Before a stitch is even sewn, he’s been snapped up by a television network and an early morning trip to the beach is now a big earner. Well done mate. If reports on the websites are true, you’ve hit the Shark-pot. 

Shame it was only a Wobbegong. Imagine what you’d get for an actual Great White.

Continue reading "How to punch a shark and win the jackpot" »

Get your exclamation marks at the ready – Naomi Robson’s new online love and relationships internet show went live this morning and it’s offering some tired and hackneyed advice on a website near you!

There are some odd assignments on The Punch but so far none has been as left-field as getting up at the crack of dawn on a Monday to listen to Naomi Robson talking about sex. But tally-ho.

The Naomi Show clips open with the sound of an audience golf-clapping politely, followed by some whoops building to a cheer. Then Robson’s on screen, staring into the camera with that customary, hyper-professional glare that makes you believe she’d be delivering those lines even if, striding to her seat seconds beforehand, she trod on a puppy.

Continue reading "Where is the Naomi Robson we love to click on?" »

Since my year 12 English teacher said I was not much of a writer, I have always wanted to publish an article, mainly out of spite.

Undeterred by a lack of talent and an underwhelming byline I set about getting published.

My family has a rich literary tradition.

Continue reading "To my English teacher who said I couldn’t write" »

A journalist has written a story complaining newspaper stories are too long.

He says people like their stories short. Punchy. That’s why newspapers are dying, he says. That’s why the internet is alive.

The story was written by Michael Kinsley. A columnist for The Atlantic. Mr Kinsley complains that a 1,456 word report in The New York Times, on Obama’s health reforms, was too long. Mr Kinsley’s article, complaining about journalistic “verbiage”, ran to 1,940 words.

Continue reading "The new internet vomit" »

Spin doctors became infamous when, on September 11,  2001, during the horrific attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, British Labour staffer Jo Moore send out an email encouraging her press office colleagues to release bad news stories, in the hope that they would not get any attention.

“It is now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury” Moore wrote.

While spin doctors are not always so craven, a government’s desire to avoid bad publicity is acute.

Continue reading "The bad news stories buried during the holidays" »

There have been a few additions to the site you might like to know about.

Want to take up a reader’s point directly with them? You can now reply directly to them by clicking the “Reply” icon at the foot of each comment.

The Punch also now has a Facebook page, where there’ll be occasional updates during the day. Just log in to Facebook, browse to the Punch Facebook page, and hit the “Become a fan” button. You might even get to know other fans of the site through it.

Continue reading "New features on The Punch" »

The one advantage that paper-based magazines have had on their electronic counterparts is usability and look. The ability to turn the page and take in the beauty of a well-designed magazine is something that most web sites can’t match.

Portability is the other area where magazines have had the edge. Carrying them around is lot easier than a standard computer.

As such, many have scoffed at Rupert Murdoch’s aim to get people to pay for digital content. After all, lots of online content is currently free and there’s been nowhere near enough ‘value-add’ to warrant people paying for content. However, the launch of Apple’s iPad tablet could well be the game changer that proves Murdoch right. With their new ultra-portable tablet, Apple can change the publishing industry to the same degree that they’ve changed the music sector.

Continue reading "Why the iPad could be the saviour of paid content" »

Australians see 26 January as a day to celebrate the diversity and tolerance of Australian society.

So why did hundreds of our favourite websites fade to black this Australia Day?

It’s apparently the Great Australian Internet Blackout.

Continue reading "The Coalition isn’t convinced net filtering will protect kids" »

I’m going to confess straight up to having little to zero interest in the underwear choices of Venus Williams.

Yet in recent days her flesh coloured shorts have become a story in sport in themselves and sent twitter abuzz with is she or isn’t she wearing underpants debates.

Perhaps this isn’t so shocking, Maria Sharapova’s green “frocklet” (I kid you not- apparently there is indeed such a thing), got its own press conference launch and then we saw precious column space designated to the diamond earring and necklace choices of Serena Williams, (which she liked “because it had lots of S’s in the design”, and we can all respect that).

Continue reading "Treating women’s sport like a trivial fashion contest" »

Here’s a heads up. If you really want to know what Aussies in 2010 think about our country becoming a republic just flip a coin.

According to the odds, there’s a 50-50 chance of turning up the head of Queen Elizabeth.

Eleven years since a referendum was held to settle the republic debate, Australians seem just as divided about cutting their ties to a monarch living on the other side of the world.

Continue reading "Well at least it’s clear we like talking about a republic" »

Let me begin with a couple of disclaimers.

I’m the first to acknowledge that – unlike the creator of this column Leigh Sales – I don’t have red hair (or even muted tones of burgundy) although I’ve occasionally been a little daring at the hairdressers.

Just a little.

Continue reading "Well read-head: Births, Deaths and Marriages" »

“She is DEAD! F*CKING HAVE RESPECT FOR HER!” - Part of Tila Tequila’s tweet stream.

Hollywood has responded to the tragic death of 30-year-old heiress Casey Johnson in the only way that Hollywood can; by turning the attention away from the departed and on to themselves by outpouring their grief and sympathy - in 140 characters on twitter. The celebrity obsession with the micro-blogging site seems to be more addictive than prescriptive medication in LA.

Lindsay Lohan, DJ Samantha Ronson, Paris Hilton and Tila Tequila have all tweeted about the heiress’s death.

Continue reading "Tila Tequila and the end of grieving in private" »

For someone who now works almost solely on the internet I have very little love for the web.

That’s not to say I don’t appreciate its applications and implications, I just don’t care about, for lack of a better word, the internet as a culture. My feelings towards the internet are similar to those I have toward my gas stovetop: as long as I have it I don’t really care about what gas stovetop I have and I don’t think about what the gas stove does when I’m not cooking.

Yet when I received the ten year anniversary letter from Hotmail I was filled with an unexpected kind of nostalgia for the free email service.

Continue reading "Oh Hotmail, you are truly the fairest of them all" »

I don’t get out much. I work from home and, generally, I sleep at home too. I seem to have lived the life of a butterfly in reverse, a few decade of delicate and delicious socialising, followed by a quite decade in my cocoon.

I’m not the only person who doesn’t get out much, mind, there’s quite a few, and in the northern hemisphere they often gather around the Guardian campfire and comment on the cricket as it happens on the OBO (over-by-over report).

Truth be told, the Guardian’s OBO isn’t just about what’s happening out on the pitch, it is like a potted philosophy of everything, with a particular preference for wit and that peculiar form of gloom that seems to descend over English cricket supporters even if they are six hundred runs ahead with two days to bowl the opposition out.

Continue reading "Real-time cricket writer who keeps the spirit of the game" »

UPDATE 2pm: Mia Freedman, the chair of the committee put together by Kate Ellis to look at body image in the media, has just responded to Jackie Frank’s comments in her own blog Mamamia.com.au. As Freedman points out, the government doesn’t chose cover models, editors do.

Cue the Nobel peace prize for the editor of Marie Claire who has taken the decision to put a naked Jennifer Hawkins on this month’s cover, not to boost circulation, of course, but in the name of “positive body image.”

How brave of Jackie Frank to take a genetically-blessed 26-year-old former Miss Universe and pay her to get her kit off to make us all feel better about ourselves. Her historic move even came accessorised with a free lecture for Youth Minister Kate Ellis, who Frank says hasn’t done enough to address the crisis of confidence in Australia’s girls and young women.

Now Marie Claire can join the orgy of self-congratulation among Australia’s women’s mags which in the past couple of months have been bold enough to put Sarah Murdoch on the cover of Women’s Weekly without airbrushing her 3.5 wrinkles and encouraged Tiffany Wood to show off her curves in the buff in Maddison.

Continue reading "Don’t buy into mag land’s body image spin" »

It would have been the 1880 equivalent of the confessional interview on A Current Affair. Ned Kelly, interviewed by The Age in Beechworth gaol was, if he was being accurately quoted, surprisingly well-spoken and philosophical about his run-ins with authority.

“I do not pretend that I have led a blameless life, or that one fault justifies another,” Kelly said, “but the public in judging a case like mine should remember that the darkest life may have a bright side, and that after the worst has been said against a man, he may, if he is heard, tell a story in his own rough way that will perhaps lead them to mitigate the harshness of their thoughts against him, and find as many excuses for him as he would plead for himself.”

The Kelly interview is one of the many nuggets you’ll find in even the most cursory of searches through Trove, an archiving service of the National Library which started this year and last week marked the one millionth newspaper page scanned into its archives.

Continue reading "Unleash your inner history buff this summer" »

On a rainy Autumn afternoon in April 2006, while sitting in the front room of my home, I launched Digital Photography School - a blog about photography to record and share the lessons I was learning in photography.

The first post was on shooting action shots in low light conditions - it wasn’t that great and I’m not sure that anyone ever read it - but it was a start.

Today, 3 and a half years later, that blog is read by over 3 million readers a month and is quickly paying my mortgage - in fact in November it generated more than $100,000, most of that in a week after launching a Portrait Photography Tips E-book.

Continue reading "Seven rules of blogging from a legend of the craft" »

Ever wondered what would have happened if Santa forgot to turn up one year? Well Copenhagen may not be quite the North Pole but that’s the scenario that looks like playing out this Christmas.

While 73 per cent believing that the Copenhagen conference is important, only 19 per cent think its likely a deal to address global climate change will end up in their stocking.

In the midst of this misery, Santa’s Little Helpers at the Punch today attempt to spread a little joy with our inaugural Christmas Gift List for the Undeserving.

Continue reading "A Christmas wish-list for the undeserving" »

The turmoil of the opposition leadership spill made Parliament House an eventful place to be for a press photographer. But it has become harder than ever to satisfy the appetite of the news-hungry populace, as the increased bureaucracy is madder than ever.

The feuding within the Liberal Party highlighted the antiquated and ridiculous rules that dictate where photographers and TV cameramen can go and what they can shoot at any given time.

In an attempt to deliver a professional product to our millions of readers and viewers, we were forced to break all the rules, and it has got us into all sorts of trouble.

Continue reading "Shooting Turnbull’s end: how you almost missed it" »

The people have spoken in two suburban electorates this week, and they said no to sex. Or at least no to the Sex Party. 

As we reported a couple of weeks ago, the party joined the electoral race in the former Peter Costello stronghold Higgins, and also in the Sydney seat of Bradfield.

Not all went swimmingly for the two candidates vying for office.  In Melbourne, Sex Party boss Fiona Patten found herself falling foul of the local plod, after some South Yarra parents found her van - with SEX PARTY written on the back - somehow offensive.

Continue reading "Suburban tales: And the van had ‘Sex Party’ written on it" »

Dear oh dear – the Queen of Australia and her other realms and territories beyond the seas – is very angry. She’s sick and tired of the paparazzi lurking behind the clipped hedges at Sandringham – her multi million pounds holiday house in Scotland – taking pictures of the rollicking royals on their Christmas break.

So angry is the Australian head of state, she’s threatening to invoke laws if any of the snappers are caught in the royal grounds – there’s nothing she can do if they stay outside the castle’s fences so the guess is ladders will be the orders of the day.

What the Queen fails to understand is that she, along with the other members of her family are nothing more or nothing less than paid public servants.

Continue reading "Memo, ma’am: The royal family belongs to us" »

The people who run my local coffee shop must think I’m a freak.  I fear I’m the only patron who ever shows up with both Who Weekly AND The Australian Financial Review. So that people won’t think less of me, I hide The Fin inside Who Weekly cover.

Even though I have a constant back stack of New Yorkers, Atlantic Monthlies, Economists and Spectators, the damned Who Weekly manages to suck me in every other week it seems.  The reason is that it constantly offers lists: Sexiest People, Most Beautiful People, Skinniest Celebrities, Fattest Celebrities, Best Break-Ups, etc etc etc.

I’ve always been a sucker for a ‘Best Of’ list.  This time of year is heaven because invariably newspapers and magazines rank the year’s top political scandals, celebrities, news events, films, natural disasters, photographs, books – anything you care to name.  Not only do I love to read a good list, I love to write them (as the oeuvre of this blog demonstrates).  And there’s no way I’m going to let the end of 2009 pass without a few ‘best of’ lists of my own.

Continue reading "Well-readhead: I’m a sucker for a “Best Of” list" »

At the Walkley Awards last Thursday night one of the biggest cheers of the evening was reserved for Tracy Grimshaw, who won the gong for broadcast interviewing.

As the A Current Affair host made her way to the stage, the big screen behind the presenters played an excerpt from one of the interviews Grimshaw was being honoured for - her excruciating chat with former NRL star Matthew Johns.

There 10 times larger than life was a visibly distraught Johns, flanked by his wife Trish, responding to explosive claims about group sex in the NRL contained in a 4 Corners report - another Walkley winner. Half the media executives in the country were in the room watching Grimshaw accept the well-deserved award.

About the same time, according to yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph, Seven and Ten were engaged in a bidding war to see who can sign Johns to spearhead their NRL coverage. These network bosses sure do have short memories.

Continue reading "Johns bidding war: our TV networks are run by goldfish" »

IT is almost two months to the day since Malcolm Turnbull defiantly proclaimed he could not lead a party that failed to act on climate change.

It could well be his epitaph because it looks increasingly likely they will be his famous last words. His war-like comments in a radio interview on October 1 will come back to haunt him tomorrow when a leadership challenge is expected to try to finally resolve the Liberal Party’s internal angst and division over the Emissions Trading Scheme.

Aside from internal manoeuvrings and mutinous rumblings within the party, the Liberals have a bigger problem. They are sending mixed signals to the electorate about where they stand on climate change and this is worse than death by a thousand swords for a party hoping to win Government at the next election.

Continue reading "Confusion reigns online over ETS and the Liberal Party" »

With the Liberal Party’s rolling leadership crisis set to be resolved one way or another on Tuesday, the Sunday talk shows could have been twice their usual length this week but the hours of analysis would never be able to say as much as this photograph in the morning papers.

As The Sunday Telegraph reported, Joe Hockey went to considerable lengths to avoid being placed at John Howard’s Sydney home, circling the suburbs of North Sydney and pausing in his car before going inside. Also in the paper was a Galaxy poll showing Hockey and Turnbull neck-and-neck as preferred Liberal leaders by a considerable margin over Tony Abbott, but it also found widespread public opposition to the immediate passage of the ETS (you can see it here as a PDF).

But from the morning talk shows, two key points. First, the relationship between Hockey and Turnbull is now pivotal. And second, what happens on Tuesday’s remains anyone’s guess.

Continue reading "Libs in crisis: Sunday talk shows round-up" »

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know we all want to change the world ...
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know, we’re doing what we can ...

You read news. So you know there’s a revolution going in the news industry, with much untargeted crossfire, rattling of virtual sabres and foaming at the mouth about paid content.

Rude words have been said. Like “parasite”. And “money”.

Continue reading "You’ve never paid for news, you never will" »

Welcome to another trek across the nature strips and service lanes of splendid suburbia.

We in suburban journoland always do a good line in “animal saves human” yarns. But scratch the surface most of these stories, and you generally find that the animals being fitted up for bravery awards were mostly just trying to escape death or hump something.

Behold, for instance, the rabbit optimistically dubbed a hero because it bleated enough at its own impending fiery doom, to wake its owners to the fact they had a blaze in their house.

Continue reading "Suburban tales: of hero animals and pole dancing" »

I owe my sex education to Christine Keeler. Not directly of course: I was eleven years old at the time the Profumo scandal convulsed Britain in 1963.

I was on a fishing holiday with my father, in a big house in the north of Scotland shared with two other families, including several teenage boys and girls.

In between tying flies and tramping across the heather, everyone – the adults and the teenagers – seemed to have only one topic of conversation, and Christine Keeler was it.

Continue reading "If it doesn’t affect national security it’s not a sex scandal" »

As a moderator of comments for news.com.au I see a lot of intolerance expressed in the debate over asylum seeker boats, especially from a vocal minority prepared to get very nasty.

The comments from this quarter typically employ broad-brush terms of abuse to stereotype on the basis of nationality.

The targets of these hateful attacks are Australians. The most popular terms of abuse are “redneck” and “racist”.

Continue reading "Rednecks! The new racist term for ordinary Australians" »

Welcome to a week of splendid news from the suburbs, towns and semi-divisions around our sunburnt land.

We start our trip around the traps in Higgins, the very leafy and very inner eastern Melbourne electorate of former treasurer Peter Costello.  In a move that could take the blue-ribbon seat a fair bit further into the blue spectrum, Sex Party candidate Fiona Patten has thrown her hat into the by-election ring. Surrounded by supporters - including an ‘adult entertainment’ actress - the Eros Foundation lobbyist launched her tilt at a trendy Prahran café.

While we’re in the southern city’s more trend-setting parts, if you’ve ever wanted to wear a dress made of living fungus, now’s your chance.  Bio-artist Donna Franklin’s Fibre Reactive dress allows the presumably apprehensive wearer the chance to experience a fungal outbreak first hand, without need of ointment.

Continue reading "Suburban tales: politics, sex, and getting stuck in school" »

Note: We are required to publish rulings from the Press Council to show publicly whether they have been upheld or dismissed.

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint from Cailen Cambeul, of the self-styled Church of Creativity, South Australia, that the News Limited website, The Punch, misrepresented adherents of the church as uneducated, illiterate and prone to committing violence.

Mr Cambeul, who runs the church, complained that The Punch columnist, Tory Shepherd, insinuated that he had a criminal history, and had nullified his church’s right to be accepted as a legitimate religious body. Ms Shepherd’s column, which appeared on July 30, 2009, was written after she explored an array of unusual religious and political websites, including the Church of Creativity. She wrote that Cambeul had “a bit of a chequered history” and that the church’s members were just “a few loners looking for something to do with all their hate”.

Continue reading "Press Council dismisses complaint against The Punch" »

Here’s a few things we learned this week: lip-synching and Kevin Rudd are predominately out, keeping university colleges safe is in and we’ve all got something to ask Tiger Woods.

A selection of some of the best writing from this week @ The Punch follow after the jump. And if you’re looking for something else to help pass the afternoon,  watch the video above about a National Geographic photographer.

Continue reading "This week @ The Punch" »

Just how stupid are those Italians? I mean, not only are they gullible – they’re really, really dumb.

I mean, take a politician like Silvio Berlusconi, who all us foreign journalists know to be sleazy and dishonest… And what do millions of voters do? They elect him. Not just once, mind you. Three times.

You heard me. In three elections Italians have voted for a prime minister who’s a charlatan or – even worse – a 21st Century incarnation of Benito Mussolini. In 2008 he even won an absolute majority in both houses of parliament.

Continue reading "Silvio’s not that bad, and Italians aren’t that dumb" »

The only time I’ve had people literally storm out of a presentation I was giving were news and current affairs producers at a commercial television network. My faux pas was telling them that the Australian viewing public was keen for positive stories that depicted the best, rather than worst, of our society. Furthermore, I predicted this trend to be a growing one.

It’s not that bad news does not attract viewers’ attention. It does. When there is motor vehicle accident up ahead drivers cannot help themselves but slow down to have a peak. But they don’t feel good about themselves for doing so. Similarly on television we watch those embarrassing themselves, acting outrageously or being publicly shamed. But here to, we don’t feel good about ourselves for doing so.

What the public is yearning for is optimism and positivity – reinforcing the good bits of life. When discussing the global financial crises throughout this year the consistent message was that Australians were simply switching off from the bad news.

Continue reading "From Jerry to the GFC, it’s time for some good news" »

I regularly find myself chairing panels at writers’ festivals or in bookshops and I give a standard spiel at the beginning of every event.

‘We’ll have time for questions at the end,’ I say, ‘And let me emphasise that we want questions, not statements.  If you stand up and make a statement, I will cut you off and publicly humiliate you.’

It usually gets a laugh ... until they realise I’m completely serious.

Continue reading "Well-readhead: Don’t make me publicly humiliate you" »

It is grossly hypocritical of Paul Keating – or anyone else in the public eye – to complain about the media invading their family’s privacy.

I’m sick of politicians and performers, who trade their profiles for money, biting the hand that feeds them.

Keating’s daughter Katherine has a reputation for appearing at the opening of an envelope to promote her political lobbying business. But why turn up at a VIP party, sponsored by a vodka company, dressed as Amy Winehouse, if you don’t want to be papped by photographers?

Continue reading "Public figures want it both ways on privacy" »

The Punch has won its second major award in as many months after being honoured with the Chairman’s Award at the annual News Awards in Sydney on Friday.

The award, which recognises editorial innovation across News Limited’s many media brands, follows the site’s recognition at last month’s PANPA Awards as Best Specialist Website.

“The Punch isn’t attracting people because it’s new. It’s because it’s refreshing, unpredictable, intelligent, informed, fun - and fun is infectious,” News Limited chairman and chief executive John Hartigan said on presenting the award.

Continue reading "Award-winning Punch thanks its readers" »

Sarah Murdoch and Mia Freedman are hot. Like really, really hot.

But I don’t reckon that fact takes away from their years of experience, their first hand insight and the value of their contributions on the subject of tackling negative body image.

That was exactly the reaction we’ve seen this week though, from some who argued that these women were too beautiful to have a valid role to play in the debate and were misplaced on the Government’s Body Image Advisory Group that reported this week.

Continue reading "Moving past the blame game on body image" »

People have always wanted to look better than they really are, and there have always been products around to facilitate this desire, like corsets, make-up, botox. I myself spend a ridiculous amount of time and money having my hair made ultra-blonde, my eyebrows plucked and tinted, my nails buffed and polished.

In this digital era people are aware of Photoshop and retouching. In any given social situation when someone finds out I’m a professional in the dark art of retouching the first question is invariably: “Can you retouch my (insert profile pic, wedding photo, family portrait etc here).

When they discover my area of expertise is the fashion and celebrity world, the next question is: “Who is the hardest person to retouch?” (No, I’m not telling.)

Continue reading "My life as an image retoucher" »

There will have been a lot of breakfasts ruined in Sydney this morning after a newspaper decided to publish a photo of convicted paedophile Dennis Ferguson sitting on a beach in budgies. In the background are some adults - and some children playing in the sand and surf.

Children just like the three Ferguson once kidnapped and sexually assaulted at a motel. The kids in the photo have become unwitting visual props in a campaign to portray as normal this man who is indisputably one of the most reviled characters in Australia.

Ferguson is on the beach with Brett Collins, a prisoner rehabilitation advocate who has been his most visible supporter. The photo, the Sydney Morning Herald comments, could be “to make us think more deeply and carefully about our reaction to Ferguson’s presence in the community”. A fine idea, but it shouldn’t be done through a photo of this man on a beach with kids.

Continue reading "Not on a beach with kids" »

Don’t you just hate it when you’ve bought a new toy and before you’ve even got it out of the box you’re friends are saying you’ve wasted your money?

I know someone who has the new Kindle, which was released in Australia last week.

If he is the same sort of technoholic as I am, he would have been crestfallen when before he’d even unpacked it one of our acquaintances said: “Have you seen the Nook? Bet you’ll regret the Kindle.”

Continue reading "Yes, books are great but we said that about CDs" »

How many column inches in women’s magazines are devoted to dieting every year? Enough to cross the Nullarbor? Circumnavigate the globe? Traverse the universe?

“Get your body beach ready. Now!” “Your best body. Fast.” “Your best-ever body in four weeks.” “Shrink one size in four weeks.” And my personal favourite: “Drop a dress size by Saturday!” Really?

I should issue a little disclaimer and own up to writing many vacuous and silly diet coverlines during my 15-plus years working in women’s magazines. Seven kilos in seven days? Only joking. But you get the drift.

Continue reading "Odds and magazines are stacked against diet success" »

Note: ABC Breakfast host Virginia Trioli made this “you’re crazy” hand twirling gesture after interviewing Senator Barnaby Joyce on the issue of the ETS. Trioli obviously didn’t realise the cameras were still on. She later rang Senator Joyce to apologise, he quipped to the Punch that he couldn’t quite hear because he had been placed in an asylum.

Apparently some television commentators think that I’m the insane one.

Maybe that explains the place where I work.

Obviously, if I’m not me who am I?

Continue reading "If you think I’m crazy, have a look at the ETS" »

A few highlights from Punch staff and contributors are over the jump. For a bit of fun, check out the #medievalbumperstickers thread on Twitter from today. And here’s a video that’s worth another look.

One reader insight from this week is from Punch regular Zeta, with a considered position on asylum seekers (also over the jump). Have a great weekend.

Continue reading "If you missed them" »

It’s hard to know whether those handling media for the Australian Defence Force are as clueless as they seem or are now openly trying to bait the Australian media.

Yesterday there were a couple of press releases sent out from the ADF.  The first was helpfully entitled: News Stories from Afghanistan – Three news stories for broadcast/publication.

Doing their favourite PLA impression, the ADF has in fact provided three media releases on Australia’s operation in Afghanistan labelled “news stories” and penned from within the organisation.

Continue reading "Much glorious Afghan victory has been won by ADF" »

Yesterday on The Punch, Tory argued that Karl Lagerfeld’s rather out there recent comments were right - “sort of”.

The gist of Karl nobody-wants-to-see-a-round-woman Lagerfeld’s contribution was that the fashion world was all about fantasy so it shouldn’t be criticised if it chooses to use only skinny models with protruding bones on their catwalks, or photos that are digitally altered to make a models’ waist the size of her neck. It’s all fantasy, silly. What’s the harm?

Tory’s semi-agreement seemed rather more based on personal preference and a dislike of a recent magazine’s choice of “plus size” models.

Continue reading "Counterpunch: Body image problems are far from fantasy" »

There’s a big crack in the dam of official censorship today. An attempt by one of Britain’s most formidable law firms to stop media coverage of one of its clients backfired spectacularly when the information it was seeking to suppress was distributed around the internet to millions of users in a matter of hours.

In what will become a case study for how the internet has changed the balance of power in the control of information, solicitors Carter-Ruck and their client Trafigura were forced to drop an attempt to gag media coverage of an 87-word parliamentary question about the alleged dumping of toxic waste off Ivory Coast.

The question was on the public record and available on the internet yet The Guardian was prevented from reporting the question, who asked it, or why it was being gagged.

Continue reading "When the web makes a fool of censorship" »

Any day now researchers can be expected to conclude the best thing parents could do for children is to have none in the first place.

It wouldn’t be all that surprising amid the deluge of useless advice thrown at parents on how best to raise their kids.

The latest tip for mums and dads, in draft federal government guidelines reported this week, is that children should not watch television until they’re two years old.

Continue reading "Time to study the bad advice given to good parents" »

Aussies consider themselves as pretty funny but sadly Australian TV comedy is no laughing matter.

Perhaps that’s not true if you are satisfied, wit-wise, with a boy smearing vegemite all over himself on a Hey Hey It’s Saturday – The Exhumation special.

Still, such antics may have a lowest rung place on the spectrum of disposable panel/skit/stunt shows that Aussie TV throws and sometimes throws up at us.

Continue reading "Even the Americans are doing better comedy than us" »

Once again women are proving to be their own worst enemies.

With Chris Bath likely to be named the first solo female primetime newsreader on commercial TV in Australia’s biggest market, the sisters have their knives out.

According to media writer Amanda Meade, female viewers find Bath’s hair, make-up and wardrobe “too distracting”.

Continue reading "Newsreading and women: we’re our own worst enemies" »

Twitter just announced “Lists” as its latest feature. Utilising a Steve Jobs tactic, Twitter Lists are not yet available, nor are they being resold on ebay as Google Wave invites are, but they are “Soon to Launch”, says Project Lead Nick Kallen, on the company blog.

When available, Twitter Lists will enable “people to curate lists of Twitter accounts”. What does it mean? Unlike Facebook, whose raison d’etre has evolved from connecting Harvard study buddies to the “people in your life” and ultimately making the “world more open” - Twitter wants you not only to connect with your In Real Life friends - but also to topics of interest - via Lists of People.

Continue reading "Suggestion to Twitter: think Australian, start here" »

WHAT’S in a name? Everything - especially if you pick a dud one - as any marketing graduate will tell you.

So why did Kraft put its reputation and that of one of Australia’s best known brands on the line by selecting a ridiculous name like iSnack2.0 for a new variety of Vegemite?

That’s what many Australians have been asking themselves since the infamous iSnack2.0 moniker was unveiled just over a week ago and then, within days, dumped after a rally of public disapproval.

Continue reading "iSnack 2.0 was a lesson in giving love a bad name" »

Hello. Just got back from a solitary week in a fisherman’s cottage at Brindabella Station, west of Canberra, where I was working on a writing project.

A full week without phones, telly or the internet. And you know what? It was great.

The world is richer when you turn the electronic chatter off. Here’s a selection of stuff I noticed (or didn’t)…

Continue reading "Postcard from a wireless week" »

Once upon a time there was a woman who watched a new show on Channel 10 called Life on Mars. She enjoyed this show and looked forward to watching more episodes.

But one day, without any warning, Channel 10 decided to cancel this new show. The woman cursed Channel 10 and its near-sighted programming executives and vowed never to watch a new show again.

This sad tale can be retold, again and again, simply insert the name of any number of shows - Eli Stone, Dirty Sexy Money, Torchwood, 90210 - the list goes on.

Channel 7 is heavily promoting two shows at the moment, FlashForward and Mercy and they look like shows I would enjoy. But I won’t be watching either of them because history tells me that their chances of lasting a season are about as good as Kyle Sandilands chances of being nominated for Australian of the Year.

Continue reading "I can’t watch because the networks keep axing shows" »

Another highly instructive sex survey has been released out of Britain.

According to a world-wide survey of 15,000 women, Germans are the worst lovers with Englishman, Swedes, Dutch and Americans rounding off the worst five. Spanish, Brazilians, Italians and French were rated the best in bed, with Australians rated the seventh best.

By my reckoning to have participated in this survey a woman would have had to have slept with at least one man from every country assessed.

Continue reading "How much sex can these women possibly be having?" »

Australia has a desperate shortage of young people enrolling in science and maths at our schools and universities.

Encouraging kids to embrace careers in science will be critical to Australia’s economic and social development.

Improving the scientific literacy of Australians – as well as the science savvy of business and political leaders - will also be crucial if our nation is to compete and prosper.

Continue reading "Science is too important to leave in the lab" »

In 1995, La Trobe University student publication Rabelais ran a feature entitled The Art of Shoplifting, which highlighted student poverty a decade before it became an election platform. Now it and student media publications around Australia are facing relative poverty themselves.

Since Voluntary Student Unionism was introduced by the then Liberal Australian Government in mid-2006, Australian student media have been starved of funds.

VSU was introduced with the aim of removing the obligation for tertiary students to pay for and be members of student unions. The Punch interviewed representatives from three student publications and the response was the same: VSU has curtailed the potential of student media to add to a vibrant university culture.

Continue reading "The death throes of student newspapers" »

The burgeoning social media landscape has brought with it frightening new possibilities for brand-trashing on a global scale: people using Twitter or blogs to spread derogatory remarks about your company; a disgruntled employee posting an “insiders” video on YouTube. You have no idea how it all started, and even less of an idea about how to stop it.

It seems every @tom, @dick or @harry can have an opinion.

In recent years some of the biggest US companies have experienced the ugly side of social media’s reach and a recent Australian survey showed one in four of us would boycott a product after reading negative comments on social media sites.

Continue reading "How to fight back when you’re trashed on the web" »

It was shortly before my wedding. As I assume others do, I spent some time examining my life. Amidst the consideration of my health, my career and my relationship came a question.

What are you doing on Facebook?

There must be people who find Facebook fulfilling, just as there are people who enjoy discussing Kanye West’s latest rant or actually believe the man has a talent for making anything other than a tit of himself. I just happen not to be one of them.

Continue reading "I killed myself on Facebook, and lived to tell the tale" »

This is what happens when a group of media are sent to cover an event but miss the “money shot”.

We’re going to take you behind the scenes. Our unedited video captures the moment some media crews faked an event not once but twice.

For the launch of author Dan Brown’s new thriller The Lost Symbol, various media assembled to shoot a group of speed readers. The idea was the fastest reader could give the book’s first-ever review. The trouble was, after two and a half hours of waiting for the keen readers to plough through 500 pages most of the media had their eyes off the ball.

Continue reading "Exposed: the fake world of “real” television news" »

The fact that our Prime Minister is happy to talk about who he would turn gay for on Rove, but won’t answer a serious question about gay rights on Q and A should be a warning sign to us all. 

Whilst Kevin Rudd works hard to cultivate the image of a lightweight talk show host, we should remember he is actually a player in the most ego driven business in town – the perfect storm of parliamentary democracy. 

In fact, his title awards him status of biggest and best on field in a ruthless industry which demands people with large egos, plies them with attention to feed their distended self-esteems and treats them like royalty as they make laws and spend our money on our behalf.

Continue reading "In politics, chutzpah is just a polite word for hubris" »

The Punch is moving a little slowly today on account of the site winning Specialist News Site of the Year at last night’s PANPA awards.

Anyway, this is just a note to share it with you and say thanks.

Readers make The Punch what it is. A bit of a risk with the site’s launch three months ago was that it counted on your involvement from the start. The sleeves-up debate on the opinion and analysis from our contributors is just as important as the pieces themselves - the discussion on the various issues is central to the site’s personality and as of this week we have published over 20,000 of your comments.

So cheers. This one’s for you.

A selection of reads from Punch contributors and editors over the course of this extraordinary news week is below the fold, but first it’s worth a close look at this pic, which ran with this piece imagining Sex and the City VI. Enjoy the weekend.

Continue reading "In case you missed them…." »

THERE should be no debate over media fundamentals when it comes to the John Della Bosca story, which was broken by The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday this week.

Mr Della Bosca is a public figure and when his private life and the performance of his public offices come into conflict, that is indubitably a matter of public interest, so the newspaper’s editor, Garry Linnell was more than “at liberty” to publish the story – morally and ethically, he had no choice. His inescapable duty was to publish the story for his readers’ legitimate information.

And maybe along the same lines, Mr Della Bosca felt he had no option other than to resign as a minister. While he dismissed claims his relationship with 26-year-old “Kate” had affected his work, there could be no doubt the public revelation of his affair would act as an almighty distraction from his ministerial responsibility. So, he had to go. Probably. Maybe. How long he wanders the wilderness remains to be seen.

Continue reading "Why Della’s lover should have revealed herself" »

If you could design your own domestic news service, what would it look like?

Taking off my News Limited hat and speaking as a general reader, mine would involve a few things - plenty of hard news, mostly politics, stacks of AFL, provocative and entertaining opinion pieces, heaps of food, music and cinema journalism.

I’d never read celebrity gossip, clubby or dull business journalism (that is, almost all of it) or another impenetrable word of motoring writing about the latest unaffordable car with a 28 kilowatt, 6.2 litre engine and variable-valve timing control.

Continue reading "Extra, extra - pay for your content" »

Earlier this month I spoke at a social media conference in Melbourne. When you wear a badge that says you work for Rupert Murdoch at these events, it’s like sitting in the middle of the Collingwood cheer squad in a Carlton jumper. With some people the best you can hope for is that their initial horror will eventually subside to a mild hostility.

I was there to speak about strategy for social media, including Twitter, which The Punch has engaged to a fair degree of success. It is second only to the mighty Google in terms of the number of readers it helps the site reach. My presentation was on using social networks to connect with people.

The Social Media Summit 2009 came just days after the announcement that News Corporation planned to charge for access to its websites. It was the hottest topic of conversation in the wings and with the exception of one or two people, the view among the delegates was that it wasn’t going to work.

Continue reading "Psst, Twitter: You might want to help save big media" »

For an open, organic, freedom-loving Utopia, there are a great many wannabe digital dictators on the Internet, vomiting forth mandates on how we must behave, speak, and do business. The Ethos of the Web, they call it; they know what is right, what is wrong, what will work, and what will fail.

So in May, when Rupert Murdoch tabled the idea of paywalling his newspapers, the Glorious Leaders of Twitterstan took to their keyboards, and registered their disdain with an all-caps “FAIL!”

“You can’t charge for content! Information wants to be free! Show your support by donating to my PayPal account!” Every Social Media Expert and Futurist hustling for speaking fees and fat consultancies knows, unequivocally, that newspapers are dinosuars; one edition short of extinction.

Continue reading "Not all media dinosaurs have small brains" »

What will journalism look like in twenty years? Will newspapers still exist? Punch research journalist Kelly Simpson and four of her fellow students from the University of Technology Sydney gaze into the crystal ball…

Kelly Simpson – Postgraduate journalism student, UTS: How did you hear that Michael Jackson had died? That we’d lost the Ashes?

Print is dead, I’ve been assured. I’ve missed the glory days. There’ll be no ink smudged copy for me, no physical front page, no morning AND evening editions of the newspapers.

Continue reading "Degrees of uncertainty for students of journalism" »

My family is under strict instructions that if I’m ever kidnapped by Guatemalan rebels (it could happen), am the first victim in a global pandemic that started with domestic animals or become in anyway incapacitated in a newsworthy way they’re to distribute three flattering photographs of me to any media outlet that wants them as soon as the news breaks.

Its a long standing fact that if you die overseas of something other than natural causes, are part of a public tragedy, or just can’t speak for yourself after something really weird happens, newspapers, websites and TV stations are going to scramble for any picture of you they can get your hands on.

If all that’s on offer is some Facebook pics of you throwing up in a garbage bin at Schoolies Week - well so be it. Five years ago the chances of a picture like this one of Jason Scorer, who died in Rome after falling into the Tiber this week, ever seeing the light of day in the mainstream media were minimal.

Continue reading "Your last photo: how do you want to be remembered?" »

If you have a teenager about to get their licence make them sit down in front of the computer and watch this UK public service advertisement.

Then ask them if the message sank in. I have a theory about shock ads: that the more graphic the less effective. The more extreme the outcome, the harder it is to relate to the scenario = “that would never happen to me.”

But this four minutes of chilling horror might just be the exception.

Continue reading "Do shock safety ads work?" »

I recently received a bribe in China. The 300 yuan ($52) was a reward for attending a local government press conference promoting a trade fair. At least that’s what I think it was about, everyone spoke in Chinese.

What did I give them? I’m not really sure. I’m a journalist but my role in this transaction was simply to be the token foreigner in the audience.

Like everyone else there, I was handed a bag that contained the cash in a white envelope and a glossy booklet promoting the trade fair.

Continue reading "Covering news China-style: the day I was bribed" »

It might be a military doctrine best remembered from the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but “shock and awe” could just as easily describe the latest warfare by TV and radio stations in the battle for ratings.

The Austereo network’s Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O have become the most notorious exponents of this tactic on the airwaves in the past few weeks.

But just as in war, even the best laid plans can backfire when they are unleased on the battlefield.

Continue reading "Kyle and Jackie O may have shocked their last jock" »

A selection of reads from Punch contributors and editors this week is below the fold.

Often some of the best and wisest commentary on the site can be found in the comments. Here’s one of the best this week, from reader Andrew in response to David Penberthy’s piece on forgotten suburbs:

Continue reading "In case you missed them…" »

Watch The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart rip into CNN’s latest craze: using phrases like “you’re kidding me” and “just sayin’” to comment on news stories:

It’s been described as footy’s worst interview. Dragons fullback Darius Boyd managed just 28 words in response to eight questions during a press conference to promote this Friday night’s clash against his old club the Brisbane Broncos. It’s saying something that his notoriously monosyllabic coach Wayne Bennett felt the need to chip him about it.

But since when, particularly footy players, given good interview? Most of them impart about the same amount of information as Boyd managed it just takes longer to get through all the clichés. He needs some intensive media training so that next time his reponses are more like the sort of stuff we expect from the great minds of our sporting elites.

With a little more training, next time it might go something more like this:

Continue reading "Giving 110 per cent to make footy the winner on the day" »

Confined to a wheelchair and wearing a pith helmet and an American flag fashioned into a nappy, shouting obscenities at the justices of the United States Supreme Court, pornographer Larry Flynt was a massively flawed hero for the cause of free speech.

This morally bankrupt hillbilly was famously sued for defamation by the Reverend Jerry Falwell, who in a fake advertisement for Campari published by Flynt’s Hustler magazine recalled how he lost his virginity by sleeping with his own mother in an outside toilet on the family pig farm.

It’s hard to imagine a more egregious slur. Nor a more unbelievable one, which is one of the reasons Flynt ultimately won his defamation battle, reinforcing the free speech protections afforded by the First Amendment.

Continue reading "I’m glad that this shocking drongo is back on the air" »

The Punch is about to become a TV show. The marketing people want us to tell you about it, but frankly we’re kind of nervous because we’re all unkempt and untrained print people who think a live feed is something involving a crayfish in Chinatown.

Anyway - Punch TV debuts on Sky News at 12.30pm AEST today (Thursday). Our special guest is Sports Minister and occasional Punch contributor Kate Ellis, and our panel for this week is Punch deputy editor Tory Maguire, Punch sports columnist Luke McIlveen, and myself.

In keeping with the conversational spirit of the website, we’re asking readers to tell us what they’d like us to discuss on the show. We’ll obviously be talking to Kate about her piece below about yobbo sports stars, as well as her recent post on whether successful athletes should repay the AIS for the cost of their training, but any other ideas, please email us below.

I couldn’t agree more with David Penberthy’s claim last week that the National Press Club “damaged journalism” by giving a platform to motorcycle riders.

The damage is not, as Penberthy thinks, to the grand institution of journalism.  After all, a profession that has survived, adapted and flourished over hundreds of years is hardly going to be scarred by the ramblings of a bloke from Blacktown.

No.  The damage to journalism caused by Wednesday’s Press Club address is simply that the news media were not – at least for the 60 minutes of the live broadcast – able to control the public’s perceptions of bikers.

Continue reading "We bikies deserve a hearing" »

TWO years ago, Veronica Lario did something extraordinary.

After marrying the now Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 1990, the former actress had maintained a low profile; rarely seen in public and avoiding the sort of official functions wives of national leaders do.

But on January 31, 2007 that changed when she bizarrely wrote a letter to the editor calling on her husband to apologise.

Continue reading "Rootgate: Berlusconi’s bordello antics captivate Italy" »

Kyle Sandilands is copping it from all angles and the moment, having just been dumped from Australian Idol over the terrible stunt he and Jackie O pulled last week with the 14-year-old victim of sexual assault.

Yes, his co-host Jackie O has also been put “into recess” by 2Day FM, but it bothers me she seems to be missing out on a large portion of the heat.

The only difference between O and Sandilands during the sketch that went so wrong last Wednesday, was he made that idiotic remark about it being the victim’s “only experience”.

Continue reading "Where’s Jackie O in all this?" »

Last week’s on-air rape-fuelled Hindenberg disaster piloted by 2Day FM’s Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O has raised so many issues it’s like the Big Day Out of blame, where every act’s a red-hot headliner.

The national festival of finger-pointing opened with shots at the bumbling Sandilands, followed closely by jabs at the mother’s parenting skills, finishing up with blasts at the station for allowing such a suspect segment to air in the first place. All great acts and definitely worth a good moshing over.

But there’s one elusive and hard-to-pin party who haven’t had the lynch mob wield a flaming torch in their faces yet. They are the hardcore listeners who actively pander to the untouchable antics of Kyle and Jackie O by religiously setting the dial in their direction.

Continue reading "Kyle’s listeners the forgotten villains in this scandal" »

It’s official. After the death of the world’s most famous newsman last month, Walter Cronkite, the heir apparent has been anointed. Drum roll, please. ‘The most trusted name in news’ is now, err, Jon Stewart. Jon Stewart?

Yes, The Daily Show host. A comedian.

At least, that’s the result of a Time Magazine poll, which surveyed 9000 people. 44 per cent said the faux journalist was their most trusted newscaster now that Cronkite has passed on.

Continue reading "It must be true, Jon Stewart said so" »

You know when a girlfriend or boyfriend says they think it’s time for a break? There’s hints of that in this, from Kyle Sandilands’ manager tonight after it was announced the Kyle and Jackie O show would not be broadcast tomorrow morning:

Kyle has decided not to go on air for the week and we’ll assess our position as the week unfolds.

Saying you’re assessing your position in your work life is like the “time for a break” moment in a relationship. It’s never good, and always sounds like the beginning of the end. At best, it means something is horribly wrong.

Continue reading "Kyle officially now off the air" »

Kyle and Jackie O have been taken off air indefinitely as a result of the massive backlash against last Wednesday’s rape debacle, where a 14-year-old girl revealed on air that she had been the victim of sexual assault. And Sandilands has said through his management that he is “unable to perform his duties on-air at this time”, without elaborating.

The announcement follows five days’ condemnation of the program and Austereo for even airing a segment where an underage girl was fitted to a lie detector machine in front of her mother and quizzed on her sexual habits - let alone with the horrifying consequence of revealing that she had been raped when she was 12, and that her Mum knew all about it.

The network’s decision is an extraordinary demonstration of the power of public opinion, with websites, talkback radio and Twitter being consumed with the issue over this past few day. The comments ran overwhelmingly against Kyle and Jackie O and Austereo, not to mention the girl’s mother, who is being investigated by the Department of Community Services.  The Austereo statement says:

Continue reading "How people power and the web took Kyle off the air" »

The puerile stunt by Sydney radio jocks Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O (Wednesday, July 29) in which a 14 year girl was strapped to a lie detector and interrogated by her mother about sexual matters reveals more than just the nation’s shock that the distressed girl revealed she was raped as a 12 year old.

The stupidity and crassness of Sandlilands and Ms O aside, the incident amplified another more disturbing and sinister aspect of disclosure by children. 

It is the agony and terror faced by many child victims of sexual violence who find the courage to disclose to an adult, only to have that adult fail to respond with any shred of justice or decency. 

Continue reading "The deeper issue raised by sick radio stunt" »

We have learned two fairly rubbish lessons from Kyle Sandilands’ latest madness - or three if you count the additional proof provided that Jackie O is feminism’s giggling Uncle Tom. 

The first is that Sandilands has all the warmth and genuine compassion of a National Rifle Association Christmas. 

The second is that Australian radio is incontestably shit.

Continue reading "Lessons of the Kyle incident: Australian radio is rubbish" »

There is an online revolution occurring with women taking to the blogsphere at a phenomenal rate.

They are connecting, supporting, sharing, creating and doing business with people they probably have never met.

It is a new wave of feminism.

Continue reading "Rise of the mummy blogger" »

There have only been a few occasions in my whole career that I’ve been sideswiped by something. When faced with a situation like what happened today, when a girl revealed live on air that she had been raped when she was 12, you react like anyone else. I was horrified.

We have had the lie detector thing on regularly for about six years. It’s a semi-regular segment on the show. We check with the mother before hand, and go through the questions they want asked.

I’m in New Zealand this week and all I have is a microphone, a computer screen, and a camera that relays back to Jackie and the producers in the studio.

Continue reading "Kyle Sandilands: Girl’s rape revelation stunned me" »