What comes to us as 'information' via the media, is the result of various processes of selection and editing. These processes shape the material so that it serves the purposes of the popular biases of the day.
I propose that this hidden agenda amounts to brainwashing.
This page is a collection of simple observations which will test my proposition.
INDEX
1. Racism in the Food Industry
Date: 12th March 2023 ABC News.
I have taken a copy of an article that appeared in the ABC news feed on 12th March 2023:
The writers present the views of two 'food experts' that suggest there is an insidious racism evident in the Australian food industry.
If you believe what these two 'experts' say, then you will realise you are expressing racist views every time you eat a chinese meal or buy a kebab. (You are are only superficially engaging with the culture and are thus trivialising it.)
What is being expressed are views of people who have careers based on uncovering 'racism' and 'discrimination'. They offer no supporting evidence and use generalised terms such as 'white consumers'.
The actual logic of the piece is that 'white' people are inherently racist because of their colonial past. No accommodation is made for the existence of white Australians of Italian, Romanian, Greek, etc., heritage, who do not have a colonial history.
Also, no explanation is made for the situation where an 'ethnic' person, say an Arab, Japanese, Chinese, etc., dines on the cuisine of another ethnic group. Are they immune from racist thoughts? Or are they engaging on a 'deep level'?
The article is basically rubbish, fuelling the flames of racism and division to enrich those who make a career out of 'discovering' and 'calling-out' what they 'consider' to be non-woke aspects of modern life.
2. Bashing death of prisoner in WA
An ABC News item 9th March 2023.
Reports the beating death of a prisioner who was serving a sentence for child abuse. Note that the ABC makes no reference to the race of the prisoner.
Compare the ABC report above to that of 'The New Daily'. The New Daily article identifies the dead prisoner as an Aboriginal man.
The ABC is quick to identify someone as indigenous when they are suffering an injustice or when they are a death in custody. So why have they left mention of this man's Aboriginality out of the article?
3. Why racially marginalised women hide their identity by 'code-switching' to act 'white' at work
ABC News 10th February 2023
The heading of the directory on the ABC site is 'iwd-', which indicates that we can expect to see a series of articles referencing disadvantaged women in the lead up and aftermath of 'International Women's Day'.
It is interesting to read the article carefully. The women are not complaining about being racially abused or picked on (now). They are complaining about their own attitudes to their work situations.
If you read about 'Group Dynamics', (Wikipedia article), it is clear that what the women are doing is the same as any other person would do/has to do within the confines of a social group. The difference is that because these women are members of minority racial/cultural groups, the accommodation they must make to group dynamics is classed as discrimination. Other members of the work/social group (say white men) are merely being exposed to group dynamics.
It seems to me that a fundamental principle of 'wokeism' is to take a natural feature of social life and demonise it where it applies to select, usually minority, groups. This keeps a lot of people in highly paid jobs in the 'WOKE' and 'POLITICALLY CORRECT' industries.
The organisation who 'produced' this report, the Diversity Council Australia (DCA)1*, is a 'not-for-profit' and a 'registered charity'. I would wager though, that the people operating the organisation do not do so on a voluntary basis.2* I'm sure there is a dedicated team of high-fliers drawing executive salaries. And the continued existence of their organisation is dependent on the persistence of discrimination and exclusion. Little wonder they find it everywhere.
'Code-switching ... is common in Australian workplaces,' they say. I agree with them. In fact we all do it. It is called 'group participation': we put our differences to one side and work together.
There is a massive industry built around discrimination, and they find it everywhere. As Konstantin Kossin says: 'It's like when you buy a new car. You see that car everywhere else as you drive around.' (YouTube) They are never about to admit the war has been won. Then they'd be out of a job.
Footnote 1: I went to the Diversity Council Australia website (link), hoping to download a copy of this report. To do so, however, you must be a subscribing organisation and the minimum subscription is $1,830.00. But I suspect the findings are based on a selected group of individuals, similar to the Australian Child Maltreatment Study(link).
Footnote 2: The 2015-2016 records held by The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission say Diversity Council Australia Limited had revenue of $2,032,130 and an 'emplyees expense' of $1,031,994.00 (link). The financial statements for 2021-2022, (link), show it had an income of $4,662,287 and an 'emplyees expense' of $2,702,196. The 2016 records also show it had 5 full-time employees, 5 part-time, 2 casuals and 12 volunteers. If you divide $1,031,994 by 8 say, you get an average salary of $129,000 in 2016. This includes casuals and part-timers. So what do the management staff of this not-for-profit take home 7 years later? Anybody's guess.
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ABC News 3rd April 2023: 4. Report on child maltreatment (TV news report)
The headline for this news segment was that '62% of Australians have been abused, neglected, or exposed to domestic violence during childhood.'
video transcript report download
The segment says that researchers surveyed 8,503 people who were aged over 15, and they found:
The stated findings are shocking, until you read the actual report:
The study does not reveal what the robo-call message was, nor does it say at what point in the over-the-phone interview process were the vast majority of participants eliminated, ruled ineligible, etc, nor what criteria were used to make this selection.
The most that could be reasonably taken from the study is that from a carefully selected group of 8,503 people, from a survey of 154,889 who say they are interested in child maltreatment (or indeed consider that they have been maltreated as a child), the claims of maltreatment in childhood by 62% of them, came up to the official description of child abuse.
The percentages given at the start of the segment may be true of 8,503 people, carefully selected from a test sample of 404,180 people, but to 'suggest' that they may have some relevance to the entire Australian population is pure sensationalistic garbage. Further, that they can be taken seriously by the Attorney General and the National Children's Commissioner (annual salary 300K+) is a worry for all taxpayers.
The arithmetic that the study leaves out is:
So the ABC headline (to be accurate), should have read:
'1.3% of Australians have been abused, neglected, or exposed to domestic violence during childhood.'
UPDATES
19th April (follow-up report): In answer to Peter Dutton's call for a royal commission into indigenous child sexual abuse, Anne Hollonds calls for an overarching national strategy for child wellbeing, citing the 'Child Maltreatment Study figures in support'.
3rd August 2023: In a report on the arrest in Australia of a major pedaphile, (a shocking case), the National Children's Commissioner, Anne Hollonds, appears on camera and quotes the figures from this report as 'fact':
Hollonds: 'The Australian Child Maltreatment Study shows that 62% of Australians have suffered one or more types of child maltreatment and nearly 30% of them suffered child sexual abuse.' (video)
21st October 2023: An article by Laura Tingel published by ABC News and the Financial review refers to the 62% as substantiated by 35 carers and experts:
"A group of 35 care providers and experts released a statement which noted that the latest Australian Child Maltreatment Study revealed the majority of Australians (62 per cent) have experienced at least one type of child abuse or neglect and that 'child abuse is far too prevalent in Australia, full stop'". (online)
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ABC News: 5. Deaf Australians and those with disabilities push to end exclusion from juries ABC News (article)
ABC News 8th April 2023.
This ABC News article tells of the struggle of a deaf man, whose main language is Auslan, to be allowed to serve on juries in Victroria. The thrust of his argument is that he could fulfill his duties as a juror with the help of an Auslan interpreter.
The man's case, and the article, presume that the communication of meaning that takes place when someone testifies in a court room is no more than the words uttered—which could be adequately conveyed by those words being typed up in a transcript or conveyed via sign language by an Auslan interpreter.
It totally ignores the contribution of voice tone, infelection, resonance and a host of other qualities that contribute to communication when we speak.
A deaf person may observe the physical demeanour and gestures of a witness, but he would have no reliable perception of the subtlties of tone that contribute to a witness sounding convincing and truthful or unreliable or uncertain.
This is political correctness gone mad. It is akin to the notion that quadraplegic people should be given the opportunity to become lifeguards or blind people becoming curators of art galleries.
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6. John Anderson explains his opposition to the Aboriginal voice to Parliament referendum
ABC Afternoon Briefing 02/04/2023.
Reporter Matthew Doran interviews John Anderson, a committee member of the 'Recognise a Better Way' group, which is campaigning for a 'no' vote at the upcoming referendum for enshrining an Aboriginal voice to parliament in the Australian constitution. (article)
Anderson's puts his group's opinions clearly:
The interviewer, Matthew Doran, reveals a fundamental feature of the ABC's massive campaign to promote a 'yes' vote at the referendum. As the ABC's chief Canberra reporter, he thought the meeting in Tamworth (Friday 31st March 2023) was the launch of the 'Recognise a Better Way' group 'no' campaign. Anderson points out that the launch happened some time previously, (20th January). As a follower of ABC news I did not hear about the launch, and the coverage by the ABC was so minimal, that even one of its own lead reporters had not heard of it.
If you do a Google search, you can find an article by ABC News on the launch, but it didn't appear in the email ABC News feed I use, and certainly was not mentioned on ABC TV. Perhaps there was a brief snippet that I missed. But it certainly was not repeated endlessly throughout the day as are the segments promoting the 'yes' vote.
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7. What 11 First Nations politicians think about a Voice to Parliament (article)
1st May 2023, ABC News:
1st May 2023: We are in the midst of a discussion about the proposition to enshrine an Aboriginal voice to (federal) parliament in the Australian constitution.
This ABC article purports to be asking the eleven federal members of parliament, who claim Aboriginal heritage, their views on the issue. The headline reads:
Here's what they think of a Voice to Parliament.
You can read the views expressed via the above link. However, there is a fundamental confusion inherent in the question that is being asked.
There are in fact four distinct questions being discussed in the current debate, but the terms referring to them are continually being confused and concatenated:
These are the questions, yet the ABC, and all the parliamentarians interviewed are content to use the ambiguous term 'Voice to Parliament'.
Without declaring terms and using them consistently, all discussion is utterly useless and misleading. The current state of confusion, failure to properly define and name questions, rampant name calling and personal abuse, 'blaming' and claiming 'victimhood', cannot, in any sense, be called a sensible discussion.
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8. Cost of living crisis impacting period product access (ABC News item)
26th May 2023, ABC News:
"The rising cost of living is seeing more women and girls finding it difficult to pay for period products, research from 'Plan International' says. 6 in 10 gen 'z' and millenium women are struggling to afford menstral health products. There are calls for more to be done to improve access."
The CEO of 'Plan International' Susanne Legena, says: "its a cost women can't escape."
Susanne Legena: "Its a real thing. Menstruating every month you need to purchase or use sanitary products and the pain that often comes along with having your period... And that's a real cost that you have to bear every month and its having a real impact on girls worldwide."
Note: 'Plan International' is a charity working to improve the lives of women and girls worldwide.
A simple Google search reveals that the ABC has been running news items about the cost of women's sanitary products for years.(Link) (Screenshot)
I wonder if there is a charity working to improve the lives of men and boys worldwide? Women's periods are only once a month. Men have to shave every day — and razors aren't cheap. How about the Government subsidising men's razors.
Ms Legina says that women need to purchase sanitary products every month. But in my day, women used sanitary towels (elongated rectangular pieces of towling). They could be soaked in cold water and washed every month. No waste. A dozen small towels could last a woman 10 to 20 years. Totally biodegradable!
But why stop at sanitary products? Men like women to look beautiful, so women have to buy make-up and beauty aids. Why not remove GST from make-up and other beauty products, skin peels, botox injections, breast implants etc. Of course shoes and handbags. Handbags should be on the PBS!
ABC, give us a break from your one-sided feminist propoganda. Or at least balance your coverage by including the disadvantages and problems that men are confronted with, not once a month, but daily.
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9. CoreLogic Report: Women & Property (ABC News item)
8th March 2023
On International Women's Day 2023, ABC ran a segment several times throughout the day concerning a report by CoreLogic, entitled 'Women & Property: One Year On'. (online) (local copy) The message being presented was that in Australia, men own more real estate than women, and because of the 'gender pay gap' 'men can save for a 20% home deposit a year earlier (on average) than women.'
The term used was 'dwelling ownership', and the figures from the report were correctly given, from the perspective of having names on the deeds of property: Property ownership: men: 29.9%; women: 26.6%. It is only when you actually read the Corelogic report that the limitations of these figures are revealed.
Only names on title deeds were considered, and this information was not compared to the electoral rolls. So, who was actually living in the properties (dwelling) and exercising the 'effective benefit of ownership' is an open question.
If you consider the facts that couples often buy a property together in the early years of the relationship whilst the female partner is not working whilst having children, then it is natural that the working partner may be the sole name on the deed to the property, (mortgage issues etc.), and the fact that after divorce, it is usual for the female partner to retain residency of the house and custody of the children. Note: there are over 56,000 divorces in Australia each year. Further, on the break-up of a relationship, division of property is the rule, regardless of whose name is on the deed to the marital home.
The report also notes that women tend to out number men as having their names on title deeds in the more affluent areas of Australia. So if you consider that the average price of a house in the suburb of Vaucluse, in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs, is $8,375,000 and the average price of a house in a large regional centre, say Dubbo, is $540,000, then one woman owning a house in Vaucluse, (where female owners predominate), would be balanced by a man owning 15.5 houses in Dubbo (where male owners predominate). But the study doesn't take this into account — it compares names on deeds without considering the values of the properties.
So, men owning (having their names on deeds) at 29.9%, compared to women (having their names on deeds) at 26.6%, ceases to have any verifyable meaning as far as wealth in property. In fact, on the figures contained in the CoreLogic report, it is much more likely that women have title to a much larger dollar amount of property value than men. And the ABC saying, repeatedly, that men 'own' more property in Australia than women, is just a blatant lie. Don't they bother to read the reports they publicise?
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10. 2022 Population Report (ABC News item)
6th January 2023
ABC News announced the release of the '2022 Population Statement' from the Federal Government's Centre for Polulation. (website — pdf) The announcer, Miriam Corowa, introduced the segment saying:
'The 2022 Population report has been released in full, predicting how the country's demographics will shift over the next decade.
'The population won't fully recover from the pandemic for at least another 10 years, leading to a country that is older and smaller.'
The introduction says that the population is getting smaller, however, the detailed explanation given by the reporter, Dana Morse, says that the population is on track to reach 29.9 million by 2032.
So, what the report really says is that the rate of population growth has been slowed by the Covid pandemic. We're not getting smaller, just growing more slowly than projected.
Successive Federal Governments in Australia have maintained a fundamental policy of continual population growth through immigration, and the ABC is accepting this fundamental as unquestionable, even to the point of referring to 'predicted population growth' as 'no growth at all', and labelling any downward deviation from predicted growth as getting 'smaller'.
The ABC's code of practice obliges the ABC to not 'knowlingly exclude' any 'significant strand of thought or belief within the community.' (Link) And I know of at least two Australian political parties who are opposed to the policy of continual population growth:
1. One Nation has a policy of zero net immigration. (Link)
2. Sustainable Australia has a policy of 70,000 immigrants per year, so as to maintain a stable population number. (Link)
One Nation received 4.29% of the national Senate vote in 2022 and Sustainable Australia 0.52%. That is 4.81% of voters — 722,925 people — expressing the opinion that the population should not be made to grow at all (Link).
Why didn't the ABC seek a comment on the report from a representative of either of these two political parties? Isn't 722,925 people significant?
This illustrates how the ABC does not publicise any opinion that goes contrary to fundamental Government policies — I think perhaps they are frightened that if they do their funding will be cut. They 'cancel' divergent views, and are thus, effectively, a propoganda arm of the Government.
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13th June 2023
11. ABC News Report on UN Gender Bias Survey
(ABC article) (local copy) (TV item transcript)
This ABC News report is headed:
'UN Development program survey shows biases against women haven't improved over the last decade and gender inequality is stagnant.'
This is pretty shocking stuff. We all immediately think: 'Shame on Australia. Shame on Australian males.'
However, as the interview with a UNSW professor continues, we learn that the survey was conducted over 120 countries, and that in the list of the least gender biased countries, Australia is up there with the leaders, New Zealand and Sweden.
Throughout the interview, the distinction between what is happening in Australia and what is the average over 120 countries surveyed, is not defined at all. You have to download the report and really search to find any significant Australian specific data. (report download)
The TV report only vaguely mentions that the biased views are not just the views of men but women as well. Though no proportional figures are given.
The report comes with various supporting documents (link page), and the list of countries ranked in order is in a Microsoft 'Excel' document that I have not been able to open. (copy)
But they tell us Australia is right up there with the leaders. Why doesn't the headline read:
'Australia is one of least gender-biased nations in the world.'
I think it is obvious that that the ABC saw this report as a chance to spread male hate content, even though it had to totally misrepresent the data contained in it.
The report is full of masses of densely packed pages of numbers, and it is difficult to extract anything of relevance to Australia. However, one graph (shown following), shows that of the 120 countries surveyed over the past 10 years, Australia ranked 6th in the percentage increase of people with 'no bias in gender social norms' (9.5% increase). And I believe we were already coming from a fairly advanced position.
27th June 2023
12. Victorian police using racial profiling.
ABC News reports that a new report prepared by Inner Melbourne Community Legal (a not-for-profit legal aid agency), has found after analysing Victorian police COVID fines data, that:
'The Victorian Police force is using racial profiling. African and Middle Eastern people were four times more likely to receive a COVID fine than their proportion in the population would predict, and First Nations people two and a half times as likely.'
It looks like a clear-cut case of racial profiling — until you examine the actual report.
article online
report download
article-copy
In a throw-0away sentence, the report acknowledges that it didn't look at whether or not there was higher rates of offending amongst minority racial groups, but claims 'most people breached the public health orders at some time, but they didn't all get fined.'
There was also 25% of cases that did not have any racial description included (Victorian police are allowed to include racial identification). But by a sophisticated, (read 'unfathomable'), random statistical package, this 25% was aportioned amongst the various racial groups. (download)
The notion that the police did not feel the need to record racial appearance because the person was a white caucasian was not entertained. Also, no consideration was given to fluency in English.
My experience of the COVID lock-down was that the rules were changing on a daily basis. And even with a good command of English and watching TV news frequently throughout the day, I was confused about what was allowed and what wasn't. Imagine the situation of a person with poor literacy or little English — of course they were more likely to break the rules.
The report also fails to consider the cultural practices of the various racial groups. From my observations Middle-Eastern, African & Aboriginal people tend to congregate in groups (often in public places) more than European white people. So of course, they would be more likely to contravent covid rules.
The organisation that produced the report is also not examined at all in the ABC report. They are a group of legal professionals who make a living from fighting injustice and supporting the weak and vulnerable. They have plenty of incentive to be 'discovering' rampant racism.
There may be some substance to the findings of the report, but unfortunately, the methods and attitude, (and slippery statistical analysis,) undermines any credibility it may command.
This ABC item, with its scant attention to the actual substance and methods of the report, seems to be yet another ABC beat-up, furthering the woke narrative that Australia is an extremely racist nation.
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13. Fertility struggles can be costly and time consuming. Living with a disability can make them even harder
An ABC News article and TV news segment shown on 13th July 2023.
It features a woman with brittle bone disease (a cruel and debilitating genetic disease), who wants to have a baby by IVF. Because of her condition she can't work and lives on the invalid pension. She knows that if she has a child, it will probably have the debilitating and excruciatingly painful condition that she has, but pleads that she will be a good parent, and it is her human right to have a child.
online news article local copy
The article appeals to the emotions of readers: why should a person with a genetic disorder not receive government funding for IVF. It is her right to have a child!
The article is a good example of 'gatekeeping' in logic/ethics. (Where an argument is constructed within a highly restricted set of relevant factors.)
If you only consider modern ideas of anti-discrimination, the article's argument is compelling. However, several major considerations have been excluded from consideration — by the 'gatekeeper'.
Firstly, the article assumes (states without explanation) that every person has a human right to have children — a 'child'. This however, is not what Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights says:
Article 16: 1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family...(link)
The 'right' exists for married couples and the limitation of genetic abnormality is not considered.
Secondly, the rights of the (potential) unborn child are excluded from the argument. If you admit modern notions of child maltreatment and abuse into the logic, you find a woman who intends to produce a child who is 50% likely (link) to have a life of constant pain and disability. Surely this is child abuse.
Say you look at the woman's life situation. She has never worked. She cannot, because of her debilitating condition. She exists on the invalid pension and there is every liklihood her child will be dependent on the invalid pension for life.
I am not saying she should not have a child, but the notion that a Government should financially subsidise her efforts to do so, seems to go against common sense.
This is another example of the ABC beating the 'discrimination drum'.
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14. The 'No' case is 'downward envy'
This is a copy of an ABC News article of 15th July 2023. Written by Laura Tingle it claims to be an 'analysis' but is in fact an 'opinion' piece.
online article Local copy Critique
The logic of the piece is basically ad hominem, (vilification of 'No' case proponents), false analogy, (likening the 'No' campaign to the Robodebt scandal), and appeal to authority, (Laura Tingle says the claims are false, so they are). Apart from the 'mud slinging' there is no real argument in the piece.
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15. Aboriginal corporation demands a $2.5million payment to approve vital native tree and shrub plantings on the banks of Perth's Canning River.
This article appeared on 18th July 2023, and featured on a host of news outlets. (See Google search page: link) However, it didn't rate a mention on ABC News outlets.
The agenda of a news outlet is often made explicit by the news items it chooses not to publish. In this case, an occurrence that shows what unconstrained power in the hands of an Aboriginal organisation can lead to.
It is significant that the ABC chose not to run this story on the same day that the official 'Yes' and 'No' information leaflet for the referendum for enshrining an Aboriginal voice in the Constitution was released. Perhaps they thought it would muddy the waters.
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16. Former director and chairman of the ABC calls for a Royal Commission into ABC bias.
17th August 2023
In a 'Paul Murray Live' segment on Sky News (YouTube), Murray interviews Maurice Newman, former chairman of the ABC. They discuss a recent report from the ABC Ombudsman, Fiona Cameron, and Newman calls for a royal commission into the continuing bias and misleading reporting on the ABC.
Maurice Newman was director of the ABC from 2000 to 2004 and Chairman of the ABC for 5 years from January 2007 to March 2012.
Someone of Newman's stature and experience calling for a Royal Commission is, I would have thought, a newsworthy item. However, it has not been reported or mentioned at all on ABC TV.
This is a blatant example of 'cancelling.
* * * * * * *
17. ABC News, SBS News & Reuters on supermarket profits.
23rd August 2023
ABC and SBS have been running news stories reporting on the latest profits of the big supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, whilst highlighting the spiraling prices of basic food items. ABC TV News even went as far as to suggest 'price gouging'.
The headlines convey the clear message that consumers are being ripped off.
SBS: 'Here's how Australian supermarkets are making millions during the cost of living crisis'
ABC: 'Dairy, frozen and tinned food costs rise as Coles announces full-year profit'
But what do the figures really mean?
The inflation rate for 2022-2023 was 8%. (Link)
So, what you could buy for a dollar in July 2022 requires $1.08 to buy in July 2023. The dollar is not worth as much.
So, if you apply this fact to the Coles 2023 profit of $1.1 billion (actually $1.098 billion — Link), the rule is to divide the number of 2023 dollars by 1.08 to derive its equivalent worth in 2022 dollars.
$1,098,000,000 ÷ 1.08 = 1,016,666,667 = c. 1.017 billion.
Coles profit in 2022 was 1,048,000,000. c. 1.048 billion.(Link)
So Coles profit for 2023 was actually $31,333,333 less (in real terms), than it's 2022 profit — down 3.82%. So what the ABC & SBS reported as a 4.8% increase in net profits, was actually a fall of 3.82% in real terms.
I found an article at Reuters, (Link), that correctly calls the result a 'profit dip'. But it seems the ABC and SBS couldn't let arithmetic get in the way of a chance to run a 'big-business-bashing' story.
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18. Balmoral Beach Aboriginal land claim: Chunk of 'prestigious' and affluent Sydney suburb worth $100m is claimed by an Indigenous group
'Daily Mail Australia' article of 6th September 2023.
Mosman council has voted to oppose a native title claim over a bush reserve adjacent to popular Balmoral Beach. Interestingly, the article reveals there are some 3,000 Native Title claims for land in Sydney, and 40,000 in New South Wales awaiting assessment.
Of further interest is that the responsible NSW government departments forbade any publicity or public notification of the matter, insisting it remained 'classified' up until about 30 minutes before the council meeting, and, although I have searched, I have found no mention of this item on any ABC news outlet.
One can only wonder that the 'secrecy' has been imposed so as not to tarnish the glow of the 'Yes' campaign for a constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal voice to parliament.
* * * * * * *
19. Report finds 78% of Australians support warning labels on alcohol
ABC News item: 20th October 2023.
The ABC News reported that 'Australians overwhelmingly support' a plan to introduce health warnings on wine bottles and beer cans.
They are referring to a report released by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, which is a not-for-profit enterprise.
The ABC wrongly reports that 'this survey of more then 1,000 people was conducted by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education.' ('fare') Whilst the report was prepared by 'fare', it is based on a survey they commissioned from 'Pure Profile', an on-line survey company that pays people to complete on-line surveys. (company site) (However, reading reviews from participants you get the idea receiving actual payment can be difficult.) (link) (link)
The company by-line of 'first-party data with cutting-edge technology to power businesses into the future' indicates that their income stream comes from supplying data to businesses. An interesting insight into their methods is given from paidforsurveys.com.
Once someone signs up to do surveys (for money) they routinely are asked to update their 'profile' with numerous details of their life, and I presume preferences. This is where perhaps, the 'cutting-edge technology' kicks in. Because participants can only participate in a survey they choose from a list of surveys that they are offered. So there seems to have been a selection filter applied before a particular person is offered to participate in a particular survey.
The 'Report' released by 'FARE' makes no mention of a selection process. It just says that they 'commissioned Pure Profile to conduct polling of Australians.'
When you hear the word 'poll' you automatically think of people being stopped on the street and asked questions. But no! Pure Profile selects 1,000 people from their subscribers by an algorythm that isn't stated. Also the actual request given to Pure Profile is not stated. All their report reveals is that they instructed Pure Profile to 'ask Australians about their support for health warnings on alcoholic products.' (Perish the thought that they indicated any preference for what the survey would conclude.)
Considering the organisations involved, the methodoligies and the unstated factors, the ABC's lead statement that 'Australians overwhelmingly support a plan to introduce health warnings on wine bottles and beer cans' starts to look like blatant misinformation.
Note: The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education has a board of 9 members (3 men and 6 women) and a team of 25 workers (3 are men and 22 are women). The CEO and all 4 team leaders are women.
As of July 2023, of the ABC’s total 4,419 employees, 55.4% were female, 44.1% male, and 0.5% gender diverse. link (59 % of the editorial staff (journalists and producers) were women. link)
It seems the female ethic is not just to report the news, but to write it as well.
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20. ABC 7:30 Louise Adler on the suppression of criticism of Israel
ABC 7:30 Report: 4th December 2023.
I was surprised to see this interview on the ABC 7:30 program.
Since the commencement of the current Gaza war the ABC has been careful to give coverage to both the Palestinian and Israeli points of view, even going to the length of trivialising the numbers of people attending the pro-Palestinian demonstrations and neglecting to quote numbers at pro-Israeli rallies e.g. a reporter standing with a background of thousands of protesters at a pro-Palestinian rally in Melbourne, describing the numbers as 'several hundred.'
Ms Adler, a prominent publisher of Jewish heritage, describes the barrage of harrasement, complaints and financial threats she has endured because she chose to give a voice to Palestinian writers at the Adelaide writers' festival.
One of the main points she makes is that there has been a concerted effort made by the Jewish lobby to label any criticism of Israel as anti-semitism — effectively shutting down any discussion of the issues.
It is only a short interview and worth a watch (or read the transcript).
Interestingly, the interview was not picked up as a segment by the broader ABC News programs, and an SBS News article, (link), mainly discusses the notion of artists having the right to express their opinions about current events, and the statement about criticism of Israel being labelled 'anti-semitic' is softened to 'any criticism of Israel is intolerable and inappropriate.'
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SBS News: Yes or No? Here are the key arguments for and against the Voice (article)
13th June 2023 by Finn McHugh.
This SBS News article is typical of the confused, virtue signalling of 'Yes' campaign material. It purports to list the arguments for 'Yes' and for 'No'. But what arguments it does mention, it waters down or confuses and leaves out the arguments that are most compelling for the 'No' case.
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1. Two Google searchs on the key word 'pride'.
Date: 18th March 2023
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The first, for 'aboriginal pride': |
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The second for 'caucasian pride':
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| Two Google searchs for the key word 'pride'. | |
| The first, for 'aboriginal pride': | The second for 'caucasian pride': |
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What's going on here? If you are 'proud' to be Aboriginal you are celebrating your racial heritage, but if you are 'proud' to be a caucasian you are a white supremacist.
