IT MUST have been chaos at the ABC yesterday as 7:30 prepared to go to air. They had a report ready and all set to go with the day before's talking points, the line that Tony Abbott incited the restaurant riot, when news reached them that a Gillard spinner had been caught out (and promptly thrown out).
What to do?
Well in quality-journalism ABC-style, the show began with a simple recitation of the press release announcing Tony Hodges' departure. He had contacted "a person", the talking head said, not bothering to wonder who that person might be, what he or she was told or why, per the PM's office, it was not a good thing to pass along information of the Opposition leader's itinerary. That box ticked, 7:30 went back to the original script.
The item can be found here. The Abbott smear comes at about the 2:20 mark
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Katharine Murphy in The Age:
ReplyDelete"The vision also captured a Prime Minister keeping her cool in the middle of sharply deteriorating circumstances, working her way through the options, mapping the entrances and exits; no hysterics, taking the inventory. (We all here? Good. Let's do this vaguely unpalatable thing then.)
"Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott sit with this person most parliamentary weeks, but the voters glimpse her rarely. She certainly exists, and if the voters saw her more consistently - the calm corporatist declining to succumb to procedural or practical adversity - they might cut her a break."
Oh puhlease ... 'cut her a break'? The only thing the voters want to cut is to cut her loose, over and out, and fast. She wasn't calmly looking for anything except opportunity, as always. With snake-eyes.
DeleteI realise I'm pointing out the bleeding obvious, but imagine if a similar event happened half a dozen years or so ago and it was a John Howard staffer who incited the race riot.
ReplyDeleteReaction at 7.30 would be somewhat different I'm willing to bet.
jupes