Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Favourite Reading of Fairfax's Younger Set

TO THE extent one wonders about the private lives of tape worms, the office politics within the fetid bowels of Fairfax Media newsrooms have been a subject of interest. To the casual reader -- this one, anyway -- it had long seemed the organisation was allowing its editorial direction to be set by  children while weary and resigned adults looked to their super funds and mortgages and kept mouths shut. Surely they realised the likes of Adam Morton, Ben Cubby, Melissa Fyfe and, before an even bigger idiot at News Ltd poached her, blonde economics writer Jessica Irvine, were advertisements for the decline of the Silly and Phage brands, not to mention their disdain for balanced reporting?

In the light of today's post-Slipper coverage of matters and memes political, that gulf between Fairfax kiddies and grown-ups has been charted for all to see. On the one hand, Mark Baker finally notices that Bruce Wilson was a crook, Julia Gillard did his legal work, and that she answered none of the most relevant questions at her much-lauded press conference, despite what his lickspittle colleagues instantly concluded. What a positive development, you might think, but only until only you notice that the online Age's cyber dude young 'uns are simultaneously pushing the line that Gillard's shrieking bitchery in Question Time was the strongest demonstration of feminine resolve since Judith lopped the head off Holofernes.



A chief source of this view, quoted with approval in the Age and cited in its online headline, is a site called Jezebel, where author Tracie Egan Morissey becomes quite animated in her admiration for Gillard.

And what sort of a site is Jezebel?

Well, in addition to perceiving merit and majesty in The Lodge's resident trollop, Jezebel is also keen to advance consideration of such weighty matters as Sexytime Dilemmas: Facials, Masturbation and Butt Fingering.

One day soon, when Fairfax has a new owner, he or she would be well advised to place a block on the sites younger staff members seem inclined to crawl. And then it would be a good idea to put an adult or two in charge, if only to stop the children playing stiny pinky.

UPDATE: Investors, other than those into geothermal, are a bit sharper than the pre-adolescents who giggle in Fairfax's romper room. As of not so long ago, FXJ had broken through the 40 cent barrier.


Can't be long now before Gina or Ron or Kerry or the Grim Reaper comes calling.

UPDATE II: Larry Pickering muses on why, after so very long, Fairfax, er, extracts the digit and notices our PM set up a slush-fund-piggy-bank for her crooked beau.

UPDATE III: Commenter Tom, who seems to know a thing or two about the newspaper business, writes:
If you've looked at what has happened since Mark Baker's piece was published this morning, there appears to be a civil war underway at The Age. Baker's piece has now been buried and the website has been dominated by a pop culture-type roundup of world media coverage of the Slipper issue ("Julia 'Baddass' Gillard"). In other words, it's a battle between the Old Guard journalists represented by Baker and the underage Occupy activists barracking for Gillard, the far left, the Greens and their government. It's a totally irrational frenzy and indicates just how distraught they are that "their" government will soon be gone. The Age and Fairfax will be gone with it, leaving hopefully a reconstituted company with professional staff to clean up the mess left by these hippie children. Blame it on the ludicrous "Charter of Editorial Independence" which has allowed the staff to behave like irresponsible delinquents.
And yes, Tom is correct. The Baker article has suddenly become very hard to find.


21 comments:

  1. If you've looked at what has happened since Mark Baker's piece was published this morning, there appears to be a civil war underway at The Age. Baker's piece has now been buried and the website has been dominated by a pop culture-type roundup of world media coverage of the Slipper issue ("Julia 'Baddass' Gillard"). In other words, it's a battle between the Old Guard journalists represented by Baker and the underage Occupy activists barracking for Gillard, the far left, the Greens and their government. It's a totally irrational frenzy and indicates just how distraught they are that "their" government will soon be gone. The Age and Fairfax will be gone with it, leaving hopefully a reconstituted company with professional staff to clean up the mess left by these hippie children. Blame it on the ludicrous "Charter of Editorial Independence" which has allowed the staff to behave like irresponsible delinquents.

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  2. Prof you have a fine way with words. Good Lord, stinky pinky has kept me smiling all day!

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  3. The Age report is of considerable potential significance as to how politics will play out compared to the 1970s style feminist raving of Gillard and the Emily Listers. Larry postulates a theory to explain Mark Baker's piece. Can it be extended a bit?, viz., that the Old Guard are signalling to the new owners (Gina et al) that there are those in Fairfax prepared to engage in old-fashioned journalism and report stories of considerable public interest?

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  4. Pickering may himself well be right. The article's been written (or at least attributed to) the Editor-At-Large, no less. It contains little (or no) new information we hadn't already been able to read elsewhere. It's been published on page 1, but apparently down the page and on the side. They knew it was going to be swamped by the Slipper affair today, so could publish without stirring new controversy.
    Larry's interpretation is that they know more is coming, and want to be able to say "yes, of course, we've published this story before. We hadn't run dead on it. Here it is on page 1 on 10 October, 2012".

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    Replies
    1. Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.October 12, 2012 at 2:15 PM

      Yes, the certainly slipped this one in under cover of another very slippery sort of darkness.

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  5. Interesting photo of the PM's ex beau in the article. Notice the eyes. In another life if he looked like that while driving a car it would be, "Hello sunshine, just blow into the mouthpiece until I tell you to stop"

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  6. "Misogyny" is one of the great evils of our age ... apparently. Along with being "sexist", of course. And let us not forget the great general crime of being "Inappropriate".

    So of course Tony Abbott is a sexist misogynist - and an inappropriate sexist misogynist at that.

    Which causes one to wonder - if a woman-hater is a misogynist - what is a man-hater? ANS: God bless Google and the internet - a man-hater is a "Misandrist" - not a word used often by the fashionable and the appropriate.

    Which is a pity - if I have ever seen a full-blown set of Misandrists before - it would have to be the collective leading ladies of the Labour government, all of them snarling and growling and baring their fangs like veritable pit-bull whenever confronted by the visage of one man in particular - Tony Abbott.

    Yes - take your pick - Roxon, Wong and Plibersek et al can, I think, be accurately described as Misandrists one and all. They hate men with a passion.

    Hate. A strong word for strong women.

    But not Julia Gillard. Oh no - definitely not. She could never be classified as a Misandrist. The cup of her love for all men runneth over in spades!

    Just ask Dr Emerson or Bruce Wilson.

    Or their wives.

    Gobsmacked of Gippsland

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  7. Professor you are obviously intelligent - but your blog is a yapping dog of self-righteousness and misrepresentation. You obviously have some sort of personal thing happening with The Age and Fairfax thus you vent long and you vent hard. Now it's youth you are attacking. Frankly you sound like an old fuddy duddy from the 1950s, as does your old fashioned choice of language when describing - well, anything that you don't like or with which you disagree.

    Some of your arguments are well founded - there is no doubt about that. The aboriginality, and government arts grants issues certainly have some merit. You seem to be saying - well, Professor, exactly what are you saying? You see, in all the rhetorical outrage, you key arguments disolved like aspirins in water.

    It was difficult for the reader to discern if you were critical of the quality of the art that was receiving funding? Or that in order to be 'aboriginal' then black skin is the foremost pre-requisite? The difficulty with the former argument is that
    "art" is, and always has been subjective. History illustrates this most efficiently.
    The flaw in the latter argument is that genetics is a complex science. There have been instances of twins being born with different skin colors. Thus skin color alone is not helpful in determining whether one is aboriginal or otherwise. What would be helpful would be a governmental policy percentage test supported by proof - as one might do to prove one has English or Irish grandparents. That is to say that one might be eligible to apply for one of the grants if one is 1/8 or 1/16 aboriginal and can proof it. You and others are correct in saying it is simply not good enough to say "I am aboriginal" not in this day and age.

    Professor I beg of you to show your hand in simple language. Tell us what you think and why? Tell us who you admire and why? Tell us who should be entitled to receive a grant of funding and why?

    Finally, your criticism of the PM would be taken more seriously if you did not resort to phrases such as fishwife and shrew. Such words are gender specific words and have no place in "balanced reporting", to use your own words. Are there any politicians you do like? If so, who are they?

    Others who have written on your blog have suggested that you enter politics - have you thought about this?

    ps My family and I read Quadrant and followed the link to you.



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    1. Good lord, Leslester! The Prof is a purveyor of satire. He therefore has to be funny in making serious points. Politics would require him to be serious, and we would all stop reading him. All politicians should have the piss taken out of them - it's the foundation of liberal society and the protection against autocracy in all its forms.

      Don't like him? Stick with Fairfacts.

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    2. Think of the blogosphere as a kind of smorgasbord of opinion. If you don't like one offering you leave it be and select elsewhere. You don't ask the chef to change the plate, especially when other people quite enjoy what is on it.

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    3. Clearly Bunyip's intellect is lost on you.

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    4. Leslie, the Professor may well be from the fifties, which is why he is able to show you up as a fool without even doing anything. Follow the link back to quadrant. Ageist.

      Jeff

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    5. The Jesters dance whilst the King remains silent.

      Come Sir, show you hand!

      Satire can be very clever as some of Professor Bunyip's postings demonstrate. It is the over-use of the "dated" phrases that detract from the quality.

      A thought. Perhaps the Professor is a woman trying to compensate her lack of genuine masculine knowledge - shall we call it "masculine intuition" by portraying the Professor Bunyip role as if written for Mad Men.

      Perhaps this blog should be called Professa Bunyipa.

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    6. Geez Les,"fishwife and shrew" are out? Well I suppose in the interests of accuracy she couldn't be called a "....wife" although given her impassioned defence of that self-trained marine biologist she seems to have a passing familiarity with seafood.Not wishing to commit an offence against PC niceties, such as being gender specific,could you suggest a suitable alternative for "slut" and "whore"?

      Delete
  8. The Jezebel truth antidote is Heartiste:

    http://heartiste.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/the-problem-with-single-women-having-the-vote/

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  9. This one was a mystery to me too.
    I interpreted it as a Pravda moment where the demise of the Supreme Leader has not yet been formally announced, now has the successor been named.
    I took it to mean that the backgrounding had been done that Gillard had been issued the ultimatum about an orderly hand-over, probably over Christmas.
    Fewfacts Meeja was merely observing the time-honoured tradition of "the Queen is dead, long live the King"

    the Irish Lion

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  10. Thank you Tom,that explains a lot. Appreciate your insight.

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  11. "other than geothermal", well yes I'll bite.

    Tim Flannery convinced the Rudd government to part with $90M of our funds to prop up Geothermal under the company Geodynamics

    http://www.geodynamics.com.au/irm/content/shareholder_sharepriceinfo.html please put in 10 years, Go on the chart and feast your eyes on that!

    That's epic mateship, winner picking, goodies for mates stuff - have a look around the site, see how much stock options are worth that were given to staff, how much the company's own super fund is one of the biggest shareholders.

    As it has dived from the dizzy heights of around $2.05 to a mere 12c today (Fairfaxish you might say)

    I believe the government put more in than that - see the spikes under the chart as freeloaders pied on as Timmy got government largess involved .. parasites.

    Well anyway, I wonder if the directors got their dough out as it is a dead cat now.

    Sorry to digress, I just love well oiled scams involving the eco warriors who all claim skeptics are on the take.

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  12. Chris Kenny (@chriskkenny) tweets:

    Seems Gillard will lose Qld, NSW, WA SA, Victoria and Tas, but win Twitter. #auspol

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  13. Judging by the results of the recent state election, Gillard will probably get a thumping in NT too.

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  14. 1,170,000 results?!

    And to think that just a week ago that search probably would have come up empty. Let no one say that Mr McTernan is failing in his brief to increase Julia Gillard's internet presence.

    Keep up the good work, People Who Are Smarter Than Us™!

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