Saturday, October 6, 2012

Sign Up To Make Butch Pay!

THE MAN who no longer has a radio career lambasts one who does, prompting an ally of the rival who bested him to go nuclear by deploying the most feared and respected weapon in the entire arsenal of modern discourse, the online petition.

If you believe Fairfax Media is obliged to charge Butch Carlton a weekly sum in return for publishing his columns, seldom more than look-at-me advertorials, go here and add your signature(s) to the howling throng.

Another petition denouncing Alan Jones claims more than 100,000 signatures. So alert your friends via Facebook, Twitter and smoke signal. Tell them to vote early and often. And most of all, urge them to speak truth to a company that cannot quite remember what it is!

Now vote. One hundred thousand names should be an easy tally to top. Spread the word.

35 comments:

  1. I can never resist commenting on Carlton, especially if non-NSW readers might be reading and who might not know much about the man. How this person, for whom Private Eye might even have coined the phrase “Tired and Emotional”, still gets a write-up as a journalist in a non-comedy context amazes me. The puffery of the man is wondrous to behold and he has been the cause of so many ludicrous faux pas (thrown out here, banned from the air there) that there should have been a book about them if only a publisher thought it could ever get the money back.
    Once upon a time he did actually have the highest rated morning breakfast show in Sydney on 2GB, followed by John Laws. When Laws was snapped up by 2UE, Carlton claimed loudly that he was sick of “carrying” Laws for so long. Yes, you can guess what happened, Laws took the top-rating spot straight to 2UE and Carlton went to Sydney radio oblivion, so much so that he went to the UK where in a quicker time than you could say “Greg Norman” he picked up a plummy Pom accent. Carrying John Laws crashed his own ratings it seems. Tired out from the effort obviously. Shows you why he is into Jones though. I am not sure if it was before or after his failure there and at 2UE in Sydney when he came back, that this great campaigner for the boat people and against the evil coalition racists, had his tolerance for the outsider sorely tested. Very sympathetic to the underclass (as long as they were far away) he led a very public campaign to stop an outsider from using his beloved Avalon Beach – the filming of Baywatch just had to be stopped! Perhaps his spiritual home is “East” Balmain where the locals once proposed blocking the streets to outsiders a la Byron Bay.
    All this was mixed in with the usual slobbering over “The Wallabies” but unless one might think he had much actual knowledge about rugby union, a questioner quickly put that one back over his head when he couldn’t give a simple answer about the game at club level “I haven’t been keeping an eye on it lately” sort of stuff. Being one of the Nicole Kidman-types who go to the Swans games to be ‘seen’, his interest in rugby union seemed fleeting as well as thin. I suppose he could dye his hair blond again for something to do, but better that he be like his near-neighbour Bob Ellis and stick to telling the residents of the Sydney western suburbs how they should live their lives (ie not listen to Alan Jones).

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    1. I remember that headline. It went something like "I'm sick and tired of propping Laws ratings up." After which Carlton's ratings sank lower than ever. After he came back from the UK he seemed to try and pass himself off as a columnist of the ilk of "Private Eye." He never came close to that sort of satire. If you have read his St Jensen's newsletters that he puts in every time he wants to bash the Anglicans, you get some idea of his pretensions and lack of real, original wit.

      Still the the early to mid 80s he was a reasonably intelligent, funny and fair minded broadcaster. As he got older he got more aggressive, angry and unreasonable as well as swinging to the left (a Lindfield - later Northern beaches, Range Rover Driving Lefty - that is).

      Like his friend and imitator P. Fitzsimons he is dreadfully envious of Alan Jones' ratings success and barely a column goes by where he neglects to talk about him.

      Real deal

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    2. When they were both at 2UE he wasn't doing much "propping up" it was very much dragging down.The idiot did Breakfast and Laws followed with Mornings.Laws had ratings in the mid teens while the idiot struggled to even approach double figures,finally finishing up with about 6%. His program was of the ABC-Lite variety and attracted an audience that wasn't interested in Laws so at 9am they scuttled off back to 702 or 576 leaving Laws to build an audience from scratch,an impossibility when the competition at 2GB had Jones providing Hadley with a lead in audience of 15%+. Eventually Laws was dragged back to single figure ratings and finally gave it away.So much for "propping up".

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    3. The era of ‘carrying’ or ‘propping up’ John Laws is an earlier one than when Carlton was at 2UE after his London exile. The John Laws of the 80’s took whole stations to No 1 (as lead and powerful presenters still do these days – witness 2GB going from an also-ran to No 1 when Jones and Hadley went there in the 2000’s).
      Carlton was lead in breakfast when Laws was there and his stupid ego led him to think that he was the reason for the ratings. When a change of ownership in the station triggered a get-out clause for Laws and he was snapped up by 2UE, then the Carlton egomania got to work. It was quite funny that Laws went straight to No1 at 2UE after the move (and took 2UE with him) while Carlton learnt just who was ‘carrying’ who as his ratings dropped like a stone and England then beckoned – along with an appropriate accent to match.

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    4. I laughed when I read the post saying that Carlton was trying to ape Private Eye. It is the Carltons of this world that the Eye sends up mercilessly in their feature cartoon “It’s Grim Up North London”

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    5. I enjoyed that accurate account M Ryutin, especially the bit about "... the usual slobbering over “The Wallabies” but unless one might think he had much actual knowledge about rugby union, a questioner quickly put that one back over his head ..."

      That is so very true. He epitomised the new corporate supporters who arrived in droves (to be "seen" by their boss and clients) back when Australia was preparing for the World Cup here - all rugged up in gold scarves, earnestly discussing the importance of tight heads at the lineout and how much they had enjoyed "Marty Eller's" era of running rugby.

      I never ever saw him at a Club match - ever - and I attended plenty all over Sydney.

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  2. Professor, you know the Fairfax board is such a bunch of incompetents they might actually go for this. After all, their new readers - you know, the ones who replaced the wealthy AB demographic - are unemployed Occupy environmental activists and their CEO is a clueless dolt who's been telling them their sinecure has a glorious future when he has spent two years plotting its destruction. You see, it's all the internet's fault and there's nothing wrong with the product. It's just that no-one is reading it anyone.

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  3. Even 15 years ago Carleton could have retired to write a shitty book.

    A small nest-egg, retirement insurance that would have kept the heater on in his later years.
    It would have been woeful, of course. 2 or 3 celebrity anecdotes padded out to 15 dismal chapters, yet, with the help of any number of similarly (and rapidly) ageing, relevancy-deprived lefties, the gravy-train may have made a few more stops.

    Fellow travellers could have easily managed to squeeze some free publicity on his behalf.
    A Kerry O'brien or a Bob Ellis, or any other self-inflated poser familiar with both the taxpayer dollar and the loss of it; savvy enough to know that it would soon be their turn, prudenct enough to recognise that one's own back won't scratch itself.

    And there it would have ended well. A nice sign-on, and some guaranteed sales from a pre-internet public still gullible enough not to think to hard about the presence in the media of idiots like "Mike" Carleton, and their puzzling fortune.

    But now, alas, it is the age of the Kindle, the IPad and the downloadable tome. Where the value of a "Mike" Carleton memoir would be judged instantaneously in royalty increments of perhaps 10 cents per copy. Where the value of promoting "Mike's" memoirs would be coldly and ruthlessly calculated by corporate behemoths in the US, who would reasonably assess that yet another pile of self-congratulatory tosh from yet another name of no consequence is hardly worth any effort on their part.

    "Mike"'s little nest egg is no more; even he knows it would be the equivalent of a home movie posted on Youtube, likely to garnish 227 views even after he calls in whatever favours he has remaining.
    So for now he clings onto that Fairfax cheque, even as he sinks. But so long as he keeps those desperate, grubby fingers on his last regular payday, goddamit if he isn't going to lead from the front. And "Mike" will bare his ass and do whatever he's told, while Alan Jones-looking forward to another 15 years or so on top- strides on by.

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  4. The Old and Unimproved DaveOctober 7, 2012 at 8:07 AM

    "Facebook, Twitter and smoke signal"

    I tried smoke-signalling once with a pile of Sydney Morning Heralds, but no matter what your signal, all the smoke would spell out is "Julia rules! Tony sux!".

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  5. Carlton reminds me of Elliot Vereker, one of James Thurber's more endearing characters.

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  6. I'm number 76 (not 96).

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  7. Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.October 7, 2012 at 9:33 AM

    East Balmain residents should have to pay to get out, Prof. It's only fair to the rest of us. And tired old leftie opinions should be subject to an intellectual congestion tax when they hit the pixels or airwaves; their horse-and-carriage opinions load the avenues up with dung which gets in the way of better, fleeter and more agile minds.

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  8. Oh, I don't know, for all his Catholic bashing aside, he's not that different to most of the MSM right in this country.

    Left: "You're a Nazi!"

    Right: "No, you're a Nazi!"

    Left: "No, YOU'RE a Nazi!"

    Right: "No, YOU ARE THE NAZI!!!"

    etc ad infinitum

    Without Carlton the whole journalist political balance may well lose its equilibrium and come tottering down into something substantial. And we can't. have. that.

    A great idea for a gameshow/quizshow on the ABC would be "Who's the biggest Nazi?". Finally the ABC would be able to balance the left out with some faux right wingers, and they could all then have an up front and honest hashing out, in an interminable format, of just who is the most fascist of the lot.

    Much like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDHUhT71JN8

    It's a sure fire winner. Not for ratings, but it would keep Andrew Bolt and Tim Blair happy. Imagine those two up against Holmes and Carlton in a "Who's the biggest Nazi?" slugfest. Just the thought of it has me salivating for Sunday morning political shows.

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  9. If all of Mr Carleton's writings were stacked in a pile, how much patrol would have to be added to make it flammable?

    Cheers

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  10. Hey Prof, have you noticed how Change.org lets you go back and sign the petition again under a completely different name? This online activism is a doddle. I've signed your petition five times now.

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  11. The green monster seems to make Carlton bitchy enough to qualify as a honorary member of Gillard's handback hit squad.

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  12. Its been fun signing on to the petition. I have been Passionfruit Vine of Albania,Gobbledy Gook of Antigua and A pound of Sausages from Bangladesh.
    Do you think Sally McManus,staunch unionist and co founder of the infamous 100,000 plus Destroy the Joint petition has a position for me?

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  13. I'm tired. How many fake identities can one person have. The media advisors must be paid in cartons of Red Bull.

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  14. The other thing about Carlton and Jones is that when they were on rival staions Carlton was corrosively nasty to Jones always referring to him as "The Parrot". Low and behold in the late 90s when Carlton joined him at 2UE all of a sudden he was very respectful referring to him as "Alan" and sharing nice little bon mots. The when Jones joined 2GB Carlton was back to his nasty best with his invective to Jones.

    Carlton might earn just a little respect from me if he were in the least bit consistent. However for a few years he was simply a fawning simpering parasite off Jones ratings. He has spent the rest of his fading career as a journalist dining on ashes like his sorry red hanky-headed mate Fitzherbert (sic).

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    1. He was also fond of referring to him as Gloria but that faded when he dumped his long term missus and shacked-up with the bird from the ABC.I guess she might have pointed out to him that if he kept it up lots of PC luvvies might start thinking he was a homophobe.

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  15. Ah. Phew. I've managed to add two votes. It's not easy for a Liberal voter to take on multiple personalities and vote early and often as they do in Labor (sic). I managed Linda Lovelace "he's not deep enough for me" and Saloth Sar.Let's see how it goes.

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  16. I think prizes should be awarded for best comments, there are some beauties. Had a very good laugh today because of this petition. Laughed out loud when I espied the Wreck of the Hesperus had signed.

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  17. Butch Carlton is one thing, Jenna "Butch" Price another:

    Jenna Price, who set up the Facebook page Destroy the Joint welcomed the announcement by Macquarie Radio Network on that it was temporarily suspending all advertising on Alan Jones' 2GB breakfast show.

    "We are thrilled with the reaction, but you can't think that this is going to fix the problem," she told AAP on Sunday.

    "I'm not a person who wants to sack Alan Jones. I want to re-educate Alan Jones."


    (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/alan-jones-loses-his-merc/story-e6freuy9-1226489835280)

    Looking up this heroine of online activism, I find that she has a delightful scone, that not even her own children want to know:

    her children refuse to friend her on Facebook.

    (http://datasearch2.uts.edu.au/fass/staff/listing/details.cfm?StaffId=3935)

    As Lecturer, Social and Political Change Group, UTS, Mrs Price has relocated from the Darling Harbour Fairfax offices, to the Broadway campus (she even provides map co-ordinates to her room):

    Email: Jenna.Price@uts.edu.au
    Phone: +61 2 9514 1680
    Fax: +61 2 9514 2332
    Room: CB03.05.40 (map)
    Mailing address: PO Box 123, Broadway NSW 2007, Australia

    http://datasearch.uts.edu.au/about/mapsdirections/map.cfm?point=865

    I might just go and stage a one man picket line outside her office during lunch break. I urge all to join in, or at least email, or call her.

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  18. The geriatric loudmouth is brought down by a bunch of nerds. Priceless and poetic!

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    1. Nobody asked to hear about your day, you old fool.

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    2. "Now vote. One hundred thousand names should be an easy tally to top. Spread the word."
      How's the hundred thousand names going, Bunyip?
      Pathetic....

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  19. Wait a minute, Jenna Price is an employee of UTS lecturing in journalism, a political agitator organising a boycott of Alan Jones, and an opinion writer for the Canberra Times on the subject of...Alan Jones.


    The Canberra Times fails to disclose Mrs Price's non-biased background in her opinion piece:

    Near universally, Alan Jones has been abandoned and discredited for his sentiments and his attitude. He’s been on national television and apologised for his words and deeds and so should just be allowed to get on with it, no?

    Not exactly. He is continuing to be supported by the people who count – the people who employ him, who provide him with perks, who, directly or indirectly, fund his butler, his sometime chauffeur.



    http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/jones-supporters-where-are-you-20121001-26v1f.html

    In some ways you have to admire the likes of Mrs Price. Imagine having a well paid secure job at the public's expense from which you manipulate the minds of the young as to what is correct opinion (on which their future paid employment prospects hang), organise campaigns against fellow media personalities in order to have them "re-educated" (read, sacked), and get paid to present your opinion on the matter with no disclosure?

    Nice.

    I did it myself and I’m usually the kind of person who would just decide never to shop at Big W myself; or never to go to Harvey Norman; or never to fly Virgin.

    Sounds a tad disingenuous.

    On Saturday night, someone posted Jones’s comments. I was a little late to the party (too busy dancing on the grave of the Hawks) but I started tweeting everyone I knew. I posted a note on the Destroy the Joint Facebook page. I phoned and emailed everyone on my list.

    Oh, Mrs Price just "posted a note on the Destroy the Joint Facebook page", the very Facebook page she created:

    Jenna Price, who set up the Facebook page Destroy the Joint... (Source: Telegraph story above).

    And I was just one middle-aged mother of three sitting at home with her laptop, dressed in red and white but red-hot with anger and menopausal flushes.

    Not to mention a career journalist, employee of UTS in journalistic political agitation, and creator of Facebook pages, none of which the Canberra Times discloses.

    Is this normal media ethics that political media agitators get to have their opinions on other media personalities aired and paid with no disclosure?

    I'd be sacked if I did that in my job.

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  20. Mrs Price confesses where the Canberra Times won't:

    Yes, I confess. I am now — and have been for the past few years — a journalism educator at a university.

    http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/06/29/the-lecturer-yes-there-are-jobs-out-there-for-journalists/

    Mrs Price has power, the power over job allocation in the journalism industry:

    in my role as the internship co-ordinator at UTS, employers ring to ask if I will also advertise their jobs for them.

    Some handy advice from Mrs Price:

    My phone is ringing quite a lot. The people not yet formerly employed by Fairfax and News think academic life is a parachute and that I might be able to help. But if there is one industry where the full-time jobs really are in short supply, it’s higher education. And believe me, if you want to teach journalism at a university, you need to be able to do more than write.

    You can say that again. You need to have the power over job allocation in the very industry you pontificate about, none of which is disclosed in articles you write for newspapers in that very industry, such articles demanding that other media personalities be sacked.

    Mrs Price, I salute your gravy train.

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  21. Jenna Price will be on 2GB today at 12:15:

    https://twitter.com/JennaPrice/status/255080513017106433

    Will she disclose her background in the media with Fairfax and the Canberra Times, current occupation as "Lecturer, Social and Political Change Group" UTS, "internship co-ordinator at UTS", responsible for media advertising at UTS for occupations available in the industry ("employers ring to ask if I will also advertise their jobs for them")?

    All very pertinent notes to declare I would suggest. You wouldn't want anyone to think there may be a conflict of interest here, best to be up front.

    Mrs Price is simply, as she implies in her Canberra Times opinion piece, a stay-at-home mum who is fed up with the media. Mrs Price has a professional interest in the media.

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  22. No full disclosure on ABC Radio's AM programme today:

    http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3605652.htm

    "TONY EASTLEY: Jenna Price from Sydney's University of Technology and the founder of the Destroy the Joint Facebook page. The reporter there Emily Bourke."

    Mrs Price says of herself:

    We are just ordinary people who've got together. We're not - the people in our group aren't famous.

    Just an ordinary career journalist who worked for left-wing publications, who still writes not fully disclosed opinion pieces for the Canberra Times, and who know wields power over media internships, and is a Lecturer in "Social and Political Change" at UTS.

    Mrs Price may not be famous, but there is still time.

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    1. It always puzzles me why Ms Price, while living in Sydney, with a population of 4 million and any number of print and media outlets, should choose instead to contribute to the Canberra Times, a publication in a town of 350,000, 300 kilometres away and with a circulation that's dipping below 29,000 per day. Her column, BTW, appears on an inside left page of a supplement. It is probably flattering her to call it an 'opinion piece'. She had a brief spike of notoriety in 2011 when she revealed how she'd given one of her daughter's friends a bed for the night and then regretted it when she learnt that the friend was a climate change skeptic. She's that sort of person.

      I suggest that she writes for the Canberra Times for much the same reasons that former singing star Petula Clark now performs at the Tuggeranong Vikings Rugby Club. Maybe Price reckons that all the current publicity will finally get her a gig back in the big smoke.

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  23. Correction to earlier comment:

    Mrs Price is *not* simply, as she implies in her Canberra Times opinion piece, a stay-at-home mum who is fed up with the media. Mrs Price has a professional interest in the media.

    The "not" makes all the difference.

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  24. Carlton was rebuked by 2UE management who dismissed him as "despicable", "disgraceful" and "pathetic" after he attacked Zemanek on the day of his funeral in an on-air rant.

    He told listeners he "loathed" and "hated" his dead colleague and said he would only go to his funeral "to check he was actually dead."

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