Two Jokers' Sick Gag

JAMES DELINGPOLE reviews Finko & Rickety's plans for free speech:

"Raymond – or Pinkie Finkie, as I'm sure he'd preferred it if I called him, because the Aussies do love a bit of informality, don't they? – has produced a report on media regulation in Australia so terrifyingly authoritarian it makes the Leveson Enquiry look like a model of balance, sanity and restraint. (According to Mark Steyn – via Jo Nova – the Chinese have been eyeing Pinkie Finkie's report with gobsmacked admiration, wondering whether they could ever get away with producing something quite so extreme…)

"You can read the full 400 pages here, if you're feeling masochistic. But Australian Climate Madness has a pretty good summary of the key issues of concern, starting with Pinkie Finkie's proposal to create a new super-regulator called the News Media Council [missed a trick there, didn't he? surely Ministry of Truth would have been more appropriate] which will impose its idea of fairness and balance not only on newspapers but even on blogs with as few hits as 15,000 a year.

"But whose idea of fairness and balance?

"It's an astonishing fact that of the 10600 submissions received by the inquiry no fewer than 9600 were boilerplate submissions from left-wing pressure groups, led by Avaaz 'a global civic organization launched in January 2007 that promotes activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, poverty and corruption.' (See Andrew Bolt for further details)"

The stink of Finko & Rickety's handiwork can be smelled on the other side of the world. At the University of Canberra, however, they may need some further reminders that a journalism professor who comes out for political censorship besmirches his employer's good name.

Readers who agree might care to drop a note to Stephen Parker, the university's vice-chancellor:

Once again, here are Prof Parker's contact details:

Phone: 02 6201 5000
Fax: 02 6201 5036
Email: Stephen.Parker@canberra.edu.au 
Postal Address: University of Canberra ACT 2601
Executive Assistant: Ms Alexis Johnson
Phone : 02 6201 5000
Fax: 02 6201 5036
Email: Alexis.Johnson@canberra.edu.au

(Thanks to Spot The Dog)