Day 23 of NaBloPoMo 2007
So tomorrow is the Australian federal election. It's been an interesting campaign, and the result tomorrow will be very interesting.
What i found extremely surprising this morning, was that the local Brisbane newspaper, The Courier Mail actually endorsed one of the political parties for people to vote for! I won't mention which party and leader they endorsed because it really is irrelevant to the issue, but WTF?!
When does a media organisation formally endorse a political for people to vote for, and then actually print it in their publications? I'm not sure if The Courier Mail has done it in every election, but i find it troubling. What every happened to the neutrality of the press??
Speaking of the media, Channel 10 is running some funny ads for their coverage tomorrow night... of them showing Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (wouldn't it be fitting if the Government gets re-elected!). I've been trying to find a link to the ad, but i can't seem to find it on the internet.
This video is funny, even if it is very pro-Labor.
Anywho, it won't make a difference who i vote for tomorrow as we live in the opposition leader's seat, and i don't see him not winning his own seat tomorrow.
just to add some balance, that was kinda the vogue thing on the weekend. the gold coast bulletin endorsed howard (whereas the courier mail endorsed rudd - the first time they've endorsed labor in a long time!)
oh, and the press was /entirely/ neutral, i.e. weren't influenced by a party handing them money - they were editorialising, and making explicit their bias, which is actually quite responsible.
I really don't mind specific writers doing editorials voicing their opinion in the editorials section, but when it's on the front page of a powerful single-newspaper city, and that newspaper officially endorses a candidate as a whole, i think that oversteps the bounds of editorialising.
Although exposing their bias is better than not, i'd rather they not have any bias in the first place!
yes, and i'd rather i owned a gold-plated toilet, but that's just not going to happen.
reality is that they will have bias, if not for their own sake, then for the mere fact that they are pandering to their customers.
besides, different newspapers went for different sides, so i'm fairly sure that everyone was equally influenced 🙂
eww, why would you have a gold-plated toilet? I'm sure the gold would stain pretty badly...
Anywho, everyone can't be equally influenced if there is only one major newspaper in a City of a'most 2 million people!