I thought the purpose of journalism was to investigate and write about issues. By writing about these issues, governments are held to account, corruption is uncovered and society works better.
Unfortunately, thats not what happens. The journalists quickly discover that the more they can make it about themselves, the more they can leverage their ‘brand’ to get more attention and a pay rise, (maybe even their own show or two?).
So they turn everything into a circus. They focus on personalities (which also puts the focus on themselves and their ability to gossip), ‘leadership challenges’ (note not policy discussions- but rather who gets to be the leader issuing press releases or reading the autocue), ‘background briefings’ where they quote gossip leaked to them by media mates about nothing. When they do discuss policy, its either completely irrelevant crap that economic elites don’t care about – (the republic, gay marriage), or its immigration (journalists universally support it, as it fits with economic elites’ interests).
This is not so bad with the commercial media, where someone else is paying the bill; and viewing is optional.
But its really sticks in my craw to see the ABC paying Annabel Crabb, its chief political reporter, 500k of taxpayer money, our money, a year, to produce, well, crap. Shows like ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ or her idiotic ‘back in time shows’ etc.
Corruption is thriving in Australia. Ministerial standards have collapsed, there are land deals, monopolies like PEXA being set up with ministerial mates, corrupt privatizations of land registries, massive inequality, exploitation of visa slave workers (which the press gallery cheer on), treasurers undertaxing miners by sixty billion then going to work for them, etc etc.
And clowns like Annabel ignore all that to make stupid shows about nothing. Which wouldn’t be so objectionable except for the fact she is held up as a political reporter who reports from politics, with Parliament house as her backdrop, and politicians talking, but never really about the issues. So she feeds the argument that politics are being reported on, wheras what we’re given is just trivia about nothing. Basically the ABC are saying ‘that’s all folks!’
Why oh why can’t our press report about the issues?