Newspoll has the Coalition gaining a point on last fortnight to narrow the gap to 51-49, maintaining a pattern over the past six polls of movement back and forth between 51-49 and 52-48. The Coalition is up a point on the primary vote to 39%, only the second time it has reached that level since early November 2016 (the previous such occasion being three polls ago), while Labor and the Greens are both down a point, to 37% and 9% respectively, and One Nation is steady on 6%. However, a straightforward application of 2016 election preferences, rather than the more Coalition-friendly split of One Nation preferences that Newspoll has adopted reflecting recent state election results, would still leave Labor’s lead at 52-48.
Perhaps the best news for the government is a two point increase in Malcolm Turnbull’s approval rating to 42%, which is his best result from Newspoll since March 2016, while his disapproval is down two to 48%, its lowest since the poll on the eve of the July 2016 election. Conversely, Bill Shorten is down one on approval 32% and up two on disapproval to 57%, although Turnbull’s lead on preferred prime minister is unchanged at 46-31. The poll was conducted THursday to Sunday from a sample of 1609.
I went back through KM’s pieces over the past week. Her initial comments were fairly cautious and non-judgemental, let’s wait and see. However at some point there was sufficient sound and fury being generated by her peers, the Coalition and various self-serving interest groups, that she decided there was something real going on and start reporting the same narrative as the rest of them.
Peg:
From Spud:
“[daily politics is a…] manufactured conflict carried out in a bubble, a kabuki play for a boutique audience, egged on by shock jocks and partisan bobble heads in the mainstream media, intent on their own narrowcasting exercise.”
Maybe I was being a bit subtle, but given her Gilderoy Lockhart crush one might be excused for thinking that she is in fact a high priestess of the very cult she complains about.
Puffytmd @ #98 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 10:27 am
And of course when the foundations collapsed as a result, it would be someone’s fault other than hers.
Poroti – great article from truth dig. I loved this, which sounds reminiscent of our CPG:
He rails against what he calls a “monochromatic media” with corporate-approved pundits used to identify “the problem and its parameters, creating a box that dissenters struggle vainly to elude. The critic who insists on changing the context is dismissed as irrelevant, extremist, ‘the Left’—or ignored altogether.”
rhwombat
Yes, not long now before the Bludger Lounge’s HAL 9000 is fully deactivated.
Actually, that comes from a linked article about Wolin
Sometimes all it takes to seize initiative is to act like you have it and get your opponent to relinquish it by convincing them to react on the assumption that you have it :P.
This past week, Labor’s discipline slipped and let Shorten down, not the other way around.
Confessions @ #59 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 9:01 am
I wouldn’t read too much into her position. She has, after all, claimed to have been convinced that Gorsuch would not be an anti-abortion justice. Purely on the basis that he “wrote a book about precedent”.
She needs to give the appearance of defending things like abortion rights, because Maine is a state that would have no problem replacing her with the Blue candidate if she openly goes full RWNJ. But it is mostly just a ‘keeping up appearances’ thing.
She just wants some anecdote that she can relate to her constituents about how she was convinced that Roe v Wade would be safe. She probably doesn’t care too much about having to eventually feign shock and outrage when Trump’s lackeys actually do start taking away women’s rights.
Should we now call them the “Corporate Press Gallery”
And just to proved how true Grog’s weekend column was we have the SMH’s $350k pa battlers AND Newspoll finding a clear majority in favour of repealing corporate tax cuts to the >$10mil turnover crowd.
We know who has a voice in our media and who’s voices are erased. 52% of the population going by Newspoll had their views completely erased by the media last week.
And good ole Murph is here to tell us how she’s just an innocent bystander. Just flotsam on the tide of history, without agency or the possibility of doing other than commodifying the conflict and leaving the underlying issues unexamined. Without the wit to realise she is one of the “partisan bobble heads in the mainstream media” making it the winning strategy it is for the frauds who benefit from it.
Our media is our greatest threat.
It’s a tough gig for politicians in Mexico:
The 2018 electoral season has been one of the country’s deadliest. Since campaigns kicked off in September, 133 politicians have been killed.
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Mexico-Decides-Live-Updates-Results-from-Mexicos-2018-General-Elections-20180701-0006.html
adrian @ #91 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 10:19 am
I was just wondering whether Pegasus engaged in any reflection when she highlighted that text?
“We know who has a voice in our media and who’s voices are erased. 52% of the population going by Newspoll had their views completely erased by the media last week.”
Ratsak – given how crowded – and seemingly unprofitable the space occupied by the MSM is, what do you think of my idea of someone with a billion bucks or so, and a brain in their head, taking Fairfax by the skruff of its neck and shaking it into an orgainsation that could actually cater for the large section of the population that have their views effectively erased? It seems like an untapped goldmine to me …
booleanbach @ #111 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 10:48 am
Possible related:
Not sanity Mundo. In your case I would call it unjustified pessimism.
We had a bloke here a few years ago called Maguire Bob, who at the time of the 2013 election insisted that Julia Gillard was going to win by a street, despite all the indications being that Labor was going to be thrashed, which they were. We all thought he was nuts. Nice bloke, but never stopped spouting silly unjustified optimism.
You and he are pretty much opposite sides of the same coin IMO.
Compact Crank @ #100 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 10:30 am
No, Cranky, they happened under Workchoices, and led to your hero, John Winston Howard, being turfed out of office and his own seat.
I am sure, when Labor are in for another 12 years, after they have finished with reversing the latest round of Penalty Rates cuts, they will introduce them again to all Service Industry workers.
And then they will be in power for another 12 years. 🙂
AE,
Rich people don’t own media outlets to damage their own (and their class’s) wealth.
The profit directly gained from said outlet is a secondary consideration.
Andrew_Earlwood @ #113 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 10:52 am
Jeff Bezos would be nice.
ratsak @ #117 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 10:56 am
*cough* Jeff Bezos.
Andrew_Earlwood @ #113 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 10:52 am
The problem is that the vast majority of those with that sort of money want their views reflected in the media that they invest in, and those views would rarely be progressive.
I know that the person that owns the Saturday Paper and The Monthly is an exception, but these papers would be run on a comparative shoestring budget.
Newsmax trying to change her story did not go well:
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/scared-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-shreds-newsmax-host-publishing-photo-childhood-home/
The same happens here – politicians who relate their story have it re-written by the media to try and wipe out the pieces they do not want to see emphasised, especially if they come from humble beginnings
“Rich people don’t own media outlets to damage their own (and their class’s) wealth.
The profit directly gained from said outlet is a secondary consideration.”
While I agree that is an accurate summation of the robber-baron / rum corp mentality of the Australian establishment, I’m not so sure it holds true if one thinks more globally. In fact we are now seeing disruptive entrepenuers investing against the grain in Australia in industries like steel manufacture and renewable energy. Soon, even car manufaturing looks like it may be revived.
Money is money and someone like Jeff Bezos will look at the holdings and potential reach of Fairfax and realise that it is ignoring a massive market whilst declining rapidly in value.
I’m confused. Is the media omnipotent and spreading fake anti-Labor news, or is it irrelevant and of no influence?
Murphy primarily sees herself as a cut above the ordinary press gallery journalist, as an intellectual rather than an ambulance-chasing hack. This attitude runs through everything she writes, especially in the language she uses, slightly more high falutin’ than a Coorey, like an essay rather than a column or media story, more suited to a tutorial paper than a newspaper.
She talks down to her readers, adopting the tone of a school teacher interacting with keen (if uninformed) Year 11 civics students. She explains things as if what she is saying could not possibly have occured to her readers until she pointed it out to them. Michelle Grattan used to use this technique as well. It is no surprise that Murphy was her “apprentice” at The Age.
She purports to unfold things for her readers, to set them out step by step. In Murphy’s mind this is making it easy for her readers to understand the incredibly complex concepts and deep insights she is trying to communicate.
But judging a from the comments to her stories, her readers in by far the most part are very, very well aware of exactly what she is trying to say and suitably leery of it. Yet she plods on, persisting in treating them like school children. Presumably one day they’ll finally get it.
it beats me why she hasn’t been sacked outright, especially after travelling all the way to Armidale to cover the Barnaby Joyce re-election campaign from an intimate, “in Barnaby’s kitchen” personal point of view, and then missed, nay deliberately ignored (and admitted as such) the scoop of the decade.
she justified this by telling her readers -afterwards – that Barnaby getting the help in the family way was none of her business; that private peccadilloes were not part of the political process. Well, all I can say is that those private peccadilloes ended up in Barnaby Joyce a losing his job, in disgrace. If he had lost it at the election rather than afterwards, we would have a completely different parliamentary and governmental scene right now, today. That sounds pretty political to me, and an abrogation of judgement on behalf of Murphy.
As for heckling from the sidelines, her giggling, gossipy behaviour on Insiders during Gillard’s time as PM was indistinguishable from that of her peers, the ones she enjoys looking down upon so much that she writes articles telling us why she’s not like them.
Unoriginal, condescending towards her readers, in for a feeding frenzy with the worst of them, and exhibiting little professional judgement as a journalist, Murphy scores well in the quadrella of Australian mainstream media ineptitude. Murphy is truly a small fish on a small pond.
Which is why, of course, she fits right in as a valued member of the Australian political commentariat.
If I had been newspolled, I would have been one of the 52%.
The latest increase in dissatisfaction with Shorten might partly be due to his perceived ‘lack of ticker’ in backing down on the corporate tax cuts, not for his misstep in how he pronounced it on Tuesday.
“I’m confused. Is the media omnipotent and spreading fake anti-Labor news, or is it irrelevant and of no influence?”
The jury is still out on that.
The media landscape is in massive transition. I think the CPG and MSM still have enough sway to keep the worst government in living memory close, but it is rapidly losing the ability to land ‘the killer blow’.
I still live in hope that labor keeps its shit together to preside over the death of traditional media influence in this country whilst in office.
We shall see.
“The latest increase in dissatisfaction with Shorten might partly be due to his perceived ‘lack of ticker’ in backing down on the corporate tax cuts, not for his misstep in how he pronounced it on Tuesday”
I think that’s the angle the CPG and MSM will play and it may well bite in voter land. It is certainly my fear.
They are irrelevant in reality, Lovey.
They just see themselves as players and follow each other like sheep.
Where they are dangerous is with the politically illiterate who believe headlines.
Lovey
That depends on who you ask. There are multiple propositions, they’re not all compatible, and why should they be? Why are you confused? Are you one of those CPG hacks who can’t track multiple narratives?
The attacks on Katharine Murphy from the partisans are a sign she’s fairly close to the mark.
Hello Sexy. Got the ‘talking points’ ready. Ducks in a row, are they?
Display Name
The CPG have been spot on cf with posters here.
Maguire Bob…hmm yes I remember him, I thought he was nuts…but fun.
But really, the media will play it all with a straight bat, it’ll be fine.
Bill Shorten will make a good PM.
They never have anything good to say about Turnbull so his lot are well stuffed.
Bit unfair but there you go.
The Libs must be sh#tin’ themselves!
No, really.
Pegasus @ #125 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 11:09 am
Either, or, or both even!
Maybe the biggest “influence” of the MSN is, in a sense negative. They occupy a big space in public discourse, but do nothing to challenge the main narratives of the capitalist systems: greed is good, you too can get ahead without luck, a big inheritance or family connections, etc etc. They are just, subliminally, a conveyor belt for capitalist values or “common-sense”.
Re-posting:
https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7641-media-net-trust-june-2018-201806260239
Dear Rex,
KM was reflecting. In some sense she attacked herself. We should all do that occasionally :P. Are you criticising her for that? Do you think she should blindly follow her past behaviour which she herself now sees fit to critique? Are you saying she’s wrong? May I suggest you stop trying to hold her back in her journey to improve her effectiveness as a journalist?
Kind regards,
DN.
Rex Douglas @ #131 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 11:15 am
Easy to say. Hard to prove.
Rubbish comment.
I’m sure the Australian editor was pleased with the first para of this by PvO, but perhaps not the rest.
https://outline.com/yHyh4b
Katherine Murphy talks about “partisan bobble’heads” in the mainstream media, but doesn’t mention that they are ALL rightwing and representing corporate interests. She just … does … not … get … that. How many left-wing bobble-heads are there, Katherine?
Lovey
Evidence please.
They’ve been predicting the same thing incorrectly, over and over again. I suppose they may get it right occasionally, in the same way that a broken clock occasionally displays the right time.
Compact Crank @ #100 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 10:30 am
The SDA and their ilk is exactly what is wrong with todays ALP.
‘If I had been newspolled, I would have been one of the 52%.’
What 52%?
Interesting how quickly everyone got over Malky’s spectacular ‘back down’ with a double pike over the banking RC…..
It wouldn’t hurt some talking heads in the alp to remind folks when they get the opportunity if this shorten back down crap continues…..
I also note that on the weekend ‘Albo’ was a much-diminished presence. No one likes a Labor Rat.
Full Newspoll extra questions table link (no paywall) https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/7261ad6fa1d318a58ee1d11bb1db333f
Note that the questions were framed before Labor’s tax policy was changed.
Here is the Guardian’s take on the Company tax bit
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jul/02/shortens-original-decision-to-scrap-tax-cuts-supported-by-voters-poll-finds
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/feb/07/australias-trust-in-media-at-record-low-as-fake-news-fears-grow-survey-finds
zoomster @ #144 Monday, July 2nd, 2018 – 11:23 am
The ones that loved Bill Shorten’s fantastic original position on the mid-sized business tax cuts from the beginning of last week. You know, before the Coalition campaign against it kicked in with it’s full force in a repeat of Tony Abbott’s anti ‘Carbon Tax’ campaign which went to every Liberal-supporting business in the country before the election to hear how they would be devastated by it.
Bezos didn’t get where he is by putting in place the world’s most enlightened industrial relations systems.
He’d look at a chancer like Trumble and think ‘wimp’.
This is the great white hope of progressive (or even just barely honest) media?
FMD, at best he’d throw a few bones as a market differentiation strategy until he had enough of a dominant position to turn the screws. Why would he act differently to what’s worked for him before?
Noblesse Oblige is not going to save us. If you want to understand wealth use that same method you would for anyone else. Keating had the right of it – always back the horse called self-interest.