|
One only has to read The Australian newspaper during the
time of Pauline Hanson's rise to political prominence to see who was
really behind the vicious attacks upon her and her fledgling political party. In
a disgraceful abuse of media power, The Australian relentlessly
vilified Hanson.
Following the national backlash against the
recent jailing of Pauline Hanson and David Ettridge, the Murdoch
media were taken aback and adopted a low profile for a few days. However, detecting a rise in Hanson's
popularity they began the attack again.
The Australian's editorial of August 28, 2003
gave the cue to its attack dogs. It set up Tony Abbott as some kind of national
saviour for destroying Pauline Hanson. The editorial pontificated that
"..there is a danger that Hanson's phoney reputation as a downtrodden
battler, as well as what she actually stood for - xenophobia and discord- will
get a fresh lease of life".
Writing an opinion piece next day, Dennis Shanahan
took the cue by declaring that "One Nation is a potent threat to Australia's
reputation". Never mind that the former Press Council head, Professor
David Flint, said that it was
people like Shanahan who were the threat to Australia's reputation.
Editor-at-Large Paul Kelly was wheeled out the
next day to continue the sanctification of Tony Abbott and the concomitant
Hanson vilification. Kelly has the hide to say "One Nation's fraudulent
registration changed the result of that (Queensland) 1998 election, a serious
situation for a serious democracy." This is pretty rich coming from a
senior representative of the media juggernaut largely responsible for disenfranchising one million voters.
While opinion polls record that a majority of
people regard
Abbott as a grubby political muckraker Kelly sets out to refurbish his tarnished
reputation by
declaring "He made some blunders along the way , but his strategic
judgement was correct and validated.... Abbott is more hero than villain".
On September 2, 2003 The Australian promoted Australia's
most egregious politically correct, left-wing elitist bigot, Phillip Adams to the
features page to continue the attack. In two columns of pompous, boring
drivel and what he believes are clever interplays with lines from Macbeth,
the smarmy, supercilious Adams continues the Hanson defamation with sneering
references to the "Witch of Ipswich".
Foreign editor Greg Sheridan follows battle plan in an amazing opinion piece on
September 4, 2003.
The Australian is showing its true colours as Sheridan declares; "Costello
has an honourable record in battling the prejudice, xenophobia, and inchoate
rage rage that were always at the heart of of One Nation". Sheridan has the
audacity to berate the media for showing some sympathy towards Hanson's jailing.
He believes the rest of the media should follow The Australian's lead in
its scurrilous attacks.
In a quite incredible tirade Sheridan says
"Abbott has shown the kind of grit, determination and equanimity and, above
all, concern for a purpose larger than himself, that marks out a future prime
minister."
The trend is obvious. Although Pauline Hanson is mortally wounded, Murdoch's
assassins will stand on her neck until she breathes no more.
|
