The attitude of the print media and naturally, the ABC, over
the Christmas Island refugee saga clearly highlights how out of step the
media is with mainstream Australia and how far journalists will go to
manipulate public opinion to impose their left-wing, do-gooder views on
the rest of us.
In the early days of the crisis, opinion polls conducted by the Herald
Sun, Channel 10 and various radio stations indicated support for
Prime Minister Howard's actions running at a staggering 90 - 94%. This
clearly reflected the view of the vast majority of Australians that the
refugees should be turned back. Yet the print media led by The
Australian, ran editorials and opinion pieces highly critical of the
Prime Minister's actions.
In a major opinion piece on September 6, The Australian's Greg
Sheridan led with "The Howard Government has embarked on the
most cynical, costly, dishonest, dangerous and destructive foreign
affairs and defence adventure in the recent history of this
country."
Some days into the crisis as the media assault began to bite,
national opinion polls still reflected 75% support for Howard. You would
never guess this from a study of The Australian's Letters
to the Editor. I have suspected for some time The Australian selects
letters in accordance with its journalists own lefty-trendy views.
Notwithstanding the overwhelming support for Howard, the
published letters were running four to one against him.
This action, in concert with the extremely unbalanced editorial and
opinion pieces and features, in my opinion, suggests a dangerous and
arrogant attempt to manipulate public opinion.
