Labor to launch ‘Crikey-style’ news service to bypass ‘filter’ of mainstream media
The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is to launch a daily online service, in what it is describing as the party’s “own Crikey.” to stop their views being “filtered through the mainstream media”.
Labor national secretary George Wright today announced in an email to members and supporters that the major political party was looking for subscribers to the “new online Labor Herald news service”, which at its launch will have one editor.
In the letter Wright said they had received feedback from members that Labor was frustrated it could not get its message out through the mainstream media.
“You’ve told us you want more factual information about what Tony Abbott and his government are doing and you want the opportunity to have your say. You’ve told us that you can see the Labor message isn’t making it through the mainstream media and we have to produce our own news service,” he wrote.
“I agree. The catch is we don’t get the big corporate donations the Liberal Party gets and we need to hire someone experienced as an editor so we can do this properly. It’ll be their job to write useful, interesting articles for the site on issues like cuts to pensions and the Commission of Audit.
“It’s going to cost us around $95,000 year to find the right person for this, hopefully a news journalist with experience online.”
In order to launch the news service the ALP is seeking foundation subscribers to promise to contribute a set amount each week.
Wright also explained the daily news service’s editor would be charged with finding content from the public and getting it published.
“As well as the latest news we want to make sure we hear from you and our editor will be in charge of finding the very best content submitted by the public and making sure it gets published,” he said.
“We’ll send a daily bulletin out to everyone who signs up so you can get up to date information on what’s happening each day. A bit like Labor’s own Crikey
“There will be handy facts, interesting articles and video. It will be no nonsense and it won’t be filtered through the mainstream media.
“I believe it’s really important that we do this. We need our own news and we need a place where we can hear each other’s views.”
The announcement has already drawn a significant about of commentary from social media users who questioned the motives of the idea and also execution of a newsletter geared around one political party’s message.
Nic Christensen
George Wright’s full email:
Over the past 18 months we’ve made great progress building our online community. There are now ten times more people involved than there were in mid-2012, but we know there’s more to do.
You’ve told us you want more factual information about what Tony Abbott and his government are doing and you want the opportunity to have your say. You’ve told us that you can see the Labor message isn’t making it through the mainstream media and we have to produce our own news service.
I agree. The catch is we don’t get the big corporate donations the Liberal Party gets and we need to hire someone experienced as an editor so we can do this properly. It’ll be their job to write useful, interesting articles for the site on issues like cuts to pensions and the Commission of Audit.
It’s going to cost us around $95,000 year to find the right person for this, hopefully a news journalist with experience online.
Can you be a foundation subscriber to the new online Labor Herald news service? To get this off the ground we only need about 350 people to sign up to donate $22.60 a month.
I know not everyone can afford that, but if you can chip in $10 or $15 that will help too, and if you can spare a little more – maybe $30 or $40, that will make up the difference.
As well as the latest news we want to make sure we hear from you and our editor will be in charge of finding the very best content submitted by the public and making sure it gets published.
We’ll send a daily bulletin out to everyone who signs up so you can get up to date information on what’s happening each day. A bit like Labor’s own Crikey.
There will be handy facts, interesting articles and video. It will be no nonsense and it won’t be filtered through the mainstream media.
I believe it’s really important that we do this. We need our own news and we need a place where we can hear each other’s views.
I hope you’ll help us deliver it.
Could this lead to political organisations and other groups moving towards their own “horse’s mouth” online news services that you obtain through the Internet. This is augmented through people using RSS-based news readers like Feedly to catch news from a plethora of different sources; along with the creation of blogs and other small-time online news services that present this news with a particular, more customised slant.
I would still find that “TV-based” news could see these trends as being disturbing because the TV networks will want to see the newsreader on the evening news bulletin being valued as “authoritative”. This is until we see devices and services that amalgamate news from different video news sources and present it in to customised news bulletins.
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Crikey? More like the Onion I’d imagine.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzlG28B-R8Y
That is all.
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Isn’t this just a newsletter? For Labor people who can’t get enough Labour news, but do want to do laps in a pool of confirmation bias?
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Hahaha! @Wendy Barnyard. I love your sense of humour. 🙂
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Twilight zone perhaps, propaganda certainly, content marketing by any other name.
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Better to work on understanding how you can navigate your key messages through the filter of the mainstream media than preach to the converted in what will essentially be another Labor newsletter.
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But this service already exists – it’s called the ABC.
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News services shouldnt be biased, but when they are, start another bias ridden news service to conteract the other bias. Labor party supporters are already going to vote Labor anyhow, so its more like an internal newsletter for subscribers (I suspect). Does anyone remember when news was biased towards the ALP in the late eighties early 90’s?
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