Julia Gillard: News Corp and Fairfax Media are like elderly, sniping neighbours
Gillard’s comments come as her overthrow of Kevin Rudd is retold in the ABC’s The Killing Season | Pictured: How The Tele covered it at the time
Newspaper publishers News Corp and Fairfax are like elderly neighbours sniping at each other across the fence, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said.
In an extract from a new chapter of Gillard’s autobiography published by The Guardian, she also expresses concern at the concentrated media ownership in Australia, with the two companies’ newspapers dictating the daily agenda as TV journalists follow up on the morning’s headlines. She writes: “It is still the case that the early-morning workers in the newsrooms of radio and television stations compose their bulletins based on what they read, which tends to be from one of our traditional media players. The impacts of this concentration are diverse and all undesirable. Above all, it means bias matters more, simply because there is less capacity to contest arguments and less diversity of commentary.”
News Corp publishes national newspaper The Australian along with a daily metro tabloids in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, while Fairfax publishes the Australian Financial Review along with the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
News Corp and Fairfax’s hatred of each other leads to them working against the wider interests of the press, argued Gillard. She wrote:
“The way our media outlets unthinkingly peddle each other’s errors is particularly jarring given the much-vaunted rivalry between the newspaper groups. So constant is the sniping between News Corp and Fairfax, they often seem like irritable, elderly neighbours, always complaining about the other having the television too loud or letting weeds grow through the fence.
“Indeed tension between our news outlets seems so acute that there are times when criticising each other is viewed as more important than arguing for freedom of the press. For example, when one media outlet is berated by government for getting a story wrong, consistent with arguing for freedom of the press, other media outlets could editorialise that freedom inevitably means the right to be provocative, even wrong.
“In Australia’s media culture though it is much more likely the other media outlets would see a competitor being given a beating and want to land their own blows, siding with the government rather than defending an example of the free press at work.”
In the piece, Gillard also highlights News Corp’s campaign against Labor during the last election and complained of vendettas against those who take on the press.
She added: “Another impact of media concentration seems to be the normalising of perverse behaviours. In this small playground, if you are treated unfairly and complain individually, then you will be the subject of payback. The bullying culture of sections of our media establishment would be right at home in the school playgrounds of yesteryear.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
Linkedin
She’s right. And to anyone not in the media industry it is all so, so tedious. Navel gazing at its worst.
.
User ID not verified.
Perhaps Juliar has forgotten what a dreadful job she did as PM
True news and Fairfax are like two dying patients lying next to each other, but so were Krudd and gillard
User ID not verified.
@Benross – I’m sorry anyone who uses the term “Juliar” is banned from the internet for childish and boorish behaviour. Please switch off your computer and go away.
User ID not verified.
Gillard is spot-on…the petty, incessant, juvenile sniping by News and Fairfax says plenty about their editors. It achieves nothing except irritating their rapidly declining readership.
And she is right about radio news bulletins (especially the commercials). It’s “rip and read”, “re-write and read” or if time is scare, just read it straight from the newspaper or AAP wire…. Geez, I can’t remember when a commercial newsroom genuinely broke a big story.
User ID not verified.
So if someone could please list the components of the media industry that play nicely or even maturely together I’d be interested to look through it. I’m guessing it’ll be a very, VERY brief read.
User ID not verified.
Was I the only one that watched the last part of ‘killing season’ last night?!…. The whole foundation of the series was built on Sniping and grubbery!…. As were pretty much both her and KRudds terms in office….. Glass houses and all of that!…
User ID not verified.
It is very sad to see Benross use an insulting sexist name when making a comment about someone who was out PM. Obviously Benross does not care about looking silly.
User ID not verified.
Meanwhile Gillard continues on her quest to rewrite history, hoping that somehow her legacy can be changed – from spending hole to noble ‘reforms’ such as NDIS etc…
User ID not verified.
I couldn’t believe Gillard and her ex-lover (and company) were whining about her being called a ‘witch’ etc… as if Abbott (and Howard before him) haven’t been called much, much worse.
I didn’t see any “F*ck Julia Gillard” T-shirts getting around, let alone any promoted by a Fairfax employee.
She’s still delusional. Hopefully the media can let her go now, instead of making her out to be something she never was.
User ID not verified.
Benross. A hint for future online comments.
The moment you use prerogative terms like juliar and krudd everyone knows you’re a far right wing nutter and ignores anything you might say.
User ID not verified.
*prejudiced. (Weird autocorrect)
User ID not verified.
@robbo shhh, don’t call out the blatant double standard, you’ll upset the blind socialist ideologues who can’t see the forest from the trees 🙂
User ID not verified.
Another visit from the nut jobs today.
User ID not verified.
The radio and television newsrooms with the exception of the ABC (most of the time) are absolutely pathetic. They just pick up that morning’s newspaper and then, boom, you’ve got a (crappy) show. Worst of all are the programs that rely almost entirely on News Corp papers, and therefore perpetuate propaganda and BS as if it’s fact. It’s about time a bit of shame developed around this practice. How about some originality, producers?
User ID not verified.
Robbo there are probably lots of things you don’t believe in. Obviously childish insulting names are not one of them. Duncan seems to suffer the same way. He also thinks insults are logic and facts are not. And you both give the impression you think those who don’t agree with the mad right are the ones with the problem.
User ID not verified.
Lindsay, wake me up when you start making sense.
You know you’re angry, you’re just not sure what about.
Keep trying though.
User ID not verified.
Hey TheFacts, didn’t you guys have your Friends of the ABC crisis meeting last night? Leave some space for the rest of us.
Go complain to Zakky Mullah – he might help you out.
User ID not verified.
No need to wake you Robbo, you are not interested in what is going on. Read the story and look at the facts instead of trying to make stupid attempts to insult people.
User ID not verified.
I’m struggling to see how Juliar is sexist. She lied, frequently, and her name is Julia. Simple equation to me, nothing to do with her being female.
I’ll readily admit I vote liberal, that doesn’t change the fact that Rudd and Gillard were some of the lowest self deluded scum to infest federal politics in decades, and hence both are now confined to the dustbin of history.
By the way, thanks for the tip billy, my tip for you is if you are still using a PC, enjoy Napster.
User ID not verified.
I know the facts, LIndsay. I’m not trying to rewrite history, or – like you – bury my head in the sand.
You support a team, not a principle. You’re weak.
User ID not verified.
Sorry Jason, I thought as you were inventing facts you were trying to rewire history. Sorry I got that wrong.
User ID not verified.
Dying media only focused on each other while competitors continue to innovate and get more dynamic. News Corp (especially) and Fairfax may think that they still have the power to influence elections like they once did but media has given a voice to the masses and I think the “morning breakfast’ agenda setting will increasingly come from twitter and FB feeds that morning newspapers…
User ID not verified.
Good points Anonymous, but you also need to take into account that many commenting on twitter and Facebook get their original information from the newspapers and their web sites. But yes, you are right, there are more players in the information market than ever before.
User ID not verified.