Mixed metaphors on Mike Carlton
It seems the Daily Telegraph is taking great delight in the demise of rival the Sydney Morning Herald’s star columnist Mike Carlton, devoting two full pages to the ongoing saga in today’s paper, as well as an editorial.
However, Dr Mumbo’s eye was caught by the two Photoshopped mock-ups of Carlton and a cartoon which they have created, and the mixed messages they seem to be sending out.
On page 10 of the two-page special ‘SMH in Crisis’ section the paper has a mock up of Mike’s face on a beer keg, with the label ‘Carlton Shaft’:
Then on the very next page under the title ‘The Sydney Warring Herald’ images of bombs hitting Gaza and a picture of Carlton’s face superimposed on a Palestinian man apparently fleeing the attack:
And last but not least a cartoon of Carlton holding a phone about to send a tweet with the caption Suicide Bomber… appears in the Comment section of the paper today.
The Tele also took the chance to have a dig at The Guardian, with a ‘sarcastic’ last line in the yarn on page 11 which reads: “Surprisingly, there was no announcement from The Guardian that it had signed Carlton.”
It’d be excellent if the last remaining journalists in this country actually deigned to do some work.
This remarkable Right/ Left rubbish is damaging on every level of our community.
I’m right/ you’re wrong politics and journalism has already sounded the death knell of informed debate.
I’m not a journalist but when I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s the etiquette of reporting was to be impartial, fair and to run the story down as accurately as possible.
What happened in the interim?
Was the Murdoch empire too much for the rest of the media?
Now they all play the same game, beating the drums of their bosses, screaming blue murder at the “enemy” (political, social, media, community).
There is no grey left in our society. Black and white headlines suffice for journalism and politics to scream their ill-thought out nonsense.
Carlton is neither the best or the worst, just another mouthpiece yelling bile one way or the other.
If you identify as neither right or left (as I do) what are you left with in this country in terms of the media?
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Is it The Daily Telegraph or Mad Magazine? Hard to tell the two apart these days
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The Tele is so off. The last few days they have been referring to the SMH as an ‘unpopular tabloid’ with ‘dwindling readers’. Sorry guys, but the SMH has over 1.5 million more readers than you in total, according to the industry’s preferred ratings system (EMMA).
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Crass, classless, vindictive. The Tele’s “reporting” of this is an industry embarrassment.
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Agree. It’s just remarkable, of all the things they could choose to report, of all the things going on in the world, all the injustices and rorting, the the Tele has to continue a multipage focus on NewsCorp’s obsession with Fairfax. Keep it up and they’ll be rivalling the Australian’s bunny-boiler anti-Fairfax passion.
Ironically, Fairfax could do a very interesting campaign about all the wacky coincidings of the Murdoch interests and Liberal party actions; ie. between Abbott’s house call to US citizen Mr Murdoch in New York and an announcement two days later by Brandis about tightening laws re: illegal downloads (a pressing issue for our nation). And, well, in comparison, I think that IS news.
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A joke of a rag. I find it a bit sad that adult ‘journalists’ could find any pride in producing something so juvenile.
I wouldn’t mind so much, and indeed may even have a laugh at it all if it wasn’t for the sad fact that this sort of rubbish is unfortunately driving our country’s government policy.
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The mistake is that the Tele editors think that readers actually care about petty newsroom rivalry. They want the news. Even the Daily Fail knows that.
Tele should just rename itself Propaganda Daily and move its headquarters to Tony Abbott’s press office.
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Sense of humour bypass alert.
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@ David In Sydney. Although I agree with your sentiments, Carlton is a columnist, he’s not a journalist. The two are wildly different.
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n Affectionate Remembrance
of
Australian Newspapers
which died in Sydney
on
7th August 2014,
Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing
friends and acquaintances
R.I.P.
N.B.—The body will be cremated and the
ashes given to the internet
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Agree with you all. The sad self-obsession by News papers resemble the writhing of a dying animal (which they are). Can’t help wondering if they’re doing Fairfax a favour though by intriguing enough SMH non-readers enough to make them pick up a copy to discover what’s inside.
It is also VERY telling that despite relentless pro-Abbott campaigning by News papers since the election, public opinion of it has plummeted. Does this mean no-one takes any notice of Murdoch’s opinions?
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JB I’m aware that Mr Carlton is a columnist. No issue with that.
i’m directly addressing the issue that the media is all pretending they’re columnists and constantly making comment rather than reporting verifiable facts, breaking news, gathering hints and tips, investigating (precisely the job of a journalist).
Journalsim appears to be dead. If not dead, then it’s certainly been smacked around very hard and crassly.
The Tele and the Herald are playing the same game of comment, comment, comment rather than reporting. “I said, you said. I’m right, you’re wrong. Black. Not white. Jew. Arab. Gutter. High Ground.”
Carlton is merely a “victim” of the current degenerative war of opinions in this country. And he has played it fairly hard.
To my mind the best reporters in this country and Mark Davis (SBS) and Kate McClymont (SMH).
They both put their head down, find out, report and move on.
The agenda games being played out by, especially, the Murdoch press are harmful to all Australians.
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You’d think there was nothing else in the paper…there was some other story on the front and about 30-odd other pages of other news, right?
Now, if you will excuse me I have to go outside – the sky is falling in
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@ Andrew! Are you kidding!?!? Mad Magazine is a comparative shining beacon of logic and wisdom!
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Sad to see the Tele reduced to this kind of stuff. I feel sorry for the people working there – must be hard.
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Attn: Thefacts…do you work for Fairfax or Emma…i’ve never heard such trollop from a muppet
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With but a handful of quality exceptions (none of whom are employed by Limited News) watching the MSM in action is like watching maggots eating a roo carcasse
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On my return from London after decades away, I have to say that on several occasions, so appalled was I by Mike Carlton’s page in the SMH that I almost sent him an email. I found it dreadful, such bad writing, so childish, so utterly, utterly awful that I could hardly believe Fairfax allowed such tripe. Was this what Australia considered to be a “star journalist” ? I am so glad he has gone.
Having got this off my chest, I would like to add that the Daily Telegraph act of photoshopping the widely published image of the victim of the Boston bombings is reprehensible. I hope the Picture Editor gets what he deserves.
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This is so incredibly puerile and boring. So dear Tele editor, instead of bomb throwing from the safety of the News Ltd bunker, how about letting your journos get out the main door of Holt St and do some real journalism – the SMH does.
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