When schmoozing the PM gets you a black eye
“There is something bizarre in arguing that a good way to engage with the government on press freedom is to rake in funds for it,” argues Michelle Grattan in this crossposting from The Conversation.
It was all gain for Scott Morrison when he took a bunch of senior colleagues to Nine’s Monday fundraiser which reaped mega dollars – the exact amount is unclear – for the Liberal party. Maximum productivity for minimum effort.
The pain was worn by Nine and its chief executive Hugh Marks, who faced a backlash from staff at the company’s recently acquired former Fairfax newspapers, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review. The journalists were appalled, as they should have been, to see such compromising behaviour from their management.
As the papers’ house committees pointed out, “Our mastheads have done much to expose the corrupting influence of money on politics. It is vitally important that we remain independent of the political process.”
Ironic, perhaps, that Chessell and his buddy Aston were career flaks for the Libs before Hywood (doing bidding of his flak/mentor Cato) gave them Fairfax careers and indulgences aplenty.
Who’d ever have thought Fairfax would end up in the hands of a few washed up flaks and a Lib who wants to be Keating? Thanks to the wonderful leadership of Corbett and Hywood. Geniuses.
I see Aston branched our into advertising. His column often carries the odd plug but this week he managed to do a freebie real estate listing for Catalano!