Mainstream media in Australia is corrupt. There are a few notable exceptions, and they deserve our wholehearted praise and support.

The agenda and the tone are set by Murdoch-controlled platforms which include metropolitan tabloids in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, regional papers all over the States and Territories, and Sky News.

Queensland is a special case. It is swamped by Murdoch media – the Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail in Brisbane, the Gold Coast Bulletin, and daily papers along the coastline in Mackay, Townsville and Cairns. Rugby League is regularly called “our game” (did Murdoch buy that too?) and sporting stars (when they are winning) are referred to as “our athletes” (did Murdoch buy them too?). But behind these shenanigans, Murdoch’s chief editorial policy is to suck up to Britain while encouraging Washington’s adoption of Australia for America’s war on China.

To achieve Australia’s loyalty to Washington, Murdoch’s media fills its editorials, letters, cartoons and opinion pieces with content that is scaremongering and racist. If it was about Israel, it would justifiably be called anti-Semitic, or about the UK, it would be labelled “pommie bashing” and stopped. But ink-slingers in Oz can say anything they like about China and get away with it.

Andrew Greene, ABC defence reporter, is ready for war – even if you are not!

Joining the ABC in 2010, Greene and has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, the United States and Europe. Between 2012 and 2013 he spent a year based in Prague, reporting on Central Europe.

His training was not done by the ABC alone; major war manufacturers from the US, the UK and Western Europe also helped. He was given access to warplanes and war ships to prepare his “exclusive” reports.

Drones and drop-kicks from the “defence lobby” sent him press releases, and showered him with “on the record” quotations for his reports. He was at the very top of their lists of “media contacts”, and a mention on Greene’s reports for the ABC was celebrated in the usual way.

Greene is thrilled by any story which records Washington’s invasion of the Australian mainland; when US marines arrived, he almost wet himself he was so excited.

No wonder serious-minded Australians turn away from their television when Greene is lyrically welcoming American warships to Australia and the South Pacific. When he is not embedded with American military hardware, Greene acts as a recruiting sergeant for Australian war deployments. Whether or not Greene, the ABC’s armchair commander-in-chief, will ask his young relatives and friends to salute the flag and sign up for America’s next war whether it is against China, Korea, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Palestine or Yemen.

Will he receive an AO, a Purple Heart or an OBE? He’s earned all of them!

Publishers break open champagne on appointment of Sydney Writers’ Festival director

Ann Mossop has been chosen by the NSW Tory Government to be artistic director of the the Sydney Writers’ Festival for the next three years.

Her appointment was made by Mark Scott, the festival chairman, and former head of the ABC and editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald.

Ms Mossop, who describes herself as an “ideas curator”, comes to the job after heading the Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Sydney Opera House. I gallantly suggest my own list of “dangerous ideas” since the ones chosen by Ms Mossop were utterly pathetic. 1) Isn’t the weather terrific in Sydney at this time of the year? 2) What do you think of the marvellous view of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House? 3) Do you prefer to play golf or croquet? 4) What is your favourite food – Italian or Chinese? 5) Do you prefer to holiday at your beach-house on the South Coast or Central Coast? 6) What do you prefer as a pet – a tabby cat, a Labrador, a horse or a pink alpaca?

Ms Mossop will be on full pay until the next Sydney Writers’ Festival from 22 to 28 May, 2023. Needless to say, I won’t be attending due to traffic snarls in Sydney’s CBD and the tollways to Parramatta.

The festival is no longer a cultural event, it is political. The NSW Coalition has grabbed control. Attendances will be massaged upwards by pupils from private schools so that Ms Mossop’s tenure will be deemed a roaring success. I hope I’m wrong, but let’s see what happens.

One more thing ….

Reveal is a verb. To reveal something is common use-age. For example, people might say, “I can reveal that the winner will be from NSW or Victoria”, as the case may be.

My annoyance is with people who invent a new word, “reveals”, and wrongly claim it is a noun. You regularly hear TV and radio hosts saying, “Here are some reveals to make the contest more interesting.” This is a howling misuse of the word “reveals”.

In its correct use, a magician “reveals” the secret of a trick. In its incorrect use, “reveals” is turned into a noun. The result is that the language is mangled and becomes more Americanised, or is it Australianised? Either way, I won’t be using “reveals” as a noun. So there!