Three golden moments from radio that have hit the news in the past 24 hours.
2DayFM’s Kyle Sandilands attacking News Ltd journalist Alison Stephenson, one of the first of many to report on the unfavourable audience reaction to Sandilands’ TV show:
“Some fat slag on news.com.au has already branded it a disaster. You can tell by reading the article that she just hates us and has always hated us … What a fat bitter thing you are. You’re deputy editor of an online thing. You’ve got a nothing job anyway. You’re a piece of shit.
“This low thing, Alison Stephenson, deputy-editor of news.com.au online. You’re supposed to be impartial, you little troll. You’re a bullshit artist, girl. You should be fired from your job. Your hair’s very ’90s. And your blouse. You haven’t got that much titty to be having that low-cut blouse. Watch your mouth or I’ll hunt you down.”
Tim Flannery, in a letter to Quarterly Essay, reveals how he was set up by 2GB’s Ray Hadley, revealing that “caller David” who blew the whistle on Flannery’s supposed hypocrisy for living in waterside home, was actually an employee of Hadley’s:
“The experience has taught me several things about the hate media in Australia. First, as they seek to slur those they hate, they do not hesitate to manufacture a story if one does not exist. Second, as the story is picked up by other opinionists, they are prone to weave ever more scandalous fictional tidbits from the blogosphere into the story. Third, in their efforts to obtain an interview some journalists will lie and ignore the truth when it’s inconvenient to them.”
Just this morning, 2GB’s Alan Jones has been found guilty by the Australian Broadcasting and Media Authority (ACMA) of breaching two sections of the industry’s broadcasting code:
“It’s the first time in ACMA’s history that such a judgement has been handed down. Jones’s spray against the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) in February 2010 was judged by ACMA to be factually inaccurate and unbalanced.
“In addition to bending the facts and ignoring alternative views, Jones also played the man, as he so often does. He named an employee of DECC, whom he claimed was responsible, branded him ‘a turkey’ several times, and advised him to ‘start checking the address of the nearest Centrelink office’. He then told his listeners, ‘this bloke who’s giving you grief, we’ll find out where he goes next’.
“ACMA and Jones’s employer, radio station 2GB, are currently discussing what remedial action should be taken. There are six similar complaints against Jones and 2GB still waiting in the rack, this time over his broadcasts on climate change.”
The Press Council have copped quite a bit of flak over the past few weeks of the media inquiry, with the tired phrase “toothless tiger” being repeated ad nauseum.
But given all these gents have form, is ACMA really any better?
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