Bolt’s quietest interview. Andrew Bolt was very excited to promote his interview with right-wing columnist for Breitbart.com Milo Yiannopoulos. “Don’t watch if you’re easily offended,” Bolt warned.

Yiannopoulos is a crusader for the right in the United States and frequently faces protests during his “Dangerous Faggot” (Yiannopoulos is gay) tour of college campuses. Earlier this year he went to a White House briefing to ask for a comment about freedom of speech on social media after his Twitter verification was removed by the company.

Ultimately, the interview was fairly tame. Bolt asked a series of questions basically seeking to get Yiannopoulos to agree with his position (as is Bolt’s interviewing style) and let Yiannopoulos go off at length about the gender pay gap (he says it doesn’t exist), how Islam is a better target for gays to make fun of than Christianity (although he likes the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence), and how gay people can be conservative. Bolt, for perhaps the first time ever, let an interviewee speak at length.

It is the last point Bolt seemed most fascinated about. Bolt said that there existed “gay caricature” of gay men as being “of the left” and Yiannopoulos smashed it:

“You must be for gay rights … and for all sorts of victim groups … You’re not the gay victim they want you to be, you’re breaking the image.”

It was reminiscent of when Bolt spoke in glowing terms about Qantas’ gay CEO Alan Joyce, because he was not “effete, flighty and soft“. It’s also the sort of praise he heaps on Tom McFeely, the owner of what Bolt frequently calls Melbourne’s best gay bar, The Peel. McFeely was called upon to condemn Islam on Bolt’s show after the Orlando massacre, and Bolt last night complained that the “top gay lobby” had not condemned Islam for it, yet. Not sure which organisation he is referring to in that unintentionally (?) punny title.

One awkward moment for Bolt was when he tried to get agreement against same-sex marriage. Yiannopoulos is pro-same-sex marriage (although thinks that gay men are better off embracing what is different about them).

In the end, Bolt seemed besotted:

“You’re fabulous, if I can use a term like that.”

He’s now promising to bring the conservative out to Australia for a tour. We wait with bated breath. — Josh Taylor

Here’s why TV still matters. According to a report on modern media consumption in the US from the Pew Research Centre, 57% of the US population get news often from TV, compared to 38% from online. That means, in the US at least, TV in its two main forms — cable and free to air — still dominate the US population.

“Newspapers lag far behind at 20%. What lies behind these numbers speaks to the relationship between the web and print media. U.S. adults who prefer to watch their news still choose to do so on television, while those who prefer to read their news have mostly migrated to the web. The vast majority of U.S. adults (80%) who prefer to watch their news name TV as their preferred platform. On the other hand, most (59%) of those who prefer to read their news opt to do so on the web, while just 26% opt for printed paper. Even those who prefer to listen to news are still largely opting for the radio.

“Although 62% of adults get news on these platforms, just 4% of web-using adults trust the information they get there a lot, and 30% trust it some. This wariness could be tied to the clear distinction the public draws between news they get online from people they are close with and those they are not: News from people they are not close with receives much lower marks for accuracy and relevance.”

— Glenn Dyer

Front page of the day. It’s happened before, but it seems The Sun hasn’t gotten over the thought of a woman (wearing heels!) at Number 10.

maythesun