PM Julia Gillard: “Well, the first thing I would say is, don’t write crap, can’t be that hard.” National Press Club 18/07/11
By @Thefinnigans
Source: The Bisons
The ides of March
AFHP: This is the updated list of blindfolded journos and commentators, courtesy of @Thefinnigans, updated to the moment
The Finnigans has collated this incredibly long list of failed commentariat predictions since 2011. Let’s not forget that this is the product the media is selling to us as quality insider information with context. In the 24 hour news cycle you can say and publish whatever you want and you get rarely held to account for your work, shoddy as it may be. Just last Thursday, the twitterverse went into overdrive over this quality false rumour:
How come they never explain how or why they were wrong? If it finally happens they will say they were right, but won’t admit they helped make it so. If it doesn’t happen they’ll try again. Accountability doesn’t happen for political journos, commentators or their bosses. And if they have their way it never will.
Twitter cures all things, even endless leadership speculation – Credit goes to @zackster for coining #Leadershit
Here is our running tally of 81 Leadershit stories stories from 42 insider experts.
PM GORN Inaugural Leadershit Trophy
PM GORN Inaugural Leadershit Trophy
goes to….
PETER HARTCHER
Fairfax Media (Now in full tabloid)
| 1 | Peter Hartcher | 9 |
| 2 | Mark Kenny | 6 |
| 3 | Michelle Grattan | 5 |
| 4 | David Day | 3 |
| 4 | Dennis Shanahan | 3 |
| 4 | Malcolm Farr | 3 |
| 4 | Peter van Onselen | 3 |
| 4 | Phil Coorey | 3 |
| 4 | Richo | 3 |
| 4 | Tony Wright | 3 |
| 5 | Andrew Bolt | 2 |
| 5 | Fran Kelly | 2 |
| 5 | Lenore Taylor | 2 |
| 5 | news.com.au | 2 |
| 5 | Paul Kelly | 2 |
| 5 | Piers Akerman | 2 |
| 5 | Simon Benson | 2 |
| 5 | Sam Maiden | 2 |
| 6 | Alan Stokes | 1 |
| 6 | Ben Packham | 1 |
| 6 | Bob Gosford | 1 |
| 6 | Chris Kenny | 1 |
| 6 | Clive Palmer | 1 |
| 6 | Derryn Hinch | 1 |
| 6 | Gerard Henderson | 1 |
| 6 | Heath Aston | 1 |
| 6 | Janet Albrechtsen | 1 |
| 6 | Jeremy Thompson | 1 |
| 6 | Jessica Marszalek | 1 |
| 6 | Katharine Murphy | 1 |
| 6 | Lanai Scarr | 1 |
| 6 | Leo Shanahan | 1 |
| 6 | Malcolm Turnbull | 1 |
| 6 | Nike Savva | 1 |
| 6 | Peter Costello | 1 |
| 6 | Peter Reith | 1 |
| 6 | Philip Adams | 1 |
| 6 | The Age Editorial | 1 |
| 6 | Tory Shepherd | 1 |
| 6 | Troy Bramston | 1 |
| 6 | Judith Ireland | 1 |
| 6 | Laurie Oakes | 1 |
The Publisher Tally is won by Fairfax (Tabloid Format) 37 to 33.
| Fairfax | 37 |
| News | 33 |
| ABC | 5 |
| The Conversation | 4 |
| Crikey | 1 |
| Ch9 | 1 |
2011 – 5 stories
15/05/2011 – Gillard is dead, politically dead – Peter Costello
06/06/2011 – Gillard gone by December – Andrew Bolt
01/09/2011 – Labor stalwart says Gillard ‘finished’ – Jeremy Thompson
06/09/2011 – JULIA, resign. Let Rudd resume rightful role – Philip Adams
17/07/2011 – Gillard down for count – Phillip Coorey
2012 – 20 stories
20/02/2012 – Gillard delusional and in retreat – Dennnis Shanahan
21/02/2012 – Too late for Gillard to save herself – Niki Savva
23/02/2012 – Assassins reap what they sowed – Simon Benson
21/04/2012 – Gillard will be GORN by end of May, Hewson & Richo jointly on #Slynews
30/04/2012 – Credibility gone, PM should fall on her sword , Michelle Grattan
02/05/2012 – Julia’s going: it’s a matter of time – Dennis Shanahan
18/05/2012 – Despite the poll and budget uptick, Gillard and Labor are doomed – Richo
19/05/2012 – String of disasters mean the party’s over for Labor – Piers Akerman
26/05/2012 – A leadership change to Kevin Rudd is the last real option – PvO
28/05/2012 – Lame duck Labor likely to waddle on to term – Gerard Henderson
25/07/2012 – Labor’s choice is Rudd or oblivion – Paul Kelly
12/06/2012 – Determined Gillard may be, but her leadership is looking terminal – Shanahan
14/08/2012 – Pride comes before a fall for Gillard Government – Derryn Hinch
23/08/2012 – Gillard in big trouble no matter what happens – Leo Shanahan
12/09/2012 – Just like Howard, Abbott has the numbers that really count – Janet Albrechsten
13/10/2012 – Misogyny tactic will backfire – Paul Kelly
13/10/2012 – Gillard’s hypocrisy stripped bare – Chris Kenny
05/11/2012 – Hanging by a thread by Peter Hartcher
24/11/2012 – Knives are out for Gillard – Peter Hartcher
29/11/2012 – Ducking and diving, but PM’s goose is cooked – Piers Akerman
2013 – 55 stories
05/01/2013 – Rudd’s support for a challenge edging closer – Mark Kenny
15/02/2013 – An adrenaline charged Rudd increases pressure on Gillard – Michelle Grattan
18/02/2013 – Poor poll for Labor plays to Rudd’s ambition – Michelle Grattan
19/02/2013 – Beware knives of March – Mark Kenny
19/02/2013 – Gillard’s departure is a matter of timing – Peter Reith
19/02/2013 – Final nail in PM’s coffin – David Day
19/02/2013 – Something has to give – sooner or later – Lenore Taylor
19/02/2013 – Desperate caucus eyes leadership switch – Ben Packham
19/02/2013 – PM Julia Gillard ‘gone’ if she struggles in next week’s Newspoll – Tory Shepherd
19/02/2013 – Labor’s critical question: time for a new leader? – The Age Editorial
19/02/2013 – Julia Gillard’s support base is softly slipping away – Simon Benson
19/02/2013 – Kevin Rudd’s odds on leading ALP in September election shorten to $2 – news.com.au
19/02/2013 – Labor in despair over dire poll – Phil Coorey
19/02/2013 – Dead woman walking – SMH
19/02/2013 – Final nail in PM’s coffin – David Day
19/02/2013 – Rudd’s just in storage, waiting for sun to shine – Tony Wright
20/02/2013 – Dear Julia, it’s time for a dignified exit speech – Alan Stokes
22/02/2013 – PM should go for party’s sake – Graham Richardson
23/02/2013 – Gillard may not recover this time – Katharine Murphy
23/02/2013 – Drumroll, then exit on a final cymbal crash – Tony Wright
23/02/2013 – Julia Gillard risks her legacy by not ceding to Kevin Rudd- Peter van Onselen
23/02/2013 – Labor feels guilty over Rudd: Turnbull – Malcolm Turnbull
23/02/2013 – Teams lining up early for a Coalition victory – Lenora Taylor
02/03/2013 – Hating Kevin, loving the saviour – Peter Hartcher
10/03/2013 – Deadline looms for Prime Minister Julia Gillard – Sam Maiden
11/03/2013 – Julia Gillard must resign as leader or Labor is doomed at the election – news.com.au
11/03/2013 – Clear message from the west is that Rudd is the only hope – Peter Hartcher
12/03/2013 – PM’s backers must move for the greater good, says Rudd camp – Mark Kenny, The Age
12/03/2013 – Fran Kelly & Peter Collins #newspoll will give PM Gillard one more week to survive
13/03/2013 – Demoralised Labor hangs on every poll – Peter Hartcher
15/03/2013 – Media bill threatens leadership – Mark Kenny SMH
15/03/2013 – Julia Gillard – gone by next Wednesday – BOB GOSFORD Crikey.com
16/03/2013 – Labor poised to restore Kevin Rudd, insiders say Peter van Onselen The OZ
17/03/2013 – Is that a drum roll sounding? – Judith Ireland – SMH
17/03/2013 – Helpless blues. Why won’t Labor just go with Kevin?- Samantha Maiden Herald Sun
18/03/2013 – Labor troubles now entrenched – Mark Kenny, SMH
18/03/2013 – Poll piles more pressure on Gillard – Michelle Grattan – TheConversation
19/03/2013 – Ministers turn on PM – Peter Hartcher SMH
19/03/2013 – Trouble brewing, but don’t blame it on the usual bloke – Peter Hartcher
19/03/2013 – Ministers forced to defend their loyalty to Gillard – – Michelle Grattan – The Conversation
19/03/2013 – There could be a leadership spill on Friday – Laurie Oakes Ch9
19/03/2013 – Gillard an ineffectual campaigner – Peter Hartcher brisbanetimes
19/03/2013 – The faint sound of a ballad for Gillard. MEMORIES of the way we were – Lanai Scarr HeraldSun
19/02/2013 – Pushing Gillard to the edge of her temper – Malcolm Farr news.com.au
20/03/2013 – Many shades of grey in art of denial of spills and other ills – Tony Wright – brisbanetimes
20/03/2012 – No honour, no authority, no chance – Andrew Bolt HeraldSun
20/03/2013 – The numbers game. Rudd supporters consider another tilt – Mark Kenny, TheAge
20/03/2013 – Gillard and Rudd in limbo – Phil Coorey AFR
20/03/2013 – Confidence is name of game for survival – Peter Hartcher, SMH
21/03/2013 – Time for Rudd’s sweet revenge? – Heath Aston The Age
21/03/2013 – Gillard should not contest – Clive Palmer
21/03/2013 – Time for Labor to break the deadlock – Malcolm Farr News.com.au
21/03/2013 – Labor burning up the history books by dumping the first woman to be PM – Malcolm Farr News.com.au
21/03/2013 – ‘Rudd delegation ready’ to visit Gillard after ‘first strike’ – TROY BRAMSTON The OZ
21/03/2013 – Rudd has kept nose in front of Gillard – Jessica Marszalek News.com.au
Latham only commentariat who called it right on the morning of the spill
‘He’s always inflating his numbers’: Latham unleashes extraordinary diatribe on Rudd, Fitzgibbon and Richardson
TheFinnigans from the famous Beautiful Inspiring Set Of Numbers – BISONS blog started to collect the PM GORN headlines after the appearance of this “JULIAR BITCH” picture in March 2011.
Australians For Honest Politics 
My word, Thefinnegans, that there is some list of crap from the know-nothing media. I’ll wager that isn’t even a complete list of all the nonsense the MSM has been spouting about the PM, either.
Wasn’t Bill Shorten going to resign last Tuesday or Wednesday? In the fevered synapses of the press gallery this was supposedly shorthand for his “tilting” at the leadership, I’d imagine. Another made up bit of garbage from the media just like the alleged Ministerial posse tapping Julia on the shoulder at the same time. The only visit she had that day was from the Mozambique PM (or President. I forget). At least the press & cameras were there for it but it didn’t get reported.
Talk about an orchestrated action from a desperate media. You’d think they would give up by now.
I want to know if shorten knew he was going to resign.
Me too. Guess the MSM forgot to tell him.
Wow.. Particularly like the hypocrisy of the no follow up after polls came good. On ya Tory shepherd . Get some gumption . You are out of order
Yes, noted the ‘no comment’, when the polls are good.
The earliest departure I can forsee for Gillard is September 14, and even so she could still win the unloseable election from Abbott, just like Hewson did in ’93. Because as far as I can see Abbott has lost a lot of credos within his own party and Bishop (just like Gillard was for Rudd) is doing most of the heavy work of Opposition, not Abbott.
I predict a ‘one term Tony’ even if he does make it as leader right up to the election, because as his party very well knows his stubborn determination to repeal the Carbon Tax will inevitably cause a double dissolution and this threatens the stability of government, with a possibility of this happening within months of him assuming office. And as Grattan reminds us, two liberal leaders have both recently been removed from leadership in succession in their first terms.
If the msm disobeys Rupert and starts doing its job, the Liars will be gorn for all money well before 14 September.
They could start with Ashby/Slipper. That’d keep them occupied for months.
Richo who? the great Labor Party member who has done so much to destroy a great party. And who got away from Offset Alpine by a snifter. Walks away shaking head.
The only answer I can think of is tall poppy syndrome. The Prime Minister has arguably been put under more public and private pressure than any previous PM. Prime Minister Gillard deserves the highest admiration, she has been subjected to continuous negativity and disparagement both personal and professional. Her response has been totally professional, correctly concentrating on the business of Government, ignoring the immaturity and non-professionalism of so many around her with their “fiddle whilst democracy burned” approach.
The Prime Minster then had the temerity to display her superior professionalism by wiping the floor with the “Great Pretender” in her Misogyny speech. Yes, I believe, there have been somr errors made by the PM. The only way to make mistakes is to do something, or to accept the responsibility given. The much lauded “Great Pretender” who after a two and a half year dummy spit, has done nothing but try to disenfranchise the voters of Dobell and Fisher and unable and unwilling to do any more than concentrate on keeping his own foot out of his mouth.
There is a lot of white noise going on in all of the press releases isn’t there.
Its becoming a case of ‘0h, here we go again’ for the readers.
Lots of people are starting to realize that it is made up crap by journos & media owners.
Propaganda is the aim and propaganda is the game.
Victoria Rollison has written another good article to read for all of you tweeters & facebookers. Well worth getting that message out to all and sundry.
It’s all about wish fulfillment for the perverse mob of myopic reactionaries in the ranks of the Canberra press gallery. What is even more disturbing is the shrill and odious voices which emanate from the rank commentariat. Australia’s insidious cabal of puffed up neoconservative pillocks who dominate the nations mainstream news media. Give the lie to the notion of Australia being a pluralist society.
All those wasted eggs on the faces of the above-listed swollen-headed prigs could have been used in a thousand soufflés .
Hear hear , Julia Gillard is strong intelligent ,inspirational, determined , . hold on there is more. honest,, trustworthy, caring,,witty,gracious.and amazing leader..
Totally sickening. A betrayal of Australia as a nation and of the people. And exactly why I don’t have any truck with MSM anymore. Filthy treasonous bastards.
Totally agree, sulphurcrested, they are treasonous. The current journos have no shame whatsoever & compete with each other to see who can use the worst weasel words & most colourful hyperbole. They are too lazy to do their jobs properly.
I wonder if this PM done at all before her have done, snuggle up to the media, would she be better off.
These pathetic “Journo’s” remind me of Economists who try to make reality fit their fanciful
mathematical models and nearly always get their predictions wrong. The Gillard govt. has exceeded all expectations for a hung parliament that was predicted to fall within a few weeks or months. It has brought in a wealth of progressive legislation with the help of the cross- benchers and Greens.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the “marshmallow test” where kids are promised more marshmallows if they can sit alone for a time with the temptation of one staring them in the face. It seems this simple exercise in delayed gratification can have indications for the type of personality they eventually develop into. Can I dare suggest that the MSM media have collectively failed the marshmallow test, along with the appalling coalition members who couldn’t wait 3 years without trashing people’s reputations for their own ends.
How should we hold journalists to account for the rubbish they write and publish.
1000 days as PM this Wednesday, and I don’t think there’s been a single one where the media hasn’t said she was gone.
Could be the reason for this latest load of old cobblers, ME. Couldn’t let a landmark of that nature be celebrated without the msm doing its usual hatchet job.
I would really love all of those journos to take the Alan Austin test currently on Matilda.com. In fact, I think this would be the best type of advertising the ALP could do. It forces the person completing the test to either lie to themselves or accept the truth.
OMG! A telling list… It demonstrates the incompetence of our political journalists, the mischievous, partisan purpose of the organisations they work for, and, I suspect, it also confirms the presence of a small group within the parliamentary Labor Party who continue to whisper in the gullible ears of anyone who’ll listen to them that Gillard is already dead. Nothing like a self fulfilling prophecy. I would love to know they names of these “reliable sources” most others would consider traitors, or Labor rats. And, our unreliable news media could probably tell us. But that would be disclosing the identity of an informant. That, I’m sure they’d tell us, would be unethical …
Well done to document this, Finns. I assume you have listed only the confirmed ones. I’d always assumed there were even more. But I don’t suppose you can really keep count of the wingnut ones like Bolt and Ackerman.
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This leadership crap is all over the papers because that is the LNP strategy as discussed every week at Limited News. We don’t know for sure if Abbott or Credlin meet with the Fairfax press regularly but it is a pretty good bet.
If only all those dingbats were as addicted to gambling as they are unreliable in journalism. Tom Waterhouse could retire tomorrow, young and very, very wealthy.
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Well, it certainly was an eat sh*t day for some!
The approach taken in generating the above list undermines your argument; it seems like no effort at all was taken to evaluate the content of each piece. Some of these “predictions” appear from the headline (as the substantive arguments are not sorted or summarised) to be exhortations (e.g. “Dear Julia, it’s time for a dignified exit speech”), make predictions about popularity which can only fairly be measured by looking at the election or polls from time to time (e.g. any of the claims that Julia is unpopular, but not necessarily among caucus), and some are simply mirroring claims from acknowledged (if potentially vague) sources: “PM’s backers must move for the greater good, says Rudd camp”, “Kevin Rudd’s odds on leading ALP in September election shorten to $2”.
Without defending the authors for what seems to be pretty widespread rumour-mongering, perhaps honesty and quality in journalism should begin at home?
Very little mention above regarding the constant needling of guests by Fran Kelly on her Radio National ‘Breakfast’ program to get titbits of gossip re any rumour that may be doing the rounds in Canberra. Where are the boundaries around which intelligent discussion takes place on the ABC Radio or TV or is the ABC now in the hands of the Opposition?
More than enough wasted air play goes into interviewing Rudd, Abbott, Bishop, Pyne, Hockey etc, all who now, since the election date has been named, end their interview repeating the same old mantras that ‘this govt has lost its way’, ‘is ungovernable’, ‘Gillard being incompetent’ etc … But do we ever hear one so called ABC ‘journalist’ questioning the validity and evidence of these ‘sign-offs’. As a member of the Friend of the ABC since its inception, I am now so bitterly disappointed in the political journalism of national broadcaster as well as the Fairfax press.
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I suppose these journalists think they are important.
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