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Sat, May 18 2013
Talking Pictures
My week on twitter 13 May to 19 May 2013. Some pics from me, some pics retweeted by me and some pics sent to me.
Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’
Sorry, @mirandadevine: @catharinelumby reflects on Twitter ethics
In Catharine Lumby on May 11, 2013 at 12:39 PM
May 11, 2013
A couple of nights ago I rang the News Limited columnist Miranda Devine. I had gone to some lengths to obtain her mobile number. I needed to apologise to her in person for retweeting a tweet by Mike Carlton that I did not read carefully enough before flipping it on to the Twittersphere.
Carlton’s original tweet read: “@mirandadevine is ‘embedded’ with the Police Riot Squad, as she puts it. What, all of them at once? Must be exhausting”. What caught my eye at first glance was the notion that the Australian police had adopted the practice, familiar from the invasion of Iraq, of ‘embedding’ journalists. I retweeted it and less than a minute later, I read my retweet and realised that Carlton’s original tweet included a very offensive sexual subtext that I missed when I first read it. I immediately retracted my retweet and apologised on Twitter.
Like many people who inhabit the Twittersphere, I was working on my laptop while scrolling the Twitter feed on my phone when I sent the retweet. I wasn’t prepared to excuse my retweet as mere carelessness because I knew that there was a real person at the other end of the tweet and my retweet.
Miranda and I are at very different ends of the political spectrum and she has been less than kind about my views in some of her columns – as she is entitled to be. I don’t know her well but when we have bumped into each other socially I’ve been impressed by her warmth and her openness to dialogue. When I rang her she was gracious enough to accept my apology. Others on the right, however, saw my retraction as ‘bizarre’ and implied that I was intentionally maligning Miranda because I thought it was OK to cast a slur on someone with different opinions. So I copped my own abuse that same day and it behoved me to take it on the chin.
It’s a small story that contains the seeds of a much larger story about the world of potential pain which unfolds every day on social media. Miranda Devine and I are from the same generation. When I started in journalism at the Sydney Morning Herald, in 1987, Remington typewriters were still lying around the newsroom among the computers. At one point in my endless apprenticeship to what was still called a trade, I was assigned to the Letters page. My major task, apart from deciphering the spidery handwriting of Retired High School Principals from East Lindfield, was to call the writers chosen for publication and verify their identity and get them to agree to me editing their copy down to one paragraph.
It seems a world away now. The public sphere has been democratised in ways we could never have imagined before the digital, online and social media era. The media no longer operates one-to-many. Everyone with access to a computer or a mobile phone can have their say – even if they are sitting in a café sending 5,000 angry tweets frustrated that only have five followers. As someone who passionately believes in dialogue – and most importantly civilised dialogue – I love the fact that the public podium has been opened up to everyone. What I don’t like is the level of vitriol and abuse that so often characterises debate.
I suspect many people feel the same way. Neither the Left or the Right have a monopoly on ethical engagement. As a left-leaning feminist commentator, I have had far more abuse and defamatory comments angled at me from people who are supposedly on my ‘side’ of politics. My problem, perhaps, is that I refuse to take sides. I genuinely care about having a conversation. Read the rest of this entry »
@albericie debates @chriskkenny on media self regulation reform: And the winner is?
In ABC, Fairfax, Journalism, Margo Kingston, Media Reform, MSM on March 17, 2013 at 11:54 PM
Artist Martin Davies.
Citizen journos unite!
In AFHP, Journalism, Margo Kingston, MSM, The Hanson Affair on March 15, 2013 at 9:01 PM
By Margo Kingston
March 15, 2013
Source: Sheilas
Sarah Capper, Sheilas editor: Veteran political journalist and author Margo Kingston is back! And just in the nick of time with an election year upon us.
After some time off, Margo returned to writing at the end of last year, spurred into action when she heard Opposition leader Tony Abbott attacking the Prime Minister over the so-called ‘AWU’ slush fund. In her best-selling book ‘Not Happy John!’ (recently relaunched by Penguin as an e-book), Margo examined Tony Abbott’s own involvement in a ‘slush fund’ – with the dubiously named ‘Australians for Honest Politics’ fund that was set-up to bankroll court action against Pauline Hanson. Margo reminded readers of this with articles published on the Independent Australia website, and was then further encouraged back into writing when former Webdiarist Tony Yegles created a website under the same fantastic title of ‘Australians for Honest Politics’. Welcome back, Margo!
In terms of returning to a ‘virtual reality’, she explains:
After seven years in the real world I’m back in the virtual one until the election. Once I dabbled on twitter and realised the extent of the collapse of the mainstream media as an accountability mechanism, it was inevitable. So I have deferred the final year of my nursing degree, accepted the services of the geek who created a website, and got to work with fellow citizen journos. I’m excited to be again fulfilling my vocation, this time watching the death of the old media and playing a part in the creation of the new.
We hope to publish more of Margo Kingston over this election year and link readers to articles on her new site. In this piece for Sheilas, Margo looks at what’s been making news through Twitter over the last week – click on the links below to be redirected to articles:
On March 7, Australian Women’s Weekly editor-in-chief Helen McCabe linked this post on Twitter:
‘Miranda Devine on “mummy bloggers” and the PM’
I came across it on International Women’s Day. Grrrrr. It read to me like sour grapes from a columnist who had privileged access to the former Prime Minister John Howard, and was now pissed off from feeling a little, well, displaced.
Helen McCabe is an old friend – we did the road trip chasing Pauline Hanson in her 1998 election campaign – so in response, I tweeted:
‘Why Miranda on PM dinner, Helen? Why not run someone AT dinner? ‘mummy blogger’ sexist on IWD!‘.
Vigorous twitter talk ensued, and Helen asked for pieces – which she paid for – on why the phrase mummy blogger was not OK.
Mandy Lee wrote ‘‘Why I hate the term mummy blogger’ .
Zoe Arnold wrote ‘Why mummy bloggers are so much more than their condescending name suggests’ .
Kim Berry wrote ‘Don’t call me a mummy blogger’.
To Helen’s credit, she then used her gig on Network Ten’s The Project to put the wider world in the picture.
This is what can happen on Twitter.
I felt uncomfortable watching Tony Abbott use his sister to remake his image on Sixty Minutes.
So did Shelly Horton, Sydney party reporter for the Sunday tabloid the Sun Herald. She tweeted:
‘I don’t think Tony Abbott is a reformed woman-loving gay-accepting man. I just think he’s been media trained to be polished liar’.
Her personal opinion on the Abbott interview summed it up for so many that the original tweet was retweeted nearly 500 times. Read the rest of this entry »
@ABCthedrum rat-a-tat talk forgets substance
In ABC, Jim Parker, Journalism, Media Reform on March 14, 2013 at 7:22 PM
Chart by Andrew Kos – http://www.abcgonetohell.net
By Jim Parker
March 14, 2013
Source: The Failed Estate
Here is the Mr Denmore (Jim Parker) post referred to above, republished with permission.
Our public broadcaster is our most trusted source of news. So why does it spend so much time and money chasing cheap and predictable opinions from a small group of people who have plenty of other places to bang their tin drums?
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation received a net $840 million in revenue from the federal government last year. Its real funding has been cut 23% since the mid-1980s.
Aware of changing technology and of being required to do more and more with less and less, the broadcaster in its annual report talks about how audiences are expecting to access content wherever they are and across multiple platforms.
The annual report shows that by output, 51% of revenue from the federal government went to television, 27% to radio, 10% to digital TV transmission, 9% to analog transmission, 2% to online media and 1% to digital radio transmission.
The flagship is the still relatively bright and shiny ABC News 24, a network that according to the national broadcaster “reached” 13.1% of the metropolitan population last year. I am not sure how many of those being “reached” actually watched it, but that seems to me a fairly low figure for an institution that proudly brands itself as Australia’s only 24-hour TV news channel.
Apart from audience, it is arguable how much of the news channel features actual, you know, ‘news’. Highlighted programs include ‘The Drum’ – an opinion show on the issues of the day featuring “an ever changing panel drawn from all walks of life”. Read the rest of this entry »
MSM to blogger: ‘Stunt – so what did she say?’
In Fifth Estate, NDIS on March 6, 2013 at 5:12 PM
By Kim Berry
March 5, 2013
EDITOR’S NOTE: Monday night dummy spit:
Next morning I see this:
I check out the dinner guests and find that I follow @allconsuming and she follows me so I DM and here’s a piece by her for us.
On Monday night I dined with the Prime Minister. This followed last year’s morning tea and then Christmas drinks with her at Kirribilli House, as part of a select group of ‘influential women in digital media’. I totally acknowledge this is a very big deal, a privilege, and pretty darn cool. But let’s back up for a moment.
I started blogging 10 years ago when I was at home with two small children, one with a disability, and in the grip of the clichéd ‘What have I done with my life’ period of angst every 30-year-old is prone to roll around in.
The early stuff is atrocious, akin to teenage diaries of misery, woe, and inexplicable vitriol. I persisted because I’m stubborn and a writer by trade. I learned pretty quickly that writing about yourself in an engaging way is actually quite difficult. See also: white, middle-class whinger.
There were a few stops and starts in those early days of dial-up, a fun year blogging with a friend, and then the last six or so at allconsuming.com.au, my own corner on the interwebs. Anne Summers called my blog ‘idiosyncratic’. Someone on Twitter said it was “peculiarly fascinating” which pandered nicely to my ego.
I am a personal blogger. I write about my life and all aspects of it which can include a LOT of baking, a fair smattering of swearing, the occasional indignation or insight, and a bit of froth and bubble.
Because I am a woman and a mother and occasionally blog about my children I am often labelled a ‘mummy blogger’. It doesn’t rile me as much as it used because the bigger blogging becomes, the more using that term to patronise or dismiss reflects on the labeller rather than the labelled.
I adore the online space. Blogging gave me a voice when I felt isolated and alone. It built a community, an international force of friendship that buoys me through the dark days and rejoices at the good. The arrival of Facebook, then Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest has only served to grow that community and I think that is pretty awesome.
Did I ever imagine blogging would see me having dinner with the Prime Minister? Absolutely not. Sure, I’m a current affairs addict and passionate about people educating themselves on the issues which form the fabric of our society – but to be in this position? To talk directly to the PM? Never in a million years.
There’s been a steady amount of sniping in mainstream and digital media forums about how we were chosen, that we weren’t from Western Sydney, and that the PM was snubbing women from the very area she was trying to win over, scoring a “Let them eat cake” kicker. Honestly, I don’t know why we were chosen. Read the rest of this entry »
Confessions of a News Junkie or Bye, Bye, Outdated Media, I’ve got a New Dealer
In ABC, MSM, Space Kidette on February 6, 2013 at 2:06 PM
By Space Kidette
Source: Satellite News Network
February 3rd, 2013
Space Kidette Note: To put this post into context, you may want to read About page.
How did I go from being Outdated Media’s biggest fanboi to a consumer openly advocating against a media’s vile product?
News vs. Opinion
The first and biggest problem for me was the almost insidious shift from fact-based news to the relentless drivel from small minded people being passed off as faux intellectual ‘opinion pieces’.
Somewhere along the line media outlets decided what consumers were clamouring for was their opinion. The who, what, when, where, why and how much of any news event often gets brushed aside, or totally ignored, in the journalist’s rush to furnish you with their personal take on events. Worse, the arrogance with which it is delivered manages to imply the audience are mindless drones who should feel privileged to perch at their feet, catching their pearls of wisdom.
News without much in the way of facts is just opinion and opinions are like arseholes – everybody’s got one. Let me make it clear. I don’t give a rats arse about any journo’s opinion. I’m quite capable reviewing and assessing facts, ascertaining their validity, conducting my own analysis and finally, determining my own view. What I want is from journalists is to deliver verified facts clearly, succinctly and in a timely manner – leave the rest to me.
Filters
It became apparent to me news was rapidly being filtered through the various lenses of political news publishers. The particular hue of the filter being applied to journalists, editors, and sub-editors varies with each outlet but is consistently cast over every article or broadcast. While I understand, and totally support, the right of any publisher to shape their news business, I will never subscribe to the belief that news businesses should be permitted to deliberately, methodically and ruthlessly shape political outcomes.
I flat-out refuse to pay media outlets to deliver to me their pre-packaged, political outcome driven opinions!
As for the ABC I believe, as a national broadcaster, their role should be to deliver the unvarnished facts. As an ideal to aspire to, the citizenry of every country should be able to access at least one news source that is devoid of opinion. In Australia we are incredibly privileged to have such a broadcaster. However the quality of political news being delivered today is questionable.
Much of the news presented is positively laden with politically affiliated opinion. Political news is distorted beyond all recognition by the many dubiously-sponsored shills and to my mind, as it stands at present, the ABC fails abysmally in its role as a trusted national news source. I can pretty much pre-empt, almost verbatim, what each political guests opinion will be!
Australia’s universities are chock-full of experts in their fields. As a country we are blessed that many of them are global leaders in their speciality. If the ABC is going to host discussions eliciting opinion, surely we should be ensuring those invited are real experts who are professional enough to discuss the matter without a cast-in-stone political bent! Read the rest of this entry »
The Desperation of a Liberal MP? The Russian spambots.
In Astroturfing, Tony The Geek on January 21, 2013 at 10:50 AMBy The Geek
21 January 2013
Source: Storify
This story was published on Saturday on Storify and retweeted via Twitter on Sunday and Monday and now has over 3,300 views.
[View the full story “The Desperation of a Liberal MP? The Russian spambots.” on Storify]
Greg Hunt has resorted or is at least is supported by an army of spambots who retweet his tweets. Could it be that he cannot find real people on twitter that like what he says? Who knows. We know the Libs or supporters do run other Spam Bots like LaborDirt. Here is a breakdown of just 1 LNP tweet.
Another 60 jobs to go in Adelaide from Penrice Soda. Carbon Tax named as part of the reason. A real blow #auspol
—
Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) January 18, 2013Update 1: Since publishing this story earlier, I have put together a growing list of LNP Bots here: https://twitter.com/geeksrulz/greg-hunt-bots/members
Also at last count 19 January 2013, there were about 40 genuine retweets out of 175 in total for this tweet. The Bots are tweeting via an app or platform called “The People’s Voice”. Has anyone heard of this? Contact me @geeksrulz on Twitter.
Update 2: I tweeted a link last night to my storify feature is.gd/3r9Xj1 to @GregHuntMP for comment. No response so far. Read the rest of this entry »
Margo Kingston: My welcome to Twitter.
In Ashby Conspiracy, Margo Kingston on January 5, 2013 at 1:53 AMBy Margo Kingston
Source: New Matilda
December 11, 2012
Margo Kingston
I blame the ABC for my initiation to Twitter. Or rather, I thank them, because the experience has been refreshing for this disillusioned ex-journo and long-time internet refugee.
I happened to be watching ABC News 24 when Tony Abbott again confronted Julia Gillard about her role in the AWU affair on the last day of sittings for 2012. He was repeating his sole claim, that she was a criminal for allegedly misleading a Western Australian government body by letter. It was a question of character, he said. She was unfit for office. However, he didn’t have the letter in question, so there was no evidence for his claim.
I felt nonplussed, because in 2003, 2004 and 2007 I had published strong evidence that Abbott had wilfully and materially misled the Australian Electoral Commission — also a crime.
He’d done that to avoid disclosing donors to his very own “slush fund” — the “Australians for Honest Politics Trust” — money from which was used to pursue the case against Pauline Hanson for electoral fraud. The AEC had let him let away with it through inaction and a sustained cover up. He’d also repeatedly lied to the media, which, I wrote in 2003, ensured he could never be prime minister. Yet only my former colleague Mike Seccombe, writing in the Global Mail, had mentioned the matter during Abbott’s pursuit of Gillard. Read the rest of this entry »
Abbott faces questions over Hanson slush fund
In Guest Author, The Hanson Affair on December 4, 2012 at 2:10 AMSource: The 730 Report ABC TV
26 August 2003
KERRY O’BRIEN: Welcome to the program.
A political furore has erupted over revelations that one of the Howard Government’s most senior ministers, Tony Abbott, set up a slush fund to pay for legal challenges to Pauline Hanson and her party, One Nation.
Despite repeated denials back in 1998, Mr Abbott last night acknowledged to the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ newspaper he’d raised almost $100,000 in an attempt to fund actions against One Nation.
While he and his colleagues were refusing to make any comment today, the admission is a setback for the Government.
It clearly suggests Mr Abbott did not tell the truth in the affair at the time, and has provoked government fears of a backlash from voters responding angrily to Pauline Hanson’s jailing.
Then, today, Mr Abbott’s stalking horse, One Nation dissident Terry Sharples, claimed that the PM was also aware of the machinations.
Heather Ewart reports.
HEATHER EWART: Pauline Hanson is wreaking political havoc once again.
The severity of her sentence handed down last week raised widespread public debate and was questioned by various politicians across all parties, from the PM down.
JOHN HOWARD, PM: Like many other people, I find the sentence certainly very long and very severe.
HEATHER EWART: But how the political wind can shift so quickly.
Now it’s turned to a desperate bid by the Liberal Party to fob off revelations today that one of John Howard’s most senior Ministers, Tony Abbott, had set up a $100,000 slush fund to ruin Pauline Hanson.
And the Labor Party is having a field day.
CRAIG EMERSON, OPPOSITION INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SPOKESMAN: The PM has sought to gain the support of One Nation voters by expressing sympathy for Pauline Hanson and yet his senior minister was up to his neck in raising funds and disbursing funds to ensure that she was prosecuted. Read the rest of this entry »
Australians For Honest Politics 