Insiders:

Mike Crook writes: Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of the show that best represents Howard’s destruction of the independence of the ABC, Insiders.

The Jonathan Shier/Richard Alston gutting of our national broadcaster is one of the tragedies of our time. The ABC was established as an alternative to the commercial media, and was as needed then as it is now. The charter initially prohibited promotion of commercial entities and still does. Why then does the advertising of commercial media organs form the basis of the ABC’s news reporting.

ABC breakfast is a love fest of repetition of ignorant and stupid comments from the commercial media which are portrayed as fact. As regards the Insiders, people such as Piers Akerman, Andrew Bolt et al, all have a very commercial, and thus very right wing bias. Why are commercial opinion creators viewed as “insiders”? Where is the balance?

Formal complaints about the charter breaches have been met with a “but it’s the media, and the rules don’t apply” response. It is time for a Senate enquiry into the operation of the ABC and its’ news gathering, and the reliance on the opinion of commercial entities for its political direction. The commercial media is there to make money for its’ proprietors by selling advertising. Apart from political power and cultural agenda setting, it has no other reason to exist.

Advertising, as you know, is trying to sell something that no one would otherwise want to buy, it is a fantasy and sadly, in Australia, thanks to the commercial media, the lines between fantasy and reality have become horribly blurred.

The carbon tax:

Denise Marcos writes: Re. “The consequences of repealing a carbon price” (Friday, item 1). David Jones downgraded their profit forecast consequently their share price slumped and, apparently, it’s the fault of Gillard’s carbon ‘tax’. Anytime soon Tony Abbott will blame carbon pricing for recent Hendra Virus outbreaks.

News of the World:

Andrew Haughton writes: Re. “Mayne: it’s time for Rupert Murdoch to go” (Friday, item 2). Kelvin MacKenzie, the former editor of The Sun used to refer to The Guardian as “The worst newspaper in the world”. Not now, I think.