Issue No 22 | 16 July 1999 | |
Piers WatchPiers Goes Missing
After two weeks holiday and free from the shackles of our repressive bounty , we were expecting a reinvigorated Piers to be back spilling fresh bile through the pages of our preferred receptacle.
But no sign of the warty one! We scoured the Tele, past Page 13, beyond Marilyn Parker, up to the World News. Where could he be hiding? Sport? Come on, the closest thing to exercise Piers gets is having lunch. We began making inquiries. An alert was put out around the better eating establishments of the inner city. But no sign of Piers, not even a stain. Slowly information began filtering in. An overseas junket of some sort. Then a call from a spy in Amsterdam. A man matching Piers description in the home of social liberalism. Surely, he was not taking our reward that seriously! Whatever, a camera has been dispatched to our Dutch informer. We await his holiday snaps with much anticipation! ************* With all the navel gazing going on at the moment among the city's professional navel gazers, it's interesting to consider what line Piers would have taken in the Laws saga if he were here. Given the story was broken by Media Watch there would have been a knee-jerk dismissal of the story as the work of the politically correct gestapo at Gore Hill (my words, but Piers is free to borrow them). Indeed, the Telegraph was running the Laws story way up the back past Marilyn on Wednesday before the DPP, ABA and PM stepped into the fray. Once the story became national news largely driven by the Sydney Morning Herald string of front page stories, Piers could have been expected to dismiss it at as a beat-up by the elite wankers of the boring broadsheet. In fact, Piers' space on Thursday was filled by the Golden Larynx himself, dismissing it as a beat-up by the elite wankers of the boring broadsheet. What we can confidently predict you wouldn't have seen is an expose on the inevitable tension between commercial considerations and editorial independence. When you're working for the richest man in Australia (is he still an Australian?) these are not the sorts of things you talk about. So maybe there's no reason to miss Piers after all! **************** What Workers Online finds amusing about this whole episode is the naive premise from which all this outrage has emerged. As if there was some surprise that our most visible talking heads are the hands of corporate interests. Radio talkback hosts regularly read advertisements; with nothing but the blatant plug at the end to differentiate it in any way from the core(?), non-advertorial content. Maybe Laws is right that the lines between entertainer and journalist has faded; but next time he or one of his kind pontificate about the world, they may restrain themselves from pretending their words have any enduring meaning. And where do we stand as a new media player (albeit a tiny one)? At least Workers Online is upfront on where we are coming from. We are a resource for the trade union movement that runs a pro-trade union line. We choose not to gratuitously dump on union officials. If there is a union election we chose not to air the dirt that may be thrown in the heat of the battle. We put information out into the public domain from a clear and unambiguous perspective. But here's the difference. We do so because we actually believe in it - not because we get $1.2 million for our compliance.
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Interview: You�ve Got To Be Kidding! British legal academic Dr Keith Ewing can�t believe we�re still debating whether workers� entitlements should be protected. Unions: The Shaw Plan Jeff Shaw unveils his national plan to protect workers entitlements. History: The Case of the Packer Lift An industrial history of Australian Consolidated Press looks into the media empire. International: Crisis in Ecuador An urgent appeal for solidarity with the popular uprising in Ecuador. Environment: It's In The Genes Did you eat genetically modified food today? Add your voice to label all gene tech foods campaign. Review: Around the Grounds Labor Council's Don Machiatto goes in search of the perfect cup of coffee. Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre Read the latest issue of Labour Review, a resource for trade union officials. Satire: Darth Reith's Workplace Relations (Phantom Menace) Bill Workers have been positively thrilled by the prospect of less pay, no sick leave.
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