Introducing the Daily Briefing

Message from Webdiary General Manager David Roffey: For a trial period starting today, we will be publishing Wayne Sanderson's The Daily Briefing. As Wayne's own description of the service states: "The Daily Briefing provides a morning round-up of the local newspapers plus selected quality articles from international publications ... the best writing, analysis, social commentary, critical thinking and humour from around the world, drawing on newspapers, magazines, think tanks and web sites everywhere. ... It is your guide through information overload. Today, an excerpt..."

THURSDAY 6TH OCTOBER 2005

3 Pollies putty in moguls' hands
Say it ain't so! "The man of steel" becomes a grovelling, obsequious jellyback when Rupert and Kerry come calling? Too bloody right, and of course John Howard is only illustrating the pack behaviour of the political herd when it comes to dealings with the big media players (so many newspapers and television outlets, so many opportunities to say nasty things about pollies on the make). It is such a sick spectacle, national leaders throwing the national interest, good policy making considerations and the health of a democratic society overboard to add to the wealth and power of men already too rich and powerful. But that's the way it goes. Is there a chance things might change? Former Telstra chief Ziggy Switkowski has told the National Press Club the Government must "set and enforce" conversion of Australia's broadcasting to a digital environment no later than January 1, 2009, it must limit regulation and open up media ownership (that sort of talk could see Kerry having another heart attack).

Is it only us, or is there really a touch of glee to Michelle Grattan's coverage of proceedings, "Canberra bending at the knees to media moguls"? And as for Stephen Bartholomeusz (link below), well he thinks that Ziggy "made an impassioned, and compelling, case for the Federal Government to abandon its policy of appeasement in relation to media reform and make a dash for the digital age". The Herald also carries an edited version of the speech on its opinion page.

Of course, there'll be no more of that sort of rot if Packer or Murdoch gets their hands on Fairfax. And here's proof. The Australian's coverage of the speech runs to a full 11 paragraphs, total, and makes no mention of grovelling before moguls - "Former Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski has strongly defended his six-year record running the telco giant, distancing himself from an extraordinary attack mounted by his successor, Sol Trujillo." (The Australian does some good things and it has some fine journos, but on balance it is a bloody disgrace.)
STEPHEN BARTHOLOMEUSZ/THE AGE

4 The let-down lady
Not sure how this one slipped through, but fans of liberal NYTimes columnist Maureen Dowd should enjoy it while they can. Since the Times put all its op-ed writers behind a pay-to-view wall, TDB's understanding was that all papers that subsequently bought them had to do the same thing. And it's a good thing it is freely available - it's worth reading just for the opening paragraph: "President Bush doesn't have any more office wives tucked away in the White House. There are only so many supremely powerful jobs to give to women who are not qualified to get them."

The column is about Bush's US Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, but also mentions Karen Hughes, appointed as Under-secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, and last seen bungling her way on a charm offensive (more offensive than charm) through Muslim states. Dowd's response to the nomination sums up reaction across the spectrum in the US. Slate dubs her the "let-down lady": "Commentators on the right as well as the left-anyone, really, who thinks a Supreme Court justice should possess a record of world-class distinction-are groaning over Harriet Miers' nomination." (And there are numerous links in the story to that reaction.)

All in all the nomination points to a President down on his luck, down on support and standing, running scared and running out of nerve. But, TDB is still yet to see him labeled a "lame duck", a hunt we began some time back. Can't be long, surely.
MAUREEN DOWD/THE AGE

5 IN THE PAPERS: National, Opinion, Business round-up
IN THE BROADSHEETS

Fair dinkum, The Australian has no shame. Apart from its coverage of Ziggy Switkowski's press club appearance, see item one above, consider its front page lead. The teenage sons of Australia's highest-profile asylum-seekers, the Bakhtiyari family, have apologised to the Howard Government for the "lies" they now say prompted their deportation. The story is a lift from an interview on ABC's Lateline last night (but hasn't the paper been telling us that the ABC is a dreadful den of left-wing insurgency that should be shut down?); it does not mention that their criticisms of refugee advocates and lawyers applies to only 40% (the boys figure) of the people who helped them; it plays down the fact that the boys appear to confirm Paul McGeough's recent reports that the family was in fact from Afghanistan (denied by the Government); and it buries down the bottom the responses of some of their supporters denying their suggestions. Then, there is of course just the small fact that the Bakhtiyari family is on the make, hoping to be allowed to return to Australia, so they might well indeed apologise to the Government. Expect some of the right-wing tub thumpers in the Murdoch stable to rejoin the culture wars on this one (is that Andrew Bolt we can hear rubbing his hands together with glee?). Every other day recently The Australian disgraces itself and, more importantly, journalism. And do keep in mind the paper's editorial on the proposed "revolution" in black land ownership. Let it hold whatever opinion it chooses on the issue, but watch how it might cover reporting on the subject on its news pages. Agendas, always agendas, on any newspaper edited by Chris Mitchell. Oh, and no mention of anyone being "arrested" in relation to the Bali bombings in the paper's reporting of that story this morning. For an explanation of that see feedback.

Perhaps it is best if we have a look at what is happening in Fairfax land before coming back to The Australian's news list. The Herald reports that five Islamic radicals connected to the 2002 Bali bombings and jailed for possessing explosives are among the suspects police are hunting over Saturday's suicide attacks. It also reports that nearly one in seven high-speed police car chases in NSW in the year to June ended in a crash, lifting the crash rate to its highest in six years; that a permanent military court with independence from the Australian Defence Force chain of command forms the central plank of the Federal Government's response to a damning inquiry into military justice; and that Family First senator Steve Fielding will today press for a Senate inquiry into the Federal Government's plans to scrap penalty rates in its new industrial relations legislation.

The Age hauls out the "exclusive" tag (not quite so active of late) to report that government school students in Victoria are falling behind in the competition for university places. It also reports that indigenous leaders say traditional owners will not sign away their land despite proposed land rights changes allowing businesses to lease Aboriginal land and which encourage Aborigines to buy their own houses (watch the Government turn it into an offer they can't refuse); and that embryonic stem cell research had failed to deliver on its promises, Nationals Senate leader Ron Boswell told Parliament yesterday as the political fight over the sensitive issue gained momentum.

So back to The Australian (which gives no further clues as to what is happening with Kevin Donnelly's curriculum crusade, that which was gaining all the "momentum" such a short while back). It reports that debate over John Howard's industrial relations reforms had fuelled community fears that the civilised standards of democratic society were being further eroded, Melbourne Anglican Archbishop Peter Watson said last night; that Queensland Police believe the military failed in its duty to protect a soldier who was bashed after exposing drug abuse in the Australian Defence Force; and that Victorian fraud squad detectives are investigating Department of Justice staff accused of systematically rorting the poor box at one of the state's busiest courts. (There seems to be a lot of shamelessness around this morning.

And do have a look at the yarn about the fellow who may take the High Court shop to the High Court over a pair of $50 High Court cufflinks that tarnished and chipped. (Who knew the High Court was a retailer, selling possibly shonky goods? Or is this fellow a vexatious litigant who should polish up his cufflinks and move on as suggested?) Still on matters legal, a former leading barrister, Bill Davison, recently bankrupted for the third time, appeared in the Supreme Court yesterday facing allegations that he had been giving legal advice despite not having a practising certificate.

Overseas, the story of the Unionist hardman nicknamed "Doris Day" (how can you be a "hardman" with a moniker like that?) shot dead outside his home in Belfast is a rollicking read.

OPINION

The Age: Greg Barton "the present situation in Indonesia is difficult it will become truly impossible if the transition to liberal democracy stalls and fails" (so many words, so few fresh ideas); Kenneth Davidson thinks selfish, greedy interests are driving Melbourne's transport policy into the ground; Brett Bowden on the Nobel Peace Prize line-up (was in the SMH yesterday); and Maureen Dowd, see above.

The Australian: Mike Steketee explains why the concerned citizen should be worried by the prospect of machine politicians like Nick Minchin and Eric Abetz being allowed to tinker with electoral laws - political self-interest wins out every time; John Graham, congratulates Robin Warren and Barry Marshall on their Nobel Prize for medicine, and as "one of their chief scientific critics", highlights the fact that the bacteria Helicobacter pylori has never been shown producing a stomach ulcer, raising issues for Koch's postulates (yes, you'll have to read it); Greg Sheridan thinks the Bali bombings show that on balance, the war against Southeast Asian terrorism is exceptionally complex and not going so well (and for that he gets paid a lot of money); and Craig Emerson (who does seem to enjoy a dream run in The Australian - perhaps TDB should visit the history of Chris Mitchell, the paper's editor-in-chief, and his cosy relationship with the Queensland ALP right sometime) pushes the idea of a private equity scheme to finance university education.

The SMH: George Newhouse says despite the Vivian Alvarez and Cornelia Rau scandals (he is on their legal teams), moves are afoot to reduce migrants' legal rights and that nothing is being done about the Migration Litigation Reform Bill 2005; Natasha Cica looks at ethics and political correctness in the battle between animal rights supporters and supermodels, like Elle, who promote the fur trade; Miranda Devine, in a column that would look even sillier if published in the US given the political climate there, thinks poor old George Bush got an unfair mauling over Hurricane Katrina because reports of murder and mayhem turned out to be exaggerated (so much nonsense in this one, so little time to pull it apart); and Ziggy Switkowski, see item above.

BUSINESS

Ah yes, it's all a lot of fun, until someone gets their eye poked out and then its tears before bedtime. The stock market slump is the big story of the morning, and we did notice Alan Kohler saying on ABC News last night that international comparisons suggest there could be more of that to come. The Herald's lead reports that more than $21 billion was wiped off the Australian stockmarket yesterday in its biggest single-day loss since the week after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Australian says investors called an emphatic end to this year's 30 per cent rise in the share market yesterday as a flood of stop-loss sell orders helped fuel the biggest one-day fall in share prices for three years; while The Age puts it down to concerns about the economy, compounded by figures showing the home-building sector was nose-diving.

The Australian reports that manufacturers have confounded the doomsayers, staging a strong recovery in exports; and that Babcock & Brown's share price was again in free fall yesterday after a research report from Capital Partners suggested that the stock was worth roughly a third of the market value.

The lead in The Age says investors with seemingly worthless shares in failed public companies are being asked to fork out hundreds of dollars to have themselves registered with administrators as unsecured creditors. It also tells us that Telstra's future in the sharemarket and with its customers now hangs on the strategic review chief executive Sol Trujillo will deliver towards the end of November; and that Toyota's imported Corolla soared to the top of the sales charts in September, overtaking Holden's Commodore, the long-term market leader, in a move that mirrored what is happening in the market as a whole.

The Herald reports that Graeme Samuel was influenced by media publicity in his former role as Australian Football League commissioner, Seven Network's executive chairman, Kerry Stokes, told the Federal Court yesterday; and that two directors of Citrofresh, the company that last week announced its product could prevent HIV, took advantage of the share price spike to sell large parcels of stock.

For coverage of Ziggy Switkowski's press club appearance, see item above.

STATE ROUND-UP

The Daily Telegraph: Motorists will be squeezed into just one traffic lane in either direction along William St in a final cynical bid by the Cross City Tunnel to force cars on to Sydney's loneliest toll road; She died of a methadone overdose more than two weeks ago, but 6-year-old Rose Villanueva-Austin has still not been laid to rest because no one can pay for her funeral.

The Herald-Sun: Secret files were used as scrap paper at a police station in another damaging security bungle. The confidential files were left on the counter of the Frankston station for the public to use as notepaper, according to the man who exposed the debacle; Nine injured Australians shed tears as they arrived home in Newcastle last night to be reunited with family and friends.

The Courier-Mail: A pandemic of deadly Asian bird flu would infect more than 500,000 Queenslanders and kill nearly 4000 under a worst-case scenario prepared by the State Government; Energex may have to fly in crews from interstate power companies to cope with major blackouts this summer.

The Advertiser: stretchers, wheelchairs and on foot, nine relieved survivors of the deadly Bali bombing arrived home in Newcastle last night to be reunited with friends and family; South Australians are the biggest bookworms in the nation, with 60 per cent members of libraries.

The West Australian: A Centrelink office in WA's north is cancelling welfare payments to local Aborigines if their children skip school, under a scheme it has set-up with the principal; An Indonesian boat with 25 fishermen on board was towed into Broome yesterday after being detected off the WA coast by a routine Customs surveillance flight.

The Mercury: The State Government yesterday announced a complete backflip over sex laws -- and will now push for a total ban on brothels; of Tasmania's top police officers has been demoted, fined and had his licence suspended after being caught drink-driving.

SPORT

Australia emerged from their Ashes fog to defeat the ICC World XI by 93 runs and Shane Watson suggested he may one day answer his country's prayers and morph into Andrew Flintoff; Peter Roebuck, as always, is a good read and a good reader of the game; Lleyton Hewitt and Spanish young gun Rafael Nadal will headline the Sydney International men's field next January; Kostya Tszyu says he will decide his fighting future by the end of the year, but a rematch with his British conqueror Ricky Hatton seems unlikely.

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