Wednesday 5 September 2012

Seriously, what are we gonna do?


You lot horrified by whats happening to our newspapers? Speshlly our political commentary? Any idea who's left the Fairfax papers? I dont know if there's anyone left whose columns I want to read. Shaun Carney, David Marr, Misha Shubert, Adele Horin, Simon Mann, Julie Szego...these names may mean nothing or everything to you. They're some of my favourite reading. As the fabulous John Birmingham (blogger, Brisbane Times writer, author of 'He Died with a Felafel in his Hand' and one of my fave writers via Fairfax websites) put it:

"Elvis has left the building. And BB King. And Mick 'n' Keef. And Frank and Dean and Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain and Dirk Diggler and Kermit the Frog, and Buffy and Faith and Ripley for good measure. That's what it feels like when the talent leaves the building. That's what Fairfax felt like last Friday when hundreds of years of experience walked out the door for the last time."

(His whole article re this stuff is great. He goes on to rant about the benefits of amateur blogging, ahem.It's at the link below)
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/blogs/blunt-instrument/the-fifth-estate-comes-forth-20120903-25ac3.html#ixzz25XhjMCjo

One of the only things that makes our stupid, mental politics palatable is flicking onto a column filled with the measured reasoning of Shaun Carney or the fabulous prose of David Marr. Glad Katherine Murphy's still around. Peter Hartcher is NO substitute for Sean Carney as political editor. Tony Wright is good, but not amazing. Michelle Grattan survived, hehehe. Praise be, a number of the columnists on the ABC website are still there and still worth reading (heres looking at you, Annabel Crab, Mungo McCallum, Barrie Cassidy..). They're there...for now. But I am afraid. For years I've lived with the sense that there are a pile of people in Canberra called pollies making decisions about the country, and that there are genuinely some journos who listen as best they can and WANT to tell us what they find and what they think of it. And they've ALL GONE AT ONCE.
I trusted them, goddammit. I dont want my political commentary flavoured by tabloid crap. I want to read bloody good minds unpacking complex ideas and occasionally having a giggle at the antics of the pollies who cooked the ideas up.
sooooo.....I've tried Crikey but I'm struggling with their format. Anyone come across other alternative news sources?


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4 comments:

  1. DaisyChain5 September 2012 at 11:43

    In answer to your questions,:
    yes
    yes
    no
    and no.
    There truly is a dearth of intelligence and integrity in the mainstream media. And that's just what the people want. It's Idiocracy come 493 years early. Perhaps we should invite these newly unemployed & opinionated writers to contribute to our free speaking blog kingdom?

    ReplyDelete
  2. cathmarywayfairy5 September 2012 at 12:19

    Some of them already have their own blogs. John Birmingham (quoted above) actively encourages lively interaction on his fairfax blog 'Blunt Instrument' & has a personal blog called 'Cheeseburgergothic.com'. Katharine Murphy has a fairfax political blog called 'The Pulse', and she includes daily twitter rants from the masses as part of her schtick. Some of them are evolving. But yes, loads of fun to have them here, hey?

    ReplyDelete
  3. incontinentia7 September 2012 at 13:38

    we've been getting our politics from Big Brother.

    ReplyDelete
  4. cathmarywayfairy7 September 2012 at 14:45

    thanks for putting it all in perspective & giving the whole ishyou some soul darthy.

    ReplyDelete

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