WorldWatch Saturday Edition 12 Feb 22

World Watch - Saturday Edition

Saturday, 12 February 2022

Fourth Estate Fails Democracy - Opinion

The media has been referred to as the fourth estate; its role is to protect democracy by fearlessly and impartially reporting the news of the day to the general population. However, the media seems to largely have become a mouthpiece of the 'official' narrative. Rather than presenting a multi-faceted nuanced view of society, it has been reduced to a mouthpiece spouting whatever the official narrative is of the day, and through the use of emotive language, selective editing and careful selection of stories condemns any dissenting perspective. This is not the media that democracy so desperately needs. 

Democracy, and society, desperately need media that will present the nuanced, conflicting and sometimes unpopular perspectives that constitute reality whilst also engaging in a teaching role assisting the populace to understand complex issues of jurisprudence, political theory, classical liberal freedoms and human rights.

Is it too late for the media to regain its coveted role as the fourth estate? Only time will tell. The light in the darkness is that there are isolated journalists who still take their fourth-estate role seriously.

Australian Politics

Being the lead up to the election there is so much happening in Australian politics, and there is every indication that the election campaign, which unofficially has already begun, will involve flinging as much dirt at the other side as possible. Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins were given a platform at the National Press Club, there was an apology regarding abuse within the parliamentary workplace, the religious discrimination bill, and the ASIO allegation of a Chinese-funded attempt to install a labour politician with Chinese ties in the upcoming federal election.

Tame and Higgins

Tame seems to have taken the role of Australian of the Year into a whole new dimension of Prime Minister bashing. She seems to have failed to understand both the power and the responsibility of the role. Providing her with a platform at the National Press Club, however, is not surprising as she rounds out her year as the Australian of the Year.

However, the decision to invite Higgins to accompany Tame should raise eyebrows. Higgins alleges that she was raped in Parliament house. The alleged perpetrator has been charged and the case is due to go before the courts. This makes it astounding that Higgins would be given a platform to re-assert publicly her claims of rape. Linking her to the Australian of the Year and providing a platform at the National Press Club creates a level of credibility that will have a negative impact on the ability of the accused to have a fair trial. However, this seems to be typical of the official narrative - profile the narrative that supports the agenda without regard to the facts of the matter. The facts of the matter are yet to be determined by the court and should be left to the court to determine.

The Apology

The Saturday Paper is running an article claiming that the Prime Minister didn't intend to apologise, but only did so when it became apparent that the Opposition Leader was going to apologise. Others are claiming that by apologising, the Prime Minister is prejudicing the criminal trial of Higgin's accused. It just goes to show that no matter what the Prime Minister does, the media is not content. He just cannot win. This further supports the contention that the media has largely become the voice of the official narrative.

The Religious Discrimination Bill

This week the parliament, amongst other things, debated the Religious Discrimination Bill. At the Commonwealth level, a number of rights are protected by the various discrimination acts. However, the protection of religious freedom seems to have largely been omitted. Similarly, due to the Constitutional interpretative approach of the High Court, s 116 of the Constitution, often referred to as the freedom of religion clause, has been construed not to be an individual freedom of religion. At this point, I don't want to get into a debate about the merits of the bill which seems to have a number of issues, but rather to point out the lack of nuance in the debate in the media around the bill. The general approach in the media has been to accuse the religious right of wanting to be able to discriminate against minorities. There seems to be no consideration, in general, of the right to religious freedom or what that looks like or how it may need to be protected. The reality is that sometimes rights clash. When they do, the parliament, the media and society need to have a nuanced discussion: acknowledge the various competing rights, consider the balancing of those rights, and acknowledge any limitations to rights that necessarily arises out of the balancing process.

ASIO and the Chinese Plot to Install a Labor Politician

ASIO has alleged that China was attempting to bankroll a candidate to be installed as a Labor politician at the upcoming election. The fact that allegations of this nature are made is not surprising and have been made previously relating to connections with China on both sides of the political divide. However, what is surprising, is that the media seems more intent on attacking Dutton for raising the issue, rather than dealing with the potential of foreign interference in Australian elections.

Enjoy Your Weekend

In this edition, we have focussed on Australian politics, although there is much occurring across the world. The key message: the Australian media seems to have lost its claim to be the fourth estate, with its valuable role of protecting democracy, and instead attempts to restrict public discussion to a single approved narrative. We need to push back against media attempts to control the narrative and instead demand a media that can present a nuanced discussion of multiple perspectives on the issues that arise in Australia. This will be partly achieved by promoting and encouraging those few journalists who still take this role seriously and calling out single-narrative journalism wherever it appears. 

Have a good weekend.