Culturing the bias of 'our' ABC

Sometimes, the defenders of “our” ABC advertise their left-wing credentials too well. Robert Manne, for example, was angry with the national broadcaster for not attacking a conservative American scholar. “He [Robert Kagan] was interviewed, respectfully, by almost every serious public affairs program on the ABC,” cried the professor. Fancy that. How dare the ABC treat a conservative with respect!

Being respectful to a conservative shouldn’t be an issue. The real problem with “our” ABC, however, is that the chattering classes have come to expect it to be viciously anti-American. Furthermore, they want it to reflect their anti-Israeli prejudices.

As a 20-something, I’d like a fair and balanced ABC. The Cold War is over. It’s time to move on guys.Time and again, ABC types have been exposed for their cowardice. One Triple-J presenter, for instance, likes to hang weird quotes in the ABC’s Darwin office. “There is no place in heaven for imperialist Yankee swine,” reads one choice poster. That was after the 9-11 attacks. In any case, honouring the words of bin Laden, racially speaking, is bizarre. He is an anti-Semite.

A further disadvantage of left-wing media groupthink, racially speaking, is that it nurtures the seeds of hatred. Notably, the ABC Style Guide states, “one person’s ‘terrorist’ is someone else’s ‘freedom fighter’”. Red Fascists and self-hating Jews concur.

Predictably enough, the ABC Shop sells Michael Moore “documentaries”. Products made by the anti-capitalist multi-millionaire include:

• The Awful Truth DVD - Series 1 (12 episodes);
• The Awful Truth DVD - Series 2 (12 episodes);
• Bowling For Columbine DVD;
• Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD.

Not surprisingly, the ABC’s website also promotes a number of other left-wing resources. Evidently, watching over 700 minutes of Moore’s anti-American propaganda isn’t enough. So, the ABC website also recommends:

• Super Size Me DVD;
• The Corporation DVD;
• Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism DVD;
• Soundtrack to War (an anti-Bush music spectacular) DVD.

Curiously, all of the above “documentaries” have been discredited by serious academics.

The British writer Christopher Hitchens, for instance, points out, “Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of ‘dissenting’ bravery.” Still, the ABC recommends Moore’s anti-American project because, “as always, Moore has much to say and he presents it compellingly in a film that is entertaining and provocative”. Apparently, only pro-appeasement documentaries are “entertaining” and “provocative”.

Funnily enough, I couldn’t find any media products that challenge Moore’s demonstrably false conspiracy theories. And I’m still looking. Then again, ABC types don’t feel that conservatives have much to say. Groupthink is the norm. Censorship is commonplace.

One of the ABC’s weirdest “mom and pop” conspiracy theory documentaries is Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism. Nevertheless, “our” national broadcaster describes it as a “brilliantly executed exposé of the moral and ethical corruption of Fox News”. But that’s the beauty of propaganda isn’t it? The ABC, of course, is pure and innocent.