Murdoch distributes his propaganda for FREE

[i-need-a-martini]

Today the hideously biased one-track subject matter Daily Telegraph was boasting it had the highest readership of any newspaper in the country with levels rising. 

Now I know why.

For months it has been the only reading available at my morning cafe and the content has stunned me - it is simply filled to the brim with BS. It's nothing more than an avenue for Murdochs propaganda and his anti-Labor agenda.

So I asked the cafe owner why she only has NewsLimited papers. She tells me she would never buy them -  they just 'arrive' on her doorstep every morning. 3 x The Australian and 3 x The Daily Telegraph. And they deliver to EVERY cafe in the area.

I work in Surry Hills in Sydney and for those of you who don't know Surry Hills, it is a cafe laden suburb with more cafes per square metre than any other city in Australia. The 3 blocks I walk from Central station to work I pass 16 cafes. Each given free Murdoch propaganda in the guise of a newspaper.

What chance for democracy when the country is being brainwashed to this degree?

[rosieglen]

I think most thinking people see the Telegraph for the rubbish it is - until recently I bought it because I like the crossword.  I cancelled it about a fortnight ago because of the tripe they were printing.

If I want to read rabid ranting I can do it here for free.

[silverfaun]

Ahhh Mallacca, beautiful. The 1st time I ate a curry off a bananas leaf in a little eatery.

As for taking me & nero to task. Now MM, we know you have more sense & reasoning than that even though you do call all of us myopics & you are right there...lol

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moderatemolly wrote:

John, I think your own myopia is becoming more and more obvious.  You try to present yourself on here as the bastion of reason and fairness but it is pretty plain to see you only "go after" supporters of the left.

When are we going to see you take to task nero, silverfaun etc for some of the absurd things they post?

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Is  moderatemolly the one liner? the little hand grenade lobber lobbed in  in  such an innocent way. If it is then I will never respond to her as per the usual because the flock of well known acolytes?  then have a reason to mass attack then report bomb.

Enjoy Malacca, I know you won't be able to resist looking at your smart phone or ipad for a quick update. You will be missed.

[cherry*135]

bright.ton42 wrote:

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Would free copies count in their circulation figures?   If they do then no wonder

they're giving them away.  

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I believe they would count in circulation figures. They would be put down to the cafes etc they were delivered to.

A major fast food chain.. often has the Daily Telegraph free for  customers (if you buy breakfast they are free but anyone can take them, they are still there on the counter after breakfast serving hours). Again that would increase subscription numbers.

We used to get another major newspaper for very low annual rate through uni student offer. That would increase the subscripton numbers a lot as well.

[cherry*135]

I found this article interesting in relation to current political media activity.

Sound bites feed a hunger for policy

21 Aug 2013

Ross Gittins - Sydney Morning Herald

For many of us, the big question isn't who should win the election - or who will - but why election campaigns have become so vacuous. Why so much politics but so little policy? So much argument but so little debate? So much sound and fury signifying not very much?

Why waste your energy trying to win the votes of people who long ago decided not to vote for you or those who are always going to vote for you?

So these days campaigns are directed at people who haven't made up their minds. It would be nice if these were people who were so deep into the policy choices they needed some extra convincing.

Sadly, politics doesn't work that way. The people whose votes are up for grabs tend to be those who don't have strong opinions, aren't ideological and don't take much interest in politics until the election is upon them.

I'm breaking it to you gently that modern election campaigns aren't aimed at anyone smart enough to read a paper like this one. They're for the people who don't think, not the people who do. So campaigns have become less cerebral and more emotional.

Politicians care more about the ads they run on telly than their televised debates. They find simple slogans and pithy sound bites more effective than complex arguments. They find scare campaigns - on the carbon tax, WorkChoices, the mining tax, debt and deficit, and the goods and services tax - very effective with people who are guided more by feelings than thought.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/sound-bites-feed-a-hunger-for-policy-20130820-2s94j.html

[monman12]

Good reference A3, I particularly  appreciate the final paragraph:

"Under the checkmate heading are the bipartisan promises to not make further changes to superannuation tax concessions (the biggest middle-class welfare rort of them all), to implement the Gonski school funding reforms (provided you don't read Tony Abbott's fine print), to implement the national disability insurance scheme (and worry about the full cost later), to leave the GST unchanged (and thus keep state spending on health and education under an unrelenting squeeze) and to waste yet more taxpayers' money chasing the pipedream of Northern Development."

And I am an enthusiastic recipient of  a lot of supperannuation franking credit.