First of all, here's what we have for you this week:
- Killer Grabs: Quotes from around the traps.
- The manufactured campaign used to wind-back protest laws — By Osman Faruqi
- The Good Ones: The best journalism, opinion and entertainment for you to enjoy.
Lamestream started as a project more or less entirely focused on media analysis critiquing. We wanted more people to understand the media the way that we do: what drives decision making in newsrooms, who gets to shape the news, and why do some perspectives get favoured while others are left out.
That's still very much the core of the show, and of our newsletter, but over the past couple of weeks you may have noticed we've also veered into analysis of international affairs and Australian politics. The reason for this is simple: These issues all matter, we don't think the current media landscape is doing a good enough job, and we think we have insight and perspectives to offer.
But we're keen to know what you want. Is more straight up news reporting what you want from us? Do you want our political analysis and breakdown of big, foreign policy issues? Or do you want us to stay focused purely on the media?
The lens of how the media shapes our society, politics and culture, and how the crisis its experiencing is changing everything, will always be at the heart of Lamestream. But as we grow, and our audience grows with us, it seems like a good idea to get feedback on what else we could do. Let us know!
We would love to hear any ideas or feedback at all, whether it's about the look and feel of it, what you want to read more about from us or how often you'd like to hear from us.
Killer Grabs
Example:
"He's committed clear criminal activity, he's no more a journalist than the chair I'm sitting on." — John Bolton on Julian Assange.
During Donald Trump's first term, his national security advisor, John Bolton, was keen to publicly condemn his opponents.
"Stuff coming to cheer you... up!!!" — John Bolton in an e-mail, according to an indictment charging him with 18 violations of the US espionage act.
Today, US federal prosecutors have alleged that after Bolton was fired by Trump during that first term, he obtained classified documents while national security advisor, unlawfully kept them, then sent them as attachments on his personal email — leaking them. The charges could see Bolton face 10 years in prison.
The court will not have to decide whether Bolton is any more a national security expert, than the chair he is sitting on.
"MEAA members delivered over 450 personal messages to Hugh Marks, and began planning for protected industrial action." — Email from the media union to staff at the ABC.
A few weeks ago, we brought you a quote from the ABC's HR department, who were refusing to read testimony from staff about the personal impact of insecure work, sexism and racism. The stated reason was the "psycho-social risk" of reading what staff had to say.
Well, managing director Hugh Marks took that risk on and read them. Good for him. However, negotiators were told the ABC would not be reviewing their practice of keeping people on casual contracts, a strategy so widespread that it has kept a good portion of a generation of ABC journalists on contracts, despite some being 10-year veterans of the public broadcaster.
The manufactured campaign used to wind-back protest laws
By Osman Faruqi
On Thursday morning, the NSW Supreme Court struck down laws passed earlier this year that significantly limited the right to protest. The court found that the new laws clashed with the implied constitutional right of freedom of political expression.
The court challenge was initiated by the Palestine Action Group, which was fitting considering the laws were rushed through parliament as part of a confected moral panic around anti-Semitism, and were designed explicitly to try and crush the pro-Palestine movement.
The NSW government and the NSW police haven’t ruled out challenging the court’s decision, which means the fight over the right to protest is far from over. But the Supreme Court’s decision is a good opportunity to take stock, and consider how our fundamental rights have been lost as a result of pro-Israel lobbying efforts and a manufactured wave of incidents allegedly perpetrated by organised crime and foreign governments.
