Julia Gillard, as PM, was up against Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd, News Limited, the mining industry and the coal lobby. The result was almost a foregone conclusion.
Since his elevation to the job Rudd has been up against all of these except for an internal Labor contender trying to undermine him, though he has tried his darndest to assuage the mining and coal influences.
There is a chance that News Limited may totally overplay its hand during the election and will be seen for what it is by the electorate at large, but I think not – even many of those who disparage corporate media still purvey what’s in the headlines and editorialised articles, such is the cultural insidiousness of media power. What’s printed in the paper is repeated in the pubs.
Meanwhile, Kevin wasn’t too unhappy as he looked on whilst News Limited was, day in and day out, torching the political viability of Prime Minister Gillard. If he thought Rupert would back off once Labor had ‘neutralised’ the carbon tax and the boat people issue, then Kevin was badly mistaken. They’ve pulled out all stops.
Just amazing what we, as a society, get used to. Editorials that used to be discreetly placed on the opinion and letters pages deep within our newspapers now scream at us from the banner headlines in the streets. I think this has something to do with the non viability of print media in this era, they’ve nothing much to lose by abandoning any pretence of neutrality in reporting. The public doesn’t take umbrage. This is freedom of speech, writ large, we are told.
First published as comment on, Did you vote for this man? here
