So today government ministers hit the airwaves championing the editorial independence of Fairfax journalists. Gina Rinehart pretty clearly wants to set the front page of the newspapers and figures the quickest way to do that is to buy some.
The institution of the division of editorial and everything else in the paper is a good one. If Gina wants her thoughts to be seen in the newspaper, it’s a lot cheaper to buy advertising space than the whole kit and caboodle.
But you know you’ve entered upside-down land when Stephen Conroy is lecturing all and sundry on journalistic independence.
This is the same minister who has proposed a universal filter for the Australian internet. And the same government whose lackey wants a media regulator with the power to say what can and can’t be published.
For those keeping score at home: it’s OK to control the press if you’re the ALP, but not if you’re an actual media proprietor.
