Solon
I see two essential but very challenging areas that the right, be it the traditional conservative right or the alt-right, must tackle if they are to have any real future. To tackle either requires both bravery and discretion. In this article I will briefly outline one of those areas, the extreme bias of most of the Mainstream Media (MSM) towards the left and its causes. The second area, and I think arguably the more important of the two, is the leftist bias in our education system, which spares not even pre-schools though it reserves its most stifling (and expanding) expression for our universities. I will leave discussion of this area for another day.
In the United States Donald Trump became President despite the not only partisan but hysterical campaign against him by the MSM. Few thought he could win against a mainstream press that basically portrayed him as the Anti-Christ and a fascist potential dictator in the mould of a Hitler or a Stalin, whilst ignoring the many shortcomings of his opponent. The reality of the matter is, of course, that one of the world’s great democracies worked yet again, with a lawful and peaceful transfer of government marred only by the hysterical rioting of a petulant and frustrated leftist rabble. Having apparently learnt nothing, the MSM continues their hysterical campaign in that country.
In Australia, much of the MSM is also biased strongly towards the left. Though the worst of the hysteria has so far been saved for Pauline Hanson and One Nation, the bias against right-wing parties and ideas remains both dangerous and damaging. A now moderately leftist Liberal Party still suffers from this bias, despite its attempt to court the leftist media with a leftist leader installed and supported by too many “progressive” MP’s in the party room. The ABC and SBS are disgracefully biased and publicly funded. Yet successive so-called conservative regimes have failed to act. This bias simply cannot be allowed to continue. It is a testament both to the strength of right wing ideas and the failure of many leftist ones that there is still such a large conservative vote. We cannot and should not rely on this continuing to be the case if the problem of MSM bias is left unremedied.
So how do we solve the problem of MSM bias towards the left? If we can solve the second problem, the education system bias, it will go a long way, but unfortunately not overnight. I don’t know that we can wait. Right now the problem is being addressed somewhat by the MSM themselves, who are now so obviously biased and often hysterical that they are fast losing public trust for what was once a great profession. The internet and the many new news and comment sources which have arisen continue to gain influence.
But I suggest to you that the most immediate step that any conservative government in Australia should be taking is the sale of both the ABC and SBS, if they can in fact be sold. If not, they should be disbanded.
Governments have no business expending taxpayer’s funds to provide left-wing commentary. Yet the ABC has become an unwieldy giant octopus, ignoring its charter and in fact doing untold damage to Australia and, in the past, to the image of Australia abroad. It is past time that the government privatised its media interests and put the proceeds and the savings towards much needed budget repair.
I would have said more about the ABC but the article on XYZ by Lucas Rosas on April 5 makes many such comments on my part superfluous. He may well also be right about the Liberal Party. Though the best short-term hope for conservatives is that it replaces Turnbull with a right-wing leader and adopts proper conservative policies, the fact is that the party-room is so riddled with “progressives” that it is quite possibly beyond redemption. This almost certainly dooms us to a disastrous Shorten government. Though of course the difference between a Shorten government and a Turnbull one is whether we take the next train to Hell or the one after! The destination is the same. Please read Lucas’s article if you have not already done so.
There will, of course, be hysterical protests against any such attempted sale or shutdown of the ABC. We will hear many arguments for its continued existence in government ownership, from the press in its absence becoming rabidly right-wing through to its necessity for country Australia. In the first case, so rabidly leftist is the ABC that its demise or its falling into private hands will result in a more balanced MSM coverage overall. Even if this were not the case, the expenditure of taxpayer funds to promote ideas which have too few that want to read about them to support a mainstream outlet is simply neither appropriate nor desirable. In the age of the internet and now the NBN, it seems to me difficult to argue that those living in even the most remote areas must turn to the ABC for their news and entertainment. Even without the internet a satellite dish provides access to VAST, giving remote residents access to the same variety of Free to Air television channels as their city cousins. And, of course, even if some are disadvantaged materially, I am sure their needs can be addressed without the need for a monolithic left wing Godzilla. And at a fraction of the cost.
The existence of the ABC and SBS in their current form distort what should be a reasonably balanced coverage. So distorted is the narrative presented that I have sometimes wondered on occasion how we still have conservative parties with a serious chance of gaining power. Perhaps with the “Turnbull Coalition” replacing the Libs and Nats, we do not! There is at least the perception that the so-called centre may well have been pushed to the left, and it is this new “centre” that Malcolm Turnbull now urges the “Turnbull Coalition” to hold. The MSM and the ABC in particular have played no small part in creating this perception. The Polls, Trump, Brexit and Hanson suggest that this perception is not reality. However, to the extent that it is, the MSM has played no small role in creating it. I think perhaps conservatives have so far been lucky that more damage has not been done. I do not think we can continue to rely on such luck in the future. If we do not take action to remedy this bias and the similar bias in our education system the future for Conservatism in this country may well be a bleak one.
