If you didn’t catch the Four Corners special on Australia’s off-shore asylum-seekers processing centres last night, catch up with it on iView. Truly a must-see, although I sadly fear that the news of “any reasonable option” being back on the budget table, whether it had previously been ruled out or not, will overshadow its exposure.
As usual, the topic of these media-circus posts is just a discussion-starter. Please discuss any sociopolitical issue currently making the news, or highlight egregious churnalism and those far too rare instances where the MSM rises above it.
Categories: ethics & philosophy, media, Politics
Grabbing somebody is Assault, and sexual touch makes it Sexual Assault. Stop minimising this. #rapeculture101 
Media Circus: USA Convention Season Edition 
Media Circus: Australia votes 2016 
If Gonski and the NDIS were proposed by the Coalition then they would come under far greater scrutiny from progressives than they so far have been, says Simon Copland at independentaustralia.net.
The Failed Estate is scathing about the economic illiteracy behind the scare stories about the budget deficit:
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has set up a petition calling for the government to Close The Camps Of Cruelty.
Margot Kingston has an interesting article about gatekeeping on the credentialling side of the Press Gallery.
So, Tony Abbott’s proposed paid maternity leave scheme is to encourage “women of calibre” to have babies. Anyone else have that feeling that he’s not talking about you? He is not talking about me…
http://www.news.com.au/opinion/what-about-men-of-a-high-calibre-tony/story-fnh4jt54-1226636953518
And in light of the rescues of Amanda Berry, Michele Knight and Gina DeJesus (and it would appear two daughters they bore whilst held captive), former abductee Elizabeth Smart explains why “a girl’s virginity is a precious gift” type of attitudes limited her ability to make an escape from her captor:
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/abstinece-laws-hurt-victims-of-sex-crimes/story-fneszs56-1226636551833