Antinuclear

News limited’s attack on Cate Blanchett does not reflect community’s attitude

Essential asked about trust in political coverage. Commercial radio was again the least trusted medium, with only 40% of voters saying they trusted it all or a lot, fewer than the 48% who said they had no trust or only a little trust. Newspapers fared better — 53% trusted them, better than commercial television, but still a distant third behind the ABC and SBS.

 ‘Carbon Cate’ and the confected outrage of News Limited, Crikey, 30 May 2011, by Bernard Keane News Limited’s hatchet job on Cate Blanchett hit all the right notes for this sort of confected outrage — indeed, it could be an exemplar of the form…….. interesting was the automatic connection made by News Ltd and its employee between the media outlet and the community.

Because a News Ltd editor was outraged, that necessarily meant the community was outraged, regardless of the fact that his employee couldn’t find any independent evidence of any outrage. Now, sure, this is hardly new — newspapers have long portrayed themselves as voices of the communities in which the bulk of their circulation occurs, even if the editorial line of the paper is entirely the creation of the editor or proprietor….

Are they reflecting what their audiences want? Not according to ratings and circulation figures. Fairfax Radio saw big falls in audience figures in Sydney and Melbourne in the most recent ratings survey and the most recent circulation figures showed the Sun’s circulation slumping, along with that of all News Ltd newspapers except the Advertiser. And in neither case — Fairfax radio’s total audience, or the Sun’s circulation — do they have anything like the claim to reflecting what audiences want of commercial television, which commands far bigger audiences for news programs alone……

recently, Essential asked about trust in political coverage. Commercial radio was again the least trusted medium, with only 40% of voters saying they trusted it all or a lot, fewer than the 48% who said they had no trust or only a little trust. Newspapers fared better — 53% trusted them, better than commercial television, but still a distant third behind the ABC and SBS.

If the Herald Sun and commercial radio think they’re reflecting community concerns, the community doesn’t appear to agree..Cate Blanchett carbon ad controversy – Carbon Cate and News Limited | Crikey

June 3, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, media