Insider’s critique of Murdoch Press in Australia
What went wrong at The Australian: an insider’s account The man who helped Rupert Murdoch establish The Australian, Rodney E. Lever, feels some regret about a newspaper he says “remains the idiotic plaything of rogue amateur journalism”. Independent Australia 30 August, 2012 I ALWAYS CRINGE whenever I read an intelligent critique of The Australian and the way it has shredded the once proud standards of Australian journalism — because perhaps, only in a minor way, I feel responsible.
It is the most ill-conceived newspaper ever produced in this country, even worse than John and Ezra Norton’s Truth because The Australian had presumptions that Truth never had. Its conception arose one Saturday in Melbourne, when I drove Rupert Murdoch to the Caulfield races and we spent the afternoon together…. At that time, Rupert was particularly disappointed at having been rejected as an applicant for a television licence in Perth and was moaning to me that he had lost out because he had no political influence. … Rupert had recently spent a few weeks driving alone around Australia and buying any provincial newspaper he could get his hands on. His technique was simple: he would bully the owner into selling his paper with a threat that he would start a competing paper in the town. He had some successes, notably in Mt Isa and Darwin. (His Mt Isa paper lost a long battle with the mining company, but his Darwin paper survives.) Continue reading
Symposium International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War warns of radiation health results in Japan
Symposium in Japan: Gov’t must be stopped from burying effects of Fukushima radiation — Official: Russian authorities did more for citizens post-Chernobyl than Japan has after Fukushima http://enenews.com/symposium-japan-govt-be-stopped-burying-effects-fukushima-radiation-official-russian-authorities-citizens-post-chernobyl-japan-after-fukushima
Title: Call for caution on Fukushima effects
Source: The Australian
Author: by: Rick Wallace
Date: September 01, 2012
….The symposium [in Tokyo organised by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War] heard claims that the Fukushima disaster […] could see a spike in birth defects, heart and pancreas problems and diabetes.
[…]
The symposium heard criticism of the Japanese government’s decision to centre its health response on a limited program of thyroid checks for children, and its failure to assist with evacuation for people in areas with radiation levels close to, but not exceeding, the 20mSV level.
Japanese MP Ikuko Tanioka, who quit the ruling Democratic Party of Japan in disgust over its handling of the post-disaster clean up, told the symposium Russian authorities had done more for their citizens in the wake of Chernobyl than Japan had post-Fukushima.
Greenpeace Japan co-chair Komei Hosokawa – who is involved in citizen-led radiation monitoring – said Japan was like a developing country in terms of its disclosure of information, democratic processes and the role of civil organisations.
Most speakers at the symposium – especially the Japanese presenters – called for more international research to be done on Fukushima to prevent the government from disguising or burying any health effects due to radiation.
Australian Dr Tilman Ruff co-chair of International Physicians for the Prevention Of Nuclear War
Dave Sweeney, 2 Sept 12, The International Physicians for the Prevention Of Nuclear War Hiroshima Congress has finished up and there was enough positive content and connections to make it all worthwhile from an Australian uranium perspective. The final conference statement re-lman Ruff affirms IPPNW’s position that the “entire nuclear chain – including uranium mining and processing, the production of energy from fissionable materials in dangerous reactors, and nuclear weapons themselves – is fraught with risks to health, our environment and our security..”…so we continue to build the voices and momentum against the uranium industry.
ICAN’s Tilman Ruff was elected as a co-Chair of IPPNW – this is both a recognition of his important and sustained work and a positive sign of increased Australian involvement in the global nuclear free movement.
A group of around 25 of us – including half a dozen Australians – are now heading to participate in three days of talking and listening about the implications and impacts of Fukushima at events in Tokyo and through a visit to the region.
In the week where BHP – the world’s biggest miner – has cited Fukushima as one of the reasons it has shelved its long held plan to develop Olympic Dam into the world’s biggest uranium mine it is timely to be here and to help ensure the reality of Australia’s uranium exports remains on the radar.
With solidarity and great regard for everybody’s efforts to nail this toxic trade,
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 