Friday, July 2, 2010

Sky News & Channel 10's Meet the Press have to get rid of the paid Labor hack

I’ve explained before why it’s deceptive for Sky News and Channel 10’s Meet the (pro-Labor) Press to use paid Labor mouthpiece Bruce Hawker as some kind of political analyst, pitting him against conservatives whose opinions are formed by reason rather than a contractual obligation to spin.

But nothing illustrates my objection better than does Hawker’s abrupt switcheroo over just three weeks, as chronicled by Gerard Henderson:

Here’s Hawker on June 6, telling Meet The Press why Prime Minister Rudd is magnificent:
Kevin Rudd led the party to a historic victory. For the last two of the last three years, he has been riding high in the polls. There has been a jolt but he is the intellectual powerhouse of that party. He is the person who will lead the Government in this election campaign and well beyond and I think he is a very effective campaigner.
Here’s Hawker on June 27, telling Meet The Press why the now sacked Rudd was no good:
… the polls seem to indicate that there has been a real bounce for Labor as a result of the change of leadership [to Julia Gillard]. I think what we have seen is a significant circuit breaker. Obviously … Rudd was struggling on a range of fronts and now we’re seeing the new prime minister, I think, setting out some markers with the community, which I think are going to be very interesting going forward. Obviously today, the statement about population and sustainability is a very big one for the Australian population and the Prime Minister is saying, “I’m here to listen to you.”
“Obviously” Rudd was “struggling on a range of fronts”, but did Hawker ever say so while he was being paid to sell him?

Posted via email from Garth's posterous

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