Pauline Hanson & the press

Over here the main focus of our politics seems to revolve around lambasting a woman called Pauline Hanson who has the gall to demand a political voice for the large minority of people within our society that we have allowed to be educated down to the level of the media. Hanson is arguing that the political leadership and their technocrats have tried to hide the simple (and brutal) solutions to many of our national problems by harping on their complexity and inter relatedness (?). She sees easy solutions in stopping immigration (particularly from Asia), reintroducing trade tariffs and stressing nationalism among other ideas in her "grab bag".

When I watch the excellent show "Frontline" (which brutally exposes TV current affairs as a corrupt marketing tool with no sense of journalistic responsibility) I feel that we need to demand a change of role for the electronic media. TV, radio and the internet should be encouraged at least (and directed where this fails) to ensure that their use produces social benefit in terms more human than merely the production of profit. We must begin to demand fulfillment of responsibilities from these industries.

Many seem to be attempting to destroy Pauline Hanson's political voice without addressing either the responsibility for her "education", or the focus of discontent that generates support for her. She is a warning that if the problems remain then sections of the populace will find a scapegoat somewhere (aided by the media of course) regardless of justification.

Just thought that I would share that with you after seeing a pathetic attempt by an ABC journalist to destroy an inarticulate and uninformed person (Hanson) because of the "politically incorrect" nature of the views being expressed. In another context, the same journalist would have (condescendingly) lead and coaxed the same person to express her concerns and then challenged others to find a more informed resolution.