The media is the message

It’s been an interesting week in the election campaign – the Coalition’s Abbott showed why he’s unlikely to become a monk with a foul mouthed tirade at the health ministers’ debate, Peter Garrett unwittingly revealed Labor’s intentions to just “change everything” when/if they get into power. And Peter Costello and Wayne Swan traded barbs while in Townsville…

“Mr Swan is one of those cyborgs who repeats the same line in the hope that the media will pick it up”

“Sightings of Mr Costello in Townsville are about as rare as sightings of Migaloo”

The role the media plays in the election has also been under a bit of scrutiny with a few people whinging about favouritism – and incompetence.

And no surprises on the last one… here’s a paragraph from the SMH website today

“Man turns himself into police after another man was shot twice in the head in Sydney’s north west”

Vigilante justice? Or a bizarre case of metamorphism… or perhaps a typo.

Rudd is famous for his glass chin (and wax ear) when it comes to media criticism – he scored points this week for his humour when handling questions on the wax incident after the video of his waxy snack made it onto Jay Leno’s talk show. He lost points for refusing to talk to Townsville’s most popular radio breakfast host on 4TO because it’s the wrong demographic. Rudd is pandering to the young vote – possibly at the expense of everyone else.

Queensland’s state pollies – particularly the Labor ones (who can still count on the support of Liberal leader Bruce Flegg) had a rough week. Following leadfoot MP Andrew Choi’s admission that the beeping speed monitor just fades into the background when he’s speeding Deputy Premier Paul Lucas launched an extraordinary attack on the media. It seems he thinks it’s unfair that pollies have to face such intense scrutiny while journos don’t have to disclose anything about their speeding record. He’s kind of missed the point – journos don’t drive around in government funded cars or get paid to reduce the road toll like the Parliamentary Secretary for Roads.

Robyn wants me to tell everyone that she’s got a black eye. I want to make it clear that she needs to have my dinner ready on time… and point out that indoor soccer seems to be a dangerous game for her to play.