MEDIA SHAME FILE
Outlet: Sydney Morning Herald
Headline: Like a cockroach that can’t be killed, Mark Latham has crawled around public life for too long. He must go
Summary: Independent NSW MP Mark Latham, a former Opposition and federal Labor leader and one of the few serving politicians in Australia with a mind of his own and the courage to express himself honestly, must be over the target because he took fire from all angles this week in what looked a lot like a coordinated corporate media and uniparty hit job.
We don’t know who’s behind it, and maybe a lot of it is simply media vultures smelling blood and joining a pile-on, but it does seem like a bit of a coincidence that the allegations (that we won’t repeat) were first aired in The Australian, the Murdoch media’s fanatically pro-Israel flagship, at the same time Latham was speaking out about the NSW hate speech laws and criticising the Jewish lobby. Or it could be his vengeful ex and her Liberal Party connections, or something else, or a combination of all of the above.
Regardless of who is behind the hit job, the last couple of days have been a feeding frenzy, and almost everyone in media and politics has rushed to stick the knife in (notable exceptions being radio host Chris Smith and Libertarian MP John Ruddick), with the Sydney Morning Herald joining in today with one of the most unhinged and revealing editorials we’ve ever seen.
Not only does it compare Latham, a democratically elected representative of the Australian people, to a cockroach, it calls for him to be “driven from public life”, “eradicated” from parliament, and prays for his bankruptcy.
It’s extraordinary, especially from a publication that is constantly carrying on about the threats to to “Our Democracy” by people like Donald Trump, who no doubt would be compared to Hitler in the same pages if he called another politician a cockroach that needed to be eradicated.
Latham’s chief offence, according to the editorial? A tweet about a homosexual Sydney MP that most Australians would agree with. It should also be noted that the Australian media and political class was too cowardly to support or even defend Latham during that battle too.
It’s revealing that Sydney’s newspaper of record is prepared to openly call for Latham to lose his place in parliament, all because he said a thing that a gay man didn’t like.
But Herald editor Bevan Shields is self-aware enough to realise that what he’s calling for is hypocritical and undemocratic, so he adds this line:
“At a democratic level, Latham was elected fairly and squarely, and many voters believe they do not just do the hiring but also the firing.”
“Many voters believe”. These three words show that either Shields doesn’t believe it, or that it’s untrue.
But it is true that in a democracy voters do the hiring and firing – that’s the whole point of the project.
A system where the voters don’t do the hiring and firing is not a democracy, and the Sydney Morning Herald is making it clear here that they don’t think NSW should be one.
They don’t respect you, or your vote, or the people you elect. They think they know better, they think they have the right to override your vote, and they will use their power and influence to make sure your vote doesn’t count.
The reality is, they and the rest of the corporate media despise you. They have nothing but contempt for the average Australian and our opinions, and they definitely don’t want us having a say.
Remember this next time they are warning you about a “threat” to democracy.
Key quote: “It is grounds for Latham’s eradication from parliament.”
