Something Wonky

This week the focus group asks, what does “politicise a tragedy” even mean? Stop The Press pores over the James Ashby non-story, and looks at sex and work. No need for anyone heed this drivel The Inbox of Doom visits Facebook And Dave wants to know what the correlation is between geeks and left wing politics.

The Focus Group discusses message discipline, and does a course in remedial representative democracy. Liberal HQ warns candidates off of social media Pyne calls move to enroll young voters a “rort” Pyne caught red-handed with the airbrush Stop the Press looks at the fallout of the “Royal Hoax”, and the easiest place in Australia to be a journalist. Prank Calls – Taking Advantage of the Vulnerable Destroying the Joint? Austereo and our Moral and Social Compass News.com.au reprinting Reddit “Ask Me Anything” posts Sydney’s hottest courier? Great thinkers quoting Herald Sun readers And we see who’s been writing to the Wagga Daily Advertiser

This week The Focus Group asks whether a hot summer could be an electoral saviour for the ALP, and hopefully looks at slush funds for the last time. News.com.au “Mega Tsunami” Is Julie Bishop broken? Andrew Bolt carefully avoids making any claims Stop the Press reflects on Andrew Bolt’s love of diversity, Miranda Devine’s litany of failure and calls back to the Pure Poison days to chat about the Herald Sun’s James Campbell. Jeremy’s back on the Cory bandwagon, and he’s adding a side serve of Pastor Danny. Sunili Govinage returns to tell us what’s stuck in her craw Asylum Seeker cheer squad Another Tele beat up

Dave and Jeremy debate the value of ‘the lesser of two evils’. The Focus Group discusses the value of labels in political communication. Stop The Press reluctantly dips a toe into the Julie Bishop scandal. Due to popular demand, more deranged letters to the Editor from the Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser.

We return from our brief hiatus to reflect on the US election result and the aftermath of overblown commentary. Punish rich people who betrayed their class and voted for Obama Cutting political opponents out of your life Miranda’s lessons for Gillard from the US election not looking so good The Focus Group wonders about legal history. Stop The Press looks at a series of non-stories Giving refugees money to survive on Rudd and Turnbull’s mutual Q and A flattery Who is the Prime Minister eating? Something Wonky attempts to solve the situation in Gaza

Something Wonky gets a bit fact checky. Dandenong train derailment An Australian fact check idea The Focus Group looks at how to react to a disaster Stop the press takes a look at what happens when a news organisation can’t let go of its obsessions Julie Posetti gets a new job Alex Greenwich labeled “Gay Party Boy” by the Tele Sunrise loves Malcolm and Kevin Miranda Devine doesn’t see sexism anywhere And then tells us why Tony is just like Mitt Cam Smith tells us what’s stuck in his craw. And we go once more to the Inbox of Doom

Something Wonky takes a look at the US election. What is the electoral collage and why is voting different in every state? The “Voter Fraud” Boogey Man Ella’s Election Notes Fan Letter to certain conservative politicians The Focus Group combats the culture of entitlement Joe Hockey defends the culture of entitlement Most homes fail affordability test for households on median income Australia tries to excise itself from its own migration zone Stop the Press ponders life in the Herald Sun building Bolt questions the ABC’s judgement Terry McCrann goes into bat for Gerard Henderson And another thing! revisits Alan Jones Advice for Alan Jones And Ben Pobjie tells us what’s stuck in his craw. Gather around me Ben’s Blog Quality Jernalisms Tumblr UPDATE: Who checks the fact checkers, asks Quality Jernalisms, as I get all of his details completely wrong. I don’t know - coastguard?

A brief (well, for us) fill-in episode while Jacob is away. THE FOCUS GROUP: The ACT election highlights some confusion amongst commentators and politicians about how a parliament works. And another Dave wonders how parties should deal with voters’ expectations in hung parliaments - should they tell them first who they’ll side with? http://davec.org/2012/10/multi-party-politics/ STOP THE PRESS: Tony Abbott continues his campaign for a permanent seat on the mocked-by-the-world’s-press-for-misogyny council. And why fact-check your “hey the poor are just too dumb to buy food on the pittance we give them” defence of a payment no-one could reasonably live on? Penbo tells the poor how to buy food cheaply - simply demand to get it for the prices Penbo quotes and supermarkets will hand it over! http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/poverty-is-only-a-part-of-the-school-lunch-problem/

AND ANOTHER THING: Our new segment where we finish off talking about last week’s Stuck In My Craw. A mammoth STOP THE PRESS looks at the how the Canberra Press Gallery and the rest of the world saw very different things in the House of Representatives last Tuesday.And how the left and the right can go to opposite extremes about the same event. Cory Bernardi points out female leaders who “don’t play the gender card” PM Gillard accused of playing “Cinderalla” There’s some head scratching over “heterosexist high” “Being straight no longer normal, students taught” And finally we take a look at what happens when Gerard Henderson has to deal with facts. Now It’s Gerard Henderson getting facts wrong Gerard Henderson admits he was wrong Something Wonky is supported by The King’s Tribune

This week on Something Wonky, The Focus Group reflects on getting someone else to fight your battles. Abbott shows everyone he's worried - Grog's Gamut Stop the Press looks at what happens when the audience really talks back. If you force Alan Jones off air it's censorship - Mumbrella Keri James Sear tells us what's Stuck in her Craw. AND MUCH MORE. Preston Towers' reflections on his Stuck in my Craw Finally, Jeremy uploads the Something Wonky podcast and finds the Squarespace formatting system completely impenetrable. He writes a little note about it in the third person. Regular listeners don't notice because they don't read the actual posts, but new listeners are confused. Shutting down discussion of a tragedy bc there are more worthy ones out there

This week we take a timely look at some of Australia’s shock jocks. Ray Hadley Profile of Ray Hadley Ray Hadley denies assault allegations Chris Smith Chris Smith’s Asylum Seeker Funeral Quiz Alan Jones Jones apologises to Barbara Ramjan Jones doesn’t really apologise to Julia Gillard A review of Jones’ scandals over the years And other than 2GB? Mike Carlton Neil Mitchell Derryn Hinch John Laws Stop the Press looks at the media coverage of the disappearance and death of Jill Meagher. Clementine Ford on victim blaming Man charged over Jill Meagher case Andrew Bolt links to information about the accused Andrew Bolt plays “Hey, I called hypocrite first” Hypocrites, just hypocrite And Preston Towers tells us what’s stuck in his craw. The Preston Institute Something Wonky is supported by The King’s Tribune

The focus group ponders whether politicians should publicly ask questions unless they know the answers? Tony Abbott questions why the PM is “talking to Africans” at the UN Joe Hockey gets schooled via Twitter We also ask why should poor people vote anyway? Nick Minchin supports challenge to compulsory voting Stop the Press looks at guilt by association Lee Rhiannon meets a Truther Penbo ascribes the Truther’s actions to Rhiannon And considers the Herald Sun’s question of whether Muslims are actually Australians anyway? Protesters condemn Islam The inbox of doom rounds things off with tips on how to survive the next apocalypse Something Wonky is supported by The King’s Tribune

This week we kick things off with “Hey, I called hypocrite first!” The focus group asks what’s worse, the sin or the cover up? Political Animal: The Making of Tony Abbott - David Marr I saw Abbott throw punch, says former student Stop the Press wonders what a journalist’s objectivity is worth The Tony that I - and others - remember was never violent at uni Abbott threatened me tooGreg Sheridan speaks to Marius Benson - Audio Eric Campbell’s challenge to Greg Sheridan Jeremy talks calmly and reasonably about the defeat of Marriage Equality legislation. Cory Bernardi steps down from the shadow front bench Ron Boswell’s speech against marriage equality We reflect on the nature of protest following last weekend’s riots in Sydney. Violent protest signs are bad, okay? And the Inbox of Doom gets a bit confused about which country it’s proud of The Australian version The original made-in-the-USA Something Wonky is supported by The King’s Tribune

Stop the Press takes a look at the latest death of the Greens after NSW local government elections and delves once more into trolldom. Geordie Guy - Trolling Our Way To National Security Keri James Sear - Derpstorm Category 10 The Focus Group questions how we value education, and just what constitutes a “detention centre” Kirrin McKechnie - Nauru tent city. Jacob Holman tells is what’s stuck in his craw. We delve back into the Inbox of Doom. Something Wonky is supported by The King’s Tribune

The focus group discusses representative democracy (No, really) Stop the press takes a look at the new found obsession with “trolling” Charlotte Dawson - Trolling victim Claire Connelly asks people to dob in a troll The Herald Sun shares their trolling expertise Catherine Deveny returns to The Age to advise on dealing with trolls Is trolling a free speech issue? Nancy Cato tells us what she’s got stuck in her craw. ‘Destroying the Joint’ Mr Jones? You bet we are! Gerard is not amused Something Wonky is supported by The King’s Tribune