Truth, Lies and Media

The Honour and the Cost of Court Reporting:

From the Age to AW to the ABC, from the Gangland Wars to Black Saturday .. In this Saturday special of “Truth Lies and Media” Nicole Chvastek and the award winning court reporter Phil Johnson take us behind the scenes of some of Australia’s most unforgettable news stories. 

He saw a notorious hitman in court just hours before he was killed and was struck like lightning with a palpable sense of foreboding. He spent years in court as a reporter for 3AW watching Australia’s underworld criminals fight the long arm of the law but also seeing the victims in their grief, anger and dignity.

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Register here for our live Q&A Event on 7th October, hosted by Friends of the ABC:

https://events.humanitix.com/truth-lies-and-media-meet-the-podcasters-talk

The shooting death of Trump youth ally Charlie Kirk lights a bonfire of media coverage and debate - but why did the June double murder of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband barely rate a mention in comparison?

News of the shooting murder of Charlie Kirk swept around the world within minutes. The MAGA superstar was famous for arguing that gun deaths were an acceptable price to pay for gun freedoms - now he is dead at the hands of a sniper.

Plus .. brace yourself for Fox News coming to Australia .. the Murdoch outlet that perpetuated the rigged election lie and has just been forced to apologise after one of its on air stars advocated giving lethal injections to mentally ill homeless people.

And Stephen Colbert whose No. 1 rating "The Late Show" was axed by Paramount to appease Donald Trump has the last laugh with three standing ovations and an Emmy at American TVs night of nights.

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Investigative Journalism and What It Takes to Win:

Denis Muller speaks with journalist Charlotte Grieve, the driving force behind the investigation of a renowned orthopaedic surgeon, resulting in a remarkable defamation case win for The Age / Channel 9.

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Is there anyone out there the LNP don't hate? Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the Liberal senator who aspires to be PM, blames the media after she gives an interview sledging Indian immigrants, triggering a backlash within her own party.  It's straight from the Trump playbook - demonising migrants and the journalists who report you doing it.

Plus Murdoch's Sky News plays "as live" to air an uninterrupted unedited rant from neo Nazi Thomas Sewell .. live press conferences are usually reserved for reputable senior voices of authority, not white supremacists spreading hate.

Denis Muller says we are witnessing an unfolding new era of racism. 

And the hunt to discover who is bankrolling war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith's failed defamation fight as lawyers for Nine ask for a please explain from billionaire Gina Rinehart.

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A Neo Nazi inserts himself into the news cycle with a bizarre and menacing rant at Jacinta Allan as she holds a press conference forcing it to be abandoned.

These are not ‘anti immigration” protesters - they are violent racists. So why do some media normalise and downplay their dangerous hate speak?

Plus whistleblower Richard Boyle had his life turned into hell by the ATO after he lifted the lid on their unethical debt collection practices - so they pursued him for seven years. Now a court has allowed him to walk free without a conviction.

And why does Bob Katter want to punch a Channel Nine journalist for telling the truth?

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The shockwaves reverberate as two police officers are murdered in cold blood by a maniac with a gun and a grudge.

The grief hits Victoria Police the families of the slain officers like a sledge hammer .. and the accused killer is now on the run.  

How can journalists do justice to the outpouring of emotion and avoid intruding on those who are suffering while still ensuring the community is kept informed?

Denis Muller will unpack the pressure points around reporting profound tragedy.

And rape survivor Brittany Higgins ordered to pay her former boss Linda Reynolds $341,000 in damages and interest by the WA Supreme Court after a series of defamatory social media posts.. a huge win for the former Defence Minister. 

But why has West Australia along with the NT not enacted a critical public interest defence law which is in place everywhere else around Australia?

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Fear not! This week's episode of Truth, Lies and Media will be available on Thursday instead of Wednesday, so that we can give you a full analysis of the WA Supreme Court defamation case unfolding right now.

See you tomorrow!

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We'd love to see you at our live Q&A on 7th October at the North Fitzroy Library hosted by Friends of the ABC:

https://events.humanitix.com/truth-lies-and-media-meet-the-podcasters-talk

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Dogwhistling up clickbait - A News Corp tabloid reproduces a flyer for an anti immigration national protest complete with racist slogans, dates and times .. as a young migrant chef tells us why she will be too afraid to travel to her workplace on that day.

Is a letter of complaint from a pro Israel lobby about a Palestinian author the reason the Bendigo Writers Festival ordered authors not to discuss "inflammatory" topics - and was then left in ruins when half of the invited authors refused to attend?

And we farewell gentleman film reviewer David Stratton some 'At The Movies' highlights and the moving written tribute from his friend and co-host Margaret Pomeranz.

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A deadly airstrike kills the whole of Al Jazeeras reporting team in Gaza City .. Israel increasingly enraged as the world sees the carnage and opinion turns against them.

Five newsmen died .. their crime .. telling their peoples story of starvation and suffering.

Australia now says it will recognise a Palestinian state conditional on the removal of Hamas .. as the Liberals and their mates at News Corp unleash on the Prime Minister 

Plus The Age wins another mega defamation court battle.

And if print newspapers are facing imminent extinction why is Rupert Murdoch rolling out a new one in California and partying like it's 1965?

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Murdoch's News Corp conflates a remarkably peaceful pro Palestine protest with hate and Hamas. Sky News called the historic Sydney Harbour Bridge rally a sign of "moral decline."

It didn't matter this was the voice of up to 300,000 people taking a stand against violence and starvation. It didn't matter there were no arrests and no violence, even when police had to turn that sea of humanity around and send it back to the CBD.  

Denis Muller says there is no limit to what News Corp will do to distort coverage of events and issues it is hostile to.

Plus a Victorian MP to sue the Herald Sun in what may become a test case of new privacy laws.

And 10 News Plus was touted as a "fresh" new way of doing news .. but is anybody watching the tanking show they bumped The Project for?

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Read the Barney Zwartz article on Israel and Palestine here (may require a subscription):

https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/in-30-years-at-the-age-i-never-wrote-on-israel-palestine-now-i-must-20250801-p5mjla.html

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