Is there an ethical rock bottom for Australia's tabloid media?
If so you may think The Daily Telegraph has found it with an article they posted today 17th February 2012, which refers to community detention facilities as a "...ship of fortune" for detainees.
It's the kind of article I remember my year 10 social studies teacher pulling out as an example of the kind rhetoric that was being thrown around in Australian papers at the turn of the 20th century or in a particular European country during the early 1940s.
I remembered the class guffawing at the ridiculously comic nature of accusations and assertions made in those old newspaper articles. Pieces which are now considered text book examples of the propagation of racial hatred, the careful cultivation and nurturing of xenophobia. Of course we laughed at it back then... Even at 15 and 16 years old we actually believed we lived in a far more evolved and discerning world. Who could possibly fall for that kind of garbage these days... Right?
Well unfortunately these things go round and round and it looks like even in the 'Information Age' we can still be just as vulnerable to misinformation as ever.
It looks like this one's going to generate more debate which will likely drag up all kinds of vile accusations. If you'd like to follow the discussion there's already an interview on AM (ABC Radio)
Here: http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3432935.htm
If you'd like to exercise your own powers of discernment or apply a little critical thinking the points raised, you might like to read the Refugee Council of Australia media release in response to the article Here
Does the article deserve any attention at all? Well I'd say yes. If there are any year ten teachers out there looking for an example of, irrational, factually incorrect, fear inciting propaganda to show their students, this article is a gem. However if we are seeking to accuse people of wasting money this particular newspaper might be a little worried about the wrath of it's own readership because surely they have been duped!
As Andrew Williams of RCA quite rightly remarks "...Readers of The Daily Telegraph should feel angry that they are being deceived.”
If so you may think The Daily Telegraph has found it with an article they posted today 17th February 2012, which refers to community detention facilities as a "...ship of fortune" for detainees.
It's the kind of article I remember my year 10 social studies teacher pulling out as an example of the kind rhetoric that was being thrown around in Australian papers at the turn of the 20th century or in a particular European country during the early 1940s.
I remembered the class guffawing at the ridiculously comic nature of accusations and assertions made in those old newspaper articles. Pieces which are now considered text book examples of the propagation of racial hatred, the careful cultivation and nurturing of xenophobia. Of course we laughed at it back then... Even at 15 and 16 years old we actually believed we lived in a far more evolved and discerning world. Who could possibly fall for that kind of garbage these days... Right?
Well unfortunately these things go round and round and it looks like even in the 'Information Age' we can still be just as vulnerable to misinformation as ever.
It looks like this one's going to generate more debate which will likely drag up all kinds of vile accusations. If you'd like to follow the discussion there's already an interview on AM (ABC Radio)
Here: http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3432935.htm
If you'd like to exercise your own powers of discernment or apply a little critical thinking the points raised, you might like to read the Refugee Council of Australia media release in response to the article Here
Does the article deserve any attention at all? Well I'd say yes. If there are any year ten teachers out there looking for an example of, irrational, factually incorrect, fear inciting propaganda to show their students, this article is a gem. However if we are seeking to accuse people of wasting money this particular newspaper might be a little worried about the wrath of it's own readership because surely they have been duped!
As Andrew Williams of RCA quite rightly remarks "...Readers of The Daily Telegraph should feel angry that they are being deceived.”
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