I couldn't put my hands on it last night, but the full quote from the
Kingston book is as follows:
"When the stakes are high the politicians get heavy, and John Howard
personally lobbied my editor-in-chief and editor, alleging pro-black bias by
myself in particular and the paper in general. Some Liberals called the
Herald the 'Aboriginal Morning Herald', in protest at the number of black
faces and stories in the paper. I argued that the Wik debate was similar to
the movement for black civil rights in the United States and that our
coverage must be factual but uncompromising when blatant injustice was
perpetrated on a minority with no clout but the justice of their cause."
For a guy who apparently beleives in the monarchy and parliamentary
democracy, Howard is the most presidential of politicians. He has
personally blocked drug trials in the ACT, labelling of GMOs, has had a
remarkable influence on appointments to various govt and quasi-govt bodies,
and guides debates in a deliberate, though often invisible way, such as the
Republic and, obviously, Indigenous matters. That it extends to pressuring
editors shouldn't be a surprise, though it is a surprise to hear that it
works so effictively. He was also rumoured to have rung Lachlan Murdoch
about what he felt was pro-Republic bias in The Australian. Anyone who
thinks that the office of PM isn't powerful should probably think again. So
much of the tone of social/political debate is set by politicians that if
the most powerful of them gets it into his head to put a finger in the
various pies, then it is going to have a big influence. The most obvious
example is his tacit endorsment of hansonism. As Keating said in his last
speech before the 1996 election: "When the government changes, so does the
country." Ain't it the truth.
Tim
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