Monday 22 November 2010

The lie that built the NT Intervention: Liberation Bound: Macklin protest at Readings


Racism in the Media:
The Lie that 
Built the Northern Territory Intervention
A special presentation by Walkley Award-winning journalist Chris Graham
With an introduction by activist and academic Gary Foley

Friday 7pm, 26 November 2010
Venue: Bella Union bar, Trades Hall (cnr Lygon and Victoria St)
Cost: Free (donations accepted)

Join Chris Graham for an expose about a fraudulent ABC Lateline program which aired in the lead-up to the intervention, entitled ‘Sexual slavery reported in Indigenous communities'.

The Lateline story helped the federal government mount the case for the NT intervention. 
But as Graham will reveal, the story was built on a gigantic fraud. 
The scandal surrounding this story has already destroyed several careers, 
sparked a series of parliamentary brawls and high level government, 
an apology to federal parliament, 
not to mention police raids on homes in Canberra and Central Australia.

The spotlight on Lateline's reporting has already seen
 an ‘anonymous youth worker' unmasked as a ministerial adviser,
 and a doctor caught prescribing Viagra to an alleged paedophile.

"The scale of the fraud perpetrated by Lateline, and the determination of the ABC to whitewash this scandal and avoid any further scrutiny will leave your head spinning," said Chris Graham.

"If you think you know what media behaving badly looks like, then you need to think again.

"Lateline's reporting led directly to the greatest human rights abuse against Aboriginal people certainly of my time, and probably in the last half century.

"The Northern Territory intervention has harmed Aboriginal people; it's caused starvation; it's seen a dramatic rise in reports of self-harm incidents; it's driven children away from school; it's wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. In short, it's been a disaster for the nation's most disadvantaged citizens, the people who could least afford it.

"The media has always played a crucial role in creating an environment where governments can get away with race politics during election campaigns. In this case, the government couldn't have done it without Lateline."

"I've worked in the media for more than 20 years, almost half of that in Indigenous affairs, so I already had a pretty mixed view about the conduct of many of my colleagues.

"Even so, I've always had a very positive image of ABC news and current affairs. It was one news source I felt I could really trust.
"I don't feel that way anymore."

For more information please contact Alex Ettling on 0406 685 243
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142431575804807

And stick around for...

Liberation Bound #2 


After the Chris Graham event, 
stay in the Bella Union Bar for 'Liberation Bound #2', 
a music fundraiser for MAIC featuring hip hop and reggae acts.

Cost is $10/8, or $5 if you have attended the Chris Graham event.

Forthcoming protest action
Protest Jenny Macklin @Readings

'Counter Book Launch' Protest
Tuesday, 5.30pm, 30 November 2010
Readings Bookstore, 309 Lygon St, Carlton

Join Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective as we hold a 'counter book launch' outside Readings Bookstore in Carlton. While Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin will be inside promoting Russell Skelton's book 'King Brown Country', no doubt continuing her lies and deception surrounding the NT Intervention, join people outside who want to stand up for the rights of Aboriginal people.

MAIC will be launching our new publication
and distributing information that Minister Macklin does not want you to see--
the real testimonies and opinions of Aboriginal people living under the NT Intervention.

Bring your placards and loud voices. 
Demand that the racist 
NT Intervention must stop!
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2 comments:

  1. Wow - even for you this is hard hitting stuff.
    You know I have no sympathy for Jenny Macklin.
    Go for it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I saw Chris's presentation in July. Don't know if he has changed it any. I would have like to have posted about it on The Network but I couldn't get my head around it so that it would be comprehensible to others. Because, you see, Chris did it by replaying the Lateline video and stopping intermittently to highlight the untruths and the misleads. To give you an idea, one of the characters who is central to providing misleading information in the video was at the time or later became a staffer in Brough's office. In addition, the video was a bit of a meld of old material selectively edited to appear current and substantial.

    ReplyDelete

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