What I fear most is that these big job cuts have become so routine that the crisis enveloping Australian journalism will be greeted with a sad shrug by many, and even a little glee by a few. If we’re not at a tipping point now, when we really do need to talk seriously about public interest journalism as a vital cog in a functioning democracy, then we never will be.
So, do we need the Fairfax papers as a vital cog in a functioning democracy?
Ummm
Welllll
Ummmm
No.
This is just people being fired insisting “But my job is different”
Read “public interest journalism” as ‘Chardonnay-Socialist opinion’.
They’ve had this coming for decades. What really annoys them is the taxpayer funded ABC, A$1.2 Billion/year, is their direct competitor but they can’t say that, they’re all married to each other.
Australia is a “functioning democracy” ?
And not a hotbed of conflicting mateships?
The legacy press threw off their mandate decades ago. The “You need us” defense fails in the internet/cable TV age. In fact, it’s a joke.
‘Politicians should join the fight to save it’
What fight?
Politicians and the press working together . . . that’s the problem, not the solution.
Fairfax, being the Guardian and other wankers down under, are the exact opposite of “a vital cog in a functioning democracy”. They are active participants in fucking the country up.
Go on strike. A year would be nice.