BS: Sky host extremist in Australia

Subject: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 06 Aug 18 - 03:00 AM

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/06/sky-news-interview-far-right-blair-cottrell


It isn't just in Britain and the US that Murdoch's organs are seeking to justify the behaviour of the unjustifiable. Well done to Craig Emerson for standing up against this though. There are still decent people in politics.

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 06 Aug 18 - 06:13 AM

It was an interview not a speech.
Presumably his views were exposed for the hateful drivel they are.
I am disgusted by his views too, but if the media appear to be censoring them, as with Tommy Robinson, you give them a cause and raise their profile.

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 06 Aug 18 - 07:17 AM

I think we are wrong to give these people the oxygen of publicity. We would not allow a muslim extremist to espouse his equally hateful views on a supposedly mainstream TV channel.

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 06 Aug 18 - 07:38 AM

I have seen such people interviewed by the BBC, though not recently.

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 06 Aug 18 - 07:51 AM

Keith - don't be too shocked, but on this point I agree to some extent...

Driving them underground, and in particular making them martyrs - not really such a bright idea...

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 06 Aug 18 - 07:55 AM

..anyway, his kind have youtube and other similar media these days.
Which they exploit most effectively to propagate their hate and raise their own profiles and fan bases...

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: Bugsy
Date: 07 Aug 18 - 09:28 AM

Harking back to my English vernacular...

"ANDREW BOLT IS A TWAT!"

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Aug 18 - 09:39 AM

The mistake many American broadcasters made for many years was the practice of dredging up an opposition voice to particular mainstream views for "equal time" in interviews or stories, even if it meant that opposition was lunatic fringe barely-heard-of nonsense. Stories that didn't necessarily need an opposition view at all. They operated as if all things being equal, that wacko should have standing in a legitimate debate. It brought a lot of fruitcakes into national prominence. It took a long time for regulators to realize what was happening but now that practice seems to be ingrained and crackpots get their 15 minutes of fame, deserved or not.

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 07 Aug 18 - 09:54 AM

Thats absolutely true in the UK too, with the BBC in particular. They give inordinate time to climate change deniers and creationists in particular.

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 07 Aug 18 - 10:10 AM

Creationists on BBC?
I never saw/heard one.

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 07 Aug 18 - 10:27 AM

They had John MacKay on when he came over from Australia, but he managed to get himself involved in debates with both Richard Dawkins and John Polkinghorne, and went back down under with his tail between his legs.

Subject: RE: BS: Sky host extremist in Australia
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 07 Aug 18 - 10:33 AM

And Alan Clifford, at least on BBC radio Norfolk, although he is better known for being a homophobe and an islamophobe, creationism is one of his sidelines.