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(Links preceded by carry images of an event or relevant to related information.)
The main daily Ipswich paper (covering the heart of Pauline Hanson's federal electorate, the seat of Oxley), "The Queensland Times", referred to in this feature is owned by Australian Provincial News. It is one of very few Australian daily's not owned by News Limited. This is a major factor not to be overlooked in the success that Pauline Hanson in getting elected and, subsequently, One Nation had in getting started. It has, however, subsequently shown clear bias towards the Labor Party in its reporting in the lead up to the 1998 Queensland State Elections and the 1998 Federal Elections)

(Voice over - Kim Beazley, leader of the ALP, on "democracy".)

Main chapter menu links in frame on left

This page has been compiled by Scott Balson -
be afraid, be very afraid when you see what happens when you take on the media barons.


This on-line feature led to the publishing of "Murder by Media" in January 1999.
The person establishing this page was arrested on a contrived charge lodged by The Courier-Mail six months later in response to "Murder by Media". He was put through a trial by media before a Magistrate found him not guilty nine months later. In April 2001 the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission, in response to a complaint by Balson, reported that The Bulletin magazine which breached the same Act under which he was arrested would not be arrested because the police took 15 months to respond - the police took just two days to arrest Balson following the complaint by The Courier-Mail. The Courier-Mail refused to cover this amazing case of double standards.      
  Note: You will need to subscribe to the Australian National News of the Day archives to gain access to many of the links in this historic web site. Click here to find out how to subscribe.
Geoff McMullins 18th May 1997 on Channel 9's 60 Minutes programme, "What happened in Hobart is more proof for Pauline (Hanson) of that great conspiracy - she talks about it all the time. If its not the media its the politicians."

Australia's Trojan Horse:

Scott Balson, editor "Making the News" - challenging the reader of this feature:

"The biggest threat to each and every Australian's basic democratic rights comes not from without but from within. The four pillars of Australia's "Trojan Horse" destroying this fundamental right are the media barons acting in collusion with Australia's major political parties.

"Study this factually based feature carefully - regardless of your personal views on Pauline Hanson - you be the judge.

"I do not, for one moment, suggest that Hanson has all the answers. I do not, for one moment, suggest that Hanson is without fault. I do, however, know that Australia's Trojan Horse is on a mission to destroy her and the issues that she has democratically brought into the open on behalf of millions of concerned Australians.

"Take a moment to scroll through the introductory quotes on this page (below) and then use the menu on the left to discover, for yourself, Australia's Trojan Horse.

"In the case of Pauline Hanson's One Nation the Trojan Horse's foot soldiers (protesters and hands-on violence) are largely aligned with the Australian Labor Party (ALP); the verbal missiles are fired by the Coalition (contrived One Nation threats to Australia's well-being as well as scorn and derision) while the pawns of the media moguls are the unofficial communication centres for picking up and disseminating misleading and biased reports to the masses."

Extract from the book "Hansonism, trick or treat" by Don Veitch:

"People at the Base (the voter) never achieve or have impact on the power structure or on the direction of the Executive (senior bureaucrats and those who formulate policy) policy, unless they are aligned with a Central Oligarchic Groupings -COG - (such as oil cartels, wealthy families etc...) and have higher support in the Executive arms. The media selects what causes to promote, the COGs choose their allies, and the Executive arms facilitate or disrupt those networks it chooses. The Base, which votes for the Parliaments (state and federal) has no power, little influence and is essentially an impotent shadow boxing forum. Voting is a circuit breaker directing potential insurrection into the manageable forum of Parliament."

Extract from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Background Briefing" 30th Nov '96 on the multilateral agreement on investment (MAI):

"Sadly there’s no catch title for this trade deal. It’s called the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, or MAI. But what it promises holds more drama. It aims to grant multinational corporations unprecedented powers over governments. And it’s not getting many good reviews.

"It’s a fetter on the future sovereignty of nations. And worse than that, its being developed by six or seven men in the backroom in silence, and supposedly in the best interests of all of us. Without any consultation, without any open and transparent process of critique and analysis. You know, those kind of scenarios are recipes for anarchy in my view, because what they say to people is that governments can’t help you, that governments become irrelevant, that really its going to be a small group of elite businessmen, quite distant from your nation, developing policies for and on your behalf."

ETHICS REVIEW COMMITTEE FINAL REPORT November 1996
AJA Code of Ethics post-1984

"They (journalists) shall report and interpret the news with scrupulous honesty by striving to disclose all essential facts and by not suppressing relevant, available facts or by distorting by wrong or improper emphasis.

"They shall do their utmost to correct any published or broadcast information found to be harmfully inaccurate."


The Trojan Horse at work:

Hanson on Freedom of the press - 26th June 1997

"While the freedom enjoyed by the press carries with it the responsibilities not adhered to by all journalists, that essential freedom to honestly report what is of genuine public interest or concern must be maintained through a situation of independence, and not be allowed to in any way to be influenced by one or two powerful individuals. The Australian people have reason to be concerned by any decision that may lead to any form of conflict or potential monopoly. I urge our current government to be very careful with the issue of media."

Chris Schacht, ALP opposition Communications spokesman on changes to media ownership laws, 21st August 1997, "for their own political health they've (the Coalition) got to get (media) proprietors on side".

Margo Kingston, journalist Sydney Morning Herald:

"Now when you have a man so powerful that he can buy Graeme Richardson to talk the Labor party around and Michael Kroger to talk the Liberal party around, and Howard and Costello and Alston jump to his every need no matter how irrational, no matter how transparently incoherent their arguments, we have a huge problem. And yes, personally I am very scared, personally, of Mr Packer taking over Fairfax."

The Courier Mail Features section September 3rd 1997 - lead story:

Heading - "About turn":

"...they (Richard Alston and Peter Costello) also are close to Victorian Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger whose merchant bank was handling the Packer attempt to acquire the additional Fairfax shares.

"Estimates of Kroger's potential fee went as high as Au$7 million.... It is, however, fair to say that had the (Packer's) Fairfax stake been increased Kroger's merchant bank would have stood to gain handsomely."

Editorial, The Courier Mail - September 5, 1997

Heading "Media gambit failed the basic test":

"The inept attempt by John Howard to reshape media ownership policy deserved to fail and has been rightly consigned to the “after the next election” drawer. The bid by the Prime Minister and Communications Minister Senator Richard Alston to dump the cross media ownership restrictions failed the basic test the Government set for its changes: it was mogul specific.

"Both Mr Howard and Senator Alston protested that, unlike former prime minister Paul Keating, they would not draw up media rules to suit any proprietor.

"This was always tendentious nonsense. the driving force behind these mooted changes was to allow Kerry Packer’s Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd to buy the Fairfax newspapers while maintaining its stake in the Nine television network."

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation 7.30 Report, 2nd September 1997.

Peter Bowers, Fairfax journalist:

"I think the last thing that made it too hard that Mr Howard realised he couldn't give the Fairfax papers to Mr Packer without incurring the extreme displeasure of Mr Murdoch and when Mr Murdoch gets angry with governments he turns his, his, his, umm... editors loose on the government and I think that was the last thing Mr Howard wanted in the run up to the next federal election."

The business section of News Limited's The Australian newspaper carried this subtle threat to Prime Minister John Howard on the 2nd September 1997 when the Coalition Cabinet deferred any decision on media ownership changes the day before:

Heading: "Black Day for Kerry Packer":

"John Howard will be the other big loser.

"Having frozen out the country's largest newspaper group, News Limited, (from owning Fairfax) he has now alienated Packer's interests, which include the country's biggest magazine publishing empire and its most powerful television network, Nine."

The Weekend Australian, September 6-7, 1997:

Heading: "Fear of favour dooms PM's media reform".

"But unlike Keating, Howard could not find a balance that placated both Packer and Murdoch. Every model that Howard and Alston came up with gave Packer an easier run at taking over Fairfax than it gave Murdoch of controlling Seven."

"....Two days later, details of Howard's discussions with Murdoch - in which the Prime Minister suggested News "surrender" some newspaper titles in exchange for a higher stake in Seven - was leaked to a Fairfax newspaper.

"Howard hit the roof. Confirming the ill-feeling at the time his office commented: "The point is you can have a conversation with PBL and it doesn't get out, you can have a conversation with News Limited and a distorted version comes out."

In September at the height of the travel rorts affair, Grahame Morris, Prime Minister John Howard's confident for over 20 years, was sacked for his unproven "involvement".

Morris became News Limited's strategic policy director, in mid-October, just weeks later while securing a large taxpayer funded payout by being sacked and not resigning. The appointment to his new position at News Limited was announced by none other than executive chairman of News Limited, Lachlan Murdoch:

"Grahame's appointment to the senior management position will strengthen News Limited's policy team," said Murdoch.

"He will assist us in developing strategic plans for the future of our business and will provide additional expertise in the handling of regulatory issues."

John Swinton, the former Chief of Staff of the NEW YORK TIMES, called by his peers, "The Dean of his profession." was asked in 1953 to give a toast before the New York Press Club.

He responded with the following statement. 'There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty four hours my occupation would be gone.'

October 1997:
New press council chief, Professor Dennis Pearce, expresses concerns on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Media Watch Media commentator Stuart Littlemore's "overstated" attacks on the press council's effectiveness.

April 1998: General Manager Fox Limited (owned by Murdoch's News Corporation), "We paid $3 billion for these television stations, we'll decide what the news is. The news is what we tell you it is." Full story here


The Hanson threat to the Trojan Horse -
"Equality for all":

Extract Americans for America - prepared by the Californian Attorney General:
"Prohibits the state, local governments, districts, public universities, colleges, and schools, and other government instrumentalities from discriminating against or giving preferential treatment to any individual or group in public employment, public education, or public contracting on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin." August 1997.

Proposition 209 passed into law in California in late August 1997.


Hanson - One Nation launch speech:
"We must all be treated equally."
Not long after, "I feel like (media) people are taking little pieces of me."


The cyber battle for Pauline Hanson and a One Australian Nation continues.

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