Last week SBS journos – self-appointed guardians of journalistic truth – were wondering:
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Alas, it was fake news. In fairness, they were not alone, and – as a matter of fact – did not fully commit to the rumours, as other news outlets did. A number of talking heads, accepted worldwide as experts on the matter, were much more sure that something was going on:
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There’s a lot of Western experts and journos who lost the plot, which means the Western media is suffering from Putin-Xi Derangement Syndrome.
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SBS banned Russian and Chinese news programs: media in those countries peddle fake news, propaganda. The general view in the West is that, being state-owned, media there are merely mouthpieces of their governments, sorry, authoritarian/autocratic regimes.
It’s a good thing that in liberal democratic Australia state-owned media — like SBS and ABC — somehow refuse to be mere mouthpieces of our own regimes, sorry, democratic governments. That's how SBS is structurally incapable of peddling fake news, as you can see.
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Incidentally, after banning Ruskies and Chinamen from our small screens, SBS’s champions of inclusiveness and representation included a Ukrainian news broadcast in their new WorldWatch channel 35. It is important for minority communities to have their own voice
Inclusiveness and representation are only critical when they are not.
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Speaking of derangement:
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The interviewer (left) introduces the segment: CNN has learned that the US is developing contingency plans for possible Russian escalation in its war in Ukraine, including potential use of tactical nuclear weapons.
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To what extent our extremely trustworthy media created this mess?