Deceitful media attacks on Labor under challenge by independent news sources

The entrenched regime of systematic media deception is growing challenged, as Labor's management of the economy continues to prove effective, Alan Austin writes.

AUSTRALIA'S ECONOMY is currently booming in comparison both with earlier periods and with the rest of the world. Jobs and wages are setting records. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth remains positive. The Albanese Government reduced net debt in its first 21 months by $20.5 billion. Inflation is down to 3.4% — although that doesn’t lower prices raised before Albo took office.

This column reported last week that exports of manufactured goods hit a surprising all-time high of $44.9 billion last year. Total exports over the 21 months since the May 2022 Election have averaged $48.2 billion per month. That compares with $38.8 billion over the same period before the change of government. Impressive.

Australia leading the world again

Right now, only one country in the entire world enjoys top credit ratings and wealth per person above USD$450,000 (AU$696,000), has jobless and inflation rates below 4%, and GDP growth above 1.5%. That is Albo’s Australia.

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Clearly, Labor is vastly better at economic management than the Coalition. All independent journalists who report factually agree on this — both of us.

Labor is also generating far better outcomes in housing, climate change, foreign affairs, military procurement and just about everything else.

Meanwhile, the Coalition has done nothing to restore its tattered reputation for corruption and incompetence. It has the least qualified front bench in living memory; it is embroiled in tawdry trials over an alleged rape by a staffer; it is floating harebrained schemes like nuclear reactors and it wants to gaol more young Australians.

And the Coalition pulled the most contemptible stunt in the history of Australia’s race relations when it stymied the Voice to Parliament last year, destroying Indigenous aspirations for cynical political advantage.

Two-party preferred polling

Based on all objective data, voter support must surely show Labor now leading the Coalition by around 65% to 35%.

It doesn’t. Roy Morgan’s survey last Monday found Labor would lose an election held this month, with 50.5% preferring the Coalition.

How do we explain this? How do we address this?

Systemic mood manipulation

Two long-term factors are in play. First, voters are not given the facts that emphatically prove better outcomes.

Manufacturing and construction jobs created as Australia defies global trends

Australia’s labour force is changing significantly under Labor and citizens are benefiting greatly.

Second, media messaging during Labor periods is continually morose and pessimistic, which drives a pervasive despondency.

Take Australia’s current extraordinary export success, for example. The Australian Financial Review last Tuesday ran an editorial titled, ‘What comes after the China boom for Australia?’

It was all darkness and despair:

‘Inbound investment from China has collapsed since 2016 and only half the number of Chinese tourists are now coming. Everything, from flights to university research projects, is declining.’

Consultancy firm Deloitte issued a circular email last Wednesday headlined, ‘Uncertainty clouds the outlook for exports’.

More doom and gloom, claiming that ‘global goods and services trade declined by 3% to $31 trillion last year’ and that ‘a range of global supply issues put significant pressure on agricultural exports, a dry spring brought chaos to livestock markets, and...’ blah, blah, blah.

Oh, woe is me! Abandon all hope!

IA emailed Deloitte with the observation that ‘economic outcomes invariably improve dramatically when Labor governments run the show, but reportage is always far more negative’ and asked if it had ‘published anything since the May 2022 election which reflects the substantial change of fortunes for the better?’

Senior economist Hamish Burrell replied:

‘We don’t provide commentary on the economic performance of political terms. We don’t have any reports that isolate Australia’s economic performance since the change of government in May 2022.’

Precisely.

Now for something positive

The media landscape worldwide is changing as freelance reporters are using YouTube and other social media to erode the influence of these pro-conservative manipulators.

Prominent in the USA is independent broadcaster Brian Tyler Cohen whose YouTube channel has gained more than 2.6 million subscribers and 2.1 billion views since 2018. In February 2022, he became the first YouTuber to interview U.S. President Joe Biden.

Cohen told IA he now publishes about 25 videos per week and his most rewarding guests – besides Biden – were Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Rachel Maddow and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The Meidas Touch Network covers ‘the intersection of law and politics’ with multiple ‘hot takes’ aired through the day in rapid response to unfolding events. It now has 2.3 million subscribers.

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Other YouTubers building audiences include the long-running Young Turks, which has an impressive 5.8 million subscribers, law professor Devin Stone’s LegalEagle series and Pod Save America by Crooked Media, a collective of former Barrack Obama staffers.

Australia’s leader is Friendlyjordies — comedian Jordan Shanks' YouTube clips often gain more than a million views.

Shanks copped a setback when his house was firebombed in late 2022, prompting his lawyers to insist he take a break for a few months. He was back last week with an incisive look at union elections in NSW.

'Honest Government Ads' produced by The Juice Media is another excellent long-running series that hilariously skewers both sides of Australian politics in highly polished clips of between two and five minutes.

Independent Australia has also entered the field with regular videos on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, gaining an expanding audience.

We could say much more about the style and content of these emerging media, most of it positive. So, one day soon, we will. Meanwhile, remember Australia’s economy is in good hands, whatever the vested interests say.

We should cancel our newspapers, subscribe to IA and other innovative online outlets — and cheer up.