Search
This area does not yet contain any content.
Justinian News

Balkan intrigues ... Old coppers stagger into the Croatian Six inquiry ... 15-year jail terms in 1980 for alleged terrorism ... Miscarriage of justice under review ... Verballing ... Loading-up ... Old fashioned detective "work" ... Evidence so far ... Hamish McDonald reports ... Read more >> 

Politics Media Law Society


Cohn Man ... The ghost of Roy Cohn and the remaking of politics … Cancelling The Apprentice … Anticipatory obedience … NACC Major General’s partially apprehended … Stickler for rectitude … Meretricious sexual services ... Read on ... 

This area does not yet contain any content.
Free Newsletter
Justinian Columnists

Blue sky litigation ... Another costly Lehrmann decision ... One more spin on the never-never ... Arguable appeal discovered in the bowels of the Gazette of Law & Journalism ... Odious litigants ... Could Lee J have got it wrong on the meaning of rape? ... Calpurnia reports from the Defamatorium ... Read more >> 

Blow the whistle

 

News snips ...


Qld Bar 'n Grill announces eight new KCs for 2024 ... Details >>

Justinian's Bloggers

London Calling ... Vitamin D deficiency ... Anti-vax solicitor birched for "friendly warning" to schools ... Budget measures hit private school fee payers and their personal jets ... Robing room "humour" ... Equality and sensitivity training missing in action ... Floyd Alexander-Hunt reports from Blighty ... Read more >> 

"Calls to produce scalps publicly and promptly are unhelpful."  

Major Gen. Paul Brereton, Commissioner of the National Corruption Concealment Commission, defending his secretive and snail paced agenda ... Speaking in Adelaide at a Public Sector Governance Forum ... November 15, 2024  ... Read more flatulence ... 


Justinian Featurettes

Vale Percy Allan AM ... Obit for friend and fellow-traveller ... Prolific writer on economics and politics ... Public finance guru ... Technocrat with humanity and broad interests ... Theatre ... Animals ... Art ... Read more ... 


Justinian's archive

A triumph for Victorian morality ... Ashton v Pratt ... In the sack with Dick Pratt ... Meretricious sexual services renders contract void on public policy grounds ... Justice Paul Brereton applies curious moral standard ... A whiff of hypocrisy ... Doubtful finding ... Artemus Jones reporting ... From Justinian's Archive, January 24, 2012 ... Who knew the NACC commissioner had strong views on the sanctity of marriage ... Read more ... 


 

 

« A Melbourne autumn | Main | Politics and law »
Friday
Apr292011

The medium is the message

Fitting the message to the messenger ... Michael Pelly, Ruddock's former spin doctor, lands a gig with the new AG in NSW, Greg Smith ... Then there's that biography of Smiler 

Former journalist Michael Pelly has ditched his columnising for The Australian only to fetch-up as NSW Attorney General Greg Smith's flack merchant.

Not only that but he has persuaded Smiler Gleeson to give him access to his treasure trove of files with a view to penning a biography of the great jurist.

Memorably Pelly worked as Commonwealth AG Phil Ruddock's spin doctor where, among other glamorous tasks, he put his shoulder to the wheel of the Howard government's campaign to demonise David Hicks and run a beefed-up war on terror campaign.

One of his first duties as Smith's flack was to funnel information to his old organ, The National Rupert, spelling out his new boss' eccentric views about shield laws for journalists.

A pressing topic, to be sure.

Essentially the NSW attorney general doesn't like the Greens' input into the federal amendments to the Evidence Act, which extended the reptiles' rebuttable presumption against fingering sources to bloggers and "citizen journalists".

Smith: worried about crims who blogNSW will be following Soapy Brandis' model and will confine the protection to the "mainstream media", even though it appears the mainstream media is a steadily dwindling force in the land.

The other complication is that the mainstream media itself hosts numerous bloggers. Are those bloggers in or out of the tent?

Smith came up with a quotable rationalisation for shutting out the modern media in favour of the old world:

"The bloggers are coming from all areas - some are activists in particular causes, some may be criminals doing some blogging to block or deflect police and to con politicians and the media."

Que?

What with massaging the message for Smith and delving into Smiler's inner secrets, Pelly will be a busy muffin.

References (1)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Member Account Required
You must have a member account on this website in order to post comments. Log in to your account to enable posting.