With Gerard Henderson's MEDIA WATCH
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ISSUE 44 DECEMBER 2014 COLIN TATZ on the recent rise of anti-semitism DIMITRI BURSHTEIN takes a look at Australia’s flagging competitiveness IDA LICHTER goes behind the Islamic veil ROSS FITZGERALD reviews Spies, Daniel Mannix and Ann Moyal’s Life ANNE HENDERSON on the Menzies war years ALAN GREGORY and CAMERON HAZLEHURST on the August 1940 air disaster GERARD HENDERSON’S MEDIA WATCH tackles Rai Gaita, sludge and the Sandalistas of the Moorlort Plains Published by The Sydney Institute 41 Phillip St. with Gerard Henderson’s Sydney 2000 Ph: (02) 9252 3366 MEDIA WATCH Fax: (02) 9252 3360 The Sydney Institute Quarterly Issue 44, December 2014 l CONTENTS NO ACTION ON THE ABC’S CONSERVATIVE-FREE- Editorial 2 ZONE FRONT ABC managing director and editor-in-chief Mark Scott has The Islamic Veil: Unmasking the declined to give interviews to The Bolt Report and The Australian ’s media editor Sharri Markson. This despite Stakeholders the fact that Scott frequently makes public comments a regarding Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Instead, the - Ida Lichter 3 ABC managing director gives interviews about the ABC on the public broadcaster – that is, his preference is to be The Lion and the Gazelle – interviewed by his own staff. This was the route taken by the ABC managing director in the Race for Economic Prosperity late November 2014 when discussing the Coalition’s announcement that the public broadcasters (ABC and i- Dimitri Burshtein 8 SBS) will be subjected to an efficiency audit. The ABC was spared an efficiency audit which applied to The Canberra Air Tragedy in government departments under the Howard, Rudd and Gillard governments. In other words, the ABC has World War II escaped an efficiency audit for close to two decades. - Alan Gregory 11 There are two sets of critics of the ABC in Canberra. One group – identified with Senate leader Eric Abetz – is concerned about the lack of balance within the public rA Phoenix Rising – broadcaster. The second group – indentified with Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull – believes Robert Menzies 1939-49 that the ABC is inefficient when compared with both the commercial media and the SBS (which is substantially - Anne Henderson 14 funded by government grants). Others still believe that the ABC is both biased and inefficient. Present and Absent: Antisemitism There is support for the Turnbull position from the Without Jews findings of the recent report into ABC by the Lewis Efficiency Review – conducted by one-time commercial - Colin Tatz 18 media operative Peter Lewis. According to a report in The Australian on 26 November 2014, the ABC spent 46 per o cent of costs on wages last year. The comparable figure Book Reviews for the free-to-air commercial networks is 10.7 per cent. This suggests that there is more than enough fat in the - Ross Fitzgerald 21 ABC to survive a 4.6 per cent cut over five years. Mark Scott has used the Coalition’s decision to justify his Letter to the Editor 26 decision to cut a number of ABC programs and offices – particularly those which pertain to rural and regional Gerard Henderson’s Australia. He has not used the occasion to cut salaries t paid to ABC senior executives and presenters by, say, 10 Media Watch per cent. Such savings could have been directed to the 27 ABC’s obligation to provide services outside the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane area. Moreover, Scott wants to drive Cover Design and production by DTGraphics the ABC away from many of its traditional areas and into on-line and phone devices. The Sydney Institute Quarterly is edited by The controversy over cuts to the ABC has temporarily iAnne Henderson and Gerard Henderson . directed attention away from the evident lack of balance within the public broadcaster. When Mark Scott became Editorial Office : 41 Phillip Street , Sydney 2000 ABC managing director in 2006 he promised to ensure that there would be greater political diversity within the Tel : (02) 9252 3366 Fax : (02) 9252 3360 ABC and that he would act as the public broadcaster’s Email : mail @thesydneyinstitute .com .au editor-in-chief. Both promises have been broken. The ABC is just as much a Conservative-Free-Zone today Website : www .thesydneyinstitute .com .au as it was eight years ago. The ABC does not have one conservative presenter, producer or editor for any of its Layout and typesetting by DT Graphics Pty Ltd , prominent television, radio or on-line outlets. The ABC Suite 8/2 B Edward Street Kingsgrove NSW 2208. does not compare favourably with either Fox News in the dTel : (02) 9150 9466 Fax : (02) 9150 6663 United States or Sky News in Australia in this regard. Website : www .dtgraphics .com .au Both stations engage some left-of-centre promoters and/or regular paid commentators on prominent The views expressed in The Sydney Institute Quarterly are programs to compliment the right-of-centre presenters. those of the designated authors . They do not necessarily In fact, the lack of political balance on the ABC has become reflect the views of The Sydney Institute or of its governors . more evident on Mr Scott’s watch. In recent years, the ABC has appointed a number of leftists to important positions. Registered Print Post No : PP 255003/02934 Namely Waleed Aly ( RN Drive ), Jonathan Green ( RN Sunday Extra ), Chip Rolley ( The Drum online) and, most For a complete list of our forthcoming functions, recently, Charlie Pickering. Meanwhile the taxpayer funded visit our Website: www.thesydneyinstitute.com.au public broadcaster remains a Conservative-Free-Zone. E 2 The Sydney Institute Quarterly Issue 44, December 2014 religion to its seventh century purity. Most significant were the Muslim Brotherhood members, Hasan al- THE ISLAMIC VEIL: Banna, founder of the Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928, and Sayyid Qutb, leading theorist of the movement, UNMASKING THE as well as the Pakistani founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, Abul Ala Maududi. In modern times, the Sunni Brotherhood, Wahhabi movement of Saudi Arabia, STAKEHOLDERS and the Shia theocracy of Iran promoted Islamism. Although Sunni and Shia rivalry for domination is profound and enduring, their versions of the ideology Ida Lichter concur in a vision of the restoration of Islam’s imperial power, global Muslim solidarity and opposition to Western influence. BACKGROUND The Islamic Awakening or al-Sahwah has been slamic dress codes for women are a contentious associated with Islamism since the 1970s. This I issue, particularly the niqab or face veil. Recent revival movement is characterised by increased controversial moves attempted to force women identification with Islam through piety, sharia law and wearing the face veil to sit behind a glass enclosure in culture. Another feature is the rejection of Parliament House. Islamists such as Islamic State Westernisation in areas such as politics, law, and Boko Haram enforce the veil wherever they gain economics and philosophy. As practised by the a foothold, and it is obligatory according to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in particular, the Muslim Brotherhood. Why is veiling such an Islamic Awakening has been associated with da’wa , important issue? the preaching of an Islamist message to ordinary Muslims, carrying out charitable service in schools According to the holy texts, Islamic dress is not and hospitals, and promoting Islamic dress for mandatory, yet it is heavily defended. Verse 53 of women. In the United States, Islamist outreach Chapter 33 reads as follows: “And when you ask them includes educational summer schools and prisons. [the Prophet's wives] for something, ask them from behind a veil ( hijab ); that makes for greater purity for CONCERNS FOR WESTERNERS your hearts and for theirs.” Regarding the face veil, a major difficulty in the West Human rights arguments tend to focus on the right to stems from human dependence on facial expression wear it but ignore the right not to wear it. Most for information regarding emotions, honesty and Western states have opted not to ban the niqab , or trust. Face to face communication is expected in the burka (total cover with mesh screen for eyes) in the workplace, courts and other public institutions. public space, however, Muslim majority countries Researchers estimate that 50 to 90 per cent of human like Syria and Tunisia, prior to the “Arab Spring” communication is non-verbal, and 85 per cent of the uprisings, had no such scruples. Interestingly, message gathered by an audience is derived from women who go on the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca are mannerisms and facial expressions. instructed not to cover the face, although they may Many people are also troubled about the concept of do so if they wish. covering up in submission to divine authority or tribal The discourse on Islam is perplexing for many patriarchy. Such ideas are distant from mainstream Westerners because politicians, journalists, educators Western culture, based on secular Enlightenment and faith leaders have not given clear guidance or values. addressed all facets of the controversy. One of the issues Some of the statements issued by clerics in relation is the definition of Islamists. The term usually refers to to veiling seem ridiculous to Westerners. Iranian religious fundamentalists or extremists who aim to shift Ayatollah Kazim Sadighi warned that women who did Islam away from concepts of private theological belief not dress modestly could promote adultery, which in and worship to an ideology and political movement that turn increased earthquakes. Reducing sin, he claimed, aims for a state-sponsored social, political, judicial and was necessary for preventing natural disasters. economic system. Islamic dress is iconic for the Commenting on the reasons for a crackdown on movement, which is also reactionary, supremacist, anti- women’s clothing in 2010, the chairman of the western, and sexist.