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Saturday 20th July 1996
Saturday 20th July 1996
Last night Queensland Premier, Rob Borbidge bowed to pressure from the Prime Minister - agreeing to the unconditional surrender of all automatic and semi-automatic guns to the Police in Queensland.
The acting state Premier of Western Australia, Nationalist, Hendy Cowan, has refused to budge from his stance claiming that "crimping" of guns should be allowed. He is unmoved that his stance might cause a national referendum where the very real threat is that the Australian population will call for even tougher gun laws than those already mooted.
In a rather endearing exchange deputy Prime Minister, Mr Fisher, said that in his media conferences there were always about 20 ABC reporters "hanging around like flies". The reported response was "Well you know what attracts flies."
Another politically powerful voice has joined the attack on the ABC's culture and news judgement. Former ABC chair, Dame Leonie Kramer, supports Communications Minister, Senator Alston, saying that the ABC had "let down" its most faithful supporters.
With News Corporation practically running the free world's media the great danger is that their media clout will intimidate the elected politicians to favour those running the empires.
Reminds me of the "big brother syndrome".
We now have News Corporation owning New World Communications and access to 40% of all Americans via television; Time Warner taking over Turner Broadcasting Systems and Australia's Channel Seven (with News Limited as a major shareholder) buying the MGM-UA studios and movies in Hollywood.
Last year we had the Au$19 billion acquisition by Disney Corporation of the American Braodcasting Corporation.
One gets the feeling that free to air television is living on borrowed time and we will all soon be paying to have fibre or satellite dishes hanging from our home like confetti as our dollars disappear along the bandwidth into the monopolisers of entertainment in the future.
Capobianco was finally allowed into the Olympic village yesterday only 24 hours before today's opening start.
The International Amateur Athletic Foundation (IAAF) has located the Dutch anti-doping officer whose evidence on the source of a urine sample might have kept Capobianco out of the Olympics over alleged use of steroids.
The IAAF is now likely to pursue Capobianco who is now poised to participate in the games.
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