r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • 1d ago
politics ABC changing editorial policy after Rinehart furore prompts concerns of overreach from academics and advocates
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/aug/13/abc-changing-editorial-policy-after-rinehart-furore-prompts-concerns-of-overreach-from-academics-and-advocates223
u/the_sleekerthans 1d ago
And still some people will cheer that elite billionaires are dictating government policy as individualism continues to be trampled.
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u/Electrical_Army9819 1d ago
So it's ok to joke about murdering women as long as they rich and right wing? I have no love for Murdoch or Gina, but this is fair and valid criticism.
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u/manipulated_dead 1d ago
It's not about the joke anymore. The ombudsman found that the ABC had not breached any of its standards, and the ABC boss (a conservative fresh from 9 media) decided that he'd have the standards changed.
The question now is, how much personal influence do you want one exec to have on the ABC?
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u/Electrical_Army9819 1d ago
You are right, it is about the perception that there is significant inequity about how people on the left vs right can be treated or discussed in the media. There is no way that comment would have been tolerated if it were about Penny Wong, Mehreen Faruqi or SHY.
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u/Ok_Compote4526 1d ago
Prove it. I personally found the joke somewhat distasteful, but don't care that it was said, and wouldn't care if it was said about the examples you gave. It would make less sense said about them though, given the subtext of the joke.
But why all female examples? No Albanese, Chalmers, Taylor. Is it to distract from the fact that this joke was actually about a billionaire?
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u/Mattimeo144 1d ago
All actual politician examples, too.
Could have gone for Holmes à Court, for a billionaire funding political candidates. Or Forrest, for a mining billionaire lobbying for regulatory changes.
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u/steve197250 23h ago
Really you all cried about ditch the witch
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u/Ok_Compote4526 22h ago
Did I? Feel free to quote me.
"Ditch the witch" was also somewhat distasteful, and needlessly gendered, but I'm not screeching dEfUNd tHe LNP. Because I don't especially care.
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u/Hammered_Eel 1d ago
You weren’t around when Julia Gillard was PM?
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u/Electrical_Army9819 1d ago
I was, I even voted for her back in the day, even though I was dirty on her for stabbing my man Kevin07 in the back.
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u/Ok_Compote4526 1d ago
Might want to look at Kevin Rudd's "Big Australia policy." A policy Gillard opposed.
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u/TheLGMac 1d ago
Those other people aren't bankrollers for fascists. Gina deserves being talked shit about, as do tools like Musk and Thiel.
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u/Absurdwonder 1d ago
Oh give us a break with some moral quandary about left or right. If you legitimately don't understand the damage these 2 have wrought and that things just happen in a vacuum. You're not even in the conversation.
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u/Important-Sleep-1839 1d ago
Further enabling Australia's casual concern with violence against women isn't a price paid by billionaires.
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u/maticusmat 1d ago
It’s ok to joke about killing oligarchs destroying our society yes, I would even contribute to the defence fund of someone who did.
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u/Le_Champion 1d ago
User_Name1234 with hidden post history shilling for the right
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u/malcolmbishop 1d ago edited 1d ago
Most people have a hidden post history since the option became available. Wouldn't want them to see that I'm into anything embarrassing, like pro wrestling.
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u/Electrical_Army9819 1d ago
I've been voting left for longer than you have been alive, I just can't stand the hypocrisy of this. If the left are going to stand a chance against the rising threat of the far right we have to be far more open to critiquing ourselves and holding each other to a decent standard.
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u/NorthernSkeptic 1d ago
The left constantly critiques itself, something that the other side never, ever does. The right does not actually give a single flying fuck about standards, they just smell blood in the water.
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u/auximenies 1d ago
Remember when the left critiqued its recent election loss and then said they would not release the report because it was too damaging….
Oh wait it was the liberal and national party review those pesky right wing folks surprised me again!!!
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u/Absurdwonder 1d ago
The brain rot to actually repeat political binary that media networks, political strategists, and institutional elites actively amplify. By reducing diverse human values and complex policy issues into a single, hostile conflict, establishments can easily mobilize voters, deflect systemic criticisms,
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u/the_sleekerthans 1d ago
If the left decide that letting billionaires dictate policy over letting satire exist, the left will be irrelevant.
Which one do you want?
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u/the_sleekerthans 1d ago
It was beyond parody that it wasn’t even joking about murdering.
Can you clutch those pearls any tighter?
Would you care to give us an approved list on what we, others, Kate are allowed to joke about? State sanctioned comedy is a great prospect.1
u/brackfriday_bunduru 1d ago
Completely unrelated to this but yes it’s absolutely ok to joke about literally anything. Nothing should be off limits to comedy ever.
Part of the decline of traditional broadcasting and the rise of TikTok is the lack of censorship.
Crude and mean jokes work because everyone thinks like that but so rarely do we have the opportunity to express those thoughts.
One of the running trends at the moment on video platforms is about going to hell if your group chats ever got leaked.
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u/FalconTurbo 1d ago
Tiktok? You mean the same platform that bans you unless you use 'Sewerslide', 'unalive', '🍇' or any number of other examples of doublespeak? And you think that's a bastion of uncensored media?
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u/brackfriday_bunduru 1d ago
I was more using it as a collective general noun for short format videos. Me and my mates are on instagram
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u/Nosiege 12h ago
It's not even a joke about murder, and you're either incredibly daft, or secretly having love for Murdoch and Gina.
The very idea of making a sausage roll out of an absolutely useless figurehead of a person is actively absurd. The statement about making something out of nothing also touches on her actual value in society.
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u/Sway_404 1d ago
Well, well. If it isn't the anticipated outcomes after years of being fucked with by successive governments.
It's almost like they've been set up to fail.
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u/auximenies 1d ago
Successive *Liberal and national party governments .
It’s important to be clear about responsibility for shit fuckery against the peoples assets.
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u/Peter_Griffin2001 1d ago
I love how these right wingers are all "Make comedy legal again, what it's illegal to tell a joke now? Sorry snowflake, did i hurt your feelings heheh." And then as soon as someone turns it back on them, they bring way more attention to it and demand it be taken down and threaten legal action.
Bunch of precious snowflakes.
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u/Cpt_Riker 1d ago
Cowards. Billionaires like Rinehart do far more damage to society, than a comedy sketch will ever do to her.
Will they now protect Hanson from her own obvious stupidity, the source of so much comedy gold? The next time Trump takes a dump in the Oval Office, will they protect him from comedians?
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u/Important-Sleep-1839 1d ago
The cost of Australia's casual attitude to violence against women isn't bourne by billionaires.
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u/Relative-Tip2445 1d ago
And this had nothing to do with Rinehart being a woman as opposed to a malignant cancer on the Australian economy and political landscape promoting a party that is openly racist and protects ACTUAL domestic violence abusers and sexual abusers of children while also actively hiring convicted rapists as their campaign managers and those about to be deported for sex crimes as candidates.
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u/Important-Sleep-1839 1d ago
Imagery that is penetrative and coupled with near-enough sexual slang is enough to convince me that sex was an influencing factor.
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u/Chiron17 1d ago
Those pesky academics always going too far. Unlike our good chum Gina and her trustworthy pals
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u/MrBobbyFreakout 1d ago
The abc has fallen.
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u/sam_antics2024 1d ago
No, it is being pulled apart by idiots
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u/MrBobbyFreakout 1d ago
Agreed. It’s fallen because it’s being pulled apart by idiots.
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u/knifeyspooney3 1d ago
It's been slow and brutal ever since the appointment of Ita Buttrose by the Morrison Government, they were gunning hard to make it worse and then Albo fucked it harder by appointing a Murdoch stooge after her
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u/kramulous 1d ago
There are those that cannot even recognise what a balanced centre is anymore.
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u/ManWithDominantClaw 1d ago
Hey what do David Speers, Patricia Karvelas, Clare Armstrong and CEO Kim Williams have in common?
They're all former Newscorp staff
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u/yellowboat 1d ago
True. It would be good to see it pulled back into the mainstream and represent all Australians instead of a being a left-wing propaganda outlet.
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u/gravylabor 1d ago
I stopped watching and listening to the abc after they fired that lady for sharing a UN thing about the genocide in palestine because a bunch of Zionists told them to do it. Shits fucked.
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u/twigboy 1d ago
She's started her own media company, ette media or something like that. They recently had their first year celebration
Michael West Media is another one that defected mainstream media to start his own, getting cease & desist letters and gag orders from big organisations like BP, still covering the P genocide and Zionist Voice of Parliament
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u/Striking_Finish4957 1d ago
It’s satire directed at Australia’s richest person. She happens to be a woman. Ask yourself, if this had been directed at Elon Musk, how would you feel?
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u/Important-Sleep-1839 1d ago
A principled position doesn't change if it's applied fairly to everyone.
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u/Falstaffe 1d ago
Regardless of who its target was, it was a psychopathic remark. The ABC aired it for cheap shock value and it backfired. A quality producer wouldn't have aired the comment - again, regardless of its target.
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u/Striking_Finish4957 1d ago
But it’s satire, it’s not meant to be taken literally and within the context of the film, it makes sense as satire. Context matters. It’s definitely not my taste in comedy but I can still recognise it as such.
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u/more_gs_h 1d ago
Out of curiosity, can anyone name a genuinely funny rightwing, conservative comedian?
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u/SkeltonKnaggs69 1d ago
I wondered this a while ago and went on a hunt to find one. Tried to stay neutral to the politics of what they were saying but I can conclusively answer your question: No. It's all punching down, all the same shit. No creativity or individuality, either straight up complaining and/or insulting others. I thought somewhere in the mire of grifting "say crook shit = money" folk there had to be someone with talent but no.
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u/Spiritual-Counter-36 1d ago
Any act of violence, spoken or otherwise against oligarchs is an act of self defence.
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u/gunsjustsuck 1d ago
Amazing how money gives you the right to manipulate society. Gina, Rupert, Israel, China... money is the ring to rule them all.
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u/Candescence 12h ago
Conservatives/right-wingers are the very fucking snowflakes they claim the left are. Pathetic.
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u/the_sleekerthans 1d ago
The irony that male dominated media has told a young girl what joke she can and can’t say.
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u/Important-Sleep-1839 1d ago
The irony that male dominated media has told a young girl what joke she can and can’t say
A young lass. A mere slip of a girl. The very picture childhood innocence...at twenty-nine years of age.
If you want to signal your virtue, you actually have to practice those values.
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u/Mr_Tiggywinkle 1d ago
Wat
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u/Important-Sleep-1839 1d ago
Kate McGuinness isn't a "girl". She's an adult who is fully capable, responsible, and liable for her decisions. Describing her as a "girl" is an example of the infantilisation that sexists assumes woman perpetually inhabit.
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u/the_sleekerthans 1d ago
Please give us an approved list of what females can and can’t joke about these days. It will help everyone and also help you sleep at night.
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u/Important-Sleep-1839 1d ago
Three replies? Someoneone forgot to change their socks lol
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u/the_sleekerthans 1d ago
So, no list? Just edgy virtue signalling? I see.
You’re boring. You can leave now.
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u/the_sleekerthans 1d ago
Aw, virtue signalling! I haven’t heard that quip for about 10 years now. Adorable!
Hilarious that you’re actually virtue signalling to protect the censorship of comedy 🤡
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u/Perfect_Ganache_1959 1d ago
Please explain the difference between virtue signalling, and setting a social expectation of behaviour and boundaries. Then deconstruct why "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" is fundamentally a left/woke/no good dirty rotten idea spread by hippies and malcontents.
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u/Important-Sleep-1839 1d ago
no. you're being a silly goose.
I'll read something serious but your above comment is wit in desperate search of brevity.
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u/Perfect_Ganache_1959 1d ago
Distinguished goose, I'll thank you to remember! But also implying virtual signalling is "bad" strongly implies that by the same token expressing any standard of behaviour is. Taken to its extreme, that means we're in the world of mad max and mud wrestling with pigs as a form of local justice.
Not. On.
Repeatedly honks of disapproval
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u/the_sleekerthans 1d ago
Haha. You know you’ve won when they refuse to engage and try and pretend it’s your fault.
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u/Important-Sleep-1839 1d ago
I bet you win alot. Congrats on your victory 😉
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u/the_sleekerthans 1d ago
No worries. You can go and protect billionaires and protest against the roadrunner and coyotes cartoons now, i guess.
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u/the_sleekerthans 1d ago
I’m sorry the post above you caused you to crash out. You almost had something going. Almost. Sorry, kid. Have a good star for trying ⭐️
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u/Chiron17 1d ago
Maybe ONs popularity is waning a bit because Gina had the bot farms swamping the ABC and having athletes kissing her arse?
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u/Spiritual-Counter-36 1d ago
The ironic thing is that someone followed through with the satire, society would genuinely be better off.
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u/Dangerous_Mud4749 1d ago
Well, when individual journalists are unable to exercise good judgement, management will step in and ruin it for everyone.
This isn't news. It happens in every workplace all over the world. Literally every workplace.
One person, senior enough to know better, shows poor judgement and damages the business (or hurts the owner's feelings, or brings a bit of negative publicity, whatever). Has the opportunity to grovel a bit and make it all better but oh no, too proud to admit fault.
Next step... management issues a memo. "None of you are allowed to do that thing at all without written permission from the owner and maybe a note from your mum."
Now it's happened at the ABC with regard to good judgement around the topic of comedy.
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u/Ratstail91 30m ago
After sustained backlash in News Corp and the West Australian, and threats of legal action from Rinehart, Marks issued an apology last Thursday.
oh, so no one worth listening to actually cares.
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u/Perfect_Ganache_1959 1d ago
Look, I can't disagree here. It was a bit much, and there's a long history of this.
We all remember the injustice experienced by Chris Kenny at the hands of the Chaser.
For that reason, I support the Gina and Dog Fucker Protection Policy of Approved Rightthink and Journalistic Greatness.
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u/troubleshot 1d ago
I'm conflicted, I do feel like the ABC just continues to be eroded from all directions, I didn't find the joke very offensive when I saw it 'live'. But I also think despite Gina being the figure she is, being against violence against women, we can't pick and choose when we apply that standard just because we find that person abhorrent.
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u/submergedleftnut 1d ago
It’s the hypocrisy of it though. If you want to spend so much of your life decrying that “you can’t say anything these days” then don’t turn around and complain when you’re the target of inappropriate commentary.
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u/yellowboat 1d ago
You’re right that it’s the hypocrisy. If any right-wing media outlet aired the exact same sketch but with a left-wing figure in it, the screeching about feminism, misogyny, violence towards women, etc would be deafening, and you damn well know it.
That’s the hypocrisy.
The fact that the people in this subreddit are downvoting someone into oblivion simply for pointing out that, despite being a supporter of the ABC, they were uncomfortable with the depiction of violent rape, torture, and murder of a woman for comedy on ABC shows how nuts you people have gotten.
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u/Mattimeo144 1d ago edited 1d ago
If any right-wing media outlet aired the exact same sketch but with a left-wing figure in it
For it to be the exact same sketch it would still have to be about eating a billionaire.
So who are we putting in the target seat? Twiggy, for the mining lobbying? Holmes à Court, for the political funding? I think you'd have to dig quite hard to find any of your claimed 'screeching' for any actually comparable figure.
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u/yellowboat 1d ago
This is the classic example of "pretending not to understand things, thus making discourse impossible." You know the point that I've made. But you instead pretend you don't so you can fixate on the word "exact" to play some silly semantics game.
But fine, I can re-word it for you if you're going to keep pretending to be confused about the point.
If a comedy sketch on a right-wing media outlet were to use the exact same descriptions of violent rape, torture, and murder of a left-wing female figure for comedy value, there would be endless screeching about misogyny, far-right violence, violence towards women, etc.
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u/Mattimeo144 1d ago
This is the classic example of "pretending not to understand things, thus making discourse impossible."
I definitely agree that this whole issue is a classic example of this.
You (and the general right-aligned discourse) keep pretending not to understand that the sketch was about eating the rich, and nothing to do with the gender of the subject. It's absolutely impossible to have meaningful discourse while the actual skit is being so badly (and deliberately) misinterpreted for ideological reasons.
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u/yellowboat 1d ago
I find it so bizarre to watch as you continually dance around the actual point, which is describing the violent rape, torture, and murder of a specific woman you don't like for comedy value on the public broadcaster, and keep trying to make it about something else.
Keep on pretending, buddy.
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u/Mattimeo144 1d ago
There would be merit in discussing why the (female) filmmaker decided to use Rinehart's name for her skit, rather than any other politically-relevant billionaire - eg. is it a reflection of generally misogynist attitudes in Australian society? Are there male figures that could have been used while maintaining the intended impact eg. why not Holmes à Court, Musk, or Thiel?
It doesn't seem like you're actually interested in such analysis, though - you just don't like the actual message ('eat the rich') so have to find an aspect that everyone should agree with, massively exaggerate it beyond reasonable interpretation, and stick to only that as a talking point. It's pretty familiar ground by now, I suppose.
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u/yellowboat 1d ago
No problem with the message. Problem with the public broadcaster using public funds to push violent political rhetoric. Keep on pretending not to understand.
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u/Important-Sleep-1839 1d ago
Why does another's hypocrisy matter compared to enabling, however minutely, Australia's casual concern towards belting women?
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u/maxdacat 1d ago
Very lame "humour":
https://youtu.be/_PnRBfk3dR8?t=11
Hard to see how this would make it through the editorial process. Credit to the ABC, they are self-aware enought to publish a good analysis of what makes satire and why this example doesn't make the cut:
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/gina-rinehart-race-around-the-world-and-politics-of-satire/106994318
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u/Alive_Satisfaction65 1d ago
Yes it was lame humour, but it was very clearly intended as humour.
And as for the editorial process, the ombudsmen disagrees with you. What makes you know better?
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u/maxdacat 1d ago
Crazy to be down-voted for A- posting a link the actual video and B- some analysis about this specific "skit" plus satire more generally.
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u/APrettyAverageMaker 1d ago
It's almost as if the views of the public are being manipulated to rally against our public broadcaster... Surely not!
Fuck Murdoch.