Apparently, the dysfunctional Oz group blog is having another of its periodic meltdowns. The anonymous rant (no link, per usual policy) is mildly amusing, but the real fun is in the responses
Ben Pobjie
Crikey
Loonpond
Ben Jenkins
Independent Australia
There’s more I can’t locate now. Enjoy and suggest more in comments.
John Quiggin 
Ben Jenkins is not bad. http://is.gd/YWd6x2
Pobije had me laughing out loud here at work
I just came back here to post Ben Jenkins – glorious.
Thanks, I was missing that one
The Oz’s piece, while anonymous, reads like it was written by Nick Cater. His writing has the air of painful frustration that the enemies of everything he holds near and dear refuse to go away.
First Dog is also pretty damned funny.
@David Irving (no relation)
Dorothy Parker at Loonpond includes First Dog as a bonus to his/her own amusing insightful commentary.
I’d be pretty darned upset too if the party I had been campaigning for turned out to be so incompetent so quickly.
@Michael
hahaha even Michelle Grattan at The Conversation called the Gonski gone decision ‘inexplicable’! Cruel criticism indeed from some who couldn’t mask the naked admiration – and a strange sort of amusement at the ‘antics’ perhaps? – she felt for ‘her’ Tony.
He is still sleeping in the barracks? Is that normal for a Great Man?
‘nobody told me there would be days like this
nobody told me there would be days like this
nobody told me there would be days like this
strange days indeed.”
Qld backbencher turning bolshie (a bit early in the election cycle innit?)
shades of wiggly Gotto and Junie Mo.
the treasurer
(and quite possibly in the near future,prime minister.(sorry kidz Turncoat’s a gretched spiv))
sucking up to tha Greens!
tha greens!
yes it’s going to be a long three years but we’re off to a cracking start.
some dodo is trying to say you can’t sledge at sport because you must be polite at work.
sledging at sport is very small,insignificant and easily disregarded by flint willed,strong minded players.
but basically comes down to the principle of
“if you can’t take it ,don’t dish it out.”
as for Australians having no culture?
avoiding “the Ring Cycle ” IS culture.
Don’t do coke when writing an op-ed. Just don’t.
I’d say Rupert wrote it.
It’s not really ‘funny’ so much as scary.
Some clown wanted me to sign a petition to ‘save’ the ABC. You can’t save something that is so hell-bent on its own destruction.
I’d be surprised if there is a single News Ltd hack who hasn’t appeared on or been quoted by their ABC.
I wrote on the Oz unhinging at my blog The Failed Estate in ‘Drama in Pyjamas‘
The original Oz editorial was enough, but the parodies had me laughing out loud. That was beautiful!
So reminiscent of the teachers’ strike episode of The Simpsons – Skinner’s broadcast: “Attention. This is an emergency broadcast, all is well in the school, my authority as principal is total.”
The Oz told me that I had used up my free online allotment so I had to sign up for another free allotment. False name and email and I’m now able to carry on.
It’s little wonder Cory Bernardi is concerned that the private sector is failing to make a profit.
Expect an announcement soon from the Oz that they have called in the Federal Police to investigate how someone substituted a spoof editorial for the real one. What is that thing about not being able to tell parody from the real thing?
@John Brookes
“Poe’s Law”
But it isn’t that. It’s pure old-man-fascist hubris.
Love loon pond, often have a pants wetting moment with a lot of comments. The put off is the rants about the Anglican church. I mean f*** ’em but every week?
Has any newspaper done a better job than The Australian of trashing the credentials of “serious” journalism with their full evolution into a cheer-squad for the NLP? Not to mention their much more serious crime of their war on science.
@Michael
But their main achievement has been to trash their own brand. Those of you with memories might recall that The Oz was actually pro-republic back in 2000 (or whenever the referendum was). Can you imagine them being pro-republic now?
Good article about how “bad” the state of the media is in the Ukraine on CJR.
“Ukraine’s deep-rooted media problem”
What we would call “PR Journalism” or “Cash for Comment” they call “Jeans” and “Jeansing”.
The whole thing is good, but here’s a snippet:
Describes our hopeless media perfectly.
Is it just me or do the responses have even less substance than the editorial they are mocking?
The Australian: You aren’t real journalists, you’re a bunch of infantile leftists!
New Media: Oh, wook at diddums cwy at the scawy bwoggers! Don’t wowwy diddums, you were never a real journalist either!
@Mitchell Porter
If so they’ve achieved an astonishing triumph, as the editorial had no substance at all. Kudos!
Mind you, I don’t see how they could. The Australian is evidently doing self-parody and it’s hard to improve on that.
@Mitchell Porter
Its just you. The responses had me laughing out loud. The Oz piece wasn’t nearly as funny.
It takes real effort to have less substance than this OZ editorial; the authors of the responses should be get extra points if they have managed it.
If the Oz Opinionisers were deprived their ABC appearances I would not be aware of their existence. Being on the ABC like they so often are actually gives them an air of respectability and relevance that they can’t manage as columnists for News. No wonder the ABC gets under their skin.
The Australian is the pretentious flagship of big corporate media in Australia and it’s always required propping up; which could be an element in the childish displays of dislike of the publicly propped up ABC. If other media, journalists and bloggers stopped paying so much attention it’s circulation would plummet.
I’ve been watching the establishment media and 1% reaction to Mandela’s death.
Bolt set the tone and flagged the ‘battlelines’ with his bit sticking the boot into Mandela for being a terrrst.
Netanyahoo and Erdogan (and many others) essentially boycotted the memorial service.
My TV (which I almost never watch anymore because it’s filled with rubbish) doesn’t receive ‘HD” but I get all the Digital channels which don’t require HD.
Right now a huge chunk of Australians can’t see on TV or hear on radio the live broadcast of the service, but there is an abundance of crap to watch and listen to instead.
I’m watching it via the BBC online.