It’s been suggested that Karl Stefanovic may lose his gig on Channel 9 because he interviewed Tommy Robinson and there’s a certain amount of outrage from people who argue that journalists should be able to interview all sorts of people because that’s what free speech is about.
Ok, the educated amongst you are probably only reading this so that you can point out that this is Australia and we don’t have any rights to free speech under the Constitution…
Of course, the very educated will argue that the High Court has suggested that, even though we don’t have a codified right to free speech, there is an implied right…
And the very educated will be frothing at the mouth because – not only have I quoted an American amendment – I have incorrectly used the fifth amendment – which is the right to silence – and not the first – which is something to do with free speech…
I mean, I could have looked it up but what’s the point of being accurate in a world where the main way to get attention is to be completely and utterly wrong…
Don’t believe me? Before I even use the examples of Pauline the Perilous and David Hughes who has revived his comedy career… or should that be commenced his comedy career because this is possibly the first time people have laughed at him… Anyway, without resorting to those examples, can I just point out that you’re reading this, aren’t you? And didn’t you start reading it because I was wrong and well, I’ve just started reading Ed Coper’s “Angertainment”… A good read which shows how our emotions are being hijacked to build political and cultural capital by those who know how to game the outrage economy. How ‘rage bait’— the 2025 Word of the Year—can change how you vote, what you buy and who you hate.
Ok, I just stole that description of the book from the blurb on Amazon and I should have put it in quotation marks because it was a direct quote but I figured by stealing it someone would attack me for not doing the decent thing and using AI to write the blurb…
Whatever, I could argue that it may have been better for Karl to use the Fifth and his right to silence… I mean, there are so many people who – to paraphrase Mark Twain should say nothing and risk people thinking that they’re an idiot rather than open their mouths and prove it…
Although being an idiot doesn’t seem to stop one from attracting a lot more attention than one deserves. After all, Barnaby got mot attention for being drunk and falling off a planter box than I ever got for staying sober and… actually he got more attention for falling off than if he’d stayed upright… which sort of makes the point rather beautifully.
The most worrying thing for me is the obvious temptation to go the whole way and just start being completely… um, well, going the whole Andrew Bolt. I mean, what if I stopped being the reasonable guy that I am and…
Actually that wouldn’t help…
I guess the best way to put it is to quote my wife: “You can be really vicious when become agreeable!”
It does no good for me to say that she asked me to be nice and to not start any political arguments and I did exactly what she asked and is it my fault that lunch ended up with a plan to deal with the blowout in the NDIS which would have solved a whole range of social problems and that some of the guests ended up calling the other guests “fuckin’ Nazis”?
It’s surprising where ideas lead once you become so agreeable that you make the odd helpful suggestion and ask the odd helpful question…
Anyway, I’ve alway been a great believer in establishing principles and, if one is going to ignore them, then one should be able to explain why the principle doesn’t apply in this case.
For example, if Karl is allowed to interview Robinson and it’s outrageous to sack him over that, why are many of his defenders complaining about the ABC giving a platform to certain green groups? And if you were outraged over Antoinette Lattouf then…
As a side note, I did chuckle when a story on the ABC told us Randa Abdel-Fattah was going to be invited to next year’s writer’s festival when her presence caused the cancellation of the previous one. Did the person writing the story not grasp the simple fact that it was her “absence” that led to people dropping out and the subsequent chaos?
Anyway as to the temptation to go the whole way…
I guess that’s a consideration for another day. For now, I’ll just be as agreeable as I can!
The facts are elusive but it seems that Karl was a salaried employee earning a very good income with Nine. He then set up a pod-cast over which Nine had no editorial control and he interviewed various people and sold the pod-casts to Nine. So he was drawing salary as an employee and income from his side-hustle.
Nine evidently thought that this was a conflict and Karl left their employment to focus on his side-hustle.
Tommy Robinson is a distraction.
Nothing to see here!
Dave Hughes is about as hilarious as Chris Lilley. Karl Stefanovic has as much journalistic integrity as Peta Credlin.
@ GL: In keeping with the tenor of this article ….. I do not wish to be disagreeable, BUTT you are seriously over-valuing all four of your examples.
NEC,
😊
G L mentions four “comedy” names (belch, fart, spew) to avoid like pox, plague, pestilence, putridity and Pauline.
Terry,
good point.
Irrespective of whether or not nine lets him go, what a lovely bit of priceless free publicity nine is handing Karl Stefanovic’s podcast.
Punter’s Politics was invited on to Stefanovic’s podcast – the Punter’s Politics reaction podcast on Punter’s Politics is far more interesting and I dare say informative.
“Barnaby got more attention for being drunk and falling off a planter box than I ever got for staying sober and… actually he got more attention for falling off than if he’d stayed upright… which sort of makes the point rather beautifully.”
@ Rossleigh: I really must defend ”Our Beetrooter” the once NOtional$ now PHONey MP for New England ….. he is capable of ”staying upright” in every bar in New England that he visits on his irregular, infrequent tours of the electorate, usually in the fortnight before election day when he shouts the bar in the expectant hope of ”winning” votes.
I worry about ”Our Beetrooter” since he ran away to become a PHONey. He has always been a ”phoney”, a self-serving alcoholic bully with sexual harassment tendencies reflecting his in-grained misogyny that was long standing before it was popularised by the American manosphere of unthinking, uncaring, unattractive, unsuccessful male supporters.
However, in fairness ….. Beetrooter has been smart enough to remain the New England MP for about 13 years, harvesting Parliamentary salary + Parliamentary perks worth in excess of $3 MILLION. A good result for following the NOtional$ strategy of doing as little as possible for as long as they can for the benefit of as few beneficiaries as possible. Any NOtional$ life members need a sealed road up to their farm gate??
However, check out his current demeanour as a PHONey ….. is that bleary eyed look a sign of major health problems, disappointment or simply the alcoholic glow of a XXXX Breakfast??
“However, check out his current demeanour as a PHONey ….. is that bleary eyed look a sign of major health problems, disappointment or simply the alcoholic glow of a XXXX Breakfast??”
I reckon it’s a combination of all the above.
So, it is official.
lamestream says it better than I could:
Karl Tries To Turn Himself Into a Free Speech Martyr
The most confected media break-up in years was finally made official this morning, with Nine releasing as a statement confirming the network was parting ways with Today host Karl Stefanovic following his interview with far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
As we predicted, it wasn’t an actual firing but a mutually agreed departure, which presumably involved some kind of financial sweetener for Stefanovic as he leaves his contract early.
…
It’s a smart, and probably necessary, move from Nine to try and pre-empt Stefanovic’s inevitable victimhood tour. It seems inevitable that we’re about to be subjected to a barrage of “How I was cancelled by the mainstream media” content, as Stefanovic and his allies seek to portray him as a martyr, sacrificed at the altar of political correctness.
….
But does that really matter in the current media landscape? Everything about this bust-up has been so strategic and manufactured, if Stefanovic’s audience can’t see it then it’s because they don’t want to. The far-right ecosystem that Stefanovic is now a part of – alongside Pauline Hanson and Tommy Robinson – is backed by the richest people in the world, who are using their resources to try and create a new media environment that is someone even more right-wing and plutocratic than the legacy media.
Elon Musk, who has publicly backed Robinson, posted about Stefanovic’s situation on X.com yesterday, further highlighting just how interconnected the global far-right machine is.
https://www.lamestream.com.au/karl-stefanovic-is-no-free-speech-martyr-hes-a-political-operative-plus-more-on-the-daily-aus-and-one-nation/
The more things change, the more they stay the same.