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Chris Uhlmann accuses News Corp, SKY News, 2GB of “waging war” on Turnbull

Nine's political editor delivers a broadside to "bullying" rival media companies, as the cards fall in Canberra.

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While the leadership battle ensues in Canberra Nine’s political editor Chris Uhlmann has taken aim at News Corp newspapers, including The Australian and the Daily Telegraph, SKY News evening commentators and radio 2GB as “waging a war” on Malcolm Turnbull.

Uhlmann, a former ABC reporter, told Today, Liberal Party sources had told him conservative media were working against them.

“News Corporation, so we are talking about The Australian, Daily Telegraph and all of those tabloids newspapers around the country, 2GB in Sydney, led by Alan Jones and Ray Hadley, and SKY News in particular with its evening line-up, are waging a war against the Prime Minister of Australia.

“Now, that is what they think. That’s just reporting the news. Apparently if you say that to them now, they get their nickers in a huge twist. Now, if they want to be players in this game, which is apparently what they are, and they’re working behind the scenes as well as in front of the scenes, if they are making phone calls to people, trying to push people over the line, then they’re part of this story.

“So all I’m saying is if they want to dish it out, they should be prepared to take it and they’re among the biggest bullies in the land and it is about time that people call them out for what they are. If they don’t like that, then they can come after me.”

But Daily Telegraph political editor Sharri Markson later told Today that News Corp has given straight, objective news reporting and described Uhlmann’s broadside as a “disgusting and outrageous attack.”

 

17 Responses

  1. Turnbull has referred to forces in media against his govt so it would seem Uhlmann was correct in what he spoke about. I guess the real irony is media working against the govt after he was the PM that gave them media reform.

  2. Wow, this mob have waged war against every single Labor PM & Ministers since forever. Now they go after his precious Lib PM & suddenly it’s a problem. It’s a pity he didn’t get so outraged at the vitriol hurled at Julia Gillard while she was PM. Go away Uhlman you’re pathetic.

  3. Bit of a shame to see Uhlmann descend into tin foil hat-ism – there is so much happening in politics at the moment you would think that he would have something more insightful or pertinent to say.

    If Chris thinks that a couple of 2GB radio jocks and a couple of opinion pieces on Sky news has been responsible for all the travails of 6 PMs in the space of 10 years then he obviously hasn’t been attention or is unaware of the hyper-partisan poll driven nature of politics, senate obstructionism and short-termism as practised over the last 10 years.

    2. Chris Uhlmann is probably the best political commentator in Australia currently – but on other subjects he’s often way off in the weeds somewhere. Tin-foil-hattism isn’t completely new to him; witness his completely off-the-mark statements about the SA power outage, etc.

      That said, in this case he is commenting well within the political domain & his experience – so it’s definitely worth considering his opinion on it.

      From everything else known about him, he’s also on the Right of the political spectrum – small “l” liberal in the Turnbull mold (& friends with him), but a little further Right than that. Which just goes to show how far Right some parts of the “Liberal” party are…

  5. Uhlmann may have switched channels but his ABC leftist bias bigotry is skin deep.

    Since Chris is incapable of being non-partial I will do his homework. Turnbull lost support from his MPs due to his own arrogance, ignorance, laziness and unwillingness to face his critics in addition to offering Labor light policies and allowing Bill Shorten to set the political narrative.

    Malcolm has a history of being a coward when the going gets tough — from hiding during election night (when he feared defeat), to sending Morrison/Bishop to fight his battles on 730 this week and by refusing to go on Sky News shows such as The Bolt Report to respond to criticism about knifing Abbott and his 38 losing newspolls.

    Interestingly, Tanya Plibersek has been on The Bolt Report which shows that unlike the soon to be ex PM that not all politicians are afraid to face their critics.

    So stop blaming…

    1. Oh enough of this nonsense. So, Uhlman is ABC biased even when he is on Nine? I have now heard everything.
      ‘Bias’ is now used as a term to describe when someone says something you don’t agree with. In Uhlman’s case, he is telling the truth. If you want an example of what real bias is, Harshreality, turn into SkyNews. They need every new viewer they can get.

    2. Andrew Bolt & the people behind various hard-right blogs have long considered Chris Uhlman “even-handed” and “a shining light of our side” – and now they’re turning on him?

      Funniest thing I’ve read all day – thanks for the laugh! ?

  6. i in general agree with what Chris Uhlmann said. Although i think this is more about selling newspapers and TV ratings. Anything sensational and shakeperean minus the language mainly the actions will get on TV. the media especially News corp media and to a lesser but equally important extent the other commercial media crave this instability and chaos because its just about the very few things they can report on nowadays that will pique peoples interests just look at ratings. It however will not stop. this will also hit Labour again. The political parties have to be stronger but they are not.

  7. Media playing favorites with political parties? Is this something new Chris? News organizations and politics go hand in hand – it sells newspapers – well it use to.

  8. Interesting comment especially as it comes from Mr Uhlmann who while with the ABC took delight in highlighting the LNP’s failings whenever possible, I think he and the media in general make a living being cynical so there’s plenty of hypocrisy on show here.

  9. Everybody in the media has been attacking and undermining Turnbull. The ABC has of course been objective, they have been attacking Dutton even more than Turnbull because they want the Coalition out of power after they froze the ABC’s budget. The fact that Uhlmann is a well known support of the moderate wing in the Liberal Party has nothing to do with it.

    1. Pertinax: You’ve hit the nail on the head. This myth that the ABC is neutral is utter rubbish. I have been around for a long time and seen it move more to the Left in the last couple of decades. Guarranteed generous funding from Labor is but one reason for this.

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