GERARD HENDERSON’S MEDIA WATCH DOG

ISSUE – NO. 787

14 August 2026

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THE LATEST

  • Channel 10’s political editor’s unwarranted question to Angus Taylor

There has been considerable controversy about the exchange between Opposition leader Angus Taylor’s senior staffer Kane Silom and Channel 10’s political editor Ashleigh Raper. Silom criticised Raper for her line of questioning at a media conference on 13 August. Raper had consistently asked Taylor – in an aggressive manner – whether he had ever made payments to the Liberal Party operatives who are currently appearing before the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Angus Taylor has consistently denied that he made any such payments. But Ashleigh Raper was not taking “no” for an answer. By the way, Angus Taylor has not been accused of doing anything improper and he is not a party to ICAC’s current inquiry.

In news.com.au on 13 August, Samantha Maiden wrote this:

Towards the end of the press conference, the reporter [Ashleigh Raper] then asked, “Has your wife made any payments?” “As I said, no payments have been made and I’m not going to give a running commentary,” Mr Taylor replied.

This is an improper and unnecessary question. Louise Clegg (Angus Taylor’s wife) has not been mentioned in ICAC’s hearings.

In any event, Ashleigh Raper should understand that Ms Clegg is not responsible for what Mr Taylor does or says. And Raper had no evidence whatsoever to justify the content of her question.

  • Jenna Price maintains that the ABC should not have apologised for its film about Gina Rinehart

Nine’s columnist Jenna Price has worked as a journalist and a teacher of journalism. Consequently, it would be expected that Comrade Price would be balanced in commentary – even though she is something of a leftist luvvie.

In Media Watch Dog today and last week, there has been a focus on the ABC’s decision to run Kate McGuinness’ film Race Around the World with its offensive comments directed at conservative Australian businesswoman Gina Rinehart.

As avid readers know, after considerable time, the ABC managing director and editor-in-chief Hugh Marks apologised to Ms Rinehart and removed the offensive material on Thursday 6 August.

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald ran Price’s regular column on 12 August. It was titled “Rinehart skit was unfunny. ABC’s apology was unseemly”. Price conceded that the comedian’s film was not funny. But she did not condemn the references to sodomy and murdering Rinehart. And she criticised News Corp publications for reporting on what was – to others – an obvious news story. And Price bagged Marks for (eventually) doing what he had to do. She even summoned up academic Matthew Ricketson, the co-author of Getting Murdoched to support her. Comrade Ricketson described News Corp’s coverage of this issue as a “classic News pile-on”.

Turn it up. Just imagine what Comrades Price and Ricketson would have said if a commercial or subscription TV outlet had run a film which suggested that, come the revolution, a wealthy Australian woman of left-wing disposition should be sodomised and murdered. They surely would have regarded such an event as news.

That’s the problem with many leftist feminists like Comrade Price. They attack misogyny when it comes from conservatives – but not when it comes from leftist women.

  • Insiders celebrates turning 25 by highlighting panellists the program discontinued. Really.

Did anyone watch ABC TV Insiders last Sunday? Here’s hoping – because presenter David (“please call me Speersy”) Speers devoted a significant part of the program

to the fact that Sunday 9 August was the 25th Anniversary of Insiders going to air. How about that?

The panellists at the commencement of the program were Samantha Maiden (news.com.au), Karen Middleton (The Monthly) and Melissa Clarke (ABC). This segment was shorter than usual since there was a special panel towards the end of the program consisting of Barrie Cassidy (the inaugural Insiders presenter), Karen Middleton (who appeared on the first program in 2001) and Paul Kelly (who, for the first nine years or so, was interviewed at the commencement of the program by Barrie Cassidy).

The “star” of the two on-the-couch panels was Paul Kelly – since he appeared in both.

In between the two panels, video clips were shown from Insiders’ 25 years. Many names were mentioned by Cassidy – in the following order – with everyone speaking together:

Gerard Henderson, Katharine Murphy, and Dennis Atkins; Laura Tingle, Andrew Probyn, and Chris Uhlmann; Lenore Taylor, Mark Kenny, and Phil Coorey; Niki Savva, Malcolm Farr, and welcome, Mark Riley; Laura Tingle, Paul Sakkal and Sam Maiden; Patricia Karvelas, John Kehoe and John Paul Janke; Jacob Greber, Claire Armstrong and Waleed Aly; Raf [Epstein] Niki [Savva] and Katharine [Murphy].

In between the naming of Insiders journalists/commentators, clips were shown of

Insiders couch in action over the years – in order Gerard Henderson (a total of 51 words) David Marr (20) Annabel Crabb (12), Andrew Bolt (5) the late Matt Price (6) followed by Middleton talking about Price (41 words). The count covers all the words spoken during this segment. Gerard Henderson commenced and finished the video segment.

The longest exchange is this segment was this – a flashback to the exchanges of old between Henderson and Marr:

Gerard Henderson: This is not an easy decision.

David Marr: That is completely fanciful.

Gerard Henderson: The issue is not resolved by emoting on television, it makes it more difficult for the government.

David Marr: I am not emoting. I am very angry about this.

Gerard Henderson: I think this government can resolve it.

David Marr: That’s utter bullshit.

Gerard Henderson: The higher the level of rhetoric, the less likely there will be a decision.

David Marr: That’s utter bullshit.

So, the stars of Insiders 25th anniversary segment – were Paul Kelly and Karen Middleton in the panels and Gerard Henderson in the video clips plus David Marr.

But Speersy failed to mention that Paul Kelly’s introductory segment was dropped by Insiders after 9 years. He has not appeared on the program since then – apart from last Sunday.

And Gerard Henderson resigned from Insiders by email on 11 February 2020 when (after a number of email exchanges) the executive producer would not give him any dates for the year. Hendo was never given a reason but an ABC spokesman told The Guardian that the decision to discontinue him turned on his inability to get along with fellow panellists. It took Insiders 17 years and around 100 Henderson appearances to work this out.

And Marr was discontinued at the same time as Hendo – having been told that Insiders required more Canberra-based journalists on its panels. Marr lives in Sydney.

So, there you have it. Paul Kelly, Gerard Henderson and David Marr featured prominently in Insiders 25th Anniversary program. However, viewers were not told that all three were discontinued by Insiders.

This is not an uncommon experience at the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster. Tim Bowden presented ABC TV’s Backchat program – it was effectively replaced by Insiders. He died on 1 September 2024.

On 9 September, ABC TV’s presenter, Paul Barry praised the recently departed Bowden to the skies. What your man Barry did not tell viewers was that Bowden was discontinued by the ABC. On 18 September 2024, on Radio National Breakfast , Patricia Karvelas interviewed David Brill on the occasion of Bowden’s death. The following exchange took place:

Patricia Karvelas: Many of our audience will remember Tim best as the host of Backchat on ABC TV. So much so, can I say, that I’m getting all of these text messages wanting Backchat back. Now, can’t deliver that, but –

David Brill: Well, he got the sack from Backchat he keeps telling me, or he did keep telling me. “You know, you know they sacked me from Backchat, David”, he’d say. But you know, that’s another story, of course. And he, I’d say to him, Tim – he was down here a couple of weeks ago. I got him to come down to open an exhibition in Launceston, at the Launceston Museum, which the War Memorial has put on, “War Action and Film”. An exhibition about cinematography going back to the First World War. He was the guest speaker. And when we went, walked into the hall, all these people, he was like a rock star. You know, and all they remember him from was Backchat. He said, “God, all they remember me from was Backchat“, he said. And he always said, he “Oh, whatever I was never any good on television”. Well, he was good on television….

So there you have it. When ABC discontinues panellists and presenters they like to pretend that this never happened. Can You Bear It?

[No. Not really, now that you asked. But I just loved the montage of one-time panelists which Insiders put up on the screen last Sunday. Here it is. Notice in the bottom right-hand corner that AFR’s Phil Coorey’s face has been blocked by an ABC logo. Your man Coorey needs an apology. – MWD Editor.]

Top Row: Anne Summers, Piers Akerman, Chris Wallace, Malcolm Farr, Annabel Crabb

Second Row: Gerard Henderson, Karen Middleton, Andrew Bolt, Samantha Maiden, David Marr

Third Row: Fran Kelly, Brian Toohey, Misha Schubert, Glenn Milne, Katharine Murphy

Bottom Row: Mike Seccombe, Laura Tingle, Andrew Probyn, Niki Savva, Phil Coorey [aka ABC News]

  • David Marr sleeps while The Two Melons Affair story broke on News Corp outlets

While on the topic of David Marr emoting when in conversation with Hendo on Insiders in times past, consider his somewhat emotive response to what might be called The Two Melons Affair.

As MWD readers will be aware, a controversy has arisen concerning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s interview with podcaster Nikki Osborne at The Lodge in Canberra on 3 July. The PM has apologised via a statement concerning comments he made about Kylie Minogue. Now there is a controversy about what Mr Albanese said about the visit of Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi when talking to Ms Osborne.

The PM’s critics declare that his response, after discussion turned on the melons which Ms Takaichi had presented to him during her visit, was inappropriate. The PM’s supporters emphatically deny this. MWD will allow avid readers to make up their own minds.

However, MWD is of the view that readers will be interested in how MWD fave David Marr handled the issue when the matter was discussed with SBS News reporter Anna Henderson on ABC Radio National’s Late Night Live – sometimes referred to as “Late Night Left”. The date was Monday 10 August and your man threw the switch to excitement as is evident in the audio – see here.

Let’s go to the transcript:

David Marr: Now first, the melon scandal all over the News Limited newspapers. We didn’t notice, but 6 weeks ago, when he was also saying he wanted to get into bed with Kylie Minogue, the Prime Minister discussed a gift of melons from the Prime Minister of Japan and held his hands in a suggestive manner. Now, we didn’t notice this until today. How could News Limited have missed it for how could News Limited have missed it for six weeks? Six weeks until it was pointed out to them.

How’s that for pure ignorance? News24 (previously Sky News) broke The Two Melons Affair on The Bolt Report on Wednesday 8 July. Andrew Bolt wrote about this the following morning in his column in the Herald-Sun. News24 and the Herald-Sun are owned by News Corp. According to Crikey’s “The Scoop”, Sarah Abo raised the matter with Foreign Minister Penny Wong on its Today program on 10 July.

On Saturday 1 August, The Two Melons Affair took up the entire page 12 of the AFR Weekend newspaper including articles by the Japanese journalist Waka Ikeda and the AFR’s North Asia correspondent Jessica Sier. The heading of the Sier report was “Albo’s cringy joke put strain on Japan’s ties” – while Ikeda’s article was headed “Silence is Deafening – Female Leader’s dignity traded for Alliance Security”.

So by 1 August, The Two Melons Affair was big news. And yet David Marr, in emotive tone, told LNL listeners that he didn’t notice the matter until 10 August. And he presents an important nightly public affairs show on the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster. Can You Bear It?

  • Margaret Simons can find no bias in the ABC – nor can Sally Neighbour

The August 2025 issue of The Monthly contains a long article on the ABC titled

“The News Division” by former senior ABC reporter Sally Neighbour. Comrade Neighbour, whose final position at the ABC was as executive producer of Four Corners, is both supportive and critical of the ABC, from a left-of-centre position.

For her (very long) article, Neighbour did not seek the views of those who criticise the ABC from a conservative perspective. Rather, she sought the opinions of such former members of the ABC Soviet as, whoever that might be, Alan Sunderland, Quentin Dempster and, yes, an “old ABC hand” along with Margaret Simons. At times Neighbour’s material is very useful – but not so at other times.

For example, there is how the one-time Four Corners executive producer refers to Justin Stevens – the former ABC News director who was effectively ousted from the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster in recent times:

Into the fray in 2022 stepped young Justin Stevens, taking the job as director of news at the tender age of 38. Many were startled by his sudden rise. Stevens is the son of a paediatric oncologist and alumnus of the posh St Ignatius’ College Riverview, whose Latin motto Quantum Potes Tantum Aude means “as much as you can do, so much dare to do”. Stevens had been the interview producer for 7.30 stars Kerry O’Brien and Leigh Sales, and a producer at Four Corners. He had produced the documentary series Keating: The Interviews and the Logie-winning three-parter The Killing Season, and had then been executive producer of 7.30 for four years.

Stevens’ promoter was the then managing director David Anderson, who backed him over two more seasoned contenders…

Does anyone really care that Stevens’ “old man” is a paediatric oncologist or that he went to a “posh” school named after a Catholic saint? And is a 38-year-old of “tender age”? And what about the translation of the Latin motto “Quantum Potes Tantum Aude”? [Hold it there. Obviously, Comrade Neighbour regards such non-news as news. – MWD Editor.]

Note that Neighbour did not name the “two more senior contenders” in 2022 who thought they should have got the ABC news director’s job. Could one have been John Lyons who was later given the position of ABC Global Affairs Editor and who is now ABC Editor Americas? Comrade Neighbour’s piece is hostile to Stevens. Is she a bestie of Comrade Lyons? Alas, readers (if readers there were) are not told.

As mentioned above, The Monthly article does not quote from any conservative critics of the ABC. But Ms. Neighbour caught up with the left-of-centre academic Margaret Simons—who holds the prestigious position of Honorary Principal Fellow at the pompously named Melbourne University’s Centre for Advancing Journalism – and is an ABC fave.

Dr Simons (for a doctor she is) is favourably quoted in The Monthly as saying this:

Conservative criticism [of the ABC] is usually over allegations of bias. Nobody has ever managed to prove bias. Most Australians don’t think that the ABC is biased.

Quelle Surprise! Comrade Simons uses such terms as “nobody” and “most” to defend the ABC from any charge of bias. Overlooking the fact that “most Australians” don’t watch the ABC. For example, in the ratings the ABC evening news finishes behind Network 7 and Network 9.

As to the ABC exhibiting bias: the ABC is a conservative free zone which suggests a certain bias in the appointment of its journalists – at the very least.

This is yet another example of the Friends of the ABC in denial. By the way, Simons is about to release a book on the ABC published by the left-wing publisher Black Inc Books and La Trobe University. Say no more. Except for the refrain – Can You Bear It?

[I can barely wait for Comrade Simons’ latest boring tome. By the way, she is yet to correct all but one of the numerous factual howlers which are in Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs (MUP 2010) which Simons co-authored with the late former prime minister. These are cited in Appendix A of Gerard Henderson’s Malcolm Fraser: A Personal Reflection (Connor Court, 2025). Perhaps the Centre for Advancing Journalism is not interested in advancing accuracy. Just a thought. – MWD Editor.]

  • ABC managing director and editor-in-chief concedes that ABC’s editorial policies are not fit for purpose

The apology, posted on the afternoon of 6 August, to Gina Rinehart by ABC managing director and editor-in-chief Hugh Marks concerning the advocacy of Gina Rinehart’s torture and death in an episode of The Race Around the World has caused additional problems for the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster.

When it was revealed that the ABC had run Kate McGuinness’ short film which ended with a character proposing that Ms Rinehart be sodomised and murdered, the ABC’s immediate response was along the lines of “Problem, what problem?”. After initially dismissing the criticism because the film was said to be – yes – satire, the matter was referred to the ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron.

At 1.40 pm on 6 August, Ms Cameron reported that the film did not breach the ABC Editorial Standards. She declared that “a reasonable audience member would be likely to understand the [sodomy/murder] remarks as part of a satirical and exaggerated commentary rather than a genuine call for, endorsement of, or encouragement of violence”.

What the ABC Ombudsman was saying, in effect, is that anyone who did not agree with her position was unreasonable. This was never going to be accepted. So, at 1.24 pm – 14 minutes later – Mr Marks put out a statement declaring that “while the Ombudsman has found that the film did not breach the ABC’s editorial policies, the ABC acknowledges the episode has fallen short of community standards”. He apologised to “Mrs Rinehart and to anyone else affected or upset by the publication of the film”.

This was a weak apology – but an apology all the same. Moreover, the ABC manager advised that “the film has been edited on the ABC’s platforms to remove the relevant material”. At last.

And there remains a problem. What the head of the ABC is saying is that its Editorial Policies are so deficient that they need urgent change. Which raises a couple of questions. How come the ABC has been operating for so long with what the ABC management now concedes are Editorial Policies that fall short of community expectations? And how is it that the ABC, which covers violence against women at length, has had Editorial Policies that made it possible to project violence against women on its screen? Which the ABC managing director and editor-in-chief initially decided not to act immediately to remove.

So, there you have it. The ABC now concedes that it has been soft on depicting violence on its screens and that the Editorial Policies are not fit for purpose.

This, surely, will lead to yet more bureaucratic meetings after meetings at the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster. Media Watch Dog has an alternative suggestion. Namely, the ABC managing director and editor-in-chief should act as editor-in-chief and make tough calls when required. Even if such management action upsets the staff collective which is the ABC at the moment.

SOFTEST INTERVIEW OF THE MONTH

Sometimes ABC journalists ask hard questions and sometimes they ask soft ones. Generally, right-of-centre politicians get hard questions along with lots of interruptions and left-of-centre politicians get soft interviews – as avid readers know only too well. Since the ABC is a Conservative Free Zone without one conservative presenter, producer or editor for any of its prominent television, radio or online outlets.

  • Greens’ senator Sarah Hanson-Young gets soft interview on Insiders

Ellie’s (male) co-owner is yet to award the prestigious MWD gong for Softest Interview of the month. But David Speers has put in a strong bid following his interview on last Sunday’s Insiders program.

It’s notable how the Greens and the Teals invariably get soft interviews on the ABC. On 9 August, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young was interviewed on Insiders by David Speers concerning the Albanese government’s proposed legislation with respect to gambling advertising.

The following exchange took place:

Sarah Hanson-Young: David, I’ve got a track record at being able to negotiate and get things done. The prime minister knows that. The government knows that. The opposition knows that. And I’ve said to the government, if you are not prepared to do what’s needed here, well, we’ll take this out of your hands and we’ll do it in the Senate ourselves because the majority of senators know that what the government has put on the table is not good enough, including a bunch of their backbenchers.

David Speers: On a couple of other fronts in your portfolio….

What a load of absolute tosh. The fact is that for legislation to come into effect it has to pass both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Greens have only one seat in the Reps. David Speers should have corrected Hanson-Young. However, in what was almost an interruption-free interview, the ABC TV’s Insiders presenter did not even query the Greens senator’s delusion that she could get legislation introduced by getting majority support – in spite of the fact that the Albanese government has an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives.

[It would seem that Comrade Speers is in with a real shot to win this gong. – MWD Editor.]

YOUR TAXES AT WORK

This hugely popular Media Watch Dog segment looks at how taxpayers’ money is spent by governments and councils – along with the various institutions they fund. Of particular interest to Gerard Henderson – a published author who never gets invited to literary festivals, which obviates the need for him to respond to any literary festival RSVP in a negative way – are the various taxpayer funded writers’ get-togethers.

MWD defines a literary festival as an occasion when a soviet of leftist activists and bureaucrats gets hold of a bucket load of taxpayer funds and invite members of the leftist intelligentsia to rock up to festivals (speakers’ fees, travel and accommodation costs all paid). There they meet fellow panellists of like mind and participate in forums in which everyone agrees with everyone else in a leftist kind of way.

  • The Sydney Writers Festival joins with the State Library NSW in yet another taxpayer-funded leftist literary stack

Media Watch Dog has been banging on about the leftist stacks that go by the title literary festivals or writers festivals ever since Moses was in short pants. Gerard Henderson criticised the leftist stack that was the Sydney Writers Festival as long ago as April 2011 in a cover-story for The Spectator. Since then, MWD has pointed to the far left-wing takeover of such festivals/weeks in Sydney and Adelaide and, to a lesser extent, Melbourne.

In The Australian on 7 August 2026, Caroline Overington wrote an article titled “Need direction to festival of Australian writing? Just turn Left and you’ll get there.” The reference was to the forthcoming “Homegrown” comrades-come rally gig to be held at weekends in September and October.

This is to be run by the taxpayer funded Sydney Writers Festival and the taxpayer funded State Library of New South Wales. According to the State Library NSW website, there is to be “a free festival of local writers, thinkers, storytellers, poets and performers”.

Really? It’s not a free function – since taxpayers are picking up the tab. A free festival would be one in which, say, the heads of the SWF and State Library NSW paid for the gig out of their own pockets.

Media Watch Dog has looked at the participants in the “Homegrown” festival in the non-fiction area. Here’s MWD’s “little list”:

Tony Birch, Nick Bryant, Rosalind Dixon, Wendy Harmer, Phillipa McGuinness, George Megalogenis, Suzie Miller, Kerry O’Brien, Bruce Pascoe, Amy Thunig-McGregor, Laura Tingle, Christos Tsiolkas, Myf Warhurst, David Williamson, Fiona Wright

Not a conservative among this lot. As Overington wrote in direct response to SWF director Ann Mossop’s claim that Homegrown will “be full of rich conversations and ideas”:

It will be the same conversation by the same people that she [Mossop] always invites. They will have Bruce Pascoe talking about Dark Emu. They will all have Laura Tingle talking about the grave state of the world. The cartoonist is Cathy Wilcox, from the [Sydney Morning] Herald.

When Overington queried the Homegrown speakers list, Comrade Mossop told her that Troy Bramston and Greg Sheridan, who write for The Australian, spoke at the 2026 SWF which was held in May. That is, three months ago. And they were, in Overington’s words, “two people in 250 events”.

And so taxpayers will have the opportunity to listen – for “free” – as Laura agrees with Bruce and Bruce agrees with Kerry O’Brien who agrees with Laura who agrees with Bruce who agrees with Kerry who agrees with himself.

Your Taxes At Work.

 

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Until Next Time – Keep Morale High.

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