The Political Sword 2009

The Political Sword resumes usual activity today.  With the resumption of Federal Parliament tomorrow, there will be plenty of political activity upon which to comment. 

The prime focus of this site is Federal politics, the reporting of it, and the comments and opinions expressed in the media.  One aim is to critique the media’s contribution to an understanding of, and informed discourse about the political process, with the hope that standards of journalism might be improved.  An article on Crikey’s Content Makers titled How Blogging Changes Journalists suggests that journalists are susceptible to the opinions of bloggers, and as a consequence may change their behaviour.  So there is hope.

The site’s additional features are intended to make it easier for visitors to keep up with political blogs; Blog Watch is updated as new items appear on the main political blog sites.  Government Watch is updated whenever the ALP website is updated and Opposition Watch when the Liberal website is updated.  It is hoped these features will provide an easy way of checking the original media releases, speeches, doorstops and media interviews that are posted on these websites, from which the media derive much of their content.

As the number of items on both Government Watch and Opposition Watch is large, a new page will be started for each at the beginning of each month.  The current month is the one with the month in capitals under ‘site pages’.

In response to a request, the font size used on the site has been increased.  I would appreciate feedback about this change.

I look forward to resuming the dialogue with visitors that began in the second half of 2008.  Suggestions for improvement of the site will be welcome.

Ad astra

Rate This Post

Current rating: NaN / 5 | Rated 0 times

Ebenezer

2/02/2009Welcome back Ad, looking forward to your insightful posts. Thanks for the new features. Cheers Eb. :)

Rx

2/02/2009Good to have you back, Ad Astra. I noticed the change in font size as soon as I opened the page. Any chance, while you're sifting through the media's coverage of politics, of doing a column, or perhaps a series of columns, on Piers Akerman? It's not that I think he needs the publicity. Nor will I read his pieces on line or in hard copy myself. But he is surely one of the most biased, blinkered and agenda-driven "commentators" in Australia, and thus warrants some close analysis and attention, don't you think. Cheers, and all the best for the blog for the new year. Rx

janice

3/02/2009Thank you for the added features, Ad astra, especially the larger font size.

Ad astra reply

7/02/2009Rx, I noted your request for a column on Piers Akerman. I've long abandoned reading his heavily biassed pieces, and hope we've seen the last of him on [i]Insiders[/i]. I've looked at a couple of his pieces since your request arrived. He's getting worse! I doubt if I've got the stomach to tackle his ravings, which leave me infuriated. If I do summon the strength, it won't be a long piece.
T-w-o take away o-n-e equals?