News update for Friday 2 Feb 2024
Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...
Welcome to your TrueNorth’s daily news update where every afternoon we forward selected articles from the independent news media sector.
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The Klaxon: The $1m secret behind the Voice “No” campaign
Investigative journalist, Anthony Klan reports that ‘A mystery Perth shell company controlled by a 94-year-old but with secret ownership - and a company owned by a coal billionaire - were among the biggest funders of the “No” campaign against the Voice to parliament.
‘Data released today by the Australian Electoral Commission reveals that in the year to June 30, 2023, the shadowy outfit at the heart of the anti-Indigenous Voice campaign, “Advance”, received payments of $5.2m.’
7am Podcast: Is 2024 democracy's biggest test?
2024 will be democracy’s biggest year. Over four billion people will head to the polls, with major battles in the United States, India, South Africa and Indonesia.
One person watching this closely is Anne Applebaum. She was calling out authoritarianism spreading around the world, while western leaders were still shaking hands with Vladimir Putin.
Listen to the 7am Podcast here
The Guardian: How war destroyed Gaza’s neighbourhoods – visual investigation
Satellite imagery and open-source evidence lay bare the destruction to civilian infrastructure by Israel in its war on Hamas.
A Guardian investigation by Niels de Hoog, Antonio Voce, Elena Morresi, Manisha Ganguly and Ashley Kirk has detailed the mass destruction of buildings and land in three neighbourhoods in Gaza.
Read more in The Guardian here
Michael West Media: Power of the fossil fuel lobby
‘When you go to the polls once every 3 years, you get to have your say. The rest of the time somebody else is running the show. Here’s a rare glimpse behind the scenes of government,’ says the West Report.
Read more from Michael West here
Pearls & Irritations: Scott Morrison - A blight on Australian politics
‘Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s departure from parliament is a vulgar reminder about where Australian politics went grossly wrong, and where its vulnerable, already trimmed sovereignty went,’ writes Binoy Kampmark.
‘This decision should have been months ago. Instead, he waited and ruminated, drawing a backbencher’s salary as federal member for Cook, milking contacts, chasing up work prospects, and toying with his consultancy options.’
Read more in Pearls & Irritations here
Cartoon by SMH’s Cathy Wilcox
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here
The Guardian: ‘Dark money’: $57m of donations to major Australian parties in 2022-23 of unknown origin
The origin of at least $57m – amounting to about a quarter of all funding to major political parties – is unknown, according to an analysis by Guardian Australia reports Nick Evershed and Sarah Basford Canales.
‘The analysis of annual political returns, released by the Australian Electoral Commission on Thursday, show between 21% and 27% of donations and other receipts to Labor, the Coalition and the Greens were from unnamed sources.’
Read more in The Guardian here
Statement from Friendly Jordies
‘You might have noticed that we haven't been releasing videos after the police arrested a suspect for the firebombing of my house. While we're very grateful for their persistence throughout this ordeal, we felt it would be prudent to see what the response would be from certain individuals.’
Watch the Friendly Jordies' statement in full here
The Conversation: Australian media’s Instagram posts on Gaza war have an anti-Palestine bias. That has real-world consequences
‘It’s well documented that news media influences our behaviour in all manner of ways, from how much meat we buy to our attitudes towards exercise,’ writes Susan Carland, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) fellow, Monash University.
‘Journalism does not merely hold a mirror up to reality, as some have argued. It creates versions of reality. With every decision of which story to include and exclude, which image to show or not show, even which grammatical choice is made, our impressions are sculpted. This is especially the case with the Israel-Gaza war.’
Read more in The Conversation here
Crikey: ‘No evidence’ pro-Palestine Sydney Opera House protesters chanted ‘Gas the Jews’, say police
NSW Police has said independent forensic analysis revealed “no evidence” that the offensive anti-Semitic phrase “Gas the Jews” was chanted at a Sydney Opera House pro-Palestinian protest.
This comes after investigations by Crikey, with journalist Antoinette Lattouf, into viral videos claiming to show protesters chanting “Gas the Jews” were unable to be corroborated by police or independent experts.
On Friday morning, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon said that an audiovisual and acoustic analysis by an expert determined with “overwhelming certainty” that the chants were “Where’s the Jews?”.
Cam Wilson reports for Crikey here
Also see The Guardian for coverage
Paul Syvret joins the SpinProof live podcast
Former Courier Mail journalist and Twitter/X regular, Paul Syvret joins the first SpinProof live podcast for 2024 where Paul and Denise wrap the #auspol week including a discussion on QLD State politics, stage 3 tax cuts, the media's performance this week, neo-nazis in Artarmon, the state of global democracy and more.
Listen to the SpinProof live podcast replay here
The Guardian: New boss Luke McIlveen’s reverence for Ray Hadley unnerves SMH and Age staff
Past praise of shock jock and mockery of serious journalism causes shudder as Nine newsrooms divided. Plus: Phillip Adams puts Late Night Live to bed
Amanda Meade reports for The Guardian here
You’re up to date for Friday 2 February. See you on Monday!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here
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