Media

A civil trial expected to last eight weeks in the federal court in Melbourne was averted on February 18 by an agreement between the Victoria Police and six African-Australians suing them for racial discrimination and racial profiling. The agreement mandates an enquiry, with submissions from the public, into allegations of police racism in the Flemington-North Melbourne area, which includes culturally diverse Housing Commission estates. The agreement also permits the six complainants to publicly tell their stories using police documents obtained through the court case.

That Richard Hinds needs a few lessons in sports journalism.

“Such has been the atmosphere created by the Western Sydney Wanderers' fans, usually dispassionate critics have left Parramatta Stadium raving the experience makes the Camp Nou [in Barcelona] seem like a winter night at the Wentworth Park dogs,” Richard Hinds, the chief sports columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, had the sheer gall to write on February 18.

This is surely a country that could use a bit of good news. It has been a tough few weeks with raging bushfires, severe flooding and, just when it seemed it couldn't get worse, the heartbreaking news we will be subjected to the longest election campaign in Australian history.

A selection of this week's celebrity news... Beyoncé's Super Bowl Halftime Show: How She's Prepping and What She's Getting Paid http://eonli.ne/14t3Xj0 Justin Bieber Boob-Gate: He Didn't Grab a Female Fan's Breast, Says Rep http://eonli.ne/14sYqc7 Prince Harry Talks Naked Vegas Scandal, Army Life in Just-Aired Frontline Afghanistan Documentary http://eonli.ne/XercrE Lady Gaga Stripped of 156 Million YouTube Views http://eonli.ne/Xeo5jg Sarah Palin on Fox News Exit: I'm "Broadening Our Audience" http://eonli.ne/XefCg2

There are awards for everyone. There are the Logies, the Commies, the Tonys, the Theas, the Millies ("They cried with pride") and now the Shammies. The Shammies celebrate the finest sham media. "Competition for the 2013 Gold Shammy," said the panel of judges, "has been cutthroat." The Shammies are not for the tabloid lower orders. Rupert Murdoch has been honoured enough. Shammies distinguish respectable journalism that guards the limits of what the best and brightest like to call the "national conversation".

More than 60 people attended a meeting on January 24 to discuss the Coburg Structure Plan.  This plan, put forward by the Moreland City Council, will allow the construction of 10-storey buildings adjacent to existing homes in Coburg, an inner-northern Melbourne suburb. The meeting was called by newly elected Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton, whose electorate includes Coburg. Bolton told the meeting that most residents she had spoken to did not know about the plan.

The 2013 Green Left Weekly Fighting Fund was launched on January 19. To keep the project afloat, we again set the target of an ambitious $250,000. Last year we fell short, but still raised an impressive $209,000 for this vital, independent media project.

A selection of this week's celebrity news... Kyle XY's Matt Dallas comes out and announces he's engaged. http://eonli.ne/XfcVeU NBC Bosses Admit to Talking Donald Trump Out of Presidential Race. http://eonli.ne/Ux6Z3U Charlie Sheen Kisses Porn Star Gal-Pal Georgia Jones in Mexico. http://eonli.ne/UpPdiV Princess Diana Picture Decreed "Not to Be Published" Surfaces, Isn't Very Scandalous At All. http://eonli.ne/WsNCUj Gérard Depardieu Granted Russian Citizenship by Vladimir Putin Following French Tax Row. http://eonli.ne/UgyWwN

The Venezuelan government has responded to opposition and private media accusations that it is being “mysterious” regarding information on Chavez’s health situation, and has called such statements as well as rumours being spread on social networks “psychological warfare”.

WikiLeaks editor Julian Assangen delivered his speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he's been holed-up for six months., Despite being granted political asylum by the South American nation, British authorities insist he will arrested if he sets a fo outside the embassy.

Venezuela Analysis is the main English-language website, read around the world, providing serious news and analysis on the Bolivarian revolution under way int he Latin American nation. Green Left strongly supports VA's work, regularly reprints its articles and is proud of its collaboration with the site. Below, is an appeal for financial support from VA to ensure it continues to get out the real story of the inspiring struggle of Venezuela's people for "socialism of the 21st century" * * *

In the week Lord Leveson published almost a million words about his inquiry into the “culture, practice and ethics” of Britain's corporate press, two illuminating books about media and freedom were also published. Their contrast with the Punch and Judy show staged by Leveson is striking. For 36 years, Project Censored, based in California, has documented critically important stories unreported or suppressed by the media most US people watch or read.