media

Anti-apartheid rugby protests showed how sport and politics are inseparable

Pitched Battle: In the Frontline of the 1971 Springbok Tour of Australia By Larry Writer Scribe Melbourne, 2016 336pp, $35.00

“Sport and politics don’t mix” is often heard from politicians and media commentators when people target sporting events in acts of protest or athletes use their chosen sports to make political statement — for example Muhammad Ali and, more recently, US NFL star Colin Kaepernick. However, sport is often politicised in many different ways by the ruling class to reinforce the status quo.

The hidden struggle for women’s footy

Play On! The Hidden History of Women’s Australian Rules Football
Brunette Lenkić and Rob Hess
Echo Publishing 2016,
324 pages

In a landmark development, the first national women’s Australian Football competition — AFL Women’s — will be launched next February. But a century ago, attitudes to women playing the game were very different.

Misogyny and power: On sexual predators and other pillars of society

“Don’t go around acting holier-than-thou about this like you’ve never heard anyone say anything like that before,” said Tomi Lahren, 24-year-old Trump-supporting commentator for right-wing US media network The Blaze, over Donald Trump’s leaked comments boasting about sexual assault. “Give me a break.”

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman faces arrest over anti-pipeline protest coverage

Image result for amy goodman dakota access
Amy Goodman at the Dakota Access protest.

Chelsea Manning starts hunger strike

Chelsea Manning, the US army private who leaked classified information about US war crimes to WikiLeaks, announced on September 9 that she has begun a hunger strike to protest the lack of respect and dignity from prison and military officials.

“I need help, I am not getting any,” Manning said in a statement. “I have asked for help time and time again for six years and through five separate confinement locations. My request has only been ignored, delayed, mocked, given trinkets and lip service by the prison, the military, and this administration.”

New book celebrates four decades of radical radio

Radical Radio: Celebrating 40 years of 3CR 3CR.org.au, $49.50 I love this book. It is a showcase of four decades of Melbourne community radio station 3CR — one of Australia’s oldest and most progressive broadcasters, intertwined with the local and national landscape of political struggle from the mid 1970s until today. Page after page of informative, entertaining stories make for great reading.

Swaziland: Media workers protest against conditions at king's paper

Members of the Media Workers Union of Swaziland (MWUS) protested low wages, management intimidation and poor working conditions at the Swazi Observer. Negotiations between the paper, in effect owned and controlled by absolute monarch King Mswati III, and MWUS had started in April. But no real progress has been made since they became deadlocked in June.

Turkey: HDP calls for solidarity following closure and storming of Özgür Gündem newspaper

HDP MPs hold copies of Özgür Gündem in parliament, August 17. [This statement was released on behalf of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) on August 17.]

Film takes aim at media coverage of Gaza attacks

Gaza. July 2014. A new short film, Gaza in Context, on the situation in Palestine takes aim at the corporate news media’s coverage of Israel’s July-August 2014 assault on Gaza. Israel killed 2251 Palestinians during the attacks, including 551 children. About 75,000 people remain displaced two years later.

Turkey shuts down 131 media outlets

Turkey is shutting down more than 100 media outlets and is purging more than 1000 military personnel, it was announced on July 27 as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government continues to tighten its grip on power after a failed military coup on July 15. In all, 131 media outlets have been shut down, including television stations, newspapers and magazines. The government has begun detaining journalists, with 90 reporters ordered to be round up.