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What coalition-friendly media? Your A to Z guide

By Ben-Peter Terpstra - posted Friday, 14 March 2014


From sassy blogs to shout-y commercial radio stations, Australia's right-wing media organs aren't shy when it comes to promoting socially conservative and/or free market values. From traditionalists to libertarians, from churchgoing Pentecostals to orthodox Jews, and even from small but influential journal-y publications for policy wonks to emerging writers with armies of Twitter followers, we'd be foolish to dismiss the right's influence on Australia's political and social landscape. Here's what I mean:

A is for Akerman, conservative News Corp columnist/blogger Piers Akerman. Since 1993, he's stood out as one of The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph's most influential writers.

B is for Bolt, global-warming sceptic Andrew Bolt – arguably Australia's most-read political blogger and host of The Bolt Report on Ten. But there's more. Interestingly, young James Bolt also shares old Bolt's enthusiasm for writing.

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C is for Catallaxy Files, Australia's leading libertarian and center-right blog, viewed about 6,900,000 times in 2013. Its current Editor-in-chief and administrator isProfessor in the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT, Sinclair Davidson.

D is for Devine, conservative News Corp columnist/blogger Miranda Devine, a self-identified sci-fi nut and reformed mathematician who also hosts a weekly Sunday afternoon talkback show on Sydney's 2GB.

E is for the E in Leadership E-mag, the Australian Christian Churches' quarterly online publication for modern ministers. On a related note: Hillsong's ACC-affiliated pastor, Brian Houston, has more than 330,000 followers on Twitter. Or to give you some perspective, around 137,000 people follow host of The Project on Ten, Charlie Pickering.

F is for Facebook, the popular online social networking service cleverly utilised by the Coalition last year. Or as Liberal operatives now boast: Tony Abbott's Facebook received 260,000 likes, far more than "social media star" Kevin Rudd's 120,000. As well, the Liberal Party Australia easily won the Facebook wars with over 200,000 likes to Labor's 165,000.

G is for Gaynor, Bernard Gaynor, a rapidly emerging Catholic traditionalist blogger and writer, with a background in military intelligence.

H is for Hey…what did I miss? - a free news roundup source delivered each week to your inbox from the free market Institute of Public Affairs think tank, Melbourne. Hey, it all adds up. After all, a media organ has many tentacles, right?

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I is for Australia's Independent conservative and libertarian bloggers, too many to list here and difficult to measure. Take The Pickering Post run by the pensioner Larry Pickering, a clearly popular tabloid website with hundreds of updated comments and a weekly reach of up to 750,000, I'm informed.

J is for JoNova, another influential manmade global-warming skeptic and blogger. Over 200,000 copies of her controversial Skeptic's Handbook have been distributed.

K is for Kenny, Chris Kenny, associate editor/columnist for The Australian who anchors Viewpoint and Friday Night Live on Sky News Australia. Having worked for Liberal celebrities Downer and Turnbull, he's in a good position to know how "the game" works.

L is for Liberal Magazine brought to you by the Liberal Party of Australia. Keep in mind too that the Liberal Party is Australia's largest political party boasting ofmore than 80,000 members in more than 2,000 branches.

M is for Rita Panahi's Miss Judgment blog. From radio (SEN1116) to television (Sunrise on Seven), Rita the politically-incorrect Herald Sun columnist has "a reputation for telling it like it is."

N is obviously for News Corp, Australia's largest publisher of newspapers and magazines and home to some of the nation's most influential conservative and/or free market voices including but not limited to Piers Akerman, Janet Albrechtsen, Tim Blair, Andrew Bolt, Miranda Devine, Gerard Henderson, Terry McCrann, Rita Panahi, Angela Shanahan, Greg Sheridan, Judith Sloan…

O is for the Oz Conservative a Melbourne-based blog with an Australian traditionalist conservative nature.

P is for POLICY, a quarterly ideas magazine with a classical liberal attitude put out by The Centre for Independent Studies.

Q is for Quadrant magazine. Founded in 1956, it sees itself as "the leading general intellectual journal of ideas, literature, poetry and historical and political debate published in Australia."

R is for the R in IPA Review, awarded world's best free market magazine in 2008 by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.

S is for the S in The Spectator Australia, a weekly conservative magazine.

T is for the Two in ratings-winner 2GB, one of Sydney's most controversial "shock-jock" radio stations. Think Ray Hadley, Alan Jones, Michael McLaren, Steve Price and Chris Smith.

U is for your local centre-right university clubs with their associated social networking sites and magazines, because (like it or not) they're breeding grounds for future politicians. Most famous: Sydney University Liberal Club, the largest Liberal Club in Australia. Its boast of a sophisticated alumni network including John Howard and Tony Abbott, among others, is well-founded.

V is for Viewpoint Magazine, an Australian Christian Lobby publication.

W is for the W in The Weekend Australian newspaper, Australia's biggest-selling national broadsheet, known for its Coalition-friendly positions.

X is for the mysterious seasonal blogger Mr X (aka Professor Bunyip), a link-worthy conservative in political-media circles. So who is "he"? That's a question I'll leave to my detective brother.

Y is for the video-sharing website, You Tube, utilised by clever conservative operatives. Last year, for example, a cartoon depicting scandal-plagued ALP leaders as headless chooks went viral with over 400,000 hits, making it one of the most popular political adverts in Australian political history.

Z is for the Zionist Federation of Australia's website. Founded in 1927, the ZFA is the federal roof body of all Zionist organisations in Australia and is affiliatedwith Friends of Likud, among other influential political groups.

*For the record, the Melbourne University Liberal Club also claims to be Australia's largest Liberal Club.

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About the Author

Ben-Peter Terpstra has provided commentary for The Daily Caller (Washington D.C.), NewsReal Blog (Los Angeles), Quadrant (Sydney), and Menzies House (Adelaide).

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