War Spin Denies Public Truth

In "Stifling soldiers of Spin", The Age's Tom Hyland explains how closely controlled the coverage of the Wars on Afghanistan and Iraq really are. While the Australian Defence Forces do not allow journalists to be embedded, they allow jounalists to do short term "guided tours" where they are constantly tended to by ADF staff intent on getting their censored stories into the public consciousness. This is lead by the $22 million Public Affairs team that encompasses 200 staff working on what they call "strategic shaping tools", or what Hyland describes as "Spin". Add to this the fact Australia has no correspondants based in Afghanistan and the fact that the media landscape Australia offers so little in the way of diversity and you have a recipe for the failure of truth.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/stifling-soldiers-of-spin-20080719-3hvn.html

Cops Overload on PR "Image Corrections"

In "PR for police spins to $10m", The Australian newspaper journo Natalie O'Brien reveals the exorbitant public relations bills that Australia's Police Forces are willing to pay out in order to "correct" their image in the media. The Police know the power of PR in helping to improve their image in the wider community. This kind of report goes some way to helping readers to understand the pro-cop bias that exists in much of the mainstream media.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23979270-2702,00.html