Wednesday 24 June 2015

Zaky Mallah is a convicted terrorist

and, as such, he has no place on any public funded television programme. He most certainly has no place on the ABC* criticising the government of the day. 
The programme was "Q&A" - not known for being kind to the government at any time. This time it went too far. The Prime Minister went as far as to call those who work on it, "the lefty lynch mob". That may have gone too far but the anti-government bias is there. 
Governments should not, of course,be above criticism. They should be scrutinised - but they need to be scrutinised fairly. When the publicly funded broadcaster is scrutinising the government of the day it also needs to be done without bias. 
This was not done without bias. It was a deliberate act designed to make news - news of a particular type and bias.  
It was wrong.
I had arranged to meet a young Muslim student yesterday. She needed some help with an essay. We had agreed to meet at the library and she was there before me. She looked relieved when I arrived.
"You will still help?" she asked me.
"Of course, why not?"
"That man Mallah, now he makes people hate us even more."
And yet we give him time on publicly funded media.
 

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