Media Monitors - Australia

Crikey Political Index 10 - 16 May, 2012

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Coverage for the federal budget returned from overwhelming to high levels soon after its immediate reporting cycle concluded and PM Gillard resumed another typical week of media duties (defending her stance on gay marriage, expressing disgust over the HSU scandal, announcing funding for Afghan defence forces, explaining the carbon tax) while Treasurer Swan continued to rack up print headlines over his fiscal determinations.

The big movers this week were Independent MPs Windsor, Oakeshott and Katter in response to the Opposition’s intensified attacks on MP Craig Thomson following the FWA report. Windsor’s declaration that Thomson has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty followed Katter’s vow he wouldn’t pre-emptively judge the scandal-soaked former HSU boss. That steadied Gillard’s grip on power after Oakeshott announced second thoughts on his agreement with the government, saying the PM may not have acted in good faith by forming a government that included Thomson.

Thomson himself remained third in our chart but narrowed the gap on top spot claiming in interview that he was framed. Ironically, only the equally mired Mr Speaker Slipper can rule on matters of privilege surrounding the statement Thomson has planned for parliament to extrapolate on his version of events in the alleged use of escorts on HSU dime. For Opposition leader Tony Abbott, back to his second place residency this week, it must seem like shooting fish in a barrel.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	435	5,353
2	Julia Gillard	380	3,727
4	Craig Thomson	311	1,870
4	Penny Wong	71	1,609
5	Joe Hockey	82	988

Abbott fuelled social media conversation this week after intensifying his attacks on government and the unions.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total	Index	SM index
Barack Obama	407	309	419	729	10,139	466	295

Brave of Obama to historically announce his support for gay marriage. If one follows the timeline of his public opinion on the issue since 2008, he should be front and centre at Mardi Gras by 2020.

Crikey Political Index 3 - 9 May, 2012

Thu, 10 May 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

There was really only one gig in town this week, according to our charts, headlined by Treasurer Swan, to whom the mining tax was the opening salvo in a battle of wealth redistribution, and whose federal budget showered lower and middle income earners with loot in a Howardesque style handout that the Coalition must be loathe to line up against. In doing so Swan accepts the surplus is a political necessity, firing off a financial offensive to push back the battle lines, declaring class warfare in a bid to regain the Labor heartland and carry his Prime Minister to the next election.

Much media coverage for Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey this week who joined his leader Tony Abbott in claims of a 'cooked books surplus', a ‘con job’ and a ‘sugar hit before the carbon tax’. Swan, however, pointed to Australia’s triple-A credit rating with all three global agencies for the first time in history, low unemployment and lower interest rates than at any time under the previous government. What remains to be seen is if Labor can maintain economic headlines rather than a rotation of scandals such as those involving Federal Speaker Peter Slipper and the Fair Work Australia report into former Labor MP Craig Thomson.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	280	3,045
2	Tony Abbott	142	2,015
3	Wayne Swan	80	1,019
4	Peter Slipper	86	673
5	Kevin Rudd	65	483

K-Rudd is still down with the peeps.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
James Packer	96	38	64	30	904	57

Unlike some on the nation’s rich list, James made the news without any public commentary in his bid to put it all on black.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 28 April - 4 May, 2012

Sun, 06 May 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Peter Slipper allegations	774	6,326	7,161	2,470	16,731
RBA cuts interest rates	682	5,436	5,742	2,940	14,800
HSU investigation	339	5,889	3,812	1,660	11,700
Federal Budget	1,025	4,247	3,891	2,220	11,383
News Corp Inquiry	513	2,334	2,862	2,020	7,729

The Australian Federal Police launched an official investigation into fraud claims levelled at former Speaker Peter Slipper. Meanwhile, both sides of politics are blaming the other of covering up prior knowledge of problems with Slipper’s expenses. On Sunday PM Julia Gillard said a line had been crossed, and asked Slipper to stand aside from his job as Speaker of the House until further notice.

The Reserve Bank of Australia provided an interest rate cut of 0.5 percentage points, the biggest cut in three years. The larger than predicted cut took into account the four major banks were not expected to pass on the full saving to home owners. Some analysts predict the rate cut will kick start a sluggish economy while other financial commentators have said cuts should have been made in February, March and April. With Australian rates high in global terms many commentators are predicting further cuts.

Police raided the Health Services Union Sydney offices as part of the investigation of the HSU East Branch. MP Craig Thomson has distanced himself from the investigation, saying that the Temby report deals with the time after he left the union and that the Fair Work Australia report contains no criminal offences. Thomson also points out he hasn't been interviewed by the police and has never been a member of the HSU East branch. But that did not stop PM Gillard from banishing him to the cross benches of parliament this week.

In the lead up to next week’s Federal Budget the Federal Government has promised a budget surplus which many commentators speculate is more political than economic in nature. Financial commentators are saying that for the Government to deliver a surplus the Budget will be tough and bring deep cuts in a wide range of areas from slashing the public service purse to reducing tax break measures expected to hit wealthier Australians.

Rupert Murdoch was found to be “not fit and proper” to run an international company and “wilfully blind” to the goings on at the publication he owned, News of the World, in regards to the culture of phone hacking. This was a key conclusion of a British parliamentary committee report. Many commentators suggest it exposes the waning influence of the media tycoon and predict could jeopardise his control of a major broadcaster, BSkyB.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"We're going to build the Titanic together and put it on the London to New York run - as a memory to all those who worked on it. I don't want to die wondering.” Mining Magnate Palmer will not only challenge for the seat of Lilley but will work with Chinese company CSC Jinling Shipyard to build the Titanic II in Queensland.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 21 - 27 April, 2012

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
ANZ break ranks on interest rates	806	12,993	12,392	1,580	27,771
Budget surplus	4226	7,128	9,775	4,210	25,339
Leveson Inquiry	562	3,684	4,678	970	9,894
A-League grand final	975	3,482	3,016	980	8,453
AFL ANZAC Day match	833	3,636	2,473	990	7,932

News of allegations of fraud and sexual harassment against Speaker Peter Slipper has been extensive all week. Slipper has stepped down as Speaker while the criminal claims are being investigated, but has produced evidence that he says proves the allegations are false. Meanwhile, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott are accusing each other of turning a blind eye to rumours about the Speaker's alleged misbehaviour in the past.

Addressing the ANZAC Day dawn service at Gallipoli, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that the day has grown beyond its military roots and now represents all that Australia as a nation embodies. Attendance at ANZAC Day commemorations and dawn services continues to grow with more young people attending each year, and an increasingly higher number of young people taking the journey to attend the ANZAC services at Gallipoli. News coverage of services was extensive, with marches televised around the country.

Rupert Murdoch has appeared before the Leveson inquiry into media ethics in the UK. Murdoch downplayed his influence on British politics and son James said it is “ … a very old fashioned view that big media proprietors dominated the landscape”. However, evidence has emerged that shows dialogue between James Murdoch’s people and the office of Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for media, during the bid for BSkyB. The evidence suggests Hunt was supplying News with information about confidential dealings with regulator Ofcom. Rupert Murdoch has claimed that senior employees at his News of the World newspaper were covering up to shield him and other senior executives of wrongdoing.

The Brisbane Roar won the 2012 Grand Final, becoming the first team to defend the A-League title. The game was won following a controversial penalty, when referee Jarred Gillett ruled that Besart Berisha was fouled by midfielder Liam Miller in the last minute of stoppage time. Berisha converted the spot kick to earn Brisbane a come-from-behind 2-1 win. Following the win, Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou announced his resignation. Assistant coach Rado Vidosic will take over the role.

The traditional ANZAC Day clash between Collingwood and Essendon was won by the Magpies. Jarryd Blair delivered the winning goal as Collingwood held on by one point in front of 86,932 fans. This was the first defeat of the season for the Bombers. The ANZAC Medal went to Collingwood midfielder Dane Swan.

Quote of the week:

'If any politicians wanted my opinions on major matters, they only had to read the editorials in The Sun.' Rupert Murdoch at the Leveson inquiry when asked if politicians ever sought him out.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 14 - 20 April, 2012

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
ANZ break ranks on interest rates	394	2,892	3,071	2,480	8,837
Budget surplus	496	2,727	2,431	2,260	7,914
Australian trrops in Afghanistan	301	2,389	1,598	1,210	5,498
Syrian peace plan	272	2,169	1,256	1,620	5,317
Bob Brown's resignation	528	1,919	1,445	1,310	5,202

The ANZ Bank again broke ranks with the Reserve Bank last week by raising interest rates on variable mortgages. This came at a time when economists are tipping the Reserve Bank to cut official cash rates as early as next month in an effort to stimulate a slow economy. Economists and banking analysts are now saying the Reserve Bank is even more likely to cut official interest rates next month after ANZ's move to increase its variable mortgage and small business lending rates.

The Federal Government is determined to deliver a 2012/13 budget surplus, despite calls from unions, welfare advocates, the Australian Greens and some business groups for the government not to link itself to a surplus promise in case the global economy falters. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said that it’s not a commitment to never have a deficit, rather it’s a commitment to ensure the country’s budgets are in surplus, on average, over the medium-term, easing in the tough times and then moving to surplus again when things improve.

PM Julia Gillard announced an early withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan with the majority returning by the end of 2013 instead of 2014. Gillard said troops will begin to leave as soon as Afghan president Hamid Karzai declared Afghans will take responsibility for the province. NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday that Gillard’s announcement was 'fully within the framework' of a roadmap agreed by NATO and its partners in Afghanistan to gradually hand over security control to Afghan security forces.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon says President Bashar al-Assad is not fulfilling his commitment to a ceasefire and has pressed the Security Council to approve an expanded observer mission in Syria. And late yesterday, Syria and the UN signed a deal on the framework for observers to monitor a fragile ceasefire. Arab and Western ministers gathered in Paris to pile pressure on Damascus. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the meeting would send a 'strong' message to the regime of al-Assad to abide by the peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

Bob Brown’s surprise resignation at the end of last week ushers in a change in Australian politics. Some have suggested that this signals the demise of the Greens while the Greens say that they will continue to gather momentum. Former Greens deputy Christine Milne has replaced Brown as leader and Adam Bandt takes on the role of deputy. Milne has already embarked on a “listening tour” in the bush.

Quote of the week: “We really challenge this idea that we live in an economy - no, we live in a society.” Incoming Greens leader Christine Milne says PM Gillard is pushing a budget surplus for political not economic reasons.

Twitter & Television - together they can generate fast and effective publicity

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:00:00 GMT

Twitter has become one of the more communicative partners of television. In 2005, The New Yorker journalist James Surowiecki stated the single biggest event which graduated social media into a mainstream form of communication was the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. This claim was annointed six years later with Twitter’s role in mobilising demonstrators in early 2011 to topple Muhammed Mubarak after 30 years as Egyptian President. These events gave voice to this new form of communication as much as it did the subject matter.

Tsunamis and revolutions are not every day events, but Twitter has been established as giving millions of people a popular channel to chat in their daily lives, including about the media they already consume. Many of 2011’s most tweeted events were major television events (Grey Review, 13/12/11, By TPS). From MTV Music Awards to NBA Finals and the UK Royal Wedding, viewers connected with one another through their Twitter accounts. The sheer number of tweets for a single event defines a scale of human communication never seen before. Annual events are experiencing tweet statistics for which television would attract comparable viewers perhaps once a generation.

So how is it measured? Just as television ratings decipher program viewership into quarters, Twitter has a similar form of measurement: Tweets per second (TPS). In correlation with television quarters, TPS offers quantitative insight into the intensity of live on-screen action. Whether it’s Katy Perry winning Video Of The Year or the moment Brazil was eliminated from the Copa America, Twitter attracts the voice of the viewing population 140 characters at a time. Indeed, the democracatic and Pavlovian nature of Twitter can often result in the online conversation exceeding the televised event, such as the attention Angelina Jolie’s leg received during the recent Academy Awards.

Television producers seem to welcome this symbiotic relationship, and have successfully enticed viewers to involve themselves by connecting with dedicated Twitter accounts for various television programs and events of all types. Seeding Twitter conversations also seems to be gaining in popularity. In May 2011, Twitter showcased this trend in its blog, ‘Watching Together, Twitter and TV’. The roles are also reversed, as television news channels fill precious on-air time with Twitter trend analysis as a form of popular opinion polling. In fact, Steve Jobs’ resignation and subsequent death made the Top 10 most tweeted events in 2011, perhaps spurred by wall-to-wall commentary and regurgitation of hashtags by television news. For topics that connect with the human psyche, television and Twitter can together generate fast and effective publicity.

As Twitter evolves, so does the television advertising industry. The Australian (29 Mar 2012) recently quoted a Google report claiming that ‘online’ is driving an increase in traditional media audiences. As one component, Twitter driving television audiences will add value to traditional media marketing efforts - but the cumulative value of millions of tweets needs to be weighed along with their collective tone and content. The 2010 ARIA Awards received unflattering reviews. TPS statistics would seem to show healthy support of the televised event, but the general comment and tone of the tweets told a different story.

The significance of these trends and lessons of such events shouldn’t be lost on commercial sponsors and publicity partners. The opportunities and challenges for sponsors are evident. Involving a brand with a high profile televised event will now also include an association with its affiliate Twitter account, potentially putting clients among of the most tweeted events for the year. However, if the audience disagrees or sees through a ruse, tweets can erode the high profile of a televised event and the associated brands along with it.

Communicating corporations aiming to engage with the public have an open book in Twitter. If engaged honestly, consumers looking at a television with a smartphone logged into Twitter in their hand will reward you with their attention.

Crikey Political Index 12 - 18 April, 2012

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

What can you say about Bob? Perhaps the only instance known to man where Brown and Green
remained an acceptable coupling for longer than any fashion cycle, history will judge him kindly. Certainly our charts send him permanently on his way with his highest ever ranking. Not high enough, however, to oust Julia Gillard from top spot; the PM came under fire from Brown’s replacement Christine Milne who echoes the widely held sentiment that political not economic reasoning has led to the proposed budget surplus and a reversal of the Keynesian largesse that saw us through the GFC.

Campbell Newman still flies high, though some have suggested he was wearing the emperor's new clothes at COAG in espousing a high court challenge to the carbon tax - which raised the uncomely spectre of seeing Barry O’Farrell clad in not much by his side.

Some relatively clear air this week around Craig Thomson, who heads downstream toward K-Rudd, himself in the unfamiliar position of contesting our wooden spoon with the likes of Barnaby Joyce who climbed 16 spots through proposing a doubling of the baby bonus for stay-at-home-mums while opposing modeling for Murray-Darling water cuts. But Joyce – ever happy to swim against the tide – stopped short of joining his Nationals colleague and Opposition Finance Spokesman Andrew Robb in support of bank rate rises. We watch, with interest.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Bob Brown	266	4,008
2	Tony Abbott	85	2,560
4	Julia Gillard	283	1,945
4	Barnaby Joyce	27	1,539
5	Christine Milne	94	444

While he never quite cracked it in the main chart, Brown goes out with a Number 1.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index	SM index
Hamish Blake	173	125	419	149	4,012	214	145

The funny man showed better timing in his Gold Logie acceptance speech than did the Herald Sun in breaking the news early.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 7 - 13 April, 2012

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Syrian unrest	272	5,839	3,401	1,200	10,712
Carbon tax	498	3,998	2,338	1,550	8,384
Asylum seekers	150	3,088	1,797	868	5,903
US Masters golf	144	2,218	1,861	780	5,003
AFL Easter Monday game	358	1,569	1,765	430	4,122

A fragile ceasefire brokered by the UN has taken hold in Syria, with regime forces apparently halting widespread attacks on the opposition. However, there have been reports of scattered violence and the government has defied demands to pull troops back to barracks. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the onus is on President Bashar Assad's regime to keep the peace. If the truce holds, it would be the first time the regime has observed an internationally brokered ceasefire it launched a brutal crackdown on mass protests 13 months ago.

A draft IPART (Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal) determination on NSW electricity prices has just been released, expected to forecast a 16% rise in NSW next year - federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says it shows why the carbon tax should be axed. But federal Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the federal government was already throwing in compensation to struggling families for the carbon tax.

Two asylum seeker boats - one with 99 passengers and the other with 156 - were intercepted on Wednesday night and escorted to Christmas Island Detention Centre. They bring to 23 the number of asylum seeker boats to have arrived in Australia this year. Another boat carrying 10 Chinese asylum seekers took refuge in Darwin but may yet be allowed to continue to New Zealand. Opposition Immigration Minister Scott Morrison blamed the government for failing on border protection and accused asylum seekers of “country shopping”.

Bubba Watson hit a remarkable shot in a final round play-off to win the 2012 US Masters Golf tournament. A self-taught maverick, Bubba sent his tee shot into the trees at Augusta’s second play-off hole at the 10th against South African contender Louis Oosthuizen but amazed onlookers with a high 30-metre hook that landed four metres from the flag. Two more putts and he had won the green jacket, emerging as a future great.

The AFL Easter Monday clash between Hawthorn and Geelong hosted 70,000 spectators at the MSG. Heavy rain made for slippery conditions, but the Cats’ Stevie Johnson skilfully kicked two of the game’s first three goals. By three quarter time the Hawks had seized the momentum and looked likely to claim their first victory against the Cats in eight outings, but Geelong stormed home in the final quarter, willing a famous victory.

Quote of the week:
“We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, building on Instagram's strengths rather than just integrating everything into Facebook.” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the $1bn acquisition of free photo sharing program, Instagram, on Monday.

Crikey Political Index 5 - 11 April, 2012

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Prime Minister Julia Gillard rules the roost again this week, in spite of her ongoing silence over the HSU scandal and the Craig Thomson issue which continues to suck up much of the political oxygen. Thomson races to third on our list, matching the media attention he received last August when the Government first battened down the hatches over speculation surrounding him.

Shadow AG George Brandis was among our prime movers for the scorn he poured on the Fair Work Australia investigation, stopping just short of accusing the ALP’s Industrial-Relations-Commission-replacement of obstructing justice. He was joined by NSW Labor leader and former Unions NSW chief John Robertson who called for HSU national president Michael Williamson’s scalp. Opposition workplace relations spokesman Eric Abetz focused instead on the ACTU, suggesting it had motives other than stamping out corruption in suspending the HSU.

None of which stopped Treasurer Swan edging closer to delivering the budget surplus we had to have or the oft-overlooked fact that the PM again beat Tony Abbott in preferred prime minister polling. Crystal ball, anyone?

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	156	2,832
2	Julia Gillard	223	1,762
4	Craig Thomson	150	651
4	Kevin Rudd	85	378
5	Bob Brown	85	444

The most salient takeaway here is that Kevin Rudd as a talkback radio topic continues unabated.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index	SM index
Ben Polis	244	252	427	65	2,435	247	145

Racism is clearly the issue here but there’s a further lesson surrounding the use of social media. Together, much like Polis’ self-assessment, two and two make five.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 31 March - April 5, 2012

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
HSU investigation	139	5,557	4,085	1,070	10,851
Fiji floods	200	3,060	3,800	1,080	8,140
Interest rates	323	2,362	2,919	1,170	6,774
Elections in Burma	151	1,411	1,201	949	3,714
Schapelle Corby	34	1,186	2,108	166	3,494

The Fair Work Australia report on breaches of workplace laws by the Health Services Union between 2002 and 2007 was sent to the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecution which indicated further delays into the inquiry. Labor backbencher Craig Thomson maintains his innocence in alleged breaches and PM Julia Gillard is standing by the former HSU federal secretary.

Fiji experienced torrential flood rains but missed being hit by tropical cyclone Daphne. The damage caused by the floods brought the country to a standstill claiming four lives and forcing about 8,000 people to seek refuge in evacuation centres with Australian tourists were evacuated on flights. The natural disaster has hit tourist-dependent Fiji hard. As health officials are working to prevent outbreaks and contain diseases.

The central bank kept the official cash rate on hold at 4.25 per cent this week but flagged a monetary policy easing could be ordered if inflation remains soft. RBA Governor Glenn Stevens flagged the bank could deliver an interest rate cut before next month's federal budget saying Australian economic output was proving softer than expected as the nation’s patchwork economy undergoes considerable "structural change", and Europe remains a major world risk.

An historic shift in the political landscape of Burma took place this week with the first truly democratic elections since the military dictatorship took power in 1962. (1990 election results were annulled by the ruling military junta). Nobel peace laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, won a seat in parliament and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party secured 40 of the 44 seats it contested in by-elections, according to official results. After 20 years as a political prisoner Suu Kyi’s victory marks a historic change in both her fortunes and that of her country.

Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby last night said last Thursday night she was "too scared to get her hopes up" after Indonesia's Justice and Human Rights Ministry recommended her jail sentence be slashed by 10 years on humanitarian grounds - meaning she could be back in Australia within weeks. Her family is now anxiously awaiting a decision by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who will have the final say on whether Corby is released.

Quote of the week:

“Because it’s the right things to do.” Treasurer Wayne Swan says the government’s determination to return the budget to surplus next month is an economic imperative not a political one.

Crikey Political Index 29 March - 4 April, 2012

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Plenty of upward movement this week as ALP ministers moved to diffuse the damage caused by poor polling and focussed on policy; announcements on tax, manufacturing, education and infrastructure were capped with interest rate speculation that sets all eyes on Treasurer Wayne Swan’s budget next month and the irony in the notion of a painful surplus.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy heads north on our list as controversy surrounds big ticket tenders - the decision to prevent Chinese telco Huawei from tendering for NBN projects (and an aside with NBN radio ads pulled after on-air hosts prefaced live reads with negative commentary) and government compensation for Sky News having had its application to run The Australia Network aborted in favour of Aunty.

Meanwhile MP Chris Evans says Americans have the skills to pay the bills and he and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen garnered much coverage toting new rules for temporary migrants that will fast track the arrival of unemployed US construction workers. Unsurprisingly, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison’s focus remained squarely on asylum seeker policy.
.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	252	3,645
2	Julia Gillard	298	3,547
4	Wayne Swan	60	511
4	Campbell Newman	70	446
5	Kevin Rudd	35	444

Tony Abbott reigned the interwebs this week but met resistance on the airwaves, succumbing to the Golden Tonsils in admitting his paid parental leave scheme is a tax.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Aung San Suu Kyi	226	330	324	208	3,878	272

Rising from two decades under house arrest to win her by-election brought a little extra hope to the free world. Go ‘Lady’ go.

360m shortlisted for seven AMEC Awards

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 23:00:00 GMT

At 360^m - a Sentia Media analysis and strategic advisory - we provide clients with specialist insights into their communications activity. By integrating public affairs advisory with expert news and social media analysis, 360^m is uniquely positioned to provide counsel that is evidence-based, audience focused, and tied to priorities and outcomes. Indeed, 360^m is the only research and issues management advisory firm with the ability to capture, monitor and conduct news and social media analysis in-house.

Happily, the international media measurement community is acknowledging that. Over the past two years at the prestigious AMEC Communication Effectiveness Awards, the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication has adjudged 360^m the most awarded media analysis and research company across 104 members represented in 50 countries globally.

In 2012, 360^m analysis teams have been shortlisted for no less than seven separate reports across five categories in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Categories include:

Best Use of Communication Management: Public Sector
Best Use of Communication Management: Not-for-Profit
Best Use of Communication Management: Business-to-Business,
Best Use of Communication Management: Business-to-Consumer
Best Use of Measurement for a Single Event.

Congratulations go to all of the teams involved with further congratulations to Dr Kate Greenwood, 360m Senior Portfolio Analyst, Hope Clutterham, 360^m's ANZ Analysis Director, and Seow Min, Chai, Consulting Analyst from MediaBanc, who have each been shortlisted for the Young Professional of the Year Award.

We are delighted to announce that all seven report entries submitted for the 2012 AMEC Awards were shortlisted. It is particularly exciting to see us receiving regular international recognition for the outstanding work of our analysis team as a world leader in its field.

The award winners will be announced in June. For more information about 360^m visit www.360m.com.au.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 24 - 30 March, 2012

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Queensland election	1,859	9,312	9,299	5,550	26,020
Gillard in South Korea	223	3,936	5,267	738	10,164
Death of Jim Stynes	300	3,078	3,911	1,490	8,779
AFL season kick-off	822	2,031	2,503	1,990	7,346
Ben Cousins drug arrest	96	1,790	3,408	192	5,486

It was a landslide defeat for Labor in the Queensland election last weekend, ending a 14 year reign that leaves them just seven seats in the 89 seat parliament. PM Julia Gillard rejected claims that it serves as a warning to Federal Labor, instead suggesting voters felt ‘it was time’ for a change after Labor had held power for so long. Former Premier Anna Bligh resigned after the crushing defeat and will be replaced in opposition by MP Annastacia Palaszczuk from the electorate of Inala, up against new Premier Campbell Newman.

PM Gillard flew into Seoul Sunday night for the second global nuclear security summit where world leaders discussed ways to stop terrorist groups using nuclear material. While the two-day summit was not planned to deal specifically with North Korea or Iran, US President Barack Obama talked of further sanctions on North Korea if it went ahead with plans to use a long-range rocket to launch a satellite. Whilst at the summit, Gillard commented on the Queensland Labor election loss, acknowledging that trust was an issue with voters.

The death of AFL legend Jim Stynes received continued media attention this week and his funeral on Tuesday was broadcast live. A crowd of thousands filled Federation Square to farewell Stynes as Melbourne turned out to honour the AFL legend and revered charity worker at a state funeral held at St Paul's Cathedral. Stynes, who died from cancer last week, was 45. He will be cremated and his ashes taken to be scattered in Ireland.

New team, the Great Western Sydney Giants, matched up against the Sydney Swans in the season opener in Sydney last weekend, the only fixture in a split opening round, with the other matches taking place this weekend. While GWS were no match for the Swans they made a competitive start and garnered an estimated $7 million of marketing value. The season launch event at Sydney Town Hall with all AFL team captains present also drew significant media coverage for the league.

Former West Coast eagles captain Ben Cousins has made the news again and again for his woes with drug addiction. Cousins was arrested at a WA airport on Wednesday night. Widely covered on television news, Cousins faces a potential 25 year jail term and $100,000 fine after being charged with drug possession. It is alleged he relapsed following two months in rehabilitation.

Quote of the Week:

"There are four or five people on Facebook trying to make it look like millions of people hate me. But they aren't people who listen to the show. They are feminists in Victoria or whatever." Kyle Sandilands said he was not concerned about the ACMA investigation into his on-air comments about a journalist claiming that the people making a fuss don’t listen to the show.

Crikey Political Index 26 Apr - 2 May, 2012

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Fourteen months out from an election and with the electorate as her guide, PM Gillard this week banished speaker Peter Slipper and MP Craig Thomson to the cross benches for having ‘crossed the line’. Presumably the third umpire was called in to officiate as to when bat actually hit ball but the announcement drew substantial media coverage. Independent Tony Windsor raced back up our charts soon after, throwing the notion of a no-confidence motion back from whence it came – into Tony Abbott’s lap.

That left more air for Treasurer Swan in the run up to the budget, for which the government must gain traction. Few have missed the irony that it may well be reported favourably if smoke and mirrors are used to hit surplus to ease the anticipated slashing of public service - with defence in the crosshairs as we withdraw from Afghanistan - and cost to big business.

So far so good for Treasurer Swan who anointed a healthy rate cut yesterday and again welcomed the notion of taking on squillionaire Clive Palmer in the seat of Lilley. No-one questions the mining magnate’s ability to create a headline, but Palmer will need all his weight to oust Swan should he secure Liberal pre-selection. Those with long memories will recall Palmer lost LNP pre-selection for the seat of Fisher in 1984 to one Peter Neil Slipper.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	550	3,696
2	Tony Abbott	305	3,446
4	Peter Slipper	359	2,033
4	Bill Shorten	88	265
5	Wayne Swan	108	1,708

Headline issues aside, Bill Shorten received much on-air attention over revived ALP leadership speculation and his bid to put the HSU into administration.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index	SM index
Rupert Murdoch	297	351	581	346	10,495	394	160

As Rupert took to the stands over the News of the World scandal, here the knock-on effect saw the Convergence Review calling for a media regulator with teeth.

Crikey Political Index 22 - 28 March, 2012

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Despite Campbell Newman barnstorming the Queensland electorate, it was the PM taking top honours in our rankings this week. Speaking from a nuclear summit in South Korea, Gillard played the ‘it was time’ card in explaining the catastrophic fallout at the polls last weekend, but regardless of the 14 long years Labor held power in Queensland, ramifications for federal ALP have fallen squarely under the spotlight.

It’s true that with very few exceptions Australian voters do not like to have the same two powers governing their state and their country, and Bligh’s dismissal leaves only SA with a mainland Labor government. But is the bloodletting enough to save federal Labor, or merely the beginning of the end?

It was almost a relief to see the nothing-if-not-consistent Barnaby Joyce setting his sights on the Deputy PM position in the lower house while joining the chorus of conservatives tying the Queensland loss to the carbon tax. For in a topsy turvy week where the Liberals defied their principles and jumped into bed with the Greens to oppose a company tax, speculation surrounds the ALP's ability to reconnect with its base before the next federal election.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	264	3,695
2	Anna Bligh	280	3,534
4	Tony Abbott	112	3,564
4	Campbell Newman	209	2,205
5	Wayne Swan	36	1,207

Tweet of the week: “Anna Bligh’s campaign bus is for sale. It’s 20 years old and has no seats.”

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Clive Palmer	352	162	233	393	5,806	285

Whether he’s a conspiracy theorist or has Interpol on speed dial is anyone’s guess. But if anyone knows the mystery of JFK’s death, our money’s on Clive.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 17 - 23 March, 2012

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Qld election	1,485	7,418	6,786	3,770	19,459
Mining tax	466	6,706	6,620	1,880	15,672
Olympic swimming trials	575	6,474	5,408	1,510	13,967
Death of Jim Stynes	305	4,820	4,636	808	10,569
Malcolm Naden capture	137	3,422	5,437	469	9,465

Queenslanders go to the polls this weekend and news coverage suggests a landslide win for the Liberal National Party. A recent Galaxy poll indicates Campbell Newman will prevail over Kate Jones for the seat of Ashgrove. In the face of probable defeat, Premier Anna Bligh has been defending her record as premier when appearing in news media. She and Newman have now released their policy costings.

The Federal Government’s mining tax was passed through the Senate this week and media coverage included reports of opposition to the legislation. WA mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest looks set to mount a high court legal challenge to the tax, a proposition shrugged off by Treasurer Wayne Swan. WA Premier Colin Barnett has said he will support any legal action against the tax and claims the Federal Government is pitting the rest of the nation against West Australians.

The swimming trials have produced great wins and losses led by Ian Thorpe’s failure to qualify for the London Olympics. Geoff Huegill and Michael Klim also failed to make the Australian team. Conversely, Libby Trickett has lived up to expectations of a great comeback, and Stephanie Rice will join her having overcome shoulder surgery and criticism in the media. Twenty year old James Magnusson threw down the gauntlet to his rivals with a stunning win in the 100 metres freestyle.

An AFL legend lost his battle with cancer this week. A sign of his popularity, there was a huge volume of media coverage for Jimmy Stynes’ passing. Talkback radio about Stynes after his death was significant and further reflected public admiration for him. Stynes was a highly respected Melbourne player and club president, and an Irish pioneer of the broader cultural forces who broke down the doors to an often parochial sport.

Dubbed “Australia’s most wanted man”, Malcolm Naden was captured in hill country near Taree in New South Wales this week. Naden eluded the police for nearly seven years, surviving using bush skills and stealing food and clothing from farm houses. Naden is charged with a 2005 murder and several other very serious offences. His capture was the culmination of months work by a force of approximately 50 police officers.

Quote of the Week:

“It's seriously loopy stuff from Mr Palmer.” Treasurer Wayne Swan told Sky News that mining magnate Clive Palmer’s suggestion a CIA-funded US foundation had backed Green attempts to undermine the coal industry reflected badly on the Liberal Party.

Crikey Political Index 15 - 21 March, 2012

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Campbell Newman looks set to scrape into the seat of Ashgrove by a knife edge, taking the LNP to victory over Premier Anna Bligh whose Queensland election campaign has been arguably too long and ultimately too negative. He knocks Julia Gillard off the top of our list for only the second time this year.

Thanks to lobbying and political compromise further south, the mining tax that was passed by federal parliament this week is barely recognisable from the recommendations of one Ken Henry back in 2009. Yet a mining tax it is and Gillard will claim it. It’s more than her predecessor could manage; his stance on the issue tipped his leadership over the cliff. Meanwhile Tony Abbott continues to be overshadowed despite significant coverage from overstepping the mark with comments around the death of Margaret Whitlam. This all serves to remind us, folks, the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Of course, there’s room for illness too, as Craig Thomson has so ably shown.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Anna Bligh	190	1,221
2	Campbell Newman	296	1,064
4	Tony Abbott	72
4	Julia Gillard	90	805
5	Bob Carr	75	507

Most online discussions about Bligh and Newman referred to the live debate aired this week. Many tweets congratulated Newman for beating Bligh despite most pundits awarding bragging rights to the premier.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Jim Stynes	339	814	762	271	8,877	561

Go figure. An Irish Aussie Rules legend. And a pioneer of broader cultural forces busting down the doors to a parochial sport. RIP Jimmy.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 10 - 16 March, 2012

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Qld election	1,312	6,098	5,335	3,550	16,295
Olympic swimming trials	375	4,269	4,953	921	10,518
Syrian unrest	255	3,398	2,853	2,080	8,586
Rogue US soldier in Afghanistan	182	3,632	3,303	434	7,551
Rinehart trust fund	556	1,978	2,968	1,980	7,482

Latest Queensland election news is reporting that Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman is on track to win the seat of Ashgrove. Newman had the support of former PM John Howard who joined him on the campaign rounds on Thursday. However, Labor incumbent Kate Jones is closing the gap in the polls. Meanwhile Premier Anna Bligh escalated her attack on Newman over a series of donations he received from a property developer when he was Lord Mayor of Brisbane. The Liberal party has denied any wrongdoing and accused Bligh of being desperate.

In preparation for the London Olympics, swimming trials are underway in Adelaide. Newcomers are sharing the limelight with comeback champions Ian Thorpe and Libby Trickett. Thorpe’s comeback has been described as one of the most anticipated in Australian sport for the five-time Olympic gold medallist. Trickett qualified fifth fastest for the semi-finals of the 100m butterfly Friday night and Stephanie Rice proved her critics wrong producing a 400m individual medley trial victory in 4min 33.45sec, four seconds clear of West Australian Blair Evans (4:37.80).

Reporting on the trouble in Syria increased this week with news about former UN chief Kofi Annan’s visit to Syria and the attempt at a peace deal. That failed because Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won’t negotiate while he believes terrorists are still acting in the country. Amnesty International has accused Syrian forces of perpetrating 31 forms of torture on opposition forces and civilians.

A rogue US soldier went on a rampage in Afghanistan killing 16 civilians including women and children in Kandahar province. This sparked anti-US protests by Afghanis including the burning of an effigy of US President Obama. The soldier was arrested and the Afghan parliament is demanding a public trial, which the Pentagon has rejected.

Six months after launching a court battle with their mother, the details of the case against Gina Rinehart have been made public. NSW Supreme Court documents reveal Rinehart claimed her three oldest children were unfit to run their multi-billion dollar trust fund. Ms Rinehart's three older children want the trust divided in two and their mother removed as trustee. Ms Rinehart's youngest daughter, Ginia, said the case was a display of 'greed, jealousy and a selfish sense of entitlement' by her siblings.

Quote of the Week:

“Listen, any time you are making the names of people who are charged for war crimes famous, I think that’s good.” George Clooney, who was featured in the KONY 2012 campaign video while in Africa.

Crikey Political Index 8 - 14 March, 2012

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

With his party’s polling numbers down around the margin of error, Bob Katter decided on some old style minority baiting to try and get a ton of “earned media” as the Yanks would say. He definitely got it. It will be fascinating to see whether it backfires on him, as most people would hope it does. However, if it pushes Katter’s Party up from 4% to 7 or 8%, undoubtedly the mini Karl Rove’s advising him will think it was all a cracker of an idea. Fascinating also to see whether it helps Campbell Newman in Brisbane and most particularly in Ashgrove get any kind of sympathy bounce, although of course his position remains deeply conflicted with his own Party.

Sometimes you’ve just got to love the Oz. “Greens put business tax cuts at risk” screams the front page - conveniently forgetting that it’s the Coalition that is opposing this company tax cut altogether, not just trying to score some last minute points like the Greens. You’d almost think they had it out for poor old Bob Brown? I think Bob loves every moment of the Oz attacks because it plays perfectly to his constituency. Katter, Mitchell and Brown all understand that to create interest you have to have conflict and in the end politics is just showbiz for ugly people isn’t it? Sadly it seems true now more than ever.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	138	1,260
2	Tony Abbott	95	1,292
4	Bob Katter	59	968
4	Stephen Smith	44	805
5	Anna Bligh	152	507

Katter will probably have made the top of this list by tomorrow, with a strong showing online from Stephen Smith and the Skype scandal fallout as well.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Kony 2012	211	273	816	250	5,119	338

Facebook as Interpol? Groups with possible ulterior motives driving what certainly seems like a worthy expose of the kind of evil that all too often is allowed to luxuriate in safe retirement? Hard not to think that this is another flash in the social media pan rather than the start of a new global order where citizens help chase down all the biggest baddies out there.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 3 - 9 March, 2012

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Eastern state floods	1,766	13,990	16,255	4,690	36,701
Qld election	932	2,954	1,968	2,590	8,444
Cricket ODI	440	4,376	1,595	1,420	7,831
Euro debt crisis	376	1,186	1,214	2,460	5,236
Syrian unrest	222	2,048	916	2,000	5,186

The floods affecting most of Australia’s east coast dominated news coverage during the week with numerous pockets in NSW, Queensland and Victoria experiencing heavy rainfall and flooding. Sydney’s damn at Warragamba, which has been well below capacity for years, overflowed on the weekend. Emergency workers scrambled to sandbag riverbeds and aid evacuations in many regional town centres as the water rushed downstream.

As the election campaign in Queensland reaches the halfway mark, weary voters have tired of the bombardment from glad-handing politicians in key seats such as Ashgrove. The campaign has descending into mudslinging following Labor’s attack on the financial dealings of Campbell Newman’s family, and an exchange of insults over whether everyone can pay for their election promises - Newman has pledged money for infrastructure like the Bruce Highway and funding to non-metro areas through ‘royalties for regions’ without indicating where the money will come from.

After their loss last week, Sri Lanka beat Australia in the midweek One Day International ending India’s tour. Sri Lanka won by nine runs in a thrilling run chase but lost narrowly to the hosts in the third and deciding final of the Tri-series. Australia was without the injured Michael Clarke but Victorian Clint McKay broke the game open with a five wicket haul that clinched the series.

The Eurozone crisis eased marginally following progress on Greece’s debt restructuring plans. The prospect of a successful Greek deal improved as the minimum level sought by Athens for the deal to go through was reached, moving the country closer to another much-needed bail-out. Greece's private sector investors must now decide whether they will take a 53.5pc cut on the value of their debt.

UN humanitarian chief, Valerie Amos, told journalists she was 'devastated' by what she saw in the Baba Amr district of Homs which has been pounded by shelling in recent weeks. The siege at Baba Amr outraged the international community and the US accused Syrian president Bashar al-Hassad of behaving like a war criminal amid allegations the neighbourhood was kept closed to humanitarian aid to cover up atrocities that took place there.

Quote of the Week:

“Seriously, it’s like the Republican nominee for president is being selected at this point by erosion.' Inconclusive results in the Super Tuesday Republican nomination fight led the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart to focus on the long, long, long race to Tampa.

Crikey Political Index 1 - 7 March, 2012

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

In the end Julia Gillard didn’t have much choice in bringing Bob Carr to Canberra, Stephen Smith and Simon Crean’s reported intervention assuring that she had to make a stand, and luckily it’s the one job Bob really always wanted (some NSW folk may have noticed he didn’t have his mind entirely on the job for the ten years he was Premier). There are a multitude of pluses for the P.M., Carr being a great media performer, someone who helps everyone forget Kevin Rudd, ensconced in the Senate and probably happy to stay right where he is unlike his predecessor in the portfolio. The downside some commentators found was that the way he dominates the media pack will put in even sharper relief the lacklustre public performances of those around him.

Wayne Swan meanwhile has morphed into Huey Long, berating the billionaires and standing up for Struggle Street, while Craig Emerson and David Bradbury attempt to publicly support him while saying he doesn’t mean most of it and big business loves the Government. Really.

In Queensland, the one big issue remains whether Campbell Newman will beat the incumbent Kate Jones in Ashgrove, with the media reporting voter fatigue as both sides pour huge resources into the seat. Apparently Ashgrove residents are boycotting popular shopping areas to avoid campaigners.
.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	408	3,130
2	Tony Abbott	198	2,413
4	Bob Carr	478	2,017
4	Kevin Rudd	176	1,232
5	Wayne Swan	255	915

Social media numbers were high again this week but nowhere near the volume of last week. Talkback and online discussions included Gillard’s leadership and Carr’s new role, with KRudd still pipping Swanny despite him calling les miserable to the barricades..

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Clive Palmer	681	726	774	153	12,956	584

Clive can pretty much do or say whatever he wants, and we think Clive likes that. And now a National Living Treasure to boot. Clive always knew that.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 25 February - 2 March 2012

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
ALP Leadership	2,171	14,696	17,091	2,810	36,768
Oscars	492	2,363	6,263	1,470	10,588
Qld election	1,022	3,888	2,228	3,220	10,358
Cricket ODI	456	4,598	3,218	1,230	9,502
Syrian unrest	308	3,338	1,745	3,420	8,811

The leadership challenge dominated coverage again with the peak on Monday’s ballot. Now media is focusing on the fallout from the ballot, with the Foreign Ministerial portfolio open to another contender, the speculation around Mark Arbib’s resignation. While the Prime Minister initially denied she had made offers to former NSW Premier Bob Carr, Carr has confirmed it and Defence Minister Stephen Smith has admitted he opposed the offer. So media speculation is out about who the role will go to and how the rest of cabinet will be organised and whether Gillard has the power to decide or are ministers like Smith and Simon Crean calling the shots.

Another media favourite was the spectacle of Hollywood and the Oscars this week. A film veteran, Meryl Streep took out best female lead for her role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, while the first French man to win an acting Oscar went to Jean Dujardin who took out best male lead for his role in The Artist. This film also won best director. This year’s acceptance speeches made news when Streep failed to mention Thatcher, while Dujardin swore in French. And of course red carpet fashion always makes mileage in the news.

Meanwhile, there’s an election campaign in Queensland and state MPs have said they’d welcome Rudd back on the campaign trail. Premier Anna Bligh has proposed an education policy called “Mines to Minds”, while opposition leader Campbell Newman wants to stop the waste and return the state to its former AAA rating. The Courier Mail is on the campaign trail with its Sunshine Express, gathering thoughts from voters about issues that concern them and reporting on how the politicians are addressing these concerns.

Politics and Hollywood stole the spotlight from sport this week. India had a win over Sri Lanka in the latest One Day International, keeping them on the Australian tour. Virat Kohli had a great game, hitting 133 off 86 balls to put India in the lead and now they will watch the next match in the tournament Australia v Sri Lanka.

The violence against government rebels in Syria has ramped up yet again. The latest news coverage reported on the increased violence that followed requests from around the world for humanitarian access into the affected cities. News stories have reported that tanks massed round the Syrian protest city of Homs as Washington worked on a UN Security Council draft resolution demanding humanitarian access to trapped civilians. The violence in Syria may be a little too far from home for it to make talkback discussion.

Quote of the Week:
"We kick harder." Clive Palmer announces the slogan for his new body Football Australia, which he says is intended to speak up for football fans and lobby the government.

Crikey Political Index 23 - 29 February, 2012

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

He’s number one! Ever again? Clearly that would be over a large number of dead bodies, including Swan, Crean, Conroy and Roxon. Following the unprecedented public vitriol the spin from the Labor Party and some in the media is that the fallout from this challenge may actually improve public perception, as the PM has shown hardy resolve in the last few days and the reshuffle provides Gillard with the opportunity to demonstrate political shrewdness, although the Carr stories may have already blown that one. Methinks the vibe remains toxic, and it’s the vibe of which it will be hardest to be rid, rather than the public’s memory of any specific comments or events.

No-one in the media seems to have any idea of any other than the public reasons Mark Arbib has given for his resignation from the ministry and public politics, just showing that Labor politicians can occasionally keep things to themselves, if usually not for all that long. Meanwhile, the formula Julia Gillard has given for picking her ministry is “those who can take the fight to the Opposition”, i.e. those who have never seen a microphone they didn’t want to swallow. Which seems a good excuse for removing the usually no-profile McClelland (while conveniently not applying the same standard to others like Ludwig and Macklin), but all the same strictures apply to messing with MHRs, any one of whom could go a long way towards blowing up the Government by taking their bat and ball and going home.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Kevin Rudd	3,014	29,884
2	Julia Gillard	2,657	20,076
4	Tony Abbott	1,028	7,274
4	Mark Arbib	133	2,069
5	Anthony Albanese	152	1,322

K-Rudd easily won the volume battle here too, but the sentiment of comments online was more in favour of Gillard, while talkback slightly favoured Rudd.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Meryl Streep	58	26	36	29	2,634	37

Meryl Streep took out the Oscar for looking like an Oscar, well really for role as one of the longest serving British Prime Ministers, Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. In her acceptance speech, Streep played the humble card, referring to “Streep fatigue” but failed to mention Thatcher.

The Media Revolution - It’s about diversity, not just convergence

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 04:00:00 GMT

We all know that today there are more platforms than ever from which people can get news and information in a bewildering array of formats and styles. But while choice has increased exponentially, and some newer communications platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are capturing massive audiences very quickly, older formats are still commanding significant audiences.

How and why is this happening? The simple answer is product diversity. Just as with any other business, media organisations are tailoring their content to suit their specific audience and what they are looking for in that particular format of news. As people gather information from more and more sources, they are reading newspapers for one style of news, checking websites for different types of news and listening to radio or watching television for another style of news. Then social media is introduced, largely referencing all the other forms of news and recirculating them to friends and followers, occasionally bringing new information to the conversation.

Our own research shows that far from all news sources relying more and more on a single source, as some experts predicted, mainstream media organisations are diversifying their content. Many newspapers, for example, share little content with their own websites, the newspaper versions focusing more on local stories and longer form news, while the website focuses on breaking news, entertainment, video and photo content.

The world is currently going through a media revolution. We are all accessing far more information in far more ways and clever news organisations have already refined and differentiated their offerings to make sure they continue to attract strong audiences, even amongst those who are accessing four or five different platforms in a single day.

The fastest growing of all platforms is mobile, reflected by enormous smart-phone uptake. In a recent interview with marketing website Mumbrella, the Head of Mobile for Google worldwide, Karim Temsamani, said the future of mobile communication was hyper-local and super tailored to the end user.

“We know the mobile web is growing eight times faster than the desktop was growing at the same stage of its existence,” he said, adding a warning to brand arbiters not to get lost in the rush. “Advertisers are very late to capture this community and reach customers on their mobile phones – 79% of our top clients do not have a mobile landing page, meaning the user experience is not as good as it should be.”

Not so for global news organisations, who stream a constant feed to your handset while monetising what once was free. News Corp recently added The Australian newspaper to its trial of an online subscription news model that could change the information game.

In long form literature too, if new communications platforms such as E-readers and iPads are fast capturing massive audiences, older formats are still commanding significant reach. In a recent Vanity Fair article, “The Book on Publishing”, Keith Gessen said Amazon now sells more e-books than hardcovers, adding that “by the Spring of 2011, the numbers for a best-seller were as high as 50% e-book; Hachette reported e-books were accounting for 20% of total revenue.” Yet far from a mutually exclusive splintering of the way we choose to read, the most vociferous readers want access both to books and e-readers, depending on the situation.

The media revolution still has a long way to go. But the proliferation of platforms can only mean one thing. Ultimately, the choice is all yours.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 18 - 24 February 2012

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
ALP Leadership	1,672	20,606	20,693	6,310	49,281
Ricky Ponting	435	5,745	5,730	1,620	13,530
Gonski Report	507	6.679	3,391	1,130	11,907
Syrian Unrest	231	2.531	1,172	1,970	5,904
Darwin bombing anniversary	188	1,180	2,199	150	3,717

Having resigned as Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd arrived back in Brisbane today to prepare for a political fight to the death with Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Commentators say Gillard has the numbers to crush her opponent in a leadership showdown on Monday morning but Rudd's backers claim he has a third of the 103-member Labor Caucus onside and is within reach of claiming back his old job. Rudd has yet to announce he will contest the ballot.

World Cup-winning skipper Ricky Ponting, cricket's second-highest one-day scorer, vowed to fight on in Australia's Test team despite being dumped from the limited-overs side this week. Ponting said he had been informed by selectors that he did not fit into their plans for the one-day team, but stressed that he would not be retiring from the five-day game. "I will continue playing Test cricket and I'll continue playing for Tasmania as well," Ponting said.

The Gillard government this week released the findings of an independent school funding review by businessman David Gonski as well as Labor's initial response. The review recommends funding per student be based on a new national standard that reflects the actual resources used by schools which consistently achieve high results. It calls for a funding boost of about $5 billion and says government must spend more on schools with high numbers of disadvantaged students.

Syrian forces launched a massive bombardment of rebel districts in Homs on Thursday, defying outcry over the killing of two Western journalists who were among the few to bear witness to the civilian toll. The UN Human Rights Council said it had a list of Syrian officials suspected of crimes against humanity. But a defiant foreign ministry rejected all responsibility for the deaths of American reporter Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik.

On February 19, 1942, mainland Australia came under attack for the first time as two Japanese air raids marked the start of a sustained bombing campaign by the Japanese across Australia's north which lasted almost two years and killed hundreds of Australians. Last Sunday veterans returned to Darwin with their families to mark the 70th anniversary of the bombings.

Quote of the Week:

“The truth is that the Australian people regard this whole affair as little better than a soap opera.” Kevin Rudd announced he would step down as Australia’s Foreign Minister this week, staving off a possible sacking by PM Gillard and launching a leadership tilt.

Crikey Political Index 16 - 22 February, 2012

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Another quiet week within the Federal Labor Party. Well at least the Australian will be able to eventually get the caucus count right because it looks like almost all of them will get around to declaring their hand publicly in the tit for tat “layoff Julia-layoff Kevin” roundabout. Meanwhile the second luckiest politician in the world, Tony Abbott (Obama must take first prize given what’s happening in the Republican primaries) can completely forget about trying to work out a consistent line on budget cuts among his economic team as no-one is paying any attention anyway.

Oh yeah there’s an election in Queensland too, with the only question of real debate whether it’s possible that Campbell Newman won’t win his own seat in the coming easy LNP victory. And the Gonski report has still managed to get some coverage, although it was never going to be much of a circuit breaker for the Government as they’re not willing to commit to much of it, in particular the funding boost. Nothing can stand in the way of the surplus now. Although nice among all the hand wringing to see one commentator pointing out that the reason that kids in some other countries are doing so much better than ours is because they work so much harder. Do we want our kids to be kids or robots?

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Kevin Rudd	573	3,812
2	Julia Gillard	723	2,326
4	Tony Abbott	234	1,077
4	Bill Shorten	93	627
5	Anna Bligh	259	352

Supposedly there’s some kind of leadership speculation, or perhaps it’s just everyone commenting on whether they like Kevin’s tea or not, now that you can get it on the supermarket shelves. Anyhoo, Tony Abbott a very rare distant third online.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Ricky Ponting	313	410	473	173	11,956	342

So, the greatest Australian batsman of his generation, with some claim to being second only to Bradman overall, has been moved aside from the one day team, with now perhaps one or two test series left before the final curtain. His has been a fascinating career, statistics extraordinary on almost every level, but three Ashes defeats leaving him almost a Quixotic figure in the eyes of many.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 11 - 17 February 2012

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Whitney Houston	385	4,385	8,010	2,570	15,350
Cricket One Day International	696	8,593	5,475	333	15,097
Private health insurance rebate	430	6,359	2,970	1,170	10,939
ALP leadership	426	4,142	5,822	384	10,774
Syria	282	2,620	2,457	2,150	7,509

The music world suffered another loss of talent over the weekend when news spread that pop singer Whitney Houston was found dead in hotel room on the eve of the Grammy Awards. There was a sombre mood at the event and a tribute song performed by Jennifer Hudson. That aside it was a successful and record breaking night for British singer Adele, who after throat surgery nearly lost her singing ability, took out numerous awards.

India finally had a win at the One Day International last weekend followed by a thrilling tie with Sri Lanka and a controversy over the Indians receiving one less ball in their innings than they should have. Today the Aussies take on Sri Lanka without injured captain Michael Clarke, former skipper Ricky Ponting returning to the helm, another controversial decision.

A domestic political issue made the list with legislation to means test the private health insurance rebate passing through the House of Reps this week with the support of independents. The Opposition is adamant they will axe the means test as soon as they can if they win government.

Continuing with domestic issues, many political commentators are saying that it’s no longer a matter of “if” but “when” a leadership challenge is expected to eventuate, although the issue was dissipating a little after what was seen as a strong first week in parliament from the Prime Minister.

The violence in Syria continues with Government troops storming parts of the capital Damascus just before president Bashar al-Assad announced a referendum on a draft constitution. The opposition rejected the newly drafted constitution and continue towards toppling the regime. Meanwhile the city of Homs also continues to be pummelled by al-Assad’s troops with more civilian deaths as a consequence.

Quote of the Week:

'The flight will not take place. You should make alternate arrangements.' Air Australia Administrators’ advice to those with bookings on Air Australia flights

Crikey Political Index 9 - 15 February, 2012

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

After much hoo haa and hushed voices about what would be on Four Corners on Monday it turned out that there was a single piece of new information, put right near the end so we watched it all. As seems to be always happening with the current government, there was just as much media concern over the way Julia Gillard answered the question than the issue itself of when she was planning what. Will any of this resonate deeply with the punters, the vast majority of whom weren’t watching? Have they already made up their mind anyway? Probably not and possibly yes.

As we said last week, the economy may get a decent run in politics this year and with the means testing of the rebate for private health insurance looking good to get through both Houses the Government took a big step closer to surplus Nirvana. The Opposition are already starting to concede the surplus is likely (they claim through all kinds of accounting trickery), and of course the Government really had no choice, but Rob Oakeshott has helped them hit that number mightily, and also given the Opposition another clear differentiator they can point to when claims of a lack of policy substance are thrown their way.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	183	719
2	Julia Gillard	384	472
4	Kevin Rudd	166	219
4	Wayne Swan	58	319
5	Joe Hockey	25	215

Twitter comments during the Q&A episode following Four Corners included the frequent comment: I didn't vote for Julia Gillard. I voted for Kevin Rudd. What democracy?!!! #qanda”
And there were many other Twitter and blog comments about Gillard’s appearance on Four Corners, with suggestions on how she should have handled it, others sarcastically saying she’s great and should stay on as leader so she can then be voted out at the next election. Tony Abbott was back in the top spot on the social media top five. And following the RBA’s decision to hold interest rates last week saw social media discussions mentioning Swan and Hockey increase.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Whitney Houston	284	452	763	238	11,507	434

Whitney Houston mentions on social media well ahead of either the PM or Tony Abbott, which probably won’t be a huge surprise to many. Those who are concerned about that should perhaps remember that this is not the bad new days, younger people have always been less engaged as a group with politics than their elders (except when they’re about to be drafted to a war). Perhaps the bigger issue of concern is that as an artist Whitney Houston was never allowed to leave behind the earth shattering voice of her youth and become something more Billie Holiday than Ethel Merman. I blame the Rolling Stones for most of us expecting performers to be artistically pickled at what we’ve decided was their peak.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 4 - 10 February 2012

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Qld & Northern NSW floods	1,419	10,863	9,062	1,440	22,784
Interest rates	499	4,708	5,430	2,000	12,637
Syria unrest	373	5,677	4,267	2,070	12,387
ALP leadership	541	3,341	5,349	1,180	10,411
Superbowl	417	2,531	4,614	2,110	9,672

Floods in Queensland and northern New South Wales have ravaged homes, agricultural land and isolated many farmers. Conditions in some areas of NSW are expected to get worse with downstream flows of floodwaters from southern Queensland. Media coverage has been heavy across all formats with images of flood affected areas as State Emergency Services warn that Goodooga and Lightning Ridge could be cut off for weeks.

News media were reporting an imminent rate cut from the Reserve Bank earlier this week and wondering whether banks would pass on the reductions. Surprising most pundits, the RBA left the cash rate on hold. Economists may have misjudged this first RBA decision of 2012, but most still expect rate cuts later this year, while the business media watch to see if banks will increase rates on their own.

Media coverage of the situation in Syria is on the rise as the assault on the protest city of Homs becomes increasingly deadly for civilians as the international pressure on Bashar al Assad to step down increased. Russia and China, traditional allies of Syria vetoed a UN resolution, while the US, France and Britain have withdrawn all diplomatic links. Canadian diplomats have complained to the Russian government about arms sales to Syria.

Parliament resumed this week and media speculation about a Labor leadership challenge continued from last week with Kevin Rudd refusing to rule out a challenge. Of the top five, this topic got the most talkback in a relatively diverse week of issues on radio. The latest polls have shown that while Rudd is rating as the preferred Labor leader and well ahead of Tony Abbott, among Labor voters, Gillard is preferred.

A close game, the Superbowl winners this year were with the New York Giants beating the New England Patriots 21-17. Apart from news about the game, numerous media stories were about the halftime performance by Madonna, reported as a stunner. In addition, there was controversy over a Superbowl yoghurt ad that plagiarised a John Butler Trio song.

Quote of the Week:

"We won't accept them. There will be a social uprising.” Secretary General of Greece’s largest union, Ilias Iliopoulos on the latest round of cuts to stave off bankruptcy, including pension cuts and a minimum wage reduction.

Crikey Political Index 2 - 8 February, 2012

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

The Press Gallery were awfully excited to start the Parliamentary year, convinced almost to a person that there will be a challenge within months. They may well be right, but I can’t help remembering the comment attributed to a Minister in Barry Cassidy’s book explaining why they knifed Kevin Rudd “we weren’t worried he would lose the election, we were worried he would win it”. There still may be quite a few MPs who would rather lose their seats than go back. Meanwhile Pokies reform is now all but forgotten as it doesn’t suit either of the major parties interests, and the independents lined up to give their two cents on the Labor leadership.

So far it looks like the economy may get a decent run in politics this year, we don’t think anyone will be confessing to be not that interested in economics, no matter what the truth of Australia’s current party leaderships’ core interests are. And did the RBA hold fire this week because they knew it wouldn’t be passed on and are waiting for a 50 basis point cut to really put the pressure on the banks? Funny how nothing changing these days is reported as an insult to homeowners.
.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	344	1,105
2	Tony Abbott	147	882
4	Kevin Rudd	229	698
4	Bob Brown	79	185
5	Bill Shorten	47	145

Finally the PM has got ahead of Tony Abbott in online fora. Twitter conversations don’t think Rudd stands a chance in challenging Gillard, some tweets even described it as the end of the line if Rudd replaced Gillard. There was also support for Rudd describing him as not the tyrant he’s been made out to be, but not much love for either Rudd or Gillard on talkback.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Alberto Contador	112	236	196	46	4,233	147

Plenty of criticism of how long it’s taken to officially ban Contador for his positive drug test (so long that he’ll actually be back racing within six months), but Cadel Evans among others was quick to spin about how far ahead cycling is than other sports in catching the cheats. I don’t know how Cadel knows that lots of people in other sports are cheating, but there you go.

Sentia Media - a new name for media intelligence

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

At Media Monitors we work for a company with a long and proud history in media monitoring, a company that started as a small press clippings business in the 1960s, which, after his acquisition in 1982, was built by the late Mr Neville Jeffress into the multi-national media services organisation of today. Among many other acquisitions and consolidations Mr Jeffress oversaw throughout the 1980s, in 1986 Media Monitors was acquired from Ian Parry-Okeden, with Media Monitors eventually became the name of the overall company.

Over the past 30 years, and in particular this century, the transformation in the company has been profound, with major technological improvements in our monitoring through scanning, OCR and digital feeds, the digital capture of radio and television and of course our premium online service, Mediaportal, along with growth through acquisitions in Australia and New Zealand.

However over the last five years, while major technological improvements have continued, our growth path has become much broader, with the company commencing operations in a number of Asian markets as well as rapidly expanding our media analysis and introducing advisory and online business intelligence services. We are also currently further developing our distribution and media networking services. In all, we now have six leading brands operating across 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

To put it simply, we are much more than a media monitoring business, we are now a group of media services companies that can provide a broad range of information, analysis and advice, with solutions tailored to just about any type of organisation, large or small, single country or international. And that’s why Sentia Media has been born in 2012, in the year of the 30th anniversary of the group. To watch the video click here.

Sentia is a Latin verb with three primary meanings:
1 I perceive with the senses. (Monitoring)
2 I notice mentally. (Analysis)
3 I have an opinion. (Advice)

The name Sentia Media reflects our full range of services and the media intelligence industry in which we operate, while allowing our product brands to speak for themselves and tailor their services to specific markets.

The Media Monitors brand will continue, and will continue to be known as the clear market leader in monitoring services across Australia and New Zealand. Our newer brands such as Brandtology and 360m will continue to grow their own identities within the Sentia Media group of companies, as will our recent Asian acquisitions, MediaBanc and ChinaClipping, meaning that in a way this development is simply the name of the company catching up across the region.

I'm sure you'll jopin me in welcoming this next step in the evolution of our business, one that supports our service and technological innovation to help ensure the strength and vitality of our organisation for the long term.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 28 January - 3 February 2012

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Australian Open tennis	1,162	4,986	3,451	2,540	12,139
Cricket v India	363	4,267	3,086	513	8,238
Floods in Northern NSW	506	3,826	3,435	316	8,083
Pokies legislation	599	3,774	1,729	1,270	7,372
Auto industry redundancies	652	2,999	2,388	395	6,434

Luke Saville, who won the Junior Boy’s title, was the only Australian to make it to the final weekend of the Australian Open, but it was a big weekend nevertheless with a first Grand Slam title for Victoria Azarenka and a six and a half hour marathon between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal resulting in Djokovic maintaining his perfect record against Nadal.

It’s not getting any better for India, losing again to Australia in the latest Twenty20 in Sydney on a damp night at the Olympic Stadium. However, it was the highest crowd ever for a cricket match in NSW and a ratings winner, ensuring that international Twenty20 is here to stay.

Towns in Northern New South Wales, particulary Moree, have been hit by floods again with the latest news reporting that 2,000 people have spend the night in evacuation centres. Moree Plains Shire Mayor, Katrina Humphries has appeared on radio with a somewhat philosophical view to the situation, saying that the town is prepared as they’ve had a smaller flood just eight weeks ago and being a country town the people are used to hardships and harsh weather conditions so they’re pulling together and getting through it. The flood as separated the town of Moree.

Australia Day celebrations last week ended up being largely overshadowed by a protest outside Canberra restaurant The Lobby which saw the PM. and Opposition Leader rushed from the building. Protestors from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy only metres away were unhappy about comments made by Tony Abbott the day before, the story continuing to run as it was revealed the protestors had learned Abbott was at the restaurant from one of the PM’s staffers, who later resigned.

The auto industry is blaming the high Australian dollar for the recent redundancies at their local manufacturing plants. The latest redundancies have been made to improve efficiencies according to Holden’s CEO. This follows Toyota’s announcement of job cuts a week earlier.

Quote of the Week:

"I can guarantee you I certainly haven't taken drugs and I was more than willing to have any strip search and wee in a cup to prove that there were no drugs," Wayne Carey tells Triple M radio show hosts in an interview about the news that traces of cocaine were found on his person as he entered a high security jail where he was meant to be speaking with inmates.

Crikey Political Index 26 January - 1 February, 2012

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

So what do Kevin Rudd and Novak Djokovic have in common? They’re not team players. Luckily for Novak he plays an individual sport. Simon Crean’s assurance in the media that there will be no change at the top and the Foreign Minister has no chance of becoming Prime Minister again of course simply reinforced to everyone that both of those things are possible. It’s been a terrible January in the media for Julia Gillard, the latest polls just putting the nasty tasting icing on the crap sandwich. Add to that, the Craig Thomson case is back in the media spotlight with HSU Secretary Kathy Jackson busting the union-imposed gag on her in spectacular fashion.

Nevertheless there continues to be (slight) talk of policy among the polls, protests and staffer sackings, Abbott and Gillard both making major speeches, with Abbott hammering the smaller government line while saying details on how that would be achieved will come at a later date. The media focus of course went straight to the equivocation on when and if there would be tax cuts in a first Abbott Government.
George Brandis and Christopher Pyne did their expected dual act calling for a Royal Commission, ASIO investigation and undoubtedly a round of corporal punishment for everyone involved in the defcon 4 situation caused by Tony Hodges at the Lobby. And they all wonder why 90% of Australians don’t take politics seriously.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	395	3,634
2	Julia Gillard	417	3,068
4	Kevin Rudd	71	1,098
4	Anthony Albanese	56	174
5	Anna Bligh	79	115

The Tent Embassy protest that went awry on Australia Day and the latest Newspoll figures had people tweeting about Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott. Anthony Albanese is on the list with Twitter and blog posts claiming one of his political speeches plagiarises the film The American President.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Novak Djokovic	557	325	423	572	10,528	469

Some tenacious, six in the morning (well ok, 1:30am) street-brawling tennis between the two best baseline thumpers in the game saw Djokovic eventually maintain his dominance over Nadal. I’m living in the past I know, but I’ll take two hours of serve and volley over six hours of rallies from the back of the court any day. Come back Boris!

Australia: Most mentioned issues 21 - 27 January 2012

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Australia Day	5,536	7,804	5,867	5,700	24,907
Australian Open tennis	1,911	12,862	6,260	3,690	24,723
Cricket v India	1,051	8,406	6,041	2,570	18,068
Pokies legislation	691	6,065	4,322	1,370	12,448
Car industry job losses	313	3,701	2,977	617	7,608

The national public holiday Australia Day tends to always raise discussions in the media about nationalism, racism and cultural admiration or indeed cringe. This year, the day was marked with an Aboriginal protest after comments by Tony Abbott that saw he and the PM briefly besieged in a posh Canberra restaurant. Tabloids and morning television programs have been quick to refer to the body guard protection of Gillard, calling it a Kevin Costner moment.

Its finals weekend at the Australian Open, with the run of Bernard Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt snuffed out by the world number one and three. Meanwhile the women’s final between Sharapova and Azarenka promises to be loud if nothing else, while the men’s looks likely to be Djokovic v Nadal, one v two.

Its been another great start for Australia in the fourth Test in Adelaide as they aim for a clean sweep, with double hundreds from both Clarke and Ponting. An equally dismal response from India, Virat Kohli providing the only bright spot with the tourists first century of what must now seem one long nightmare of a series for the legendary names in the Indian batting line-up.

Pokies reform remained one of the leading issues, with more commentators questioning the motives of Julia Gillard in avoiding a vote on Andrew Wilkie’s reforms, and questioning how far Wilkie is likely to go in making the Government’s life more difficult, many commentators claiming the Prime Minister’s already low “trust bank” will increase the difficulty of explaining her backdown on the issue.

And just after Kim Carr announced aid for the auto industry, one major manufacturer announces hundreds of job losses, with many business commentators saying the end of the local industry is now all but inevitable. The company blamed global economic downturn, a high Australian dollar and low demand as the reason for the redundancies.

Quote of the Week:
"Before, I think you all thought I was a mental case but I was just young and emotional," ... "But I'm really glad the way I fought. That's the thing I'm most proud of, I fought for every ball." Victoria Azarenka, after beating Kim Clijsters in the Australian Open semi finals.

Crikey Political Index 19 - 25 January, 2012

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

So impressive how all the political commentators have realised that when Julia Gillard talks about not having the numbers in the Parliament to pass Andrew Wilkie’s pokies reforms, she means her own numbers, not the crossbench. Oh, you mean they haven’t? Some cynical types may suggest the only reason the P.M. has stepped in with a compromise to avoid a vote is that her Party was concerned Wilkie’s Bill might have somehow passed, not that it wouldn’t pass.

Meanwhile, Europe sinks ever closer to financial collapse and the Australian auto industry heads closer to the inevitable despite Kim Carr’s quixotic waves of his unmighty sword. Both the Government and Opposition seem reasonably keen to make the economy the main fight this year, with the always shy Bill Shorten leading the charge to tell us how grim its going to be and how responsible yet compassionate the Government will be in the face of good old Dr No on the other side.

Meanwhile the Opposition sticking to their guns on cutting auto assistance sets them up as trying to recapture the economically responsible high ground after their leader’s diversions into maternity pay and keeping cuts while blocking taxes. For all of our sakes let’s just hope the political debate is primarily an economic one this year and not all about boats.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	163	1,353
2	Julia Gillard	298	804
4	Andrew Wilkie	182	203
4	Bill Shorten	21	265
5	Kevin Rudd	19	173

Tony Abbott came quickly back to a dominant lead in online social media, while talkback doesn’t seem to have fully ramped up into political mode yet. Bill Shorten will be thrilled to be in the top five while pokies doesn’t seem to be creating as much stir online as it is on radio.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Heidi Klum	17	6	144	56	1,029	56

Heidi Klum may have been trending globally on Twitter, following the news about her split from musician husband Seal, but Australian media doesn’t seem to have been overly interested in the story.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 14 - 20 January 2012

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Australian Open tennis	1,953	14,144	8,102	7,280	14,285
Italian cruis ship disaster	454	8,298	7,955	1,280	12,867
Pokies legislation	497	8,982	5,433	1,220	6,575
Cricket v India	910	4,476	3,614	1,310	6,547
US presidential primaries	255	1,308	1,112	1,180	5,509

The Australian Open topped the list this week and Bernard Tomic is doing well making it through to the second round. It wouldn’t be tennis without some on court dramas and the most recent was the racquet bashing by Marcos Baghdatis. Tennis commentators speculated the future success of Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open but he had another win against Roddick, albeit due to injury; and were disappointed with Sam Stosur crashing out of the comp.

Not only a tragic story to be told with the death of 11 passengers on the luxury cruise ship the Costa Concordia, but information and details surrounding the incident are conflicting. Particularly surrounding the path that the ship was on, the reasons why the ship was so close to the coast and how the captain, Francesco Schettino, was steering the liner. Some reports say Schettino was saluting a former captain who was on the island. And as for the reason Schettino was off the ship before passengers, he made what most are describing as an extraordinary claim, that he fell into a life boat.

The Government seems to be backing away from pokies reform quicker than you can say Peter Slipper, but independent MP Andrew Wilkie insists reforms will still go ahead this year. Now, in what some have described as revenge, Wilkie said he will block Gillard government’s plan to cut private health care rebates. Some commentators claim online gambling will soon be an even bigger problem than pokies, while a couple of well known names in advertising and PR have tried to start a public campaign in support of the reforms, claiming pubs and clubs have been pouring millions into the anti-reform campaign.

Cricket commentators have described India’s tour of Australia as a disaster, while Australia has been wooing the media with their winning performance. The media is keeping an eye on upcoming star David Warner, describing him as a crowd pleaser and potential to captain of Australia for the Twenty20 against India.

Mitt Romney continues to be a front runner to go up against Obama in November, but still doesn’t have a majority of Republicans rallying behind him. Latest news is that Romney didn’t win Iowa, rather Rick Santorum did. Then again, these figures aren’t absolute either. Meanwhile, Rick Perry has dropped out just before the South Carolina primary, rallying behind Newt Gingrich. Recent polls show Gingrich in good stead despite some dirty laundry being aired about one of his former marriages.

Quote of the Week:

“That was one boat that did get stopped, wasn’t it?” Tony Abbott jokes about the Costa Concordia on FM radio.

Crikey Political Index 12 - 18 January, 2012

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Teresa Gambaro’s moment in the sun was as brief as it was ripe, and we actually have our first solid policy issue of the year only halfway through January, and with the Slipper in place, it looks like it’s going to be a year of realpolitik from the P.M. Andrew Wilkie up to second as the forces against poker machine reform felt more and more comfortable after Julia Gillard’s pointed refusal to reaffirm her support of mandatory pre-commitment, with Wilkie himself seeming to accede that his reforms will be watered down - if they get through Parliament at all. Nick Xenophon has moved to the dollar limit idea, which of course would be even worse for the pubs and clubs, so not much chance of Labor agreeing to that. Still no-one’s mounted a High Court challenge to pokies as a private form of taxation and therefore illegal. Might as well have a crack.

Anna Bligh is facing a mighty tough election campaign but was not talking about dates on the weekend. Instead she was joined by Kevin Rudd at a fundraiser memorial for Queensland flood victims and survivors and launched a social media app to aid preparedness for future natural disasters. Meanwhile WA Labor leader Eric Ripper is finally shuffling off after three years of dismal polls and repeated attacks from his own side, with Mark McGowan set to take his place.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	155	382
2	Tony Abbott	27	218
4	Kevin Rudd	84	75
4	Bob Brown	33	122
5	Andrew Wilkie	42	58

Abbott might not be making headlines in news media coverage, but social media coverage is still high for the opposition leader. There was Twitter chatter about the first poll of 2012 showing Gillard is preferred PM over Abbott. And Pokie reform tends to get talkback coverage fired up, so no surprise to see Wilkie in the top five this week.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Bernard Tomic	839	523	939	425	9,001	681

He’s been described as having the grace of a giraffe on rollerblades, but Tomic is proving himself in the tennis world winning the Kooyong Classic and starting well in the Australian Open..

Australia: Most mentioned issues 7 - 13 January 2012

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Sydney International tennis	646	7,322	5,945	372	14,285
Anti-whaling protestors	356	6,540	5,510	461	12,867
Anniversary of Qld floods	513	2,150	3,244	668	6,575
Cyclone Heidi	77	3,527	2,740	203	6,547
Auto industry assistance	509	2,408	1,797	795	5,509

Sport topped the list again this week with the APIA Sydney International tennis, but it didn’t dominate as the cricket had last week. Australians, Stosur and Hewitt have both exited from the Sydney International but hope to make come backs as they head down to Melbourne for the Australian Open.

The anti-whaling protestors who boarded a Japanese whaling ship were a close second in coverage with most public comment critical of their actions and the cost of returning them to Australian shores. PM Julia Gillard and Attorney General Nicola Roxon had to walk a fine dimplomatic line in securing their return – not condoning whaling while maintaining good economic and social ties with Japan.

It was the one year anniversary of the Queensland floods that devastated much of the state, with a number of memorial services and commemorations of the disaster.

WA residents are emerging from their homes after a category two cyclone caused havoc in the Pilbara. The tropical cyclone was downgraded to a category one as it moved inland, but news coverage has reported Port Hedland, a key export terminal, remains on red alert.

There was much debate about the long term future of the Australian automotive industry after the announcement of another round of Government funding for Ford and Holden.

Quote of the Week:

'Without trying to be offensive, we are talking about hygiene and what is an acceptable norm in this country when you are working closely with other co-workers,' Member for brisbane Teresa Gambaro after her initial recommendations for migrants to have lessons on the use of deodorant and how to wait in line.

Crikey Political Index 1 - 11 January, 2012

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Nicola Roxon was off to a busy start to the year in her new role as Attorney General dealing with anti-whaling, anti-logging, pro-publicity protesters who got themselves in hot water, so to speak, as they climbed aboard a Japanese whaling vessel. Roxon was quick to say we’d do whatever we could to get them back, while Julia Gillard, once the deal to return them had been done and after sniffing the breeze, took a tougher line and said people not in Australian jurisdictions breaking the law needed to suffer the consequences, while Bob Brown praised the protestors as “heroes for whales”.

Barry O’Farrell’s been getting plenty of coverage early in the year, enjoying the Sydney Festival delights, fending off the usual litany of transport and energy infrastructure concerns, and wanting people to stop smoking pot after a report claiming that Australian’s are among the highest cannabis smokers in the world.

The funky theme to the week continued with the first ever appearance of Coalition frontbencher Teresa Gambaro in the list as she suggested that new migrants needed to be handed some deodorant at the door. My knowledge of Italian is restricted to the ristorante, but I’m pretty sure Gambaro means prawn.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	341	1,064
2	Julia Gillard	390	562
4	Kevin Rudd	160	151
4	Bill Shorten	136	30
5	Nicola Roxon	37	110

Twitter chatter about Tony Abbott’s close encounter with a shark was comical, some of the tweets:
RT @mrtonymartin: Tony Abbott and shark just miss each other at Manly Beach. Says shark, 'I may not be so lucky next time'.
RT @chrismurphys: 'Shark sighted at Sydney beach just after OppLdr Tony Abbott got out of the water' Surprised shark didn't get out of the water. #auspol
Supporters of the whaling protestors criticised Gillard on Twitter for raising concern of the rescue cost, while others praised her for securing their safe return.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Beyonce	81	43	402	167	1,649	173

Pop diva Beyonce and Jay-Z celebrated the birth of their first baby on the weekend naming her Ivy Blue Carter.

Crikey Annual Political Index for 2011

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Last year it was close to a three-way tie at the top, with Tony Abbott wedged between the two Prime Ministers of 2010, at the end of the year doubtless still cursing that he hadn’t become the third Prime Minister of 2010. At the end of this year Tony Abbott’s party has moved to a commanding lead in the polls, but there has been only one Prime Minister and she received roughly twice as much coverage as the Opposition Leader, in something approaching a more normal media split.

Kevin Rudd still managed to get almost 100,000 more media mentions than Wayne Swan this year, as the terrible polls for the Government kept the ultimately unfulfilled Kevin 11 campaign alive. Kevin 12? It still seems fanciful, despite Julia Gillard’s end of year stumble with the Cabinet reshuffle.

The biggest movers were no real surprise, the new NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, the former still riding high and the latter enduring an annus horribilus somehow relatively intact. Greg Combet, as the driver of the key piece of legislation for the year (some would argue the century), was the other obvious move up the list.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	30,713	64,251
2	Tony Abbott	12.831	85,202
4	Kevin Rudd	6,794	13,260
4	Bob Brown	6,150	12,210
5	Wayne Swan	3,341	7,770

Talkback was all Julia and almost all unflattering, while Tony Abbott was the favoured pinata online. Overall no-one’s happy with anyone. I suppose no-one out there has noticed how bad everyone else’s politicians are in comparison to ours?

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Kim Kardashian	27	5	50	62	35,009	36

And so it goes, a person famous for starring in reality shows about absolutely nothing, her own adult movie that accidently went viral and a two second marriage, the perfect 21st Century celebrity.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 10 - 16 December 2011

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Cabinet reshuffle	552	8,912	7,776	1,170	18,410
Test cricket	1,129	7,648	5,583	2,690	17,050
Australian Masters golf	232	3,433	2,836	212	6,713
Papua New Guinea	186	2,689	1,939	458	5,272
Asylum seekers	225	2,537	1,430	848	5,040

Interesting changes in politics with the big news to end the year being the ministry reshuffle bringing in two more seats in Cabinet. Media coverage was generally critical of the reshuffle following the promotion of several factional heavyweights. While the PM clearly could not convince some Ministers to leave Cabinet, the one departure, Kim Carr, being vocal about his disappointment.

Following Australia’s Test loss to New Zealand the form of the team’s batting line-up is under even more pressure, with Phil Hughes, Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey all under fire. New coach Mickey Arthur has warned his team that India will be looking to expose their weaknesses in the four Test series, with Australian going in as underdogs at home.

Back to sport and the golf course at Victoria Golf Club for the Australian Masters. England’s Ian Poulter donned a head to toe purple outfit as he attempted to pick up end-of-season world ranking points, while world number one Luke Donald looked to top off a record breaking year with another win.

The political tension in Papua New Guinea with two men claiming the role of Prime Minister has most fearing violence. Although earlier this week the Governor-General swore in to office the former Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare after being reinstated by the Supreme Court, Peter O'Neill is refusing to concede power, and his supporters have since passed legislation stripping Sir Michael of his seat.

In the week of the anniversary of the Christmas Island boat disaster, the Federal Government plans to increase the number of boat arrivals released on bridging visas but is taking a tough line on behaviour in community detention centres. Eight teenage asylum seekers had their community housing revoked and were moved to adult detention centres.

Quote of the Week:

"Nearly 4,500 Americans made the ultimate sacrifice," he said. "We also know that these numbers don't tell the full story of the Iraq war. Not even close." Barack Obama welcomes the final troops from Iraq home and declares the eight and a half year war over.

Crikey Political Index 8 - 14 December, 2011

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Not too many bouquets for the Prime Minister for the last big piece of political news of the year, the reverse musical chairs of the ministry reshuffle which saw two more chairs brought into the Cabinet room as all the old kids refused to stop playing to let the new kids in. Media comment was generally unflattering, with the initial spin of more female presentation and the first woman Attorney-General being quickly swamped by the feeling that the compromises in the reshuffle had diminished the PM’s power rather than increased it.

The reshuffle certainly made for a different index this week with Shorten up to fourth, the only non-factional heavy appointment to Cabinet Tanya Plibersek up into the top ten, and the man most were calling the balance to Shorten’s rapidly increasing power, Greg Combet, close behind and the factional Marks not far behind him. When was the last time someone got the good fun of being Sports Minister while having a serious portfolio as well? Geez he must be good. Meanwhile Kevin likes Kim, and we presume Kim is fonder of Kevin by the minute.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	151	503
2	Julia Gillard	376	213
4	Nicola Roxon	60	338
4	Bill Shorten	78	280
5	Kevin Rudd	56	286

Roxon and Shorten, dubbed the big winners from the reshuffle, also had social media channels humming with chatter. Talkback and online commentators had a bit to say about Tony Abbott’s stance on same sex marriage and his refusal to give his party a conscience vote on the issue.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
George Clooney	154	13	427	19	3,057	153

Ok he seems quite attractive and lots of people like him, but does he have to flog those silly little pellets?

Australia: Most mentioned issues 3 - 9 December 2011

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Interest rates	664	7,870	6,909	2,350	17,793
Test cricket	933	6,933	5,532	2,270	15,728
ALP national conference	721	5,238	4,038	2,380	12,377
Gay marriage	757	4,046	3,140	1,910	9,853
Uranium to India	339	3,569	2,486	990	7,384

When the RBA cut interest rates this week all eyes were on the big four banks to see if they would pass on the cuts. After a two day silence ANZ moved first, passing on the full 25 basis points but announcing a decoupling from the Reserve Bank with a plan to announce its rate movements independently on the second Friday of each month. All the majors have now passed on the cut.

Young bowling star Pat Cummins’ injury setback received widespread media coverage as did the five wicket haul on debut by James Pattinson against NZ in the GABBA test match. Australia hopes to take their winning form into the second test beginning in Hobart today, on what appears to be a bowler’s deck.

The ALP National Conference dominated weekend news led by the gay marriage issue which will see the party to proceed to a conscience vote on the issue. PM Gillard’s opening address was reported as flat by the press and in some quarters the success of her reform agenda was questioned. This included MP Kevin Rudd who mocked her performance.

Senior Labor figures worked behind the scenes to protect Ms Gillard from an enforced parliamentary vote in favour of gay marriage. The Prime Minister urged delegates to speak their mind at the conference as she appears to have lost her push to retain the party's current platform position on the issue, which says marriage is between a man and a woman.

Australia will export uranium to India after the Labor Party overturned a decades-old ban on selling the material to nations that fail to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. As Gillard urged delegates at the ALP conference to modernise the party platform, left powerbroker Doug Cameron challenged her on the issue during a fiery debate which was interrupted by anti-uranium protesters.

Quote of the Week:

''I'm sure the fans were a little bit disappointed because they wanted to see Harry play, but Victory have got important games.'' David Beckham commenting while here with LA Galaxy to play Melbourne Victory this week.

Crikey Political Index 1 - 7 December, 2011

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

It’s been the coldest start to summer in 50 years and Julia Gillard got a cold response from some Labor party members on her plan to ship uranium to India. Albanese, Garrett and Conroy all spoke against the plan at the ALP National Conference last week. Garrett and Conroy moved up the list as a result from the media coverage of their objection.

And the other media favourite from the conference was the issue of same sex marriage which the government decided to put to a conscience vote. While thousands marched in support of legalising same sex marriages there was backlash from several groups and individuals. Labor’s approval of same sex marriage was not welcomed by Christian lobby groups and even WA tennis legend Margaret Court. And as for Gillard, she’s vowed not to support it while several party members steer towards legalising it.

The Gillard-Rudd feud continues with reports that Rudd was snubbed by Gillard at the conference. Gillard failed to mention Rudd as a former Labor leader in her opening address. Meanwhile, Rudd’s speech at the conference reportedly sounded like an election campaign, rattling off his achievements as leader.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	716	893
2	Tony Abbott	315	831
4	Kevin Rudd	116	267
4	Wayne Swan	61	177
5	Anna Bligh	34	102

Julia and Kevin’s stoush made up part of the online chatter, a frequently re-tweeted comment from a television program’s Twitter feed was this: Julia Gillard has asked Kevin Rudd to go and check out the new planet: 'Technically, it's foreign affairs.'

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Arthur Beetson	329	321	324	289	6,705	259

The passing of rugby league legend Arthur (Artie) Beetson was mourned by many with numerous tributes.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 26 November - 2 December 2011

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Test cricket	959	7,649	4,667	2,190	15,465
Murray Darling Basin	671	9,255	4,232	1,180	15,338
Budget update	527	5,278	3,941	1,156	10,902
Euro debt crisis	1,033	1,720	1,613	3,690	8,056
Asylum seekers	306	3,508	1,969	1,300	7,083

Marking the start of the summer cricket season, the test series commenced yesterday with three debutants wearing the baggy green against New Zealand. There was much concern over the rawness of the Australian bowling attack in the lead up to the game, although their strong Brisbane record and the Black Caps poor test ranking were in their favour.

The release of the draft plan for the Murray Darling Basin attracted media discussion as it was debated among environmental managers and landowners in the region directly affected by the proposed management plan. The draft plan proposes that irrigators will not have to give up as much water as first anticipated, but that their profits may still be affected and farming industries may face job losses.

The MYEFO was variously described by the Opposition as a “crisis mini-budget” and by the Government as a routine update, although the figures showed a $20billion shortfall in revenue due to soft global economic conditions. The main focus was once again on whether the Government will be able to stick to its pledge to deliver a surplus next year with the Opposition claiming that only accounting trickery can bring in a positive result.

Meanwhile, Share markets continue to swing wildly as the European debt crisis continues to dominate the world’s financial outlook. This week major European central banks joined forces to cut the cost of borrowing in a move to try and increase liquidity. Heads of Australia’s leading banks expressed fears of a deteriorating situation and have warned of possible increases to interest rates to reflect the crisis in global financial markets, just as the ratings agencies have reduced their credit ratings.

Recent weeks have shown a sharp increase in boat arrivals and a cost blow-out in detention centres, resulting from the failed offshore processing plan for asylum seekers. Onshore processing costs increased from the abandonment of the Malaysia Solution has left the budget with increased spending forecasts.

Quote of the Week:

"We didn't come here for a coronation or a campaign launch.” – PM Julia Gillard claims debate will be open and robust at the weekend’s ALP Natonal Conference

Outbreaks of sentimentitis – riding the social media tiger

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:00:00 GMT

It was deja vu all over again when the Twitterati presented Qantas with a public relations challenge earlier this month. The unexpected negative response on Twitter following the launch of an online competition was just one among several similar social media PR predicaments this year for brands, including Southwest Airlines, Kenneth Cole and Vodafone. As a friend - a Joseph Heller fan - who works in PR said recently, it’s enough to make you long wistfully for slapping a variant of Colonel Korn’s Catch-22 rule on Twitter: the only people permitted to tweet are those who never do.

To me, these social media developments brought to mind observations made in the pre-Social Media dark ages by a certain American Postman.

What the Postman Said

Educator and media theorist Neil Postman came up with an interesting term in 1985 to describe the relationship between information consumed and any resultant action: the Information-Action Ratio. Information in our age, said Postman, “comes indiscriminately, directed at no one in particular, disconnected from usefulness; we are glutted with information, drowning in information, have no control over it, don't know what to do with it.' Pretty good comment, made circa 1990, by someone with an Old Media last name.

Over the past 5 years or so, with the online Social Media explosion, Postman’s Ratio has gone completely askew, weighed down by the deluge of “information” washing across the online world every minute of every day. To paraphrase what I wrote two years ago, people have always been active with their responses, views and opinions, but they just never had the right tools to reveal their own thoughts and take their conversations to the wider world easily and simply. Now they do, with Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and a myriad of others. While the sheer volume of social media talk has unhinged traditional media types (or, as Norg Media CEO Bronwen Clune described them in 2009 at Media 140, ‘the audience formerly known as the media’) it has also overturned many public relations certainties for organisations of all hues.

The challenge facing organisations who are keenly aware that they need to do something about this revolution has sparked an innovative social media enterprise: expert services and tools to monitor and ‘filter out’ the noise for you, leaving only that which is most relevant to you.

But, for the Web, ‘relevance’ is a broad term (the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “Computing. The property of fulfilling the requirements of a user's search for information; the degree to which a document, web page, etc., fulfils such requirements”). Especially in the light of Postman’s Information-Action Ratio, this definition encompasses material of potential interest in addition to rarer information of pressing urgency. Within the ambit of media information that is ‘relevant’, what is singularly important is social media material with a potentially high Information-Action Ratio. The most imperative of all such media information is that which causes organisations to quickly roll out the PR heavy artillery for prompt reputation management: chain reactions of unpredictable user-generated negativity that erupt online. Because of its potential to cripple organisations’ cachet, it greatly helps to be forearmed to deal rapidly with such an eventuality - and to act promptly and effectively.

As the examples given early in this post show, when the negativity contagion gets out of hand, a single misstep can turn into a stumble in the social media minefield, causing reputations to fall apart. And bad news travels fast.

A bad case of Sentimentitis

What is it about negative sentiments that causes them to go ‘viral’, to use particularly apt social media-speak in this case?

First, it would do good to take a look at what the boffins have to say about why social media is so popular in the first place.

In 2009, just when Twitter was transforming from a tyro into an online phenomenon, I came across a quite interesting study by Princeton psychologist Emily Pronin and Harvard’s Daniel Wegner. The study focused on a link between situations that make you think fast and feelings of elation, power and creativity. However, the rush of positive feelings is seen only when the brisk thinking is varied; repetitive thoughts instead cause anxiety. This could partly explain the rapid growth of microblogs such as Twitter, vis-a-vis ‘slower’ social media such as blogs. ‘Tweets’ are often posted in relatively short bursts of activity, and the frenetic activity and varied content can leave microbloggers with a palpable dopamine surge.

An important ego-booster and motivator for tweeters is re-tweeting of their 140-word outpourings. Research at the Institute for Web Science and Technologies, University of Koblenz-Landau, suggests a potent recipe to increase the chances of your tweet being re-tweeted: a dash of negative emoticons, such as :-(, and generous helpings of exciting or intense sentiment, including annoying or unpleasant words. That old adage, ‘bad news travels fast’, holds very true for online social media as well - only, the velocity of this spread gets ramped up a geometric scale because of the massive connectivity that the medium provides!

And then, compounding the virulence, there’s the action-emotion link: the action of tweeting anti someone perceived as more powerful can itself cause feelings of emotional satisfaction (that dopamine surge again), thus feeding on itself and driving the social media user to tweet some more! And the language used by other tweeters on that topic, if it is trending and is emotionally provocative, will cause further ‘emotional action tendencies’.

The curious work of ‘rock star’ experimental philosopher Josh Knobe at Stanford University hints at an interesting insight that has relevance to our discussion. Knobe’s work suggests that situations that present enough detail for people to be able to make an ethical judgment are more likely to provoke a stronger negative response if they trigger cynicism, while any positive response in the absence - or paucity - of information inviting cynicism would be much more subdued. While tweetlengths do not lend themselves to much detail individually, it’s when tweeters begin to converge on a topic and start it trending that potentially damaging details (about the target of the ‘conversation’) can start to be shared at a furious pace, inciting further negative responses that lift up the Information-Action Ratio from the social media users’ perspective. This dramatically increases the chances that they will act in some way - mostly individually and online, but sometimes collectively and in the real world.

Ask a certain Hosni Mubarak about the potential consequences when the latter happens.

Conclusion

The conclusion from the above discussion almost goes without saying. Keep your ear to the ground and your antennae out for social media content with potentially ‘virulent’ negative sentiment, which has a potentially high Information-Action Ratio (from the users’ perspective). Act quickly but judiciously to quell the negativity when you sense the first hint of an outbreak.

Crikey Political Index 24 - 30 November, 2011

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

What a joy politics is. We all got to see the intricate charade of everyone pretending black was white, that any minority Government wouldn’t do just about anything to get an extra vote on the floor of the House and that Harry Jenkins had simply woken up one late November morning and decided he didn’t want to be Speaker anymore. Harry has undoubtedly proved his loyalty to the family business, while Peter Slipper has shown his loyalty to vice-royally enjoying his last two years in Canberra, although you can bet there will be 71 eagle eyes on the Speaker’s hospitality and travel bills from now on.

While the change in the numbers on the floor of the House was of course a massive issue, an issue with far longer term ramifications was the policy focus of this week, the release of the Murray Darling Basin plan by Tony Burke predictably leaving no-one happy, the only politically realistic result, but the result for both the environment and the sustainability of productive rural life in the Basin are far less certain.

Another event where humans intervened in natural processes for a less than positive outcome pushed Colin Barnett well up the list, with the Margaret River fires likely to lead to at least an extensive review if not an ongoing inquiry.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	228	1,087
2	Julia Gillard	355	884
4	Kevin Rudd	75	792
4	PeterSlipper	531	311
5	Harry Jenkins	241	368

Tony Abbott returned to the top of the social media list with the most online comments, while Peter Slipper’s motives were lambasted on talkback. Sorry folks, no-one gets the chance to vote either for or against Mr Slipper ever again, but I’m sure he’s taken your comments seriously nevertheless.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Kylie Minogue	175	115	435	112	3,734	209

Kylie Minogue’s induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame brought a tear to Molly Meldrum’s eye and the PM got some muso kudos, presenting the pop princess with the award.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 19 - 25 November 2011

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Mining tax	478	9,328	7,646	1,610	19,062
Danish royal visit	271	2,197	7,168	595	10,231
Transport industrial action	236	4,521	3,777	1,370	9,904
Speaker resignation	179	4,058	2,859	422	7,518
Margaret River fires	00	3,571	3,011	461	7,143

The mining tax was passed through the lower house this week and the ensuing media breakdown included reports that has been dimissed as inadequate by some critics and a shadow of comprehensive proposal put forward by the Henry Tax Review. The tax that was passed through the lower house will only tax coal, iron ore, gas and petroleum but not minerals.

We’ve had several important visitors of late. While Obama was here for a very brief visit, the latest special guests, the Danish royals have been around the country visiting various sites. Princess Mary in particular has visited hospitals, schools and joined by Prince Frederick attended a cooking demonstration in Sydney. Needless to say this visit has filled the pages of numerous celebrity focused magazines.

The dispute between Qantas and the Transport Workers Union took an interesting turn this week when the TWU abandoned legal action against challenging the Fair Work Australia ruling that no further industrial action be taken by parties involved in the Qantas industrial dispute. Qantas was quick to guarantee passengers that bookings can be made “with absolute certainty” of no further industrial action. Qantas also had to deal with a Twitter backlash this week when the competition they ran on the microblog opened the door for consumer criticism, and there was a lot of it.

Harry Jenkins resignation made headline news and his replacement Peter Slipper made front page news with tabloid media referring to him as King Rat. While the official line is that Jenkins wanted to return to government so he can participate in policy and parliamentary debate, others are saying the Government just landed themselves one more vote at the expense of Jenkins.

And in WA a controlled burn in the Margaret River went awry and emergency warnings were a little too late, leaving many without homes.

Quote of the Week:

"He's now Julia Gillard's problem and she may well find that he's an interesting one." Tony Abbott cast aspersions on the character of the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Crikey Political Index 17 - 23 November, 2011

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

The return to domestic issues after weeks of CHOGMs, APECs, G20s and assorted other acronyms brought Julia Gillard back to the field a little, while the last minute deals before the passage of the mining tax pushed the Lower House independents and Adam Bandt well up the list, with Wilkie, Windsor and Oakeshott eventually being rounded up, this time on a tax that probably has significant majority support in their own electorates. Brown and Bandt got their pound of flesh with their own as yet unexplained last minute deal while also conveniently distancing themselves from the miner-loving Andrew Wilkie. There’s no doubt the Greens think they’re a chance in Denison.

Over in South Australia new Premier Jay Weatherill is facing a couple of serious challenges. His State might lose its AAA credit rating and one of his ministers has been accused of travel rorts?

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	467	1,026
2	Tony Abbott	134	273
4	Kevin Rudd	24	268
4	Bob Brown	36	138
5	Anna Bligh	29	54

Julia Gillard took a rare spotlight with online chatter and talkback discussions over the week about the Obama visit and mining tax, some tweeters obviously experiencing Abbott-bashing fatigue. Lucky a certain aviation organisation stepped up to fill the void.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Pat Cummins	210	119	120	71	3,246	130

The 18 year old made one of the finest Test debuts ever and single-handedly saved a hurting Australian team from a series whitewash. At last we have a fair dinkum frontline bowler? Far too early to say, but hopefully the force is strong in this one.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 12 - 18 November 2011

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Obama visit	1,050	14,420	19,223	3,500	38,378
Uranium to India	469	7,107	4,407	1,624	13,607
APEC	364	5,675	5,284	1.270	12,593
President's Cup golf	945	5,297	4,986	764	11,992
Cricket vs South Africa	654	4,885	4,620	1,600	11,759

He may have only been here for 26 hours, but that didn’t stop US President Barack Obama’s brief visit to Canberra and Darwin from easily dominating the news of the week, the key policy focus of the trip being the announcement of a new U.S. base in Darwin, the announcement strongly supported by the opposition and strongly criticised by the Greens, while the rest of the coverage focused on the public amity between Obama and P.M. Julia Gillard and his public appearances.

Julia Gillard also used the opportunity of the week of Obama’s visit to further distance her Government from the Greens in the wake of the passing of the carbon tax by calling for the ALP to overturn its ban on uranium sales to India despite that country not being a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which sparked the expected opposition from key figures from the ALP’s left.

The APEC meeting in Hawaii last weekend focused on further developments towards a Pacific free trade zone plus agreements on lower trade barriers on environmental products and energy efficiency targets.

While most of the President’s Cup pre-tournament coverage focused on the enmity between Tiger Woods and his former caddy Steve Williams, now carrying the bag for Adam Scott, the coverage has now moved to the golf, the American team getting the better of the first day, although Woods and his partner Steve Stricker lost to Adam Scott and KJ Choi.

Following the once in a century batting collapse in the first test, there was intense pressure on the Australian team leading into the second test in Durban, who have responded with a decent bowling performance on the first day, although the death of renowned cricket writer Peter Roebuck cast a pall over the week.

Quote of the Week:

'Prosperity without freedom is just another form of poverty.” Barack Obama has a none too subtle rhetorical crack at China during his speech to Federal Parliament.

Crikey Political Index 10 - 16 November, 2011

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

It was Gold, Gold, Gold to the Coast, the good news predicted to have virtually no effect on the Bligh Government’s polling numbers as a snap December poll in Queensland was briefly touted by the media pack and quickly deemed unlikely. There’s nothing a Press Gallery hates more than relative political stability.

A new Police Commissioner in Victoria pushed Ted Baillieu up the list, while a slightly stronger focus on the economy in the media in the wake of the G20 and continuing Euro crisis helped push Penny Wong and Craig Emerson up the list, the new seriousness possibly having something to do with an unnerving lack of gossip to talk about at the moment.

Martin Ferguson makes the list as the P.M. uses the first opportunity after the passing of the carbon tax to try and put some distance between her and the Greens by backing uranium sales to India. We deduced that Marn thinks it’s a frackin good idea. Meanwhile Malcolm Turnbull continues to lead policy for his own party, backing $1 dollar limits for pokies and belling the cat on the severe difficulty of repealing the carbon tax. Which way do you think he’ll go on gay marriage, with polling showing even a majority of Coalition voters in favour?

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	468	348
2	Tony Abbott	93	628
4	Bob Brown	218	193
4	Kevin Rudd	57	187
5	Wayne Swan	62	52

Plenty of talk online about uranium, gay marriage and Mr Obama, those issues also getting a fair run on talkback as well, along with the mining tax, the Commonwealth Games and of course good old fracking.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Peter Roebuck	140	165	129	422	6,237	214

A tragic end for a talented man, an end that some have chosen to use to air allegations of all kinds. As a few insightful commentators noted, why didn’t they bring these allegations up while the man was alive?

Australia: Most mentioned issues 5 - 11 November 2011

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Carbon price	1,050	11,230	6,728	2,210	21,218
Afghanistan	618	8,931	9,171	2,360	21,080
Eurozone debt crisis	702	3,461	4,375	2,310	10,848
Conrad Murray	210	2,834	5,436	400	8,880
Transport industrial action	386	2,514	2,685	839	6,424

The Clean Energy Future Bills, better known as the carbon tax, are now effectively law after they passed the Senate this week to somewhat less fanfare than their passing in the House, although both the Government and the Greens were again battling each other to take full credit for the legislation, while the Opposition attack was lead by various frontbenchers, with Tony Abbott overseas.

Another terrible week for Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan, with the third incident this year of an Afghan soldier shooting at Australian troops leading to extensive further debate on both our short term and long term role in that country, with many commentators questioning whether any level of stability can be reached.

George Papandraeou has moved off the stage, and the focus has moved from the relatively small but intense problem of Greek debt to the far larger Italian economy, already being called too big to bail, PM Silvio Berlusconi finally falling on his sword after being humiliated by a vote in parliament and markets increasing the Italian bond rate to the same level as Greece and Ireland, causing massive falls on stock markets worldwide.

Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray was this week found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and is facing up to four years in prison. Outside the courtroom Jackson’s fans celebrated the verdict.

Fallout from the industrial action between several unions and Qantas over pay and conditions continued this week, with pilots starting legal action to regain the right to further industrial action, while the company gave away millions of dollars worth of free flights to passengers who had been affected and frequent fliers.

Quote of the Week:

"Disgraceful.” Michael Clarke’s summary of his team’s batting performance last night in South Africa. Australia were all out for 47, our lowest total since 1902.

Crikey Political Index 3 - 9 November, 2011

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

The dead cat bounce has become a definite trend upwards for the Government in the polls, still well behind but with all the numbers moving in the right direction, while Tony Abbott’s personal numbers continued moving in the wrong direction. The impasse on asylum seekers seems at the moment to be doing more damage to the Opposition, and many commentators are suggesting the repeal call on the mining tax is becoming more of a negative for Tony Abbott as well. The Government’s repetitive messaging painting Abbott as a grim opportunist plus the P.M. grabbing the chance to get industrial relations back as a central topic seems to have contributed, but in the polls the Opposition remains well ahead and the Labor Party’s primary vote remains historically low.

The passing of the carbon tax saw the Government and Greens battling each other once again to take all the credit, when in fact the two people that really made it happen (plus adding the only bit of Henry tax reform that has actually been legislated) are named Oakeshott and Windsor, Windsor also copping some from his dear friends the Nationals as they claim he has no influence on the Murray Darling Basin plans or coal seam gas. If he stands, there’ll undoubtedly be a shedload of love flying around in the next campaign for New England.

The other big mover this week was Doug Cameron, who does love a bit of media, whether it’s thumping away at the ALP hierarchy on totemic left issues like gay marriage in the past, or relishing the chance to rhetorically bash a managing director in Senate Estimates as he did this week.
The bad news of the week for the Government was the ever more bizarre Australia Network tender, which has now been suspended completely, the whole process looking ridiculously politicised and pushing Stephen Conroy up into the list while also keeping Kevin Rudd in the top five - despite some journos having to admit the prospect of a Rudd challenge for the leadership anytime soon is all but fantastical. That Tele front page is looking a wee bit silly now.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	120	782
2	Julia Gillard	407	300
4	Kevin Rudd	82	262
4	Bob Brown	67	154
5	Doug Cameron	56	119

You might say the nine months of monotonously repeated Dr No lines from the Government on Tony Abbott has finally had the effect of water upon a stone in online social media, but the highly critical recent analysis of Abbott from a number of Press Gallery heavyweights has probably had more effect amongst the Twitterati, while Julia Gillard remains enemy number one by the length of the straight on talkback.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Conrad Murray	95	168	191	130	4,310	146

A name that probably won’t be remembered very long by the vast majority of us, although the always subtle LaToya effectively summed up the feelings of many Jackson fans with her tweet: VICTORY!!!!!!

Australia: Most mentioned issues 29 October - 4 November 2011

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Melbourne Cup	3,394	15,101	15,126	7,440	41,151
Transport industrial action	804	5,205	5,021	2,840	13,871
Greek debt crisis	587	3,386	2,907	3,430	10,310
Asylum seeker policy	336	3,861	3,276	1,620	9,093
CHOGM	619	2,239	2,153	931	5,942

Another French raider, another Geelong Cup winner - Dunaden won the Melbourne Cup by the smallest possible margin over British import Red Cadeaux. The suspended Craig Williams, who missed out on the ride, could have been the first jockey to ride the winner of the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup in the same year. There was plenty of focus on the number of international horses in the race again this year, with many believing the lift in international profile was good for the Carnival.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was today facing a Senate inquiry following a tumultuous week for the company after it grounded its entire fleet last weekend, stranding thousands of passengers around the world, in an attempt to get a speedy resolution to ongoing industrial action. Media comment was sharply divided over the move, while the Government was highly critical, describing the move as “dangerous” and “unprecedented”.

Meanwhile, just when the world thought European leaders had worked out at least a medium term solution to the Greek debt crisis, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou threw everything into disarray by announcing he would hold a referendum on the agreed package, leading France and Germany to announce an ultimatum for Greece to decide on whether it wants to stay in the Eurozone, while Papandreou scrambled to back down from his position.

The tragic loss of life when an asylum seeker boat sank in Indonesian waters this week, saw the first signs of the Government and Opposition blaming each other over the ramifications of the current state of asylum seeker policy.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting closed in Perth and while the organisation’s Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma praised it as a successful event, questions are being asked about the local costs of hosting such an event, why the Indian prime minister was not present and whether the group has any relevance anymore.

Quote of the Week:

"In that sense I think everyone should be an anarchist," Noam Chomsky responding to Julia Gillard’s comment Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s motivations were “sort of anarchic”.

Crikey Political Index 27 October - 2 November, 2011

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

It all became about who said what to who and when as yet again the media focus became about the tactics and the personalities rather than the substantive issue of whether aviation is somehow a special industry that requires greater Government involvement than others, and what Qantas’s actions mean for the broader industrial relations landscape. But then all we in punterland really wanted to know was what time in the arvo Albo and Jules and Tony knew about it, don’t we?

Andrew Wilkie and Nick Xenophon leapt up the list after Tony Abbott left Wilkie with nowhere to go on pokies by “predicting” the Opposition would vote against any meaningful reform. An interesting tactical move by Abbott considering he may very well be needing Xenophon’s vote in the Senate if he wins the next election. Not that anyone in the media picked that up of course. You’d almost think The Opposition leader is purely focused on winning the next election by as much as he can and worrying about the policy consequences later. A bit like electricity privatisation in NSW? You may say that, we couldn’t possibly comment.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	238	478
2	Tony Abbott	44	493
4	Kevin Rudd	69	95
4	Bill Shorten	38	104
5	Anthony Albanese	66	58

Lots of focus on the PM’s stern response to Qantas as “extreme and irresponsible” with conversations dividing along ideological lines, plus of course plenty of chatter about whether Tony Abbott had prior knowledge of the Qantas move. .

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Kim Kardashian	115	28	303	71	3,507	129

So what lasts longer than a Kardashian marriage? Potentially, the trending Twitter topic #thingslongerthankimsmarriage.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 22 - 28 October 2011

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Spring Racing Carnival	1,317	7,242	7,779	2,600	18,938
Queen's Australia visit	1,805	3,825	5,314	2,670	13,614
CHOGM	522	5,255	3,157	2,430	11,364
Rugby World Cup	929	3,281	2,744	2,450	9,494
Turkish earthquake	216	3,108	3,210	1,090	7,624

A roughie with an odd name won the Cox Plate, Pinker Pinker sneaking home with a late run, while last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Americain was the focus of a lot of coverage of Tuesday’s big race, many pundits claiming he’s looking the goods once more, while the fashion circus surrounding the Carnival ramps up for its biggest week, with the Derby Day on Saturday, the Cup on Tuesday, and of course Ladies Day on Thursday.

The Queen has spent most of her time in Australia in Canberra so far, but this week she finally escaped the capital, stopping for a tram ride in Melbourne before heading to Perth for CHOGM. She arrived at Government House in Perth yesterday, where 1800 guests were waiting. News stories reported that the Queen wore turquoise number with matching hat.

Some commentators have been suggesting that the Commonwealth is in decay and fast heading towards extinction in the lead up to CHOGM, with the future relevance of the organisation reportedly the focus of many private discussions, while Kevin Rudd has been pushing for an official Commonwealth human rights watchdog and Julia Gillard calls on the Commonwealth to increase pressure on Europe to deal with its debt crisis.

Speaking of Commonwealth nations, the team that always had the Rugby World Cup in the bag almost looked like losing it during the big game. The French surprised everyone with their outstanding performance, after what was widely seen as an undeseserving win against Wales the week before. Many New Zealanders and possibly some of their Commonwealth compatriots were watching from behind the couch, while Australia won an entertaining if meaningless playoff for third.

Recent news from the destruction left by the devastating earthquake in eastern Turkey earlier this week has been about the battle rescuers have experienced trying to find survivors. The latest death toll has risen to over 450 people.

Quote of the Week:

"I did but see her on a tram. I hope the driver called her ma'am." Journalist Michael Shmith writing in the Age

Crikey Political Index 20 - 26 October, 2011

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Jay Weatherill, only the 538th new Premier to announce there would be “no spin” in his administration (what does that even mean, anyway? That the government won’t try and present their actions in the best possible light? Or perhaps using the Beattie tactic of successfully becoming the opposition to his own government?) was still behind his old boss on the list as Mike Rann finally left the stage after nine and a half years as Premier. The imminent CHOGM had the rest of the Premiers well up the list, particularly host Colin Barnett.

Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott got plenty of coverage after polling of their electorates showed them struggling, while a better set of polls for both the Government and Julia Gillard (off a dire base) had most of the Gallery ignoring that as a dead cat bounce and focusing on the increase in opposition to the carbon tax, while a few noticed Tony Abbott’s personal rating slipping below -20. Might be a moment for psephologists to remember?

Other movers included Malcolm Turnbull as Telstra shareholders signed off on the NBN deal, and Anthony Albanese, who was the chief public executioner of former Ombudsman Allan Asher.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	560	866
2	Tony Abbott	177	904
4	Kevin Rudd	108	167
4	Anna Bligh	38	105
5	Jay Weatherall	91	8

An easy win in interactive media overall this week for Julia Gillard, much of it on the crucial issue of the curtsy, but Tony Abbott still squeaked a win online, with plenty of comments about blood promises, many of them in predictably poor taste.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Black Caviar	390	158	249	144	4,695	235

She’s got most of the media coverage with her continued domination this Spring Carnival, even though she won’t be appearing in any of the headline races. Which brings us to the question - why is the only super high profile sprint race in Australia for two year olds?

Australia: Most mentioned issues 15 - 21 October 2011

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Rugby World Cup	1,317	7,242	7,779	2,600	18,938
Spring Racing Carnival	1,805	3,825	5,314	2,670	13,614
Asylum seeker processing	522	5,255	3,157	2,430	11,364
Carbon price	929	3,281	2,744	2,450	9,494
Transport industrial action	216	3,108	3,210	1,090	7,624

Big news this morning was that former Libyan dictator Moamar Gaddafi was captured and killed. News of his death only released in Australia this morning was just out of the top five most reported stories of the week.

Meanwhile it was sport that topped the list again this week with the Rugby World Cup in number one spot. It’s looking like an All Blacks World Cup,after a dominant win over the Wallabies, while France were extremely lucky to beat a 14 man Welsh side, with much Australian coverage focusing on the poor form of Wallaby 5/8 Quade Cooper.

The Caulfield Cup has been run and won, the favourite breaking down before the home straight, while the Cox Plate is on this weekend, with the international horses already starting to make their presence felt before the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday week.

A cabinet leak about the government’s asylum seeker offshore processing legislation was not exactly what the government needed. The latest news that another asylum-seeker boat arrived off Western Australia came in as Admiral Ray Griggs warned of the dangers of turning boats away. This warning from Admiral Griggs has given Prime Minister Julia Gillard another opportunity to attack opposition leader Tony Abbott and his ideas for dealing with asylum seekers.

Tony Abbott has started to receive criticism from a number of media and business commentators over his commitment to repeal the carbon tax whatever it takes and his timeline for doing so, as well as his warnings to business to not buy any permits as they won’t be honoured by an Abbott Government.

Latest reports on the transport industrial action is that this may go on for months yet with possible disruptions to air travel well into December.

Quote the Week:

"Chances are, I'm going to fail at this. I've become comfortable with that.” Ian Thorpe sets expectations as low as possible in the lead up to his first competitive swim since returning to the sport.

Crikey Political Index 13 - 19 October, 2011

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

A Cabinet leak added to the Prime Minister’s woes, with much of the media taking it as a sign of imminent collapse, or at least a further strong sign of decay, with the polling during the week actually slightly better for the ALP but still very poor for the P.M. (and not much better for Tony Abbott, but no-one’s too worried about that). Criticism of Julia Gillard’s tactics on the offshore processing legislation was heavy and widespread, the only silver lining may have been Kevin Rudd dropping back to third on the list.

Chris Bowen and Tony Crook leap up the list thanks to the focus on those asylum seeker tactics and the Cabinet leak, while Sarah Hanson Young and Bob Brown leapt up the list thanks to another leak of sorts, the Federal Ombudsman coming under intense pressure after giving Hanson Young questions to ask him at a Senate Estimates meeting.

By Tuesday the focus was finally turning to another issue, plans for the extension of the NT intervention giving Jenny Macklin a rare visit to the Top 20, while Mike Rann’s (some would say slightly self-indulgent) slow wave goodbye continued.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	243	1,231
2	Julia Gillard	566	846
4	Kevin Rudd	163	150
4	Bob Brown	88	175
5	Barry O'Farrell	51	59

While Julia Gillard cops it from all sides in traditional media, Tony Abbott continues to be the more favoured punching bag online, with Tweets such as “Abbott acting like a kid threatening to wreck the joint unless we give him the top job.” Barry O’Farrell joined the top five this week, with some online comments about accusing him of creating a boys club.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Quade Cooper	377	59	72	272	2,920	195

About as popular as the P.M. at the moment, Quade was poor all tournament, although the loss to the All Blacks involved all 15 of ours being outplayed by theirs.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 8 - 14 October

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Carbon Price	947	14,278	9,158	2,780	27,163
Rugby World Cup	1,177	7,299	7,017	1,480	16,973
Transport industrial action	223	6,001	5,502	1,140	12,866
Asylum seeker processing	332	3,246	2,732	1,270	7,580
Bali drug arrest	233	1,321	1,143	2,450	5,147

Legislation for carbon price, the movie as the satirical duo on 7:30 John Clarke and Bryan Dawe referred to it, passed through the lower house of parliament this week. While it has been reported in Australia as an unpopular law, and polls have also shown ties linking PM Julia Gillard’s unpopularity, a US magazine The Atlantic named Gillard in its list of brave thinkers of 2011. Meanwhile much of the coverage focused on the kiss and embrace between Gillard and foreign minister and her former boss Kevin Rudd.

Over to sport and now that Australia is through to the semi finals in the Rugby World Cup, coverage has increased. The Wallabies play fierce rivals The All Blacks in a semi final match on Sunday. Former Wallabies stars have said the Australians have a good chance of winning this. Brett Papworth and Simon Poidevin have said that if they can rattle the New Zealanders as all the mental stress is on them, being on home turf and without star player Dan Carter there’s a winning chance for the Wallabies.

The latest news on the transport workers strikes is that the battle between Qantas and unions is not likely to end any time soon, in fact it could escalate. Media commentators have said that both parties in the negotiation have dug in with their respective views and neither is willing to capitulate on key issues, namely pay rates and maintenance practices.

With one major peice of legislation through, the Gillard government had hoped for a second, but ended up having to abandon plans of offshore processing for asylum seekers after Tony Crook confirmed he would be voting against it, ensuring defeat in both Houses. The PM and Opposition Leader continued to blame each other while Crook called on them both to compromise, and others called it an unintentional win for human rights.

And the latest on the 14 year old Australian boy caught up in the drug scandal in Bali is that an earthquake shook the police headquarters compound in which he was being held. The boy is due to be moved from police custody into a rehabilitation centre.

Quote the Week:

'I am giving you the most definite commitment any politician can give that this tax will go.' ... 'This is a pledge in blood.' Tony Abbott in response to the carbon bill.

Grief Marketing for Posthumous Success

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

It is just over a week since Steve Jobs died, but on Etsy, a website for crafters to sell their creations, there are already 185 Jobs-related items for sale. At least 70% of those items were listed for sale since his death. On Facebook, one of my contacts remarked that he intends to get a black turtleneck in Jobs’ memory. My friend was not alone; an article on PCMag.com reported that Steve Jobs’ black turtlenecks have had a huge surge in sales. Headlines dredged up from Google also mentioned that Jobs’ biography has been a hot item over the past few days and cynics predicted accurately that the iPhone 4S, which launched to lukewarm reception just the day before Jobs’ demise, will enjoy a sales boost.

All this buzz has not been unexpected and indeed, many of us saw it coming. After all, had we not seen a similar trend with other well-loved celebrities? Within a week of Michael Jackson’s death, 422,000 copies of his albums were sold and more recently, when Amy Winehouse passed away in July 2011, 50,000 of her CDs were sold in the week that followed. The day that crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin, died, “eBay was auctioning off t-shirts, mugs, and other memorabilia”, reports Margaret Gibson in her academic paper on public mourning of celebrity deaths. Posthumous success is a phenomenon ingrained into our culture, as The Band Perry sings, “A penny for my thoughts - oh no, I’ll sell them for a dollar; they’re worth so much more after I’m a goner” in their hit song, If I Die Young.

So what is it that compels us to part with hard-earned currency upon the death of a celebrity we only know from afar? In one word, the answer to that question is ‘influence’ – more aptly, media influence.

Wall Street Journal writer, Terry Teachout, muses upon posthumous success of creative artistes and comments that obituaries summarize achievements, reminding us of their works which we have come to take for granted. Their deaths also bring about what he calls a “scarcity effect” as we realize they can no longer produce new works. Another perspective is offered by Steve Jones and Joli Jensen in their book entitled “Afterlife as Afterimage: Understanding Posthumous Fame“ (2005). Like Teachout, Jones and Jensen cited the role of the media, seeing it as attempting to locate and profit from the celebrity process. To the authors, posthumous fame is seen as analogous to religious fervour, in that commodified dead celebrities are akin to sacred figures, and merchandise and memorabilia are like relics to be collected.

In Jobs’ case, both theories apply. Media coverage calls to attention the ups and downs of his life, discussing his perseverance in the face of adversity. Some listed the many patents that are under his name and some reminded us how different the world would be without his influence. The narrative offered us in the media is that Jobs is an inspirational figure, a hero and a role model whose passing many mourn after. As cultural historian Leo Braudy has said, “the real definition of fame is memory” and an easy way to remember Jobs’ life is to own something associated with him. Would that not be reason enough to pick up the new iPhone 4S as many have done? I reckon it would if some of Jobs’ perseverance and ingenuity would flow into our ears through our iPods, seep into our fingertips on our iPads, or do both on our iPhones. As the saying goes: there’s only one way to find out.

Image (my tribute #1 to steve jobs) courtesy of Ioran on Flickr under CC Attributions Licensing.

Crikey Political Index 6 - 12 October, 2011

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

The distressing circumstances of a 14 year old boy in gaol in Bali quickly became part of the Kevin Rudd for PM speculation, with virtually all the media running the line that Rudd was using it to run hard. He’s certainly been giving plenty of media conferences on foreign affairs issues but he’s actually been pretty quiet beyond that. That didn’t stop most of the media claiming a broad media push, which of course became a self-fulfilling prophesy, getting Rudd up to three-quarters of Gillard’s coverage in a week that was meant to be all about the carbon price.

Tony Crook was a bolter, suddenly fiercely in the spotlight, despite his vote on the offshore processing legislation essentially being irrelevant as it’s already dead in the water in the Senate. But once again that hasn’t stopped the media whipping themselves into a frenzy, some claiming his vote will decide Australia’s entire border policy. No it won’t. The other bolter was Graham Perrett, who has now had his 15 minutes in the sun before becoming the latest short serving Member for Moreton.

On the more serious side, Greg Combet up for obvious reasons, and Albanese not Rudd is the one who has been popping up anywhere anyone will talk to him, presumably to prove what a great manager of parliamentary business he is, while Campbell Newman has had a shocker of a week. Whether that translates to any movement in the polls in Queensland remains to be seen.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	315	483
2	Tony Abbott	121	595
4	Kevin Rudd	227	403
4	Anna Bligh	45	56
5	Wayne Swan	37	54

Not much difference between the top three, with Tony Abbott maintaining his strong presence in mainly unfavourable online chatter while talkback is all about the Labor leadership.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Steve Jobs	579	488	731	713	11,567	628

The traditional media coverage was large, but nothing compared to the online avalanche of tributes (and occasional brickbat) for the product and marketing genius, who has probably ended up overshadowing the other titans of information technology..

Australia: Most mentioned issues 1 - 7 October

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Tax Forum	777	11,174	7,535	1,230	20,716
AFL FInals	1,834	7,991	7,818	2,810	20,453
NRL FInals	1,669	6,791	9,086	1,660	19,206
Rugby World Cup	1,258	4,596	5,967	897	12,718
Steve Jobs	196	2,846	3,922	1,400	8,364

The tax roundtable that was promised to the independents when forming government with ALP took place this week and saw a predictable clash between unions and business. The prospect of a new business tax system based on expenditure rather than income emerged from the forum, while Company Tax was slated to fall. While the opposition labelled the summit a “pointless talkfest”, reforms to corporate tax losses were identified as potential relief to companies pressured by the high Australian dollar. So too tax cuts were touted by Treasurer Swan who promised to lift the tax-free income threshold to $21,000, delivering a cut for everyone.

The weekend footy finals dominated media coverage with wins for AFL’s Geelong and NRL’s Manly. It was always likely to be a Cats v Magpies AFL grand final and the match up was a classic battle, finally going Geelong’s way. Manly played on home ground to win over the Warriors last Sunday. The latest news reports that Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler has been snapped up by Canterbury after being reportedly offered $2.2 million to join the Bulldogs in 2013.

Coverage of The Rugby World Cup is increasing as we head into the quarter finals. Australia will be hoping for a win over South Africa this weekend to remain in the competition.

The passing of Steve Jobs after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer was big news at the end of this week. Tributes are flowing around the world with many commentators suggesting that he was a revolutionary who was brave enough to try and change the world, and he did. On a lighter note, a newspaper cartoonist depicted Jobs waiting at the pearly gates only to be ignored by St Peter who is too engrossed by his iPhone to notice.

Quote the Week:

"Stay hungry, stay foolish.” Apple CEO Steve Jobs drew from pivotal points in his life
when urging graduates to follow their dreams in his famous Stanford University commencement address of 2005.

Crikey Political Index 29 September - October 5, 2011

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

The tax summit…er forum…er friendly chat helped push Wayne Swan up to second, swapping places with the happy little vegemite down at the Foreign Office. Penny Wong also makes a rare return to the top ten, making soothing noises about an “ongoing process” rather than any actual results. Like we didn’t know? Meanwhile everyone has talked about all the stupid state taxes that need replacing but the obvious option of increasing the GST remains unchewable. The popcorn philosopher might note that the only sort of governments that can get away with proposing something that non-populist is one going as well as Barry O’Farrell’s or as poorly as Julia Gillard’s. Come on then PM.

Meanwhile, Kevin Rudd may have moved down to fourth, but Bob Katter was busy keeping the comeback rumour alive, and perhaps just trying to get a little more publicity for his new party and claim a little more relevance than he currently has?

Stephen Conroy the other big mover thanks to the Andrew Bolt court case, the large majority of this debate being particularly insular to the media class, certainly not seeming to have made much of an impact either way out in the real world. There may need to be more than one case before a larger debate about where the limits of free speech should be, if anywhere.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	289	555
2	Julia Gillard	325	484
4	Kevin Rudd	104	160
4	Andrew Wilkie	104	48
5	Wayne Swan	45	98

Wayne Swan may be the feature act at the tax forum, but he’s still not getting them through the turnstiles out in the public forum. It’s been a relatively quiet week for the PM which keeps the Opposition Leader at number one, though with lower volumes than last week.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Amanda Knox	106	257	501	338	5,288	301

Knox would have made fourth on this week’s list, showing that prurience is alive and doing very nicely thanks.

What’s the Australian obsession with Twitter?

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Many readers are likely to be approaching this post with a degree of skepticism, and whilst reminding you of the need for a catchy title, I’m still willing to accept a certain level of doubt. After all, Australia is not even amongst the top 10 countries when it comes to Twitter reach across the population. Less than 10% of Australian’s visit the microblog as of August 2011, which clearly doesn’t stack up to the dizzying obsession of places like the Netherlands, where one out of four people tweet.

However, one loss is another’s gain for Kevin Rudd MP, who is now the biggest fish in a relatively small pond. His list of one million followers represents half of Australian Twitter users - or 1% of the entire Twittersphere. Even so, such numbers associated to local tweeters (sorry if that’s getting twedious) are not even close to the towering stats we associate with Facebook, which has 10.5 million profiles in Australia - almost half the population.

For those of you who aren’t across these ever-changing social media stats, the skepticism may simply stem from the view of Twitter as mainly a trivial broadcast of an individual’s menial existence, where the only redeeming aspect is the person’s offline profile (be it physical or otherwise). Kim Kardashian has, after all, gathered almost 10 million followers (slightly less than Barack Obama, but a lot more than Mr Rudd!) with timeless tweets like: “I think it's new background time!!! I want to find a new one!”

So while I accept these views aren’t without foundation, Twitter reach in Australia has nevertheless almost doubled since January 2011. Its use as a public platform for User Generated Media (UGM) is already higher than any other in the country. And although Facebook is accessed by many more Australians on a much more frequent basis, this is mostly for private social interactions. The public Groups on Facebook do receive a lot of ‘likes’ and ‘fans’, but the time spent and the content uploaded on these pages compared to that within a person’s private network, is extremely low.

So, when it comes to expressing their public opinion and sharing the news and issues that matter most, many Australians really are obsessed with Twitter.

While this position may now come as no surprise, Twitter’s dominance as a single channel for online public opinion is actually exaggerated in Australian social media relative to its Asia Pacific neighbours (excluding perhaps New Zealand). In countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, the conversations are typically much more evenly spread across a multitude of influential forums and blogs. In others like South Korea, Twitter is overshadowed by local microblogs such as me2DAY while, similarly, in China Twitter doesn’t even exist and the China-only Weibo rules (to give further context, Weibo acquired its 100 millionth user in February ie. Six months earlier than Twitter!).

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/bmasia/bm-asiapacific-social-media-infographics-bookletaug2011

I believe there are three key factors contributing towards Twitter’s position in Australia, which I will explore in soon in an update to this blog. I’m sure you’ll agree that they deserve their own post!

1. The youth of Australian social media
2. Freedom of press
3. The rise of mobile

Until then, happy tweeting!

Global coalition to establish standardised international social media measurement

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:00:00 GMT

As a committee member of AMEC (the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication) I’m pleased to announce that after much hard work, three leading international communications groups have formed a new coalition to define, develop and promote industry-leading standards for social media measurement around the world.

The coalition aligns top communications research and measurement consultants from AMEC, the Council of PR Firms (CPRF) and the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) and aims to build on initiatives by the three associations, including community discussion at conferences held over the past 18 months in Barcelona, Portsmouth, London, Miami, Lisbon and Philadelphia.

The aim is to provide much needed expert guidance for clients to navigate the changing media landscape using data based on sound social science and widely accepted methodologies - bypassing proprietary barriers to map out standards based on a broad industry perspective that address key social media measurement challenges, such as content sourcing, influence, sentiment, engagement and ROI.

For more details please click here.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 24 - 30 September

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
AFL Finals	2,238	13,734	12,958	5,230	34,160
NRL FInals	2,010	10, 140	10,612	3,450	26,212
Rugby World Cup	1,260	5,350	4,265	1,380	12,255
Transport industrial action	170	3,474	2,815	5,270	11,729
Michael Jackson trial	104	1,705	3,645	5,846	5,846

Not much of a surprise to see the Magpies and the Cats up against each other in another AFL Grand Final this year. Latest news reporting on the respective line ups with Geelong’s star player Steve Johnson still in doubt of playing after injuring his knee in last Saturday’s preliminary final. Meanwhile, reports are that Collingwood’s Dayne Beams is out and 19 year old Alex Fasolo will play instead.

With a slightly lower volume of coverage than AFL, news about the NRL grand final this weekend was also mixed with fears of missing players due to injury. News that two Manly players missed the grand final breakfast due to illness created speculation that they would not be fit for this Sunday’s match. Latest news however reports that both Anthony Watmough and Tony Williams are both expected to play.

If all goes to latest predictions in the Rugby World Cup the Wallabies could be matched up against the Springboks in the quarter finals. Not an ideal match for the Wallabies who are lacking form and have an injury riddled side.Air travel has had been interrupted this week with industrial action. Union leaders this morning were saying on radio that this could be resolved in an hour if the airlines were willing to come to the party, while airline management focused on the disruption to both travellers and the image of the business caused by the stopages.

Meanwhile the ports also saw industrial action over a pay dispute.Michael Jackson’s doctor went on trial this week and court reports have revealed interesting details of the pop star’s last days. A recording of Jackson while under the influence of one of his prescription medicines was played to jurors and released to the media. Jackson, bearly recognisable in the recording was in stark contrast to his energy during his show rehearsals.

Quote the Week:

“I feel that writing frankly about multiculturalism, and especially Aboriginal identity, yesterday became too dangerous for any conservative. It’s simply safer to stay silent, or write about fluffy puppies instead.” Andrew Bolt’s column the day after he was found guilty of breaching the Racial Disrcimination Act.

Crikey Political Index 22 - 28 September 2011

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

He’s baaaack. It’s looking decidedly like a three horse race, at least in volume of coverage terms, with the Prime Min…er, I mean Foreign Minister, getting three quarters of Julia Gillard’s coverage this week off the back of some claims from the top end (geographically, not politically) of overheard conversations plus a misspoken word from the man himself. But to cut the press gallery some slack, with polls like these you’re going to get stories like this, no matter how much meat is on behind them.

Euromoney magazine voted Wayne Swan best finance minister in the world last week and even that couldn’t get him into the top three. One indicator of the bizarreness of Australian politics is that if you stepped back and looked at the facts and figures, you would presume the man the PM would have to be looking over her shoulder at is the Treasurer, just like every other PM before 2007. But poor old Swanny’s not even a contender.

The NRL and AFL football clubs aren’t happy with independents Andrew Wilkie and Nick Xenophon as they push their poker machine reforms. Football codes have joined Clubs Australia in action against the reform.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	441	412
2	Kevin Rudd	352	308
4	Tony Abbott	230	429
4	Wayne Swan	82	265
5	Bob Brown	36	80

Speculation that Kevin Rudd was going to challenge Julia Gillard for the PM spot had talkback and online social media buzzing with conversations. Despite this, political experts were adamant that Rudd might have popularity with voters he certainly doesn’t have the same respect in the caucus.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Dane Swan	238	230	435	136	4,767	260

2011 Brownlow Medal winner Dane Swan, excited by his record 34 vote win, is focusing on Saturday’s grand final match.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 17 - 23 September

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Asylum seeker processing	653	8,325	5,128	2,030	16,136
Rugby World Cup	1,149	5,124	5,960	1,210	13,443
AFL Finals	1,365	4,794	3,301	2,880	12,340
NRL FInals	1,399	4,774	3,480	1,280	10,933
TWU industrial action	174	4,061	3,757	412	8,404

Dominating the news this week was the process of getting amendments to the Migration Act through parliament. The legislation looks set to fail with both the Greens and Opposition opposed, with Tony Abbott remaining opposed to a Malaysia Solution, once again calling for the PM to resign, amongst media speculation that Kevin Rudd is planning a leadership challenge. There was also criticism of Mr Abbott’s stance as effectively ensuring the end of offshore processing.

Into the finals season for AFL and NRL as well as the Rugby World Cup and media coverage is jam-packed with the oval ball sports. The surprise loss to Ireland had sports commentators questioning the Wallabies’ ability to get into the finals. Meanwhile in the other codes it’s looking like another Collingwood v Geelong grand final and in NRL the Storm and Warriors compete in the preliminary final this weekend.

Flights affected by industrial action have kept the story of aircraft maintenance engineers and their union’s coordinated strikes in the news. Qantas spokesperson Olivia Wirth has been in the news claiming that the company is one of the best employers offering conditions that far outweigh their competitors.

Quote the Week: "Australians are anchored deep into the bottom third of that quirky Happy Planet Index that measures national fulfilment and personal wellbeing, as disconsolate about their lot as Sudanese, Nigerians and Americans, who've more to be glum about than multi-home owning, wine-swilling, yacht-sailing Aussies globetrotting with their muscular currency, of which they possess much. Even economically embattled Greeks and over-politicised Palestinians are apparently more content than Swan's dejected lotus-eaters" EuroMoney magazine calls us world-leading whingers as part of its article naming Wayne Swan as Finance Minister of the Year.

Crikey Political Index 15 - 21 September 2011

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Extraordinarily, the focus has moved so completely to the asylum seeker issue that Greg Combet actually fell six places and Greg Hunt moved off the list altogether. If it’s all been an elaborate set up to get the focus off the carbon price legislation as it passes through parliament, its working so far, but looking at the polls the cure is no better than the disease, at least on Party votes. I think we can safely presume it’s not an elaborate set up. But even stranger is Scott Morrison down three places, as the boss takes over most of the running.

Stephen Conroy well up the list thanks to the media inquiry, in which the media seems fascinated, which is odd as it usually hates talking about itself, endlessly, constantly, ad nauseum. Malcolm Turnbull you would have thought was up the list for the same reasons, but he’s actually been relatively quiet on the media inquiry, more of the coverage focusing on his decision not to speak on the carbon price.

And then there’s the independents. Nick Xenophon for reasons that don’t need any further airing, Rob Oakeshott for channelling both Lord Crapper and Steve Fielding and Andrew Wilkie as the pubs and clubs step up the campaign against poker machine reforms once again. All in all your average week in Canberra.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	508	517
2	Tony Abbott	181	755
4	Kevin Rudd	138	121
4	Chris Bowen	39	113
5	Wayne Swan	36	111

Kevin Rudd may have more Twitter followers than the other politicians on this list, but it’s Tony Abbott that netizens like to talk about. Radio talkback continues its focus on Julia Gillard with talk of an upcoming scene in the ABC comedy, At Home With Julia, among some of the talkback buzz.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Guy Pearce	67	81	138	16	2,034	41

An unusual acceptance speech is highly likely to make the news. Guy Pearce’s acceptance speech for his Emmy Award certainly did that.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 10 -16 September

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Carbon Price	770	7,801	5,492	2,060	16,123
US Open Tennis	527	6,214	6,251	1,570	14,562
Rugby World Cup	1,253	3,977	6,500	1,890	13,620
Craig Thomson	1,282	2,897	4,084	5,240	13,503
Libya	614	5,630	4,505	2,160	12,909

A big week for news on legislation, sport and reflection on a tragedy. The carbon pricing scheme was introduced into parliament this week and media coverage focused on the short amount of time given for debating the legislation. The Bills now go to the committee stage for three weeks before the final vote.

Sam Stosur’s win of the US Open made headlines, breaking a grand slam drought for female Australian tennis players since 1980. Stosur was praised for her graciousness against her not so graceful opponent Serena Williams, while other commentators questioned her marketability and even suggesting she lacked a marketable charisma.

With the first round down and many of the smaller countries exceeding expectations, most commentators have been buoyant about the competition in 2011, with none of the 100 point scorelines of previous World Cups’ seen yet, although there have been no major upsets so far.

Marking ten years since the September 11 terrorist attacks there were many stories of survival and endurance from a tragedy, and reflection on just why and how these events took place. The ideological and theological differences between cultures made news again as did discourses about human resilience and symbolism denoted by the attacks on iconic structures like the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

As we commemorated the tragedy of 9/11, Australia is still debating how we process asylum seekers. A focus on ‘breaking the people smugglers business model’ continues and offshore processing is seen to be the solution to this, although neither major party will agree on where that offshore processing should be.

Quote of the Week: "Just got to a million twitter followers. Thanks to all. One guy said it's time for a new twitter pic. How about my 1977 mo photo? KRudd" Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd’s tweet when his twitter follower count hit one million this week.

Crikey Political Index 8 - 14 September 2011

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

While most of the other supposed contenders for the top job drifted well down the list this week, one K Rudd stayed well in the top five, staying in the leadership spotlight after a poll put him 30 points ahead of his boss as preferred Prime Minister and with a good chance of winning an election against Tony Abbott. Even though most of those press gallery pundits know he has a snowball’s chance of getting the votes where he really needs them, the ALP Caucus, polls like that make for plenty of entertaining if futile speculation.

Nick Xenophon moves up the list for what some might say was a clear abuse of parliamentary privilege and a very dangerous precedent, but of course we wouldn’t opinionate like that in this column. Greg Hunt the main mover for obvious reasons, but perhaps more interesting than his appearance this week has been his quietness for the past couple of months.

Stephen Conroy moves up thanks to the still pretty vague media inquiry as some of us wonder what it’s meant to achieve, other than a bit of News Ltd bashing? Let’s be real, Australians now have far more news media options available than ever before, and if they don’t choose to exercise those options, well…that’s their choice.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	438	486
2	Tony Abbott	248	663
4	Kevin Rudd	213	335
4	Craig Thomson	188	254
5	Bob Brown	35	92

The Malaysia Solution and leadership woes were regular topics of online comments about Julia Gillard. Tony Abbott thinks Mr Bean should play him in a television series and there were many online comments in agreement.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Samantha Stosur	442	812	832	291	16,453	594

A long awaited grand slam win for an Australian woman and what a fine one it was. An impressive and graceful win over the not so charming Serena Williams.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 3 - 9 September

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Malaysia Solution High Court Decision	682	5,251	4,810	2,290	13,033
Rugby World Cup	1,024	2,752	5,035	1,890	10,701
US Open tennis	289	5,581	3,856	781	10,507
Craig Thomson	206	3,523	3,901	1,760	9,390
Libya	463	2,064	2,300	2,550	7,377

The High Court ruling on the government’s Malaysia Solution not only put into question how Australia is now going to deal with people seeking asylum but also Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s leadership. Speculation of Gillard’s leadership came soon after the High Court ruling which just added to the lack of popularity for the current government. According to a Newspoll after the decision, Gillard’s approval rating was at an all time low at 23%.

The first matches of the Rugby World Cup commence this weekend. The Wallabies meet Italy for the first match with a good chance of winning that game, but former Wallaby David Campese has his doubts about their overall World Cup chances. According to Campese the side is too young and lacks the experience to win the tournament.

While rain has stalled much of the play at the US Open, Samantha Stosur has made it through to the semis and in with a chance to be the first Australian female Grand Slam winner since Evonne Goolagong-Cawley won at Wimbledon in 1980.

The High Court ruling on the Malaysia Solution slowed media coverage on the Craig Thomson scandal, only to arise again when NSW authorities decided they did not have sufficient evidence of any crime to pursue a prosecution. The case has now been handed to the Victorian Police.

The search for Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi is still on with reports coming out of the embattled country continuing to be sketchy. The new Libyan leaders say they have a dedicated special unit on the case. Leads about Gaddafi’s whereabouts are mostly coming from on-the-ground tips, but help is also said to be coming from French intelligence officials.

Quote the Week:

''To say that 600 boat arrivals a month would create social chaos is nonsense and scaremongering at its very worst. In the last decade, 75 per cent of asylum seekers came by air and not by boat'' John Menadue, former Head of the Department of Immigration

Crikey Political Index 1 - 7 September 2011

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Julia Gillard’s Annus Horribilis reached new lows after the High Court decision on the Malaysian asylum seeker swap deal, and the media immediately went into overdrive with leadership speculation, with not just one Banquo but two appearing in the forms of Kevin Rudd and Simon Crean, along with Stephen Smith, Combet and Shorten and almost everyone else. The most obvious choice is of course bringing back Latho and then he and Abbott can sort it out in the ring. An equally predictable result, but at least entertaining.

Chris Bowen seems to have been ruled out as a leadership contender, at least for now, and the silver lining for the Government was Craig Thomson slipping down the list to sixth, while most of the premiers also moved down the list as the focus came firmly back to Canberra.

The exception to that was Barry O’Farrell and his Treasurer Mike Baird, bringing down a fairly sizeable deficit in their first Budget, most of the money going to try and prove to all those first time Liberal voters in Sydney’s west that there will be actual transport improvements well underway by the next election, some of them maybe even finished!

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	739	1,847
2	Tony Abbott	177	1,028
4	Kevin Rudd	227	417
4	Anthony Albanese	78	164
5	Craig Thomson	42	161

There was impassioned talkback and online chatter about Julia Gillard this week with a few fans and many haters. Kevin Rudd leapt into the list with mainly favourable comments, but surely they and certain journos must be dreamin’. Either that or they simply don’t understand politicians’ egos.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Sally Pearson	87	48	167	76	3,124	95

The best hurdler in the world, I do hope she rang the PM and gave her some tips.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 27 August - September 2

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Malaysia Solution High Court Decision	403	8,674	7,090	1,440	17,597
Libya	550	5,092	5,708	4,850	16,200
Hurricane Irene	475	3,159	5,076	1,810	10,520
Daniel Morcombe	320	3,037	5,413	1,230	10,000
US Open tennis	420	4,081	3,209	497	8,627

The Federal Government was dealt a major blow on Wednesday following the High Court’s ruling against the Malaysia solution. The Opposition, the Greens and asylum seeker rights groups all applauded the decision, with the Government claiming the decision casts doubt on any offshore processing, while the Opposition continued its calls for Nauru to be used once more.

There have been jubilant scenes in Tripoli this week, with rebels capturing most of the city, although the search for Muammar Gaddafi continues. Libyan rebels have given an ultimatum to Gaddafi loyalists to surrender this weekend or face attack. While the search for Gaddafi continues, conflicting stories emerged from two of Gaddafi’s sons, one offering peace, the other promising a ‘war of attrition’.

Hurricane Irene battered the US East Coast early this week, although the hurricane had reduced in strength to a tropical storm by the time it hit most of the coast, it still took over 40 lives and caused millions of dollars of damage.

The confirmation of the finding of Daniel Morcombe’s remains was widely reported, with the family announcing they would now be able to properly mourn their son.

Samantha Stosur is through to the third round, but Bernard Tomic and Jelena Dokic both fell in the second, while Novak Djokovic continued his dominant form in the first week of the US Open in New York.

Quote the Week:

“I think it’s an elegant policy.” Chris Bowen continues to defend the now defunct Malaysian asylum seeker swap following the “deeply disappointing” High Court ruling.

Crikey Political Index 25 - 31 August 2011

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

The Craig Thomson issue continued to take up much of the political oxygen, with everyone trying to claim everyone else was involved in improper processes in either badgering the police on the issue or trying to sweep it under the carpet. Rumours that Thomson could be asked to quit the party and sit on the cross bench were rejected by Anthony Albanese as the Government continued battening down hatches.

The travails of the steel industry, the other, perhaps slightly more important issue dominating the political landscape, got the personal touch from both leaders this week, Julia Gillard meeting with trade unions and workers in Wollongong in an “I feel your pain” exercise, while Tony Abbott scared the pants off blue-blood Liberals once more by giving more than a wink to the idea of protectionism.

Kevin Rudd is back and in full swing moving up 12 spots. According to a Galaxy Poll published this week, Kevin Rudd was the only Queensland MP that would still have his job if an election was held last week, while the steel job losses brought Chris Evans into the top 20 for the first time this year.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	392	1,934
2	Tony Abbott	179	1,230
4	Craig Thomson	434	486
4	Kevin Rudd	85	116
5	Anna Bligh	54	68

Julia Gillard topped Tony Abbott online for the first time in a while, although the criticisms continued for both leaders, one tweet about Abbott called him Australia’s first free-trading protectionist..

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Happy Feet	74	5	79	1	633	40

The emperor penguin that lost his way and ended up in New Zealand was shipped home to Antarctica. In the words of veterinarian Lisa Argilla: “He wants to leave … He is ready and he's really stroppy”.

Australia: Most mentioned issues August 20 - 26, 2011

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Libyia	559	8,511	9,231	2,460	20,761
Craig Thomson	479	8,671	7,536	1,280	17,966
Manufacturing job losses	439	5,706	4,607	1,360	12,112
Carbon price	970	4,692	3,070	2,000	10,732
Brisbane house fire	84	3,514	3,849	1,180	8,627

Libyan rebels have toppled the country’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi, and occupy the capital, Tripoli. While the rebels have had success on the battlefield, critics question the long-term political and economic plan of their political party, the National Transitional Council. They say it lacks transparency and question the criteria used to select members. Only time will tell, as the complex issues Libya will need to deal with unfold over coming months.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard accused the opposition of using “Liberal mates” to pressure NSW police into investigating Labor MP Craig Thomson over credit card misuse. The opposition is in relentless pursuit of the matter and if Thomson is forced to resign it would force a critical by-election in his NSW central coast seat of Dobell.

Following the announcement that BlueScope Steel will be sacking 1,000 workers, there have been calls for measures to protect local manufacturing. Anger has been expressed over the mining industry’s use of Chinese steel for the billions it is spending on construction. The Australian Workers’ Union has expressed anger at the BlueScope Steel’s retrenchments while executives were awarded bonuses.

Legislation for the Government’s carbon pricing scheme is to be presented to parliament in mid-September. PM Gillard has said local manufacturing will benefit from the carbon price as local industries will play a crucial role in the emerging high-tech, low carbon economy. But an independent report has predicted the carbon price will drop shortly after its implementation in 2015, meaning fewer flow-on costs for households, businesses and renewable energy spending.

The tragic story of the Brisbane house fire in Logan is still unfolding as Queensland Police assess the scene and retrieve the bodies of those who lost their lives. The community created a wall of tributes for the 11 people killed in the fire.

Quote the Week:

'I’ve always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.' Steve Jobs, the ailing tech visionary who founded Apple Inc. resigned as chief executive of the technology giant and handed the reins to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook.

Crikey Political Index 18 - 24 August 2011

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Volume up across the board after a brief dip during the winter break. Neither Julia Gillard nor Tony Abbott can blame publicity seeking by Kevin Rudd or Malcolm Turnbull for their latest poor personal ratings in the polls, with Kevin Rudd way down in the second half of the list and Malcolm Turnbull off it altogether, but Tony Abbott will be feeling the far more sanguine when looking at the party votes, clearly sticking to the catechism that Oppositions don’t win elections, Governments lose them.

Craig Thomson was of course the PM’s most pressing immediate headache this week, although big job losses in manufacturing also fed the migraine, while COAG kept the Premiers high on the list, most happy with progress at the meeting despite some bravely going down in their attempt to stop the carbon price, which I’m sure was a deep shock.

Apart from Craig Thomson, the Independents were the main movers, most variously defending the working man and the farmer from the evils of the big end of town and that terrible free trade thingy that has in general made us all so wealthy, while another attacked the “evils” of gay marriage, but all getting themselves out and about in the retail fashion that got them into the parliament in the first place, while Craig Emerson stuck up for both the benefits of free trade and Craig Thomson in a busy media week for him. Well, at least he’s on one winner.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	911	718
2	Tony Abbott	316	1,312
4	Craig Thomson	555	801
4	Wayne Swan	57	103
5	Anna Bligh	65	67

A threeway race in social media, with most callers and tweeters reflecting unfavourably on Mr Thomson’s perceived judgment and/or perceived personal habits. A lot of people to potentially sue…not sure that’s going to happen.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Polly & Waz	45	13	63	76	952	49

The latest reality sensation is an old sensation. Perhaps interesting that people seem to be into renovation once more despite the flat property market? Or perhaps there’s just nothing else on.

Australia: Most mentioned issues August 13 - 19, 2011

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Daniel Morcombe	374	7,061	10,040	1,980	19,455
Carbon price	1,125	5,688	4,020	1,090	11,923
Arrest over collar bomb	24	4,603	5,981	625	10,693
London riots	732	1,535	1,940	643	4,850
Live exports	258	2,539	675	652	4,214

The mystery surrounding missing teenager Daniel Morcombe was big news this week with an arrest after almost eight years. The media revealed that Brett Peter Cowan has been charged with the murder of Daniel Morcombe. A shoe found on Cowan’s property this week was considered a breakthrough towards finding Daniel’s body and is currently undergoing DNA testing.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott returned from holiday and straight into the anti-carbon tax rally. Receiving a rock star welcome while trying to avoid standing near derogatory banners about Julia Gillard, Abbott continued his call for an election, while Greg Combet admitted the carbon price would continue to be a difficult sell for the Government.

Paul Douglas Peters was arrested in Kentucky this week for the Madeleine Pulver collar bomb case. News of the arrest staggered Peters’ family, his older brother Brent Peters saying that he would not be capable of carrying out such a thing. Similarly, Madeleine Pulver’s family were “completely baffled” as to why they had been allegedly targeted for extortion.

Investigations and arrests following last week’s shocking riots in London commenced this week. Facebook postings allegedly used to incite the violence and the riots were used to make arrests. Two young men were charged to four years prison over the postings. These sentences were seen by many as harsh and one London newspaper reported that the postings did not lead to any violence.

Live exports to Indonesia have resumed with the first boatload of cattle arriving this week. Meanwhile, a bill to permanently end live exports will be debated in the lower house this today. Animal welfare groups maintain that live exports is inherently cruel while cattle producers say they have high animal welfare standards
.

Quote the Week:

“Well, on the face of it, I didn't understand what it was.” Craig Thomson explains why he approved a $2,475 bill from an escort agency racked up on an HSU credit card.

Crikey Political Index 11 - 17 August 2011

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Another disturbing increase in normalcy, with state politics continuing to take up a greater proportion of the political discussion and Tony Abbott back to second after making a splash pretty much on his first day back. The miners v farmers controversy also pushed Bob Brown right up into the top five and helped make Bob Katter the biggest mover, while many traditional Liberals were in quiet apoplexy at the perceived agrarian socialism of Abbott’s comments and Brown’s immediate support.

Penny Wong’s impending parenthood moved her well up, while Bob Katter also had plenty to say on gay marriage. The Government probably won’t be too distressed to see Greg Combet slip off the list this week, as the carbon price issue continues to slowly drift down the news list, notwithstanding rallies and ad campaigns. The SA interregnum also moved down, while Colin Barnett continues to spout forth on any issue that takes his fancy as the senior Liberal government leader in the land.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Tony Abbott	182	1,272
2	Julia Gillard	491	694
4	Bob brown	106	167
4	Wayne Swan	127	123
5	Anna Bligh	46	52

Tony Abbott leapt to the top, almost entirely thanks to the blogerati commenting on the miners v farmers issue, getting almost twice as many comments as Julia Gillard, who maintained a big lead on talkback, still thanks mainly to Malaysia and carbon.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Miranda Kerr	65	15	83	92	898	64

Certain retail companies are desperately trying to get a bit of sizzle back in their brands, I suppose If Miranda can’t do it, no-one can.

Australia: Most mentioned issues August 6 - 12, 2011

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
London riots	603	9,272	9,765	585	20,225
Malaysian asylum deal	351	5,271	4,746	445	10,813
US debt crisis	1,042	1,741	2,526	2,660	7,969
Carbon price	1,264	3,392	1,506	769	6,931
Syria	187	993	365	1,230	2,775

The unexpected outbreak of rioting and looting in the UK received extensive news coverage. The riots and youth-driven looting started in North London then spread to other English towns. The death-toll includes three men run over while protecting shops in Birmingham. UK PM David Cameron said Scotland Yard was considering a ban on social media for those known to be plotting violence as public scrutiny fell on Twitter, Blackberry Messenger and Facebook.

The Malaysia solution for asylum seekers was delayed by a High Court injunction led by Melbourne refugee lawyer David Manne. The government may now have a second off-shore processing option as Papua New Guinea re-opens its Manus Island immigration centre which could be ready in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile another boat of asylum seekers landed on Christmas Island overnight.

The US share market bounced around wildly this week, beginning with a dip on Monday amid fears of European debt trouble and a US recession, yet overnight there was another rebound. Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan and experienced traders stress that despite instability in the US and Europe, Australia remains on healthy economic ground.

News coverage of a carbon price eased slightly but discussion - predominantly in print and on talkback radio - continued to question the validity and impact of the scheme on climate change. Likewise, debate continues over which community groups and organisations will be affected the most.

As unrest in Syria grows, so does its news coverage here, including reports of a mosque in the Sunni city of Deir al Zour being shelled. Sunni cities continue to be targeted as President Bashar al-Assad, from a Shiite sect, tries to dissuade the Sunni majority from continuing its protests. The Obama administration has said that Syria would be a better place without President Assad.

Quote the Week:

"I'm sick of everyone having a crack at Warnie. Both of our new looks are all natural." Comedian Dave Hughes jokes about Scrawny Warnie and the end of Twitter speculation about ‘Hurley and Burly’.

Crikey Political Index 4 - 10 August 2011

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Tony Abbott was off spending a few Swiss Francs, but he only dropped three spots, while Acting Opposition Leader Warren Truss, the man with a Ludwig-like public profile, moved 29 spots. He still couldn’t manage the top ten, despite having plenty to talk about with the Malaysian solution immediately in trouble and a global share market collapse, with the Opposition already smelling blood on the 2012/13 surplus commitment. Perhaps that’s why we have responsible government, so politicians can adapt to the current conditions, rather than making commitments way into a financial future that so clearly is a mystery to everyone? Just a thought.

Wayne Swan’s reply has been that the Opposition is causing all this turmoil with their economic potty mouth, while the IMF did him a favour, saying the local market is in great shape to withstand another global market crisis. Meanwhile Chris Bowen put his sternest no exceptions face on, as the complexities of the asylum seeker issue continue to mount up and Tony Burke popped up in the Kimberley to try and calm down those Broomers who don’t want an enormous LNG project on their doorstep.

Mike Rann finally gave a date for his departure, a couple of months away, the whole process again bringing into severe doubt the professionalism of the professional politicians in the Labor movement.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	501	746
2	Tony Abbott	62	847
4	Wayne Swan	78	390
4	Chris Bowen	135	82
5	Kevin Rudd	170	44

Tony Abbott might be sunning himself in Europe, but that hasn’t slowed down discussion about him in online social media. The share crash and Malaysia deal stalemate saw Wayne Swan and Chris Bowen move up, while talkback comments continue to target Julia Gillard.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Nancy Wake	112	421	325	66	3,829	231

Tributes were numerous as news reported on the passing of the WWII resistance heroine known as The White Mouse.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 30 July - 5 August 2011

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:15:00 GMT

US debt crisis	903	5,476	5,381	1,780	13.540
Malaysian asylum deal	402	5,465	4,523	710	11,100
Carbon price	1,470	4,180	2,257	1,640	9,547
Mosman bomb scare	179	2.887	3,030	2,260	8,356
Health reform	527	2,795	1,901	1,740	6,963

The US impasse is over, with a deal struck this week to raise the US debt ceiling, thus avoiding America’s first ever default. The media reported no-one was happy with the final deal, including the US President Barack Obama, and it didn’t stop global sharemarkets from tumbling. Overnight, US stocks fell 4%, the largest one-day percentage drop since February 2009, as new data heightened fears of a further slowdown in the global economy. Not a welcome birthday present for Obama who celebrated his 50th birthday.

The implementation of the Malaysia solution commenced this week with the first group of asylum seekers reaching Christmas Island for processing. In regards to unaccompanied minors, the Gillard government is saying they will make no blanket exemptions for any group but this issue is being watched closely by refugee rights groups and the Opposition.

Discussion of the carbon price is finally moving lower than other issues, although it remains a key topic of debate, particularly in the press. Numerous polls continue to show Australian voters are not supporting the carbon price. Over the weekend, British Prime Minister David Cameron praised Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s carbon price package as “bold and ambitious”. Cameron also described Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as being “out of step with just about everyone around the world” on climate change, while the Opposition Leader pointed out that the UK is a very different economy to Australia.

And in a normally quiet Sydney suburb, a teenage girl faced a frightening 10 hour experience. Madeleine Pulver, daughter of a wealthy businessman, was attached with a suspected explosive device in her family home in Mosman. Neighbours had to be evacuated while bomb experts worked on the device. It turned out not to be an explosive and the girl was safe but the media coverage was intense.

The Government announced the finalisation of health reforms changing the funding relationship with the states. This reform is said to end the blame game, but time and patients will tell.

Quote the Week:

“It’s proof that he's earning every last one of those grey hairs." On his 50th birthday, Michelle Obama notes the difficult decisions her husband has had to make.

Crikey Political Index 28 July - 3 August 2011

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

State politics finally got a look in this week after Federal issues dominating political coverage for several months, as the powerful few in South Australian Labor politics decided it was time for the kiwi to move on. The leader who can pick the right time to quit is becoming rarer and rarer, after a brief surge last decade thanks to Carr, Bracks and Beattie. Of course none of them got 48% of the vote in their last election, which you’d think might have made the writing on the wall all the easier to see…

Meanwhile, the flood inquiry pushed Anna Bligh and Campbell Newman up the list, with Stephen Robertson copping most of the opprobrium and the Government promising to raise the Wivenhoe dam walls while Newman claimed the high ground on dam levels before the flood.

As Federal focus slowly starts to shift from the carbon price, State premiers were also getting plenty of coverage with the long awaited completion of the hospital reform, the Opposition claiming it had been all give and no take from the PM, as she desperately seeks some good news and a different theme to taxes or boats. Speaking of which, the latest Essential poll shows that the majority of Australians don’t like the Malaysia solution, but doesn’t make it any clearer what they do want. Each asylum seeker treated harshly but humanely, strongly deterred but in a respectful way? Here’s my punt - the average Australian spends roughly 0.0% of their week thinking about that one.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	501	746
2	Tony Abbott	62	847
4	Kevin Rudd	78	390
4	Mike Rann	135	82
5	Bob Brown	170	44

Julia Gillard continues to be the number one target of the mainly negative comments about all politicians on talkback, while Tony Abbott continues to cop slightly more online. Comments across both media run at about 3 to 1 critical of both leaders, the very small volume for Abbott on radio an interesting development. If you’ve got nothing nice to say about your less disliked alternative, don’t say anything?

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Zara Phillips	116	27	287	88	1,766	130

Zara wanted a quiet wedding. Was this ever possible? Television and magazines just love a royal wedding.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 23 - 29 July 2011

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Tour de France	1,166	6,640	8,671	2,447	18,924
Carbon price	1,898	5,780	3,385	3,545	14,608
Hendra virus	308	3,974	3,642	1,096	9,020
Norway	469	2,246	2,812	2,248	7,776
Asylum seekers	579	2,375	1,866	1,145	5,965

Cadel Evans’ historic Tour de France win garnered saturated media coverage this week, driven by dramatic television footage of cycling endurance. Evans, the first Australian to win the Tour de France, paid tribute to his late coach Aldo Sassi describing his win as a victory both for Australia and for clean racing.

Three weeks since details of the government’s carbon pricing scheme were released and mainstream media attention waned substantially, though the issue remained the highest covered in print media. Recent polls show public support for the government scheme has increased slightly, while Liberal leader Tony Abbott seized on a report that PM Gillard proposed a bipartisan deal on a 5% reduction in carbon pollution when she was Kevin Rudd’s deputy.

Speculation about the risks of the Hendra virus increased as a dog became infected in Queensland. Trepidation surrounding the virus – which is spread by fruit bat dropping - increased when experts from the CSIRO verified little is known about the risk of dogs passing the virus to humans.

The tragic mass murder in Norway, considered to be one of the world’s most peaceful nations, shocked all and sundry. As the story unfolded, reports emerged that the murderer had meticulously planned the attack, posting a 1500-page manifesto online before he struck. European correspondents from every international news service rushed to the scene to cover the unfolding tragedy.

The US impasse over the nation’s debt ceiling gained more prominence this week as the deadline for resolution draws ever closer. Local stories reported that Australian stocks had slumped and that despite a very weak domestic retail sector, interest rates could still rise in response to likely inflation caused by the strengthening Aussie dollar.

Quote the Week:

A year from the start of the 2012 Olympics, and with the top three spots sure to be occupied by powerhouses USA, China and Russia, Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said Australia's focus would be to battle it out with Britain, France and Germany for a top five spot.

'If we can finish ahead or close to the Brits we will be in the top five, there's nothing surer,' said Coates.

Crikey Political Index 21 - 27 July 2011

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott were still on the campaign trail debating the carbon tax, but the media is finally starting to move on, the US impasse over the debt ceiling finally making it through the parochial filter, if only after Glenn Stevens’s speech. The occasional journalist started to actually put two and two together after being explicitly told the answer was probably four on Australia’s stagnant retail and U.S. and European financial uncertainty, while a few punters in social media and talkback cottoned on that maybe people just aren’t that keen on buying a whole lot of crap they don’t need anymore. Don’t expect that theory to appear in the business pages.

The signing off on the Malaysia solution for asylum seekers occupied much news space this week and saw Chris Bowen jump ten spots. This left Tony Abbott in the somewhat strange for him if nevertheless highly defensible position of claiming the Government were being too harsh on asylum seekers. Have Labor just given a lot of inner city lefties a good excuse to keep voting Green despite Gillard’s action on climate change? Quite possibly, but Tony Burke was doing his bit to get them back, popping up in Tassie to push along the forestry agreement.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Turnbull ripped into climate deniers, once again more effectively than anyone in the Government. Turnbull continues to deny that he is trying to undermine his leader, but internal criticism poured from several of his colleagues, calling for him to shed his “bitter and twisted” mindset. Will the currently slumbering beast of massive ideological differences within the Liberal Party be awakened? The promise of impending power remains the ultimate aphrodisiac, so probably not.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	323	1,023
2	Tony Abbott	206	1,051
4	MalcolmTurnbull	173	271
4	Kevin Rudd	66	238
5	Bob Brown	57	211

Talkback about Julia Gillard subsided significantly this week. Instead, Malcolm Turnbull took over as enemy number one, but we’re sure the PM will be back in the frame soon enough..

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Cadel Evans	891	1,454	1,962	523	22,812	1,208

Crikey, he’s a tough little bugger, and does the lack of any massively dominant performances or extraordinary form turnarounds during the Tour mean cycling has entered a post drugs phase? We can but hope.

Brandtology: Social Media Metrics

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

As congratulations rain in on the news of Media Monitors’ acquisition of Brandtology (three months on and clients are still congratulating us on the merger) and the launch of 360m analysis and consulting in the ANZ market, a few people have followed up the good cheer with a question about the ‘Holy Grail’ that would be combined Media Analysis Reports.

This unified media report would ideally integrate both mainstream and online media. Indeed, a report that provided deep analysis and correlation between both online and mainstream media has been on the top of our clients’ wishlist since we first began, and the merger is a huge leap in the right direction. But as we await more progress on combined reporting, in the meantime I’d like to write about the evolution of Social Media Metrics since Brandtology began.

Sentiment and Buzz have always been the simplest metric when organisations choose to measure their online efforts, however, as the industry matures and understands social media better, many realise these metrics are not enough to help them to measure their brand engagement, their marketing efforts or specific areas of their social media activities.

Clients are starting to ask the right questions about Social Media Metrics. What we at Brandtology had initially done was to introduce the SMI (Social Media Index) into our Digital Conversation Management System (DCMS). They focus on the four major elements of Social Media: Engagement; Reach; Influence; and Net Sentiment. (For a more detailed explanation visit http://www.brandtology.com/blog/dcms-v2-5/)

The SMI has been used by all our clients across different industries to focus their social media efforts on areas that need help. Some clients, like Microsoft, Nokia and RIM, have gone astep further and incorporate our metrics in their Digital KPI Scorecard for both marketing and PR.

However, as the late, great composer Charles Mingus put it, “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”

Putting our creative minds to work, we worked with Nokia to produce the Nokia Social Media Index. This customised Social Media Index consists of the four SMI metrics which are then given a decided weight. Next, an index is derived from this, which ultimately allows the client to have a simple yet effective gauge of their Social Media efforts.

As clients get more acquainted with social media, we foresee a demand for metrics that will incorporate the KPIs for mainstream media (audience) and the other elements of online media (like click-through rates and page views) allowing organisations to gain a more holistic view of their brand. So, we look forward to a future together leading the market with highly relevant metrics.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 16 - 22 July 2011

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Carbon price	2,897	12,437	7,523	7,078	29,935
News of the World	995	10,364	12,716	3,023	27,096
Tour de France	433	4,850	4,411	1,218	10,912
Afghanistan	328	2,985	1,291	1,070	4,773
Asylum seekers	299	1,433	739	324	2,795

The Carbon price continued to dominate Australian news coverage, but only just ahead of the phone hacking scandal surrounding the now closed News of the World publication. While details of the carbon price and associated compensation has dominated domestic news for several weeks, polls, social media and talkback have shown support for the reform remains low.

The focus of the News of the World phone hacking scandal moved this week to the parliamentary inquiry fronted by Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, with the appearance of the Murdochs halting the decline of the News Corp share price, while Brooks has been charged and Metropolitan Police chief Paul Stephenson resigned.

As we head over the Alps and into the final days of Tour de France, the race is proving to be one of the closest ever, with Andy Schleck making his move, Cadel Evans still in a strong position to become the first Australian to win and Thomas Voeckler clinging on to the yellow jersey by the skin of his teeth, while previous champion Alberto Contador looks gone.

Criticism of Australia’s strategy in Afghanistan from former chief of the Army, Peter Leahy, has been brushed aside by Julia Gillard. Leahy believes Australia’s strategy is confused and should focus on nation building with the involvement of civilians.

The federal government could sign the refugee swap deal with Malaysia next Monday, while Kevin Rudd has started negotiations with Papua New Guinea for a possible asylum seeker deal.

Quote the Week:

"I have no further comment to make at this stage. However, this may change." – Glenn Mulcaire, the PI at the centre of the NOTW phone hacking scandal, intimates he may speak publicly about the allegations.

Crikey Political Index 14 - 20 July 2011

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Tony Abbott up to about two-thirds of Julia Gillard’s coverage as Gillard dropped back from the wall-to-wall media presence of early last week, letting the taxpayer-funded ads take up the slack, while Abbott maintained his steady pace through radio and TV. The polls meanwhile remain diabolical for the Government, Tony Windsor admitted the Government would probably lose the next election, but at least they’d done the right thing. I’m not sure all of the ALP caucus is feeling quite that philosophical.

The News of the World controversy certainly took some of the coverage away from the carbon price this week, and there’s been much discussion of Bob Brown’s call for an investigation into the media in Australia, with plenty of shots fired back, and not just from News Ltd. Add the increasingly strange Australia Network tender process and Stephen Conroy made a rare leap into the top ten, still beaten by his opposite number, who just loves the crisp clean air of New England – the truth flies so much faster up there.

Meanwhile the Liberal Premiers and Campbell Newman lined up to back Tony Abbott on the carbon price, Barry O’Farrell shook up the Transport bureaucracy in NSW and Joe Ludwig almost got himself out of the top 20 and back to more familiar obscurity.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	1,135	1,424
2	Tony Abbott	659	1,491
4	Bob Brown	294	301
4	Kevin Rudd	164	180
5	Greg Combet	133	48

It remained all about Julia Gillard on talkback, her personal integrity more and more becoming the central issue for opponents of the carbon price, an interesting development in itself. Both Abbott and Gillard continued to be called out on their many inconsistencies online, and generally the debate remains like a Kardashian, its lack of depth only matched by its ubiquity.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Rupert Murdoch	497	632	923	660	20,457	678

Most of us didn’t quite make it to 5am, but surely after midnight television hasn’t been this fascinating since the Sopranos shuffled off to Buffalo.

Carbon Tax Talkback Radio Report Feb-July 2011

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 01:15:00 GMT

This report compares talkback on the carbon tax in the week following the announcement of the policy (24 Feb – 3 Mar) with talkback in the five days following the launch of the “Say yes” advertising campaign (30 May -3 Jun) and the week following the announcement of the details of the package (11-15 July).

Each talkback call is rated for favourability towards the carbon tax on a scale of 0-100, with 50 being neutral or balanced. These scores can then be averaged across stations, geographical regions etc. For further details on the methodology used to develop the favourability rating for each item, please contact Media Monitors.

The overall average favourability in Feb/Mar, weighted for audience, was 42.1, which would generally be described as strongly unfavourable on this volume of calls. The overall average favourability in May/June was 46.1, still moderately unfavourable, but a significant increase on the previous figure. The week after the announcement the overall favourability dropped back to 43.1.

As the above chart shows, average favourability is back to close to where it was across all states in February when the package was first announced, although the larger states have seen a slight increase overall while the smaller states have stayed the same or decreased in favourability. Discussion in the last period has focused most heavily on the Government’s perceived lack of mandate, perceived damage to the economy, the overall effectiveness of the legislation in reducing emissions and whether the science is accurate.

The highest volume of calls have remained on the Macquarie Radio Network, with favourability remaining slightly higher than in February but from a very low base, while commercial talkback in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide has been amongst the most unfavourable in the past week. ABC stations in Sydney and Melbourne remain the only leading stations with an overall favourability above 50, although this has been consistently dropping in Sydney.

In conclusion it is clear that announcement of the detail on the carbon price and its related compensation and tax reform has not shifted public sentiment in support of the legislation, if anything slightly hardening opposition in the smaller states.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 9 - 15 July 2011

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Carbon price	4,211	31,873	20,882	5,780	62,746
News of the World	574	3,406	4,528	4,011	12,519
Tour de France	425	4,307	4,002	1,178	9,912
Asylum seekers	323	1,525	2,013	294	4,155
Sovereign debt crisis	364	794	852	1,065	3,075

It comes as no surprise that carbon price made the number one spot again this week. Following Julia Gillard’s announcement on Sunday, discussions about how the tax will impact the economy, costs to industries and subsequently consumers, were prolific, with much of the debate starting to involve personal attacks on both Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.

The ripple effect from the scandal and subsequent closure of News of the World continued this week with News Corporation shares falling only to rebound after withdrawing from the bid for Britain’s BSkyB.

There was drama on the Tour de France this week, with several crashes. One that involved a media car veering into cyclists, sending one rider into a barbed wire fence! They have just finished the first of the big mountain stages with Cadel Evans still well placed in third.

The coronial inquest into asylum seeker boat crash on Christmas Island resumed this week with WA coroner Alastair Hope arriving on the island last Saturday. Coroner Hope inspected the site.

The international sovereign debt crisis spread well beyond Greece and Portugal this week, with Ireland demoted to junk bond status by the ratings agencies, concerns over the Italian and Spanish economies and even the US on the brink of default as talks between the President and Republicans over lifting their debt ceiling went nowhere.

Quote the Week:

“It doesn't come easy to me to expose my feelings as I make these decisions," – Julia Gillard claims she was the shy bookish type and understands that may make her seem tough and cold.

Crikey Political Index 7 - 13 July 2011

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Nine of the top ten can be strictly related to the carbon price announcement on Sunday, the only smoky being Joe Ludwig, with Kevin Rudd only appearing that high in the list because of all the collateral mentions of his failed CPRS. Can you spot the missing name? Greg Hunt, clearly leaving most of the running to his leader, although he did make a few attempts to defend “direct action”, which the Government seems to have stolen half of anyway.

Julia Gillard meanwhile has been wall to wall in the broadcast media dropping in on just about everyone with a microphone, except our man on Struggle Street, perhaps because she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t be five minutes late. Meanwhile the Government cops a Worst. Poll. Ever. And Tony Abbott seriously pushes for a Labor backbencher to cross the floor. Well they might if you offer them the prime ministership Tony…which of course has an equal likelihood of happening.

So we now enter a year of shadow boxing on the carbon price, in which nothing will change no matter how much breast beating goes on and hopefully some other economic issues, like the long overdue tax reform snuck in as part of the package, our response to the impending European sovereign defaults, productivity, infrastructure and the NBN might get a bit of a look in with the media. We can only hope.
.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	1,461	2,127
2	Tony Abbott	541	2,523
4	Wayne Swan	274	259
4	Bob Brown	210	296
5	Greg Combet	134	138

The personal attacks on Julia Gillard on talkback have ramped up again in the past few days, with some callers not too interested in the detail but really not liking the messenger, while Tony Abbott continues to get plenty of mentions in social media (data provided to us by Brandtology), again many focusing on his perceived personal shortcomings.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Lady Gaga	133	70	453	142	7,327	200

For all those silly people decrying the death of serious news, take this! Lady Gaga received almost three times as much television coverage this week as Bob Brown and Wayne Swan combined. We report - you decide.

Morning Reports make their mark

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 23:30:00 GMT

A little known but increasingly important Media Monitors role in Australia and New Zealand is the Morning Reports Writer - with the roles allocated to three teams based in Canberra, Melbourne and Wellington. These teams are responsible for compiling morning reports to over 20 of our largest corporate and government clients across both countries.

Melbourne Team Leader Caroline Potter explains: “The morning reports team is made up of a fantastic group of talented report writers. We condense large amounts of information into a manageable form so the companies can understand their media landscape for the day, respond to news stories and communicate their media coverage internally. The morning reports team write up to 2,000 summaries a day and are required to meet early morning deadlines.”

She adds: “The team are all multi-skilled report writers and broadcast monitors who produce tailored reports five days a week for clients in the Finance, Telecommunications and Automotive industries.”

The Canberra based team focuses specifically on government clients and is backed by extensive experience in all aspects of media intelligence. The team provides media reports ranging from daily updates to comprehensive reports on key topics and issues.

This team currently prepares eight daily reports for Federal Government departments and the reports distributed directly to senior executives within the respective department or agency. The Canberra writers utilise their extensive media expertise and understanding of client briefs and have become trusted advisors on daily media issues surrounding each sector.

Senior Editor, Ken Randall (pictured above) is an integral member of the Media Monitors team. Ken is a veteran of the media industry, having previously reported on Australian affairs for several leading newspapers, covering federal parliament as a broadcast journalist for 15 years and as President of the National Press Club for 20 years.

In Wellington, the NZ team ensure that by 7am each day their Aviation and Finance clients receive individual reports which typically provide a synopsis of the day's industry topics, news angles and major competitors, sorted by tier one press (nationals and major metros) then distributed internally by the clients to the respective Senior Management Teams.

The feedback from these important clients has been overwhelmingly positive and we are seeing a rise in the number of requests for this type of service from the market in general.

If you'd like to know more about our Morning Reports product and how it can benefit your organisation, please contact us in Australia on 1300 136 806 or click here, or for New Zealand please call 0800 607 000 or use this contact form.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 2 July - 8 July 2011

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Carbon price	1,657	14,738	9,760	2,070	22,285
State of Origin	1,105	6,148	6,095	2,376	15,724
Afghanistan	477	4,281	4,284	2,881	11,923
Tour de France	386	3,860	4,968	1,057	10,271
Live exports	491	4,737	1,970	426	7,624

The carbon price was back to number one with a bullet, after Julia Gillard announced the full package would be revealed on Sunday, just after parliament rises for the long winter break. Some details were leaked with the government announcing only 500 of the biggest greenhouse gas emitting companies will pay the full tax, and excluding petrol from the tax.

The Maroons weren’t too concerned with Kevin Rudd’s mistweet, when he congratulated the “Broncs”. Queensland thumped New South Wales in the State of Origin decider on Wednesday night, giving team captain, Darren Lockyer a perfect end to his Origin career. The one black spot for Queensland was the knee injury to Johnathan Thurston, although not as serious as first thought.

The death of Sergeant Todd Langley while on his fifth tour of duty to Afghanistan raised further concerns about the heavy load on Special Forces soldiers, many of whom are making several return visits to the troubled country, while debate about the nature and reason for Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan continued.

Cadel Evans is in the perfect position at the end of the first week of the Tour de France, having already built a 100 second lead over defending champion Alberto Contador and with an early stage win over the Spaniard also under his belt….now only 2,500 kilometres to go!

Following intense pressure over the past two weeks, Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig announced the resumption of limited live cattle exports to approved Indonesian abattoirs, although animal welfare groups decried the lack of compulsory stunning as part of the conditions of the resumption of trade.

Quote the Week:

"When you are not coaching against them, they are beautiful to watch" – NSW State of Origin coach Ricky Stuart admits the Queenslanders were just too good

Crikey Political Index 30 June - 6 July 2011

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

It was all about Green hubris and another pre-announcement of an announcement amongst commentators this week, with a host of opinionators lining up to tell Bob Brown to pull his head in and laughing at him for trying to get a President elected. The media continues to forget that Bob Brown is talking to his own electorate, not everyone – and the President stunt was well timed to show them that the Greens by no means “control” the Senate, just days before he has to sign on to a huge amount of concessions far short of what his constituents want on the carbon price.

And while I’m on it, all the comparisons to the Democrats are awfully silly as well – the Democrats had no ideological purpose other than to be an effective umpire, whereas the Greens are probably the only party these days that does have an ideological purpose. At least half of the Greens vote is probably unshakeable, and possibly more, so talkback comperes can feel safe in the knowledge they will have the Greens to kick around for a long time yet.

The carbon price predictably dominated the first week of the new political reality, with the media focus once again largely being on the tactics rather than the issues, as the Government pre-announced it would be announcing the detail on Sunday, allowing the Opposition to claim running away from Parliament and confusion on the handling of transport fuel bringing back talk of the infamous GST birthday cake.

Social Media Top Five

Rank	Politician	Talkback	Online
1	Julia Gillard	697	858
2	Bob Brown	447	322
4	Tony Abbott	205	1,319
4	Kevin Rudd	114	261
5	Andrew Wilkie	103	17

We add online social media to broadcast social media starting this week, and there’s a clear theme of familiarity breeding contempt, with Julia Gillard leading the volume on radio while Tony Abbott is clearly most mentioned online.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Cadel Evans	219	96	208	81	2,587	151

Contador and his team have had a shocker of a start to the Tour and Cadel added the psychological boost of the stage victory last night to his team’s perfect start. Over 2,500 kms and a couple of dozen alpine peaks still to go…easy.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 25 June - 1 July 2011

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Wimbledon	983	8,847	10,630	2,027	22,487
Carbon price	1,682	8,879	8,454	2,315	21,330
Live exports	509	4,520	1,588	1,315	7,932
Greek debt crisis	576	1,038	2,999	1,517	6,130
D'Arcy and Crowley	319	1,883	2,679	646	5,527

It’s certainly seemed like a changing of the guard in world tennis at Wimbledon this week, with the Williams sisters gone, Roger Federer gone and Bernard Tomic the best performing Australian player, taking a set from Novak Djokovic in his first Grand Slam quarter final appearance. Maria Sharapova is in there for the old guard, while the Brits will be desperate to get their man Murray past the usually impenetrable semi-finals, but the world number one stands in the way.

Finally bumped out of number one, but only just - the carbon price continued to be the dominant political topic, with media claims the Greens and Labor are close to agreement on the details, while Wayne Swan hit back at claims of thousands of job losses in the mining sector, saying the sector would continue to grow and put on new jobs despite a carbon tax.

A $3million compensation package was announced this week for people in the cattle industry affected by the ban on live exports to Indonesia, while industry bodies will contribute $5million to water and feed the stock. Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig has spent most of the week in the Northern Territory, but has not announced any date for resumption of trade.

International share markets had a jittery week as Greece once again came to the edge of insolvency, the Greek parliament narrowly passing further deep cuts to public spending to ensure yet another rescue package from the European Union and IMF, while many Greeks took to the streets to protest any further cuts.

There was extensive broadcast media coverage of the civil suit brought by Commonwealth medallist Simon Cowley in relation to an assault by fellow swimmer Nick D’Arcy in a Sydney nightclub three years ago.

Quote the Week:

"We will see tanks protecting banks because there won’t be enough police to do it.” Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theo Pangalos warns of the consequences of not passing the latest austerity package. The package, with €28bn of cuts over 5 years, passed narrowly.

Crikey Political Index 23 - 29 June 2011

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Julia Gillard gets an anniversary-load of coverage this week, with Kevin Rudd and even Malcolm Turnbull scoring plenty of peripheral mentions as journalists trawled through not just the last twelve months but the whole “how did the ALP get here” from the dizzying heights of 24 November 2007. Tony Abbott’s also maintaining his higher profile of the last few weeks, although some of that was owing to internal Liberal Party shenanigans.

The drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and the string of enquiries from the ADFA scandal starting to report has pulled Stephen Smith up to fourth, while Steve Fielding continued to draw the most coverage of any of the departing senators, although Nick Minchin gave it the old college politics try by flexing his factional muscles one last (does anyone really believe that?) time to stop Peter Reith becoming Liberal Party president by the now traditional single vote. Tony Abbott’s vote.

Movement on the NBN and plenty of discussion about the deal with Telstra moved Stephen Conroy and Malcolm Turnbull up the list, while Campbell Newman is getting busier and busier, into the list this week mostly due to Wild Rivers legislation, but also on a range of other issues, including a potential Queensland Party opponent in the seat he’s trying to win at the next election.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	701
2	Kevin Rudd	234
3	Tony Abbott	186
4	Bob Brown	160
5	Wayne Swan	60

It was pretty much all about the P.M. and mainly unflattering reviews of her first year in the job.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Bernard Tomic	372	316	481	88	10,508	315

For a skinny kid who just dinks it around the court, he ain’t done too bad, has he? Looks like the single prominent player status of Australian men’s tennis is set to continue as Lleyton slowly drifts off the scene.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 18 - 24 June 2011

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Carbon price	1,376	9,705	7,634	778	19,493
Wimbledon	758	6,073	6,427	1,724	14,982
Ash cloud	217	5,096	5,683	934	11,930
Gillard anniversary	663	3,605	4,471	610	9,349
Johnathan Thurston	436	3,028	4,713	849	9,026

The Carbon tax was back in the spotlight this week, with the Opposition’s call for a national plebiscite. Opposition leader, Tony Abbott’s attempt for a national plebiscite was dismissed as a stunt by the Federal Government, failed to get a vote from Family First Senator Steve Fielding and was finally voted down in the Senate.

Second day in, and Lleyton Hewitt was flying the flag for Australia in Wimbledon. Hewitt won his first round over Kei Nishikori even while battling through a foot injury. The celebration was short lived however with a loss in his second round match. Compatriot Bernard Tomic also had an impressive first round win, beating former world number three Nikolay Davydenko. Wimbledon has not been successful for Samantha Stosur, losing to Hungarian Melinda Czink in the first round.

The ash cloud continued to cause delays this week, grounding interstate travel, particularly to and from Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. Some international airlines continued to fly, taking a wide berth of the cloud, while domestic airlines took the view that the cloud was too low to fly safely. Most flights have now resumed.

It’s been one year since Julia Gillard took over the role as Prime Minister from Kevin Rudd. The 7:30 Report last night referred to it as a “ bloodless coup”. Gillard stands lower in the polls than her predecessor so questions over her leadership were rife this week. Gillard needs to deliver on big promises now to lift her rating and yesterday her government had some good news on this front with the National Broadband Network settling a deal with Telstra.

Adding to the excitement of the Origin decider, there were speculations this week that Johnathan Thurston would be out of the match with a suspension. Thurston was spared from suspension after facing the NRL Judiciary on Wednesday night over a contrary conduct charge for an accidental collision with referee Matt Cecchin during a Cowboys match.

Quote the Week:

"They call themselves Green because they are too yellow to admit they are red," he said. "Professor Ross Garnaut, that again is a fascist point of view . . . that you merely accept authority without question heil Hitler, on we go." Lord Monckton speaking at an American Freedom Alliance conference at the weekend.

Crikey Political Index 16 - 22 June 2011

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

As the 24th of June rolls around the badness has mounted daily for the P.M. Any thought that this would be either a triumphal first anniversary of a new era in politics or alternatively a barely remembered footnote in the stately progress of the ALP Government were killed off by the end of August last year. This was always going to be a difficult week, and the majority of media coverage has started to focus not just on Julia Gillard’s future but the future of the entire brand.

Kevin Rudd has of course not gone quietly into the night, and the public discussion of his current and future role, on top of continually worsening polls and the whole range of policy problems, not to mention State defeats from unexpected to crushing have of course all fed in to the 2011/12 financial year staking a fair claim to be the Labor Party’s AnnusHorribilis. The Independents, particularly Wilkie and Oakeshott are now publicly trying to hold the whole thing together as the media claim some within the ALP are developing a wobble.

Nick Xenophon has tried to get as much out of his last days of relevance as possible on live exports, and Steve Fielding has left with a bang, thanks to his calling out a perhaps slightly poorly thought out plebiscite stunt from the Opposition, giving him a chance to go out the door seeming vaguely reasonable and his own man. Nevertheless he won’t be back on this list after next week.

On actual policy issues (remember them?) – the media reported that Joe Ludwig seems to be putting less onerous requirements on Indonesian abattoirs for resumption of the live cattle trade than either the welfare groups or the industry itself.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	578
2	Tony Abbott	399
3	Kevin Rudd	126
4	Barry O'Farrell	83
5	Andrew Wilkie	71

Julia Gillard continued to attract criticism from talkback callers about her government’s carbon tax, with the plebiscite hitting the right note with the choir, while the live export policy continues to get mixed opinions.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Johnathan Thurston	315	110	111	132	2,460	167

Thurston’s possible suspension from the Queensland team has added that extra bit of spice to media coverage to the deciding State of Origin. It’s all a plot, of course.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 11 - 17 June 2011

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Ash cloud	531	9,438	8,212	369	17,624
State of Origin	1,007	4,550	5,250	1,644	12,451
Carbon price	1,167	5,614	3,929	151	10,861
Live exports	725	3,770	1,601	1,174	7,270
Asylum seekers	575	3,251	1,428	578	5,832

Ash from a volcano in Chile has caused airline havoc in southern parts of Australia, with Qantas, Jetstar, Tiger and Virgin cancelling flights this week. The volcanic ash cloud from Chile has affected flights to and from Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Tasmania as well as New Zealand.

Blues fans were celebrating after a win in this week’s second instalment of the State of Origin. The win by NSW came after a long spate of losses in the competition and creates great anticipation for the decider. Queensland coach Mal Meninga was offering no excuses for his team’s loss, while Blues coach Ricky Stuart was happy with his decision to include veteran Anthony Minichiello.

The Government has repeatedly refused to rule out a public advertising campaign promoting the carbon tax, and this week they announced a $12million campaign, a move quickly condemned as dumb by the two key independents, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, while the coal industry stepped up its public attack on the tax.

Cattle exporters were optimistic this week after the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association met with the Federal Agriculture Minister. After meeting with Federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig, association executive director said that live cattle exports will resume sooner than expected but only to select abattoirs. As expected, Indonesia expressed regret that a joint investigation into the allegations of animal cruelty before suspending live exports.

The Malaysian solution for asylum seekers is still not gaining favours with voters or other ministers. Former Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Rabbie Namaliu called for Rudd to fly to PNG and rescue Gillard’s floundering asylum seeker deal. Namaliu said that the country’s domestic issues did not put it in a good position to support an asylum seeker deal. Meanwhile the opposition are calling for a Nauru asylum seeker option.

Quote the Week:
"We got to see a bit of the land I wasn't expecting to see," said American Idol Carrie Underwood about having to travel by bus from Melbourne to Sydney due to the volcanic ash cloud.

Crikey Political Index 9 - 15 June 2011

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

It stays fairly close at the top, Tony Abbott now regularly getting more than half the coverage of the PM, who copped another bad couple of polls in the last couple of days. The mining tax is back to haunt the Government, as the pressure builds from the right on that and the carbon tax, while the pressure from the left on asylum seekers ramps up. As the Liberals in Canada and many others have found out, being in the centre these days usually means you end up hated by everybody.

While Joe Ludwig continued learning the names of all these journalisty type people that he’s never met before, Peter Garrett ended up being the only Cabinet Minister willing to meet the Dalai Lama – he’s obviously not planning a school excursion to Beijing anytime soon, but Tony Abbott and Bob Brown didn’t miss the opportunity. To continue the pitfalls of a centrism theme, trying not to offend anyone can mean you end up disappointing everybody.

John Faulkner liked that theme too, calling for more public policy debate in the Labor Party amongst a slew of other major reforms, just as Julia Gillard tells everyone to shut up and toe the line. Meanwhile Peter Reith has had a go at Liberal party structures as well. What neither party seems to be willing to face up to is that given that there’s no huge philosophical divide between our main parties anymore - unless you’re pretty rabid or living in the past, why on earth would you join a political party, except as a career? Methinks whatever they propose they might be micturating into the wind.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	450
2	Tony Windsor	104
3	Bob Katter	96
4	Kevin Rudd	93
5	Joe Ludwig	83

Talkback was mixed regarding Gillard and her live export policy, while some callers were angered at how many job losses it would cause, others agreed that the cruelty needed to stop. Tony Windsor was slapped with criticism from talkback callers for supporting the Gillard government’s policies especially carbon tax.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Dalai Lama	238	289	429	161	4,404	288

The Dalai Lama, ever the calm and peaceful diplomat was unfazed by Gillard’s snub.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 4 - 10 June 2011

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Carbon price	1,511	8,475	6,958	680	17,624
Live exports	751	9,155	5,449	446	15,801
Afghanistan	284	5,734	6,029	1,852	13,899
Interest rates	799	3,533	4,043	552	8,927
Asylum seekers	578	4,761	2,603	221	8,163

Climate change remains the leading topic of national debate, the latest third party endorsement coming from the Productivity Commission, who have released a report stating an economy wide price is clearly the cheapest way of reducing carbon emissions, although debate continues to rage over the global effectiveness of any Australian action.

An example of how investigative journalism can effect change. A Four Corners story last week revealed the cruelty to Australian cattle in Indonesian processing facilities and subsequently, live cattle exports to Indonesia have been banned for at least six months, pending review and certification of Indonesian abattoir standards.

Four deaths within two weeks saw a significant increase in calls for Australia to prepare for withdrawal from that country. Defence force Chief Angus Houston rejected these calls saying that we are making the best progress ever, although conditions will remain highly dangerous for some time.

The Reserve Bank of Australia announced this week that interest rates will remain steady following a series of soft figures about the wider economy, including poor job ad figures and low housing approvals. While most pundits said it was probably only a brief respite, others were more pessimistic about the wider economy.

Unlike the carbon tax, the government’s Malaysia solution is not winning too many third party plaudits. Independent MP Andrew Wilkie is certainly not buying it. Wilkie said this week that the government had lost its “moral compass” over the asylum seeker and live export issue.

Quote the Week:
'I see it rather as a symptom of the anaemia that is draining the life from the Australian Labor Party - an apparent aversion to the unpredictability of democracy.” Party elder John Faulkner calls for more open policy debate within the ALP as part of his comprehensive review.

Crikey Political Index 2 - 8 June 2011

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Gillard’s carbon tax is gathering allies, including actors, old pollies, and perhaps more tellingly banks and business groups. The increasing casualties in Afghanistan saw Australians involved in the campaign insist that the fight against the Taliban was still progressing, albeit slowly, while Greens’ leader Bob Brown called to bring our troops home.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has been defending the Malaysian solution, even against his own party back-benchers. Labor MPs along with others are concerned about how children will fare under this plan. Andrew Wilkie, also concerned about the “forgotten people” says the government has lost its “moral compass” on asylum seekers and the live cattle export issue.

Barry O’Farrell abandoned the plans to slash the solar subsidy. A backflip or considered decision? O’Farrell says considered, residents just welcomed the back-flip.

Little known Liberal senator, David Bushbymade the top 20 for meowing at Penny Wong. This gave Labor MPs an opportunity to raise the issue of sexism in the political sphere.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	443
2	Tony Abbott	230
3	Bob Katter	117
4	Barry O'Farrell	96
5	Wayne Swan	86

Julia Gillard’s carbon tax and asylum seeker policy continued to get people commenting on talkback radio last week.The increasing casualty rate in Afghanistan also saw some callers express their opinions on the effectiveness of Australian troops in Afghanistan. Talkback callers were also keen to comment on Bob Katter’s intentions of forming his own political party.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Rafael Nadal	238	158	245	173	2,853	204

No feet of clay or windmill tilting from this Spaniard, as the “best ever” questions start.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 28 May - June 3 2011

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Carbon price	1,525	14,488	9,937	482	26,432
Afghanistan casualties	668	6,096	7,110	534	14,408
FIFA	265	4,006	4,985	854	10,110
Live exports	421	5,965	1,947	1,000	9,333
Cigarette plain packaging	515	2,091	1,248	281	4,135

Support for the Federal Government’s carbon tax was coming in from all angles this week. In a move towards agreeing with the Federal Government’s carbon tax, the Australian Industry Group and Business Council of Australia discussed a potential starting price of a carbon tax, rather than ask whether there should be one. Also, an ad campaign, featuring actress Cate Blanchett was released this week, supporting the Federal Government’s carbon tax.

Australian casualties in Afghanistan are rising with the loss of two more soldiers this week. Questions are being raised as to our effectiveness in that country as both the Government and Opposition again reinforced their support for Australian involvement in the fighting in Afghanistan.

Amid allegations of corruption, FIFA organisation suspended two of its leading figures. Bribery during the World Cup bidding process is just one of the accusations of corruption against FIFA, while 75 year old Sepp Blatter strode through the carnage to be re-elected unopposed as head of FIFA for another four years.

The images of animal cruelty shown in this week’s Four Corners story on live exports to Indonesia distressed numerous viewers and they weren’t all animal welfare campaigners. Talkback radio was alive with talk about it. Producers are saying we need to educate those markets rather than stop exports, while animal welfare groups want to see a complete ban on live exports.

After it gained the support of all but one of the independents, Tony Abbott announced the Coalition would also support the Federal Government’s push for plain packaged cigarettes this week, as the Government maintained pressure on the Liberal Party to stop accepting donations from tobacco companies.

Quote the Week:

"Meow"
Senator David Bushby sets off a week of debate about animal noises in Parliament.

Crikey Political Index 26 May - 1 June 2011

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Most of the media kept the focus for most of the week on the Opposition and its climate position, Abbott clearly leading the volume on television again this week – attacking a celebrity always helps on that front - and neck and neck overall with Gillard, with the side issue of his falling into line on cigarette packaging after the bill was clearly going to pass also helping keep the numbers up. And do you think the PM is somewhat revelling in the relative positions of Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd on this list? She would know that there’s pretty much no chance of things staying that way for long, but I’m sure she’s thanking Gaia for small mercies.

The Malaysian solution, live cattle exports, the pokies, cigarette packaging and of course the good ole carbon tax all kept the crossbenchers in the news, particularly the two with perhaps the least predictable voting pattern, Andrew Wilkie and Tony Windsor, who each had something to say on all of the above issues, plus a few more. The realpolitik of this parliament seems to be settling in, with almost every major piece of legislation up for grabs.

Barnaby was back into form with his attack on those uber-rich jetsetting Hunters Hill types (just over the river from the GPS private school he went to, so he clearly knows what he’s talking about) trying to foist their opinions on us real folk….err, that is, you real folk. And Jenny Macklin makes her occasional trip to the list thanks primarily to the pokies issue.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	322
2	Barry O'Farrell	137
3	Tony Abbott	133
4	Andrew Wilkie	121
5	Anna Bligh	111

Barry O’Farrell and Andrew Wilkie still getting mixed reviews on talkback this week, but Tony Abbott’s numbers surprisingly small – not that many jumping in to support the attacks on warministaactors et al.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Sepp Blatter	289	332	384	315	4,680	330

What do you mean he’s a politician? He’s just an enthusiast of the world game, doing his bit to further the sport he loves, despite the personal travails that he must go through to skim…I mean help, so many millions...

Australia: Most mentioned issues 21 - 27 May 2011

Sun, 29 May 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
State of Origin	1,308	6,658	6,400	1,921	16,287
Carbon price	1,333	6,657	4,377	1,237	13,604
Afghanistan casualty	561	4,323	4,328	675	9,886
Aslylum seekers	543	4,491	2,601	904	8,539
Cigarette plain packaging	482	2,314	1,398	333	4,527

NSW put up a much stronger effort than in recent years, spending a lot of the game successfully defending their goalline and hitting the lead after two quick tries, only to see their first win in Queensland for half a decade disappear after a piece of the usual brilliance from Lockyer, Thurston and Slater.

Main news on the carbon price moved to a focus on the Coalition’s policy for perhaps the first time in the whole debate, Malcolm Turnbull’s comments on their direct action plan leading to widespread media reports this week of divisions within the Liberal Party over the correct response to climate change.

Three tour veteran Sgt Brett Wood was killed in Afghanistan this week, and four other Australian soldiers were injured in separate incidents. Sgt Wood was hailed as a “magnificent soldier” and honoured by the USA following an earlier incident from which he was awarded the Medal of Gallantry. He became the 24th Australian soldier to die during the ten year conflict.

The treatment of asylum seekers in Malaysia became the main focus of discussion this week, with many media reports on the use of the rattan, a type of cane whip, to discipline some asylum seekers, with the Government refusing to rule out the use of such methods for any asylum seeker sent to Malaysia.

After extensive debate and a massive advertising campaign from the tobacco companies, legislation on plain packaging for cigarettes looks set to pass parliament in July, with all but one of the crossbenchers in federal parliament plus at least one Liberal backbencher declaring their support.

Quote the Week:

"The only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself.” – Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg explains his personal challenge for 2011

Crikey Political Index 19 - 25 May 2011

Tue, 24 May 2011 00:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Malcolm Turnbull tried to get the attention off all the obituaries for the Gillard Government by shining a light on the “features” of the Opposition’s climate change policy, particularly noting that it would be the easiest program to stop if the whole thing turns out to be hooey – giving yet another pointer to the raging funsters on the right of the Speaker - even sarcasm can work well if you put your back into it.

And is this the fundamental problem? Parliament used to be full of people who were genuinely funny, even if mostly when they were away from a camera, but plenty when they were in front of one too. Comedians are famous for being a highly intelligent but tortuously insecure mob. This lot mainly seem to be the latter without a huge amount of the former and incapable of humour at all.

Thus Bob Katter strides forth to the rescue, admittedly more funny peculiar than funny ha ha, but at least able to hold our attention for more than a nanosecond. Do we need more Bob Katters? Probably not – but how some of us pine for the Killens and the Dalys, even the Costellos and the Keatings, whose wits were more sledgehammer to the neck than epee to the heart, but at least clearly evident.

Meanwhile, back at the shallow end of the gene pool, the new NSW Government kicked things off with a cheeky bit of solar rebate grab back which looks like giving the collection of funny peculiars on the crossbench of the State Upper House an opportunity to show they won’t just be Barry’s lackeys, getting the chance to knock off an unpopular bit of legislation nice and early.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	299
2	Tony Abbott	182
3	Barry O'Farrell	132
4	Wayne Swan	51
5	Malcolm Turnbull	51

The new NSW Premier leaps into the talkback top five to a…mixed reception, while Malcolm Turnbull remains the favourite piñata of a certain end of Struggle Street.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Oprah Winfrey	132	284	436	220	3,323	210

We did but see her passing by…call me a crazy cynic, but methinks the call of widespread adulation might tempt Ms Winfrey back to the small screen at some point, but if not, at least she got to cuddle a Koala first.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 14 - 20 May 2011

Mon, 23 May 2011 00:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Carbon price	992	8,951	6,032	431	16,406
Asylum seekers	634	5,741	3,946	397	10,718
State of Origin	846	3,313	3,717	851	8,727
NBN	378	3,914	3,593	333	8,218
Planking	265	2,061	4,575	862	7,763

Debate focused on what the price per tonne for the carbon tax would be, with claims that $40 was the minimum needed to convert from coal to gas, the Government quickly shooting that figure down as too high. Tony Abbott continues his argument that the carbon tax plan will force up prices of all manufactured goods. Meanwhile, Malcolm Turnbull has punched holes in the Coalition’s “direct action” climate change policy.

The asylum seeker policy deal with Malaysia is still on track according to our Prime Minister, dismissing reports by Malaysia’s Home Minister that a boat with 32 asylum seekers would not be accepted by his country as a misreport of his words. Also, during the inquest into the asylum seeker boat crash off the coast of Christmas Island in December last year has heard that a recording of an emergency call was too distressing to release.

There was a controversial omission from the NSW State of Origin team when selectors announced Josh Dugan for fullback over Jarryd Hayne for the opening game of the season. The usual pre-match rivalry talk abounds with the Queenslanders vowing to target playmaker Jamie Soward, while the NSW forwards are saying they’ll back Soward and give as much back.

The National Broadband Network was launched in Armidale this week in Tony Windsor’s electorate. We’ll have more news in the coming weeks as the project negotiations near completion and cabinet decides on the deal.

Also in the news was “planking”, following a tragic fatal accident in Queensland when a young man attempted to plank on the railing of an apartment block. Another attempt left a young man in a coma. On a lighter note, planking has started other crazes including teapotting and hypotenuseing.

Quote the Week:

"I think they have a lot of vision. It's just a question of whether you agree with it." Malcolm Turnbull’s response when asked if his party had vision on the issue climate change and carbon tax.

Crikey Political Index 12 - 18 May 2011

Sun, 22 May 2011 00:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Latest polls seem to indicate that Tony Abbott clearly won the Budget battle, but most commentators put it down to a total switch off by the electorate to anything this Government has to say, good, bad or indifferent. Many were predicting it would be almost impossible for Julia Gillard to turn this around even with more than two years to go (which is an uncharacteristically courageous prediction from senior Gallery types), and Federal politics remains a fascinating test of nerve for a Labor Party that hasn’t shown a huge amount of patience or political wisdom in its recent history.

Bob Brown came out blowing hard, seeming to again be leading the fight against Tony Abbott on when an election should be called, the carbon tax and taking the fight to both parties on asylum seekers. The media totally focused on how bad this looked for the Government, forgetting that Brown has his own constituency that he needs to keep happy, and he’s got a(minimum) six year window of Senate control in which to try and consolidate, unlike the Government.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh also moved up three spots. Bligh outlined the state’s bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games butNewspoll figures released on Monday show Campbell Newman’s Opposition with a handy lead. Meanwhile Lara Giddings got mainly bad news coverage this week with forestry jobs in question and the sudden decision of former premier David Bartlett to quit politics making her shaky minority government even shakier.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	589
2	Tony Abbott	354
3	Wayne Swan	230
4	Joe Hockey	50
5	Anna Bligh	9

While Tony Abbott’s Budget Reply generated some talkback, most of the heat remained directly on the Government and Julia Gillard, particularly around set top boxes, election mandates and carbon prices.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Ashton Kutcher	55	16	111	59	1,001	60

The Twitter king to become the new prince of mediocre man comedy. Winning? I doubt it, but I’m a lousy judge of mainstream taste, whereas the Chuckster has more than a few wins under his belt.

Business views media measurement as vital

Mon, 16 May 2011 21:00:00 GMT

Research from the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) has confirmed what we have already seen across the Asia-Pacific region, that the increasing importance of media measurement continues to be recognised across the corporate and government sectors, even in economies where the recovery has been slower than in our region.

The report states that “AMEC members reported industry growth of 14% in year 2009/10 compared with 2% in the previous 12 months period.” These figures show that companies across the globe are recognising that comprehensive and effective measurement of their media engagement is more essential than ever, ensuring limited marketing and communications resources are used to greatest effect and lessons about engaging with all forms of media are learnt quickly.

Full details of the report can be found here.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 7 - 13 May 2011

Mon, 16 May 2011 00:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Budget	2,599	18,354	15,497	1,634	38,084
Osama bin Laden	1,159	3,574	4,990	5,818	15,541
Mental health funding	488	4,861	3,910	460	9,719
Carbon price	1,023	3,113	4,049	291	8,476
Asylum seekers	400	4,280	3,274	255	8,209

The tough Budget that was seen by most commentators as not that tough topped the list this week as expected. Talk of Osama bin Laden slowed a little but remained high on the list while most other leading news related to specific Budget measures.

The Budget didn’t stir up all that much emotion this year, even talkback was relatively muted if negative overall, with much of the focus on the minor announcement that pensioners will receive free digital set top boxes with the switch from analogue to digital TV.

Funding for mental health was widely seen as the one key positive from the Budget but even this did not please everyone, with some commentators claiming it wasn’t enough, while others said other parts of healthcare had been neglected.

Tony Abbott focused on the carbon tax issue, not mentioned at all in the Budget, in his official reply, calling for the Government to seek a mandate immediately, leading to claims from the government that he was not willing to outline any alternative financial plans.

Reaction to the asylum seeker policy on the other hand was more passionate. The Greens called the federal government’s agreement with Malaysia, to send 800 asylum seekers to in return for accepting 4,000, cruel and punitive. The government’s immigration spend, $800million on asylum seeker policies in 12 months, was not welcomed. The opposition leader Tony Abbott criticised the government’s cuts to family benefits while spending on asylum seekers.

Quote of the Week:
"Very happy to play a pop quiz with you; you know, highest taxing government in Australia's history: anybody got the answer?" Julia Gillard tries to turn the tables on the Press Gallery after Wayne Swan could not name the last Labor surplus.

Crikey Political Index 5 - 11 May 2011

Wed, 11 May 2011 00:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Slightly tougher than most, finally chipping away (modestly) at the behemoth that middle class welfare has become and finally focusing on the mental health epidemic that has been swept under the carpet for too long(only after intense prodding from the Opposition), its nevertheless been a pretty muted response to the Budget, not quite tough enough for most of the financial media and not quite nasty enough to send the Greens and welfare groups totally off the charts.

Wayne Swan’s presentation remains dead ordinary, but his messaging has been reasonably good in the wake of the budget, while Abbott and Hockey have yet to nail a unifying theme as to why this is the worst budget since time began, other than the standard line about the general incompetence of all things Labor.

Could Abbott try giving some limited praise to stop the theme of him being all negative all the time? – ha ha, that’s a funny one!

Andrew Wilkie jumped eight spots as he kept the pressure on, releasing further details about the effects of problem gambling,whileGreg Combetcontinued the “conversations” on a carbon price, this week withenergy generators.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	377
2	Wayne Swan	209
3	Tony Abbott	66
4	Chris Bowen	95
5	Kevin Rudd	60

Wayne Swan moves in to the spotlight to some degree on talkback, but probably the greater feature is the low numbers overall, with not all that much interest in the Budget in the lead-up.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Justin Bieber	515	67	119	86	1,827	197

Some strange people were going on about some Osama person and boring economic stuff, but beliebers knew the big issue was the teen singer kissing some evil heart stealer in Indonesia and then losing his lunch in the Philippines. We’re sure the two aren’t related…

Australia: Most mentioned issues 30 April - 6 May 2011

Mon, 09 May 2011 00:30:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Osama bin Laden	1,547	18,917	19,495	4,196	44,155
Royal Wedding	2,499	2,628	6,824	1,199	13,150
Carbon price	851	4,364	3,147	186	8,548
Logies	359	1,128	4,825	653	6,965
Budget	510	2,678	1,276	1,218	5,682

News of Osama bin Laden’s death was extensive to say the least. There was news about the news, with reports that speculation of Osama’s death was spreading on Twitter and Facebook about an hour before the official announcement. There were also timelines appearing about how the news unfolded. Among numerous reports were news stories about ramping up security in response to potential reprisals from al-Qaeda supporters and of course conspiracy theories abound.

We couldn’t escape the Royal Wedding. We talked about the dress, the kiss, the sister and the bizarre headwear worn by some of the guests. However, the romantic story was later swamped by news of the death of the world’s most infamous terrorist.

Our PM dines on lobster but says ‘let them eat cake’ to the Australian people according to an article on smh.com.au. Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s dinner with business leaders to discuss carbon tax was viewed as sending the wrong message to taxpayers.

The Logies were trumped by MasterChef in the ratings stakes, but award night antics helped keep the Logies in the news. Namely, Gold Logie Award winner Karl’s ‘arse’ comments made during his acceptance speech.

Talk of the upcoming Budget was not totally outdone by the big news stories, scraping in to the top five this week, with the usual amount of leaks and pre-announcements, including tightening welfare rules for young mothers and increasing apprentice support.

Quote of the Week:

"Now you can concentrate on the important stuff, like did we fake the moon landing?" Barack Obama makes fun of Donald Trump for insisting on the release of his birth certificate.

Crikey Political Index 28 April - 4 May 2011

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Julia Gillard’s attendance at the Royal Wedding and comments about the death of Osama Bin Laden kept her well ahead this week, despite the Budget being nigh. Wayne Swan lifted one spot but he’s not exactly dominating the pre-Budget fortnight so far as Costello and Keating did for so many years. Clearly the news cycle hasn’t helped him, but it will be interesting to see the Swan v Abbott numbers next week.

Biggest mover into the top ten was Stephen Smith, again owing to Obama getting Osama, is he perhaps pretty happy to be able to talk about an external defence issue rather than an internal one for the first time in a while?

The two newbyState treasurers Mike Baird and Kim Wells were big movers this week with news of upcoming budgets. Baird was also in the news when treasury boss Michael Schur quit upon hearing he would have to reapply for his position.

Another big move, Peter Garrett with his and the Treasurer Wayne Swan’s announcement of the education funding scheme, while Chris Bowen and Scott Morrison dropped a few spots with the asylum seeker issue falling behind the wedding and Osama.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	302
2	Chris Bowen	224
3	Kevin Rudd	44
4	Anna Bligh	42
5	Barry O'Farrell	36

Asylum seekers moving down the list elsewhere, but still high on the list in talkbackland.Jonesy obviously didn’t express too much opinion on Kate’s frock, despite what he may have been thinking to himself.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Karl Stefanovic	175	196	273	253		81

How does a “journo” win a Gold Logie? By keeping it classy…"She has been a great influence on my life and has also got the best arse I have ever seen"…as all the lads at home sculled a beer.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 23 - 29 April 2011

Mon, 02 May 2011 00:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Royal wedding	2,030	5,976	17,704	2,922	26,602
Detention centres	708	7,038	3,904	835	11,777
Gillard in Asia	389	3,137	4,614	940	8,691
Inflation figures	584	2,848	1,843	1,193	5,884
Syrian protests	203	2,378	1,604	504	4,486

Coverage of the wedding between second in line to the British throne Prince William and commoner Kate Middleton has been steadily building up over the week to a wall-to-wall dominance on television, although more prosaic issues have still managed to sneak through in the other media. The ABC’s planned Chaser special was pulled after the Royals banned any use of the footage for comedic or dramatic purposes.

As the roof protest at Villawood continued throughout the week there was extensive debate over the future of those involved in the protests, the reintroduction of temporary visas and the exact nature of conditions at both Villawood and Christmas Island.

Julia Gillard spent the Easter break visiting Japan and China, her visit to Beijing focusing on stalled free trade talks between China and Australia and the prospect of closer military ties.

A higher than expected CPI figure for the first quarter of 2011 led to speculation of another interest rate rise sooner rather than later, although the Treasurer focused on the virtually unchanged underlying inflation rate, blaming the floods and Middle East instability for the CPI jump.

Violence in Syria increased during the week, with the Assad regime coming under stronger international pressure with allegations of brutal crackdowns on protestors that have claimed the lives of over 400 people were rejected by the regime.

Quote of the Week:

“I'm all for a party and presumably as more and more people become unemployed, we might as well have this sort of royal wedding every month to cheer people up." – Professor Stephen Hasseler, spokesman for the British Republican group proves that even in the UK there’s the odd Wedding Grinch

Crikey Political Index 21 - 27 April 2011

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 02:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

It was all Julia this week, with her trip to Japan and China the only thing on over the Easter/Anzac long weekend, with plenty of fluffy coverage about the standard nice things that leaders say to each other in public, destined to only get fluffier as the royal wedding lands upon us. Hopefully she might get a bit of a grilling about the Chaser censorship, but don’t hold your breath. I’m quite happy because now that the Chaser’s not on I can ignore it completely. Thank the gods for football.

Chris Bowen and Scott Morrison the big movers up the list as the asylum seeker issue - specifically the continuing protest at the Villawood Detention Centre and the renewed protest at Christmas Island - right back to centre stage, with the Government talking tough, raising the prospect of a return to temporary visas, except different. Even the pictures of tens of thousands of North Africans flooding into Italy every week still doesn’t seem to bring any perspective to the Australian debate.
.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	475
2	Chris Bowen	238
3	Kevin Rudd	90
4	Barry O'Farrell	81
5	Kevin Rudd	74

Villawood was the focus for most callers talking about politics over the Easter break, Chris Bowen’s response not convincing all that many.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Sarah Ferguson	70	2	14	19	248	26

If Fergie’s not there, I’m not watching! Don’t worry Duchess, you were always too classy for ‘em anyway

Australia: Most mentioned issues 16 - 22 April 2011

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Carbon price	1,430	9,892	7,470	2,571	21,363
Carney & Watts	317	4,045	4,762	753	9,877
Detention centres	284	4,436	2,845	351	7,916
Pokies legislation	469	2,702	3,057	465	6,603
Sydney Airport security	110	1,945	3,203	654	5,912

More business groups and individual CEOs joined the queue for exemptions from the planned carbon price during the week, the Business Council of Australia and the PM exchanging terse letters - most business leaders saying compensation should go to industry before households, while opinion polls got worse for the Government.

Sydney Roosters player Todd Carney, who has a long history of problems with alcohol, was caught up in another controversy after teammate Anthony Watts was charged with assault following a night out drinking with Carney. Both players have been indefinitely suspended.

Villawood detention centre erupted in violence in the middle of the week, with detained asylum seekers setting fire to several buildings and throwing roof tiles and other items at Centre staff and firefighters.

Andrew Wilkie was forced to continue to respond to allegations about his time at Duntroon Royal Military College, as former cadets came forward, while the Opposition remained on the fence about whether it would be supporting the final pokies legislation.

A security checkpoint malfunction at Sydney Airport on Tuesday caused extensive delays for air travellers across the country.

Quote of the Week:
“There is no vacancy" - Nationals Leader Warren Truss rules out Bruce Scott stepping aside for Barnaby Joyce in his local seat of Maranoa, despite LNP organisational support

Crikey Political Index 14 - 20 April 2011

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 02:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

Kevin Rudd still drifting down the list as the climate heats up, Greg Combet making his first ever top three appearance – is he the John Paul Jones that will keep the noise from the herd of cats called the ALP and its fellow travellers down to a dull whine as they damn the torpedoes? The alternative choices for the Gillard Government remain so unappealing as to remind us of Churchill’s view of democracy – the worst possible system, apart from all the others.

The Tony Windsor v Barnaby Joyce title fight to be was a fun sideshow this week. If Windsor is standing he will clearly have a tougher fight than ever before, but it does beg the question of what kind of support Joyce has within his own party if New England is the only option…are some of them quietly putting two bob on Windsor?

Andrew Wilkie’s front foot owning up to all kinds of bad behaviour as a cadet (other than really bad behaviour) and his repeated accusations against the hospitality industry, was an interesting study in PR - effectively saying I’m far from perfect but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong, but it’s a fine line between that and being classed as a whinger, the ultimate Australian sin (even though we are collectively world beaters in that particular skill).
.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	401
2	Kevin Rudd	161
3	Greg Combet	136
4	Tony Abbott	134
5	Andrew Wilkie	118

Surprisingly low level of politician name dropping and or cat calling on talkback this week, despite all the hot button issues – climate, defence, pokies - running at the moment.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Tony Mokbel	68	86	158	75	2,364	97

A whole lot more free content for a certain program’s scriptwriters is about to dribble out – but will they be able to get James Gandolfini for the part?

Australia: Most mentioned issues 9 - 15 April 2011

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Carbon price	1,282	7,897	5,384	1,205	13,677
Defence force scandal	323	4,039	4,273	559	9,194
Libyan uprising	459	3,258	3,141	1,072	7,930
Pokies legislation	403	3,592	2,967	393	7,355
Fukushima nuclear crisis	742	2,986	2,664	713	7,105

Discussion over pricing greenhouse gas emissions continues to be the number on issue in Australia, with the Government focusing this week on the message that 50% of revenue from the tax would be returned to households in compensation, while the opposition and the AWU focused on jobs, the AWU calling for a guarantee that no jobs would be lost.

The internal culture of the Australian defence force remained under the microscope this week with strong opinions from many quarters about the Defence Minister’s intervention in the ADFA sex scandal and how widespread the problems may be within the ADF.

International concern about a stalemate in Libya deepened, with NATO confirming it will maintain its involvement until Muammar Gaddafi leaves the country or is deposed, with concern over food supplies to the capital Libya also increasing.

Fellow independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott were equivocal this week about Andrew Wilkie’s attempts, with the support of the Government, to pass legislation putting betting limits on problem poker machine gamblers. Clubs officials angrily denied any involvement in alleged death threats and the leaking of stories about Mr Wilkie’s past.

The accident at Fukushima nuclear plant caused by last month’s Tsunami has been upgraded to the highest level of concern, equal to the Chernobyl disaster, although opinion is heavily divided about both the short term and long term impacts of the damage and radiation leak.

Quote of the Week:

“I’m standing between the poker machine industry and the $5 billion problem gamblers lose on the pokies each year." – Andrew Wilkie claims recent news stories about his chequered past at Duntroon are all about the pokies.

Crikey Political Index 6 - 12 April 2011

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 06:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	725	531	1,000	11,439	814
2	14	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	475	1,000	1,000	462	15,287	734
3	4	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	770	564	390	589	8,358	578
4	0	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	625	434	343	480	6,819	471
5	-3	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	438	263	316	409	5,192	357
6	-3	Premier	Barry O'Farrell	453	246	120	443	3,730	316
7	2	Premier	Anna Bligh	450	251	295	358	4,102	312
8	*	State Candidate	Pauline Hanson	219	410	293	185	5,433	277
9	10	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	289	245	232	289	4,117	264
10	-5	State Opp Leader	Campbell Newman	395	242	76	307	3,074	255
11	19	Cabinet	Nicola Roxon	280	259	203	105	3,639	212
12	3	Cabinet	Greg Combet	150	181	102	150	2,369	146
13	-1	Independent	Nick Xenophon	198	138	96	147	2,067	145
14	4	Shadow	Joe Hockey	116	122	171	71	2,290	120
15	6	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	157	89	76	154	1,564	119
16	11	Outer Min	Bill Shorten	222	45	55	108	1,072	107
17	-9	Green Leader	Bob Brown	56	91	29	147	1,128	106
18	21	Cabinet	Penny Wong	99	101	66	101	1,434	92
19	-8	Premier	Red Baillieu	149	57	57	104	1,113	92
20	-14	State Opp Leader	John Robertson	143	41	22	161	854	92

Stephen Smith and the ADFA scandal totally dominated broadcast coverage of politics this week, with print media not quite as overwhelmed with interest in the escalating battle over the ADF’s “culture” and what might need to be done about it. This was added to by a generally low profile from the PM this week, and things settling down in NSW following the election rout.

Pauline Hanson got a ton of coverage as she looked more and more likely to snaffle one of the ridiculously easy to get spots in the NSW Legislative Council – 2.5% of the vote will generally do it for you – only to miss out by about 1,000 votes in the end thanks to Family First preferencing the Greens ahead of her. So there you go – can’t we stop this silliness and just get rid of State Upper Houses altogether?

Andrew Wilkie unsurprisingly the other main mover as the pokies war hots up, significantly sparked by his claims of receiving death threats - as some of us continue to be stupefied by the argument that private clubs choosing how to spend money in their communities (and on their foyer waterfalls) through a highly regressive and selective tax is somehow the best social outcome. How about all pokies having a 100% return? Now that would actually be gambling and clubs providing entertainment, not just a tax on the weak.
.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	599
2	Stephen Smith	227
3	Tony Abbott	209
4	Kevin Rudd	167
5	Greg Combet	115

Smith up to second in this list as well, but issues such as the carbon price and the NBN continue to get more play on talkback than Defence issues.
.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Wayne Bennett	731	385	481	398	7,410	499

The NRL’s supercoach (now there’s an underused cliché) is swapping the Princes Highway for the Pacific Highway, as new private owner of the Knights Nathan Tinkler flexes his financial muscles.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 2 - 8 April 2011

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Carbon price	1,493	6,729	4,884	571	13,677
Libyan uprising	642	3,605	3,254	2,664	10,165
Japanese earthquake	931	3,848	4,332	1.031	10,132
Defence force scandal	218	4,394	5,103	388	10,103
Ivory Coast	232	2,684	2,977	426	6,319

Kevin Rudd’s admission to his poor handling of the Emissions Trading Scheme on Q&A this week sparked further discussion on carbon pricing, most of it centred on his revelations that some Cabinet Ministers wanted to scrap the scheme altogether. The PM refused to publicly admonish Rudd for disclosing Cabinet discussion.

Rebel fighters in Libya expressed anger at NATO after they were hit by an air strike in Ajdabiya. The rebels, already angry at the lack of air support from NATO claimed that the air strike was targeting them and civilians instead of Gaddafi’s forces.

Japan was hit by another earthquake while the country is still trying to recover from last month’s tsunami as the death toll headed past 10,000 with thousands of people still missing, while nuclear concerns from Fukushima focused on irradiated water being released into the ocean.

Another sex scandal emerged from the Australian defence force this week when a cadet went to the media with her story and allegations of misconduct. Stories of a ‘boys club’ culture subsequently emerged with further allegations of sexual misconduct and the dismissive treatment of women who made these claims in the forces.

International attention turned towards another part of Africa this week, as former president Laurent Gbagbo continued to refuse to accept last year’s election result, with his successor’s troops closing in on his compound in the capital, with support from UN troops.

Quote of the Week:

“That is not a faint prospect of a possibility” – Kevin Rudd claims he doesn’t even have Lazarus with a triple bypass’s chance of being Prime Minister again, despite recent media speculation and a very high profile.

Crikey Political Index 30 March - 5 April 2011

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 06:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	804	1,000	22,382	1,000
2	1	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	505	540	471	517	11,352	508
3	-1	Premier	Barry O'Farrell	616	444	316	528	9,232	476
4	4	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	307	353	447	390	8,832	347
5	0	Lord Mayor	Campbell Newman	404	259	336	219	6,512	304
6	8	State Opp Leader	John Robertson	281	346	339	196	7,126	291
7	7	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	286	251	221	274	5,461	258
8	-1	Green Leader	Bob Brown	278	216	127	194	2,512	204
9	-3	Premier	Anna Bligh	311	88	84	194	2,512	169
10	-6	State MP	Kristina Keneally	168	53	66	250	2,065	134
11	10	Premier	Ted Baillieu	220	95	78	98	2,106	123
12	6	Independent	Nick Xenophon	121	92	52	176	2,005	110
13	-1	Independent	Tony Windsor	131	165	17	121	2,178	110
14	1	Cabinet	Chris Bowen	82	91	113	130	2,349	104
15	-2	Cabinet	Greg Combet	100	84	47	123	1,682	88
16	-6	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	22	7	7	307	1,157	85
17	-6	Independent	Rob Oakeshott	95	67	14	126	1,235	75
18	1	Shadow	Joe Hockey	52	77	86	53	1,699	67
19	17	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	107	111	11	37	1,327	66
20	*	State MP	Jamie Parker	91	29	63	129	1,209	78

John Robertson copped quite a few lightning bolts from Labor’s Mt Olympus before being elected unopposed in NSW (another good look that, isn’t it?) with most media commentators vacillating between “dumb choice” and “who cares, probably good to use him up before the A-Team comes in”. Robbo has the same benefit as his predecessor of extremely low expectations, what he can do to not meet them seems just as big a challenge as it proved to be for Kristina Keneally.

Ted Baillieu moves up, mainly on health issues, while the biggest move is for Andrew “brinkman” Wilkie, who is sticking to his guns on pokie reform in the face of a whole lot of vested interests, although what the effective difference between supporting Julia Gillard on the floor of parliament, which means not supporting Tony Abbott, and supporting “no-one” which also means not supporting Tony Abbott is, we’re not sure.

Jamie Parker sneaks in as the first Lower House Greens MP in NSW, but how he’ll get back in this list ever again in a totally lopsided Legislative Assembly is anyone’s guess. And lastly Rob Oakeshottsurprisingly lower, even after his attack on those mean, one-sided talkback comperes. Mean and one-sided? Who’d a thunk it? The issue obviously not getting much coverage, even in the happy medium.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	844
2	Tony Abbott	484
3	Tony Windsor	366
4	Rob Oakshott	266
5	Bob Brown	211

Carbon price still getting plenty of play on talkback, along with a fair smattering of NBN, with Windsor and Oakeshott moving up in the wake of the NSW Election and Bob Brown continuing to be a favourite bogey man for many callers.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Black Caviar	163	18	42	100	909	81

The sport of kings still gets plenty of coverage in newspapers, although the “best horse in the world” hasn’t quite caused a Phar Lap response from the broadcast media yet.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 26 March - 1 April 2011

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
NSW election	1,299	10,134	8,899	4,203	25,417
Libyan uprising	879	7,911	8,541	3,374	20,705
Japanese earthquake	1,260	4,168	5,419	5,935	19,350
World Cup Cricket 2011	716	6,551	5,095	2,468	12,447
Carbon price	1,484	5,158	3,865	1,276	11,774

Coverage of the New South Wales election last Saturday was extensive this week as the expected heavy loss for the ALP Government turned into the biggest swing in Australian political history. Blame apportioning quickly took over on the Labor side, with a number of the party’s heavyweights giving their two cents publicly, while most commentators blamed numerous scandals and a long term lack of investment in transport infrastructure as the main reasons for the thumping.

The situation in Libya continued to get widespread coverage this week, with United States President Barack Obama defending his decision for the military air strikes on the country. President Obama argued that the air strikes were a United Nations mandated bid to protect civilians. Coverage of the air strikes also reported on the impact this military action, along with the earthquake in Japan, will have on financial markets.

Coverage of the earthquake in Japan continued to focus on radiation statistics from the Fukushima nuclear plant and discussions turned to debates about the future nuclear energy.

As the Cricket World Cup reaches the pointy end and after Australia bowing out in the Quarters against India most of the coverage centred on the semi-final clash between India and Pakistan and Ricky Ponting’s widely anticipated resignation as captain of the Australian Test and One Day team and Michael Clarke’s appointment to the position.

Carbon price news remained largely focused on compensation and complexity, including analysts’ speculations of costs to companies and Greg Combet drawing the line on tax cuts as the Prime Minister continued to attempt to paint both the Greens and Opposition as out of step with mainstream opinion on the issue.

Quote of the Week:

"I didn't know satire was a crime yet" - Andrew Bolt cited in The Australian, 31 March 2011.

Crikey Political Index 23 - 29 March 2011

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	804	1,000	18,152	951
2	3	Premier	Barry O'Farrell	970	993	1,000	708	18,840	918
3	0	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	605	782	700	567	13,981	664
4	0	State MP	Kristina Keneally	622	659	682	529	12,800	623
5	*	Lord Mayor	Campbell Newman	515	409	390	240	7,551	388
6	1	Premier	Anna Bligh	465	282	365	224	6,285	334
7	1	Green Leader	Bob Brown	239	280	248	228	5,076	249
8	-6	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	277	147	174	347	3,848	236
9	1	Shadow	Wayne Swan	330	167	86	165	2,800	187
10	8	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	78	132	154	331	3,304	174
11	5	Independent	Rob Oakeshott	188	201	163	103	3,363	164
12	3	Independent	Tony Windsor	178	182	174	97	3,277	158
13	-2	Cabinet	Greg Combet	131	171	148	143	3,066	148
14	*	State MP	John Robertson	128	187	145	110	3,070	143
15	-9	Cabinet	Chris Bowen	130	125	139	153	2,672	137
16	17	State MP	John-Paul Langbroek	184	101	100	95	2,060	120
17	*	Qld Opp Leader	Jeff Seeney	193	129	79	63	2,015	116
18	2	Independent	Nick Xenophon	133	100	102	104	2,038	110
19	-5	Shadow	Joe Hockey	98	33	84	97	1,330	78
20	-8	Cabinet	Tony Burke	91	29	63	129	1,209	78

State (and local!) politicians dominate, as you would expect this week, with Kevin Rudd down to a lowly eighth. The new premier of NSW neck and neck with the PM on media mentions this week after he snuck over the line by 25 seats and the Labor Party immediately fell into the self-obsessed infighting that largely got them to this position in the first place. John Robertson is an “interesting” image to present to NSW punters under these circumstances, but I’m sure they know what they’re doing...don’t they?

While the naturally risk averse O’Farrell contemplates dealing with all those Hunter, Illawarra and Western Sydney MPs desperate not to be oncers, the Queensland conservatives, being the funky hipster rule breakers that they are have stepped outside the parliament altogether to get the popular Brisbane Mayor Campbell Newman to run as de facto Opposition Leader without a seat – well it worked for Rudy Giuliani, didn’t it?

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	718
2	Tony Abbott	428
3	Kristina Keneally	220
4	Bob Brown	173
5	Barry O'Farrell	167

Big increase for Tony Abbott and Bob Brown makes the list as well this week after the protest about the protest, many talkback comperes trying to steer an increasingly narrow course between righteous indignation and what many of their older listeners would call plain old bad manners.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Elizabeth Taylor	177	302	803	193	8,407	369

You could remember the mesmerising beauty of her youth, the decent acting of her middle age, her work to destigmatise AIDS or the many excesses of her personal life...but overall a pretty impressive effort for a life spent almost entirely in the spotlight.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 19 - 25 March 2011

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Libyan uprising	1,299	11,260	12,541	4,410	29,510
Carbon price	1,765	10,234	6,065	3,363	21,427
Japanese earthquake	2,185	6,654	7,273	4,662	20,774
World Cup Cricket 2011	561	6,551	6,340	1,258	14,710
Asylum seekers	537	5,384	3,715	1,141	10,777

Coverage has been continuous from what is now clearly a Civil War in Libya, and while the UN enforced no fly zone has significantly changed the power balance of the fighting on the ground, the quick victory for the insurgents that most people outside Libya were hoping for is looking increasingly unlikely, with the two sides now fighting out inch by inch battles in towns across the country.

After widespread anger on talkback, a big drop in the polls and extensive criticism from just about every media commentator of the Government’s strategy of announcing a firm date for the introduction of a carbon price well before any of the details have been worked out– Julia Gillard is suddenly looking like a genius according to one poll, seeming to have weathered the criticism of her policy reversal, labelled both the Greens and Opposition as extremists and thanks to Ross Garnaut turned the focus to how big the compensation for households will be.

Coverage of the aftermath of the massive earthquake off the east coast of Japan dropped significantly this week, with most focus remaining on the problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, despite the confirmed death toll from the tsunami rapidly growing as workers sifted through the detritus of numerous coastal villages that have all but vanished.

Ricky Ponting answered his many critics, some of whom have been predicting his sacking following this tournament, with his first one day 100 for over a year, but it wasn’t enough to stop a relatively comfortable victory for the host nation. India will now face an in-form but always unpredictable Pakistan in what will be a huge World Cup semi-final in the Punjab.

A touch of Keystone Cops continued to surround the Christmas Island detention centre riots this week, with the Government unsure for several days whether all detainees had in fact been rounded up, while locals continued to express their dismay at the lack of detailed information coming from the Detention Centre operator.

Quote of the Week:

"Today Tonight confecting outrage about non-attribution of any story is very much like Jack the Ripper complaining about an increase in knife-related crime.” – Channel 9 “unnamed executive” - as Channels 9 and 7 continue to bully each other in their spat about the use of footage in a story about bullying.

Crikey Political Index 16 - 22 March 2011

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	16,992	1,000
2	0	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	352	596	916	483	11,402	587
3	0	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	369	517	552	541	8,951	495
4	1	Premier	Kristina Keneally	372	425	395	390	6,961	395
5	-1	NSW Opp Leader	Barry O'Farrell	397	426	400	301	6,781	381
6	5	Cabinet	Chris Bowen	134	386	233	119	4,677	218
7	-1	Premier	Anna Bligh	242	145	132	209	2,721	182
8	-1	Green Leader	Bob Brown	320	76	108	91	1,847	149
9	11	Shadow	Scott Morrison	198	203	118	62	2,598	145
10	0	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	180	41	108	194	1,697	131
11	1	Cabinet	Greg Combet	69	75	71	100	1,330	79
12	-1	Cabinet	Tony Burke	80	95	47	91	1,328	78
13	0	Premier	Ted Baillieu	85	61	82	66	1,214	74
14	1	Shadow	Joe Hockey	76	49	85	62	1,111	68
15	-7	Independent	Tony Windsor	87	68	9	57	822	55
16	0	Independent	Rob Oakeshott	89	54	15	43	721	50
17	7	Shadow	Barnaby Joyce	31	60	92	13	1,046	49
18	-1	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	69	55	43	24	804	48
19	4	Shadow	Julie Bishop	42	32	53	59	752	46
20	-2	Independent	Nick Xenophon	60	42	1	49	532	38

Kevin Rudd up to about 60% of mentions of the PM, and well ahead of Tony Abbott, as the media plays out a self-fulfilling prophesy of talking about how much Kevin Rudd is being talked about. Historically governments have usually had a very high profile second in command/Treasurer – this one undoubtedly doesn’t – ever hear anyone talking about the Gillard-Swan Government? - and Kevin Rudd is filling the gap through his own activities and the fascination of the Press Gallery.

Kristina Keneally prepares to bow out on top – at least in terms of media mentions, pipping out Barry O’Farrell through a raft of “going down smiling/fighting” stories. Is it just me that thinks it’s pretty easy to seem resolute and upbeat in the face of defeat when your starting expectations are so very low?

Chris Bowen and Scott Morrison the other main movers for obvious reasons, while Barnaby Joyce gets a bit of his mojo back with some choice lines about rogue polls.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	558
2	Kevin Rudd	315
3	Kristina Keneally	276
4	Chris Bowen	192
5	Tony Abbott	179

Julia Gillard still miles out in front in terms of discussion in talkbackland, with punters far more focused on the hip pocket than Muammar Gaddafi - what a shock. Meanwhile the Greens remain a favourite football on the right wing stations, Bob Brown taking 6th position.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Ricky Ponting	349	376	653	227	7,566	401

A big game coming up for Australian cricket and the World Cup itself, with either the dominant team of the past 20 years or the main host nation dipping out before the semis, but to read our media you’d almost think it was all just about one man...

Australia: Most mentioned issues 12 - 18 March 2011

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Japanese earthquake	3,558	24,388	32,728	9,069	69,743
World Cup Cricket 2011	558	7,021	6,643	1,407	12,629
Asylum seekers	372	7,644	4,785	667	13,468
Carbon price	1,371	6,724	3,513	1,618	13,226
Libyan uprising	812	4,699	4,643	2,682	12,836

The massive earthquake off the East coast of the main Japanese island of Honshu last Friday that led to a 10 metre tsunami is the fourth and biggest major natural disaster to receive blanket media coverage this year. While around 10,000 people are still missing, presumed dead, the focus of international coverage swiftly moved to the potential nuclear crisis as two reactors suffered explosions and radiation levels rose.

Ricky Ponting’s onfield hissy fit in yet another pedestrian victory over pedestrian opposition was the biggest news around the Australian team, who will play their only difficult match of the preliminary round tomorrow against Pakistan, having already made the second round. Meanwhile England have provided most of the entertainment in this World Cup, losing to Ireland, beating South Africa and sneaking past the West Indies in dramatic fashion.

A series of riots at the Christmas Island detention centre during the week, including several cases of rock throwing, led to the use of tear gas by AFP officers and claims of critical overcrowding at the Centre by refugee advocates, while the Government moved some “vulnerable” asylum seekers to Darwin.

Julia Gillard returned from the US and started swinging on the carbon tax issue, attacking both the Opposition and the Greens as “extremists” and claiming that there was simply no other option available to her on climate change, stating a carbon price was “now or never”.

The UN have finally agreed to a no-fly zone over Libya, just hours after the regime boasted that they were heading for Benghazi, the centre of the rebellion, after crushing opposition resistance in Western parts of the country, mainly through aerial bombardment and artillery.

Quote of the Week:

"I can't even remember what happened now, whether it came off my face or my head ... it couldn't feel any better.” – Brisbane Roar midfielder Erik Paartalu reflects on his very last moment of extra time equaliser that sent the A-League Grand Final to penalties and an eventual extraordinary Roar victory.

Crikey Political Index 9 - 15 March 2011

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	32,094	1,000
2	2	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	412	410	439	349	13,357	402
3	-1	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	425	297	211	377	8,731	327
4	1	NSW Opp Leader	Barry O'Farrell	548	236	101	268	6,112	288
5	-2	Premier	Kristina Keneally	310	271	156	332	7,292	267
6	5	Premier	Anna Bligh	307	92	116	130	3,736	162
7	0	Green Leader	Bob Brown	177	61	39	178	2,207	113
8	0	Independent	Tony Windsor	131	92	98	97	3,111	105
9	-3	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	155	52	46	114	1,941	92
10	5	Cabinet	Tony Burke	140	101	56	67	2,501	91
11	-1	Cabinet	Greg Combet	147	96	36	82	2,210	90
12	2	Premier	Ted Baillieu	145	49	17	48	1,221	65
13	5	Shadow	Malcom Turnbull	65	71	47	63	1,891	62
14	-2	Shadow	Joe Hockey	66	63	43	64	1,738	59
15	-2	Independent	Rob Oakeshott	69	36	8	75	930	47
16	7	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	40	63	27	40	1,382	43
17	-8	Independent	Nick Xenophon	55	31	18	56	927	40
18	8	Cabinet	Peter Garret	48	17	6	75	644	35
19	-2	Shadow	Scott Morrison	23	34	8	75	842	35
20	2	Shadow	Greg Hunt	26	53	19	30	1,076	32

With news dominated by the devastation in Japan, the Australian media again somehow managed to briefly turn it into another Kevin Rudd issue when he was criticised for “demanding” answers from the Japanese Government on the state of its affected nuclear reactors, which has since become almost the sole focus of the coverage as the danger has increased. Rudd remains a figure of fascination for most of the political media, and while he’s no shrinking violet, he definitely hasn’t had to put on fishnets to keep the profile up.

No huge movers further down the list, although MySchool 2.0 pulled Peter Garrett into the list for the first time in a while, Tony Burke moves up on pulp mill and Tarkine debate, while Nick Xenophon can’t keep pace with Tony Windsor and Bill Shorten drops out of the top 20 altogether. We feel sure we won’t need to say that too many times.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	1,129
2	Tony Abbott	289
3	Kevin Rudd	252
4	Kristina Keneally	202
5	Barry O'Farrell	195

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Justin Bieber	42	2	40	58	874	35

20 radio items and 585 television. Mass is already niche for those who haven’t caught up.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 5 - 11 March 2011

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 01:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Carbon price	1,114	9,480	7,265	3,086	21,690
Libyan uprising	1,092	7,900	8,992	3,578	21,562
Gillard in USA	421	6,706	10,161	1,053	18,341
NSW election	1,438	5,231	4,663	1,400	12,732
World Cup Cricket 2011	579	5,227	5,327	1,105	10,900

The planned carbon price remains easily the dominant national political issue this week, with intense media debate about who is winning the public debate, terrible opinion polls for the Government leading to further heavy criticism of the timing and nature of the announcement, while industry groups started lobbying for their preferred policy settings.

Colonel Gaddafi’s forces, with superior hardware and air supremacy, seem to be slowly destroying the parts of Libya that have been under rebel control, while the international community debates what direct action, if any, should be taken, with the French at one end of the spectrum having already recognised the opposition as the legitimate Government, while the Germans have spoken publicly against any military action in North Africa.

Julia Gillard became the fourth Australian Prime Minister to address a joint sitting of U.S. Congress, following several days of meetings with key administration figures including President Obama. Her talks focused on the military, diplomatic and trade relationship between the two countries, carbon pricing only briefly mentioned.
Soul searching amongst the NSW ALP ahead of what the opinion polls say and all the pundits believe will be a thumping defeat, has already spilled out into the open, with the Premier calling the NSW General Secretary of the party a “fool” for publicly admitting the Government cannot win the 26th March election.
Still not too much happening on the field for the Australian cricket team at the World Cup, with their second round place already almost certain, despite having played only half their games, with most focus on the return of Mike Hussey to the team after having originally been left out due to injury.

Quote of the Week:

"This year you have marked the centenary of President Reagan's birth. He remains a great symbol of American optimism.” – after praising both John Howard and Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard saves her highest praise for Ronald Reagan…yes, that Ronald Reagan…during her speech to US Congress.

Crikey Political Index 2 - 8 March 2011

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 01:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	29,670	1,000
2	0	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	469	481	334	395	11,861	420
3	3	Premier	Kristina Keneally	302	303	113	269	6,225	247
4	-1	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	277	182	140	307	5,506	226
5	-1	NSW Opp Leader	Barry O'Farrell	272	207	81	237	4,642	199
6	4	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	247	215	170	115	5,367	187
7	1	Green leader	Bob Brown	237	127	90	148	3,503	150
8	-1	Independent	Tony Windsor	163	116	90	178	3,416	137
9	5	Independent	Nick Xenophon	133	199	999	107	4,030	134
10	6	Cabinet	Greg Combet	137	191	76	120	3,694	131
11	-1	Premier	Anna Bligh	179	62	35	124	1,901	100
12	3	Shadow	Joe Hockey	70	69	80	64	2,171	71
13	-2	Independent	Rob Oakeshott	120	66	16	79	1,402	70
14	-1	Premier	Ted Baillieu	113	60	14	65	1,245	63
15	0	Cabinet	Tony Burke	86	57	21	38	1,152	50
16	1	Outer Min	Bill Shorten	84	56	13	30	1,027	46
17	-1	Shadow	Scott Morrison	36	49	32	27	1,106	36
18	-9	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	50	12	18	55	685	34
19	-1	Cabinet	Nicola Roxon	52	22	4	18	431	24
20	-1	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	34	11	6	14	300	16

The trip to the US and meeting with Barack Obama saw a big increase in television coverage for Julia Gillard, but the two leaders clearly have very different priorities on their minds – although the hip pocket is somewhat of a common theme, Obama struggling through the slowest of recoveries, while Gillard deals with an electorate that really wants to do something about climate change, as long as it’s nothing real.

Kevin Rudd maintains his high profile as Libya continues to dominate international news, the stories that this is part of a long term plan to get the leadership back are surely fanciful journo imaginings? We all know that politicians have to have mighty healthy egos to survive, which can sometimes lead to delusion…but that would be really stretching the delusional envelope.

The seemingly endless saga of the flood levy saw Nick Xenophon shoot up the list. Is it really over now? And was it all worth it? Jury out on both of those questions, but everyone’s clearly on a pretty steep learning curve in Canberra at the moment.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	676
2	Tony Abbott	189
3	Kevin Rudd	106
4	Kristina Keneally	96
5	Barry O'Farrell	78

Carbon tax talkback died down considerably after the death threat event, but it remained heavily opposed, with more than three-quarters of callers men, most of them more concerned about the economic cost than the “lie”.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
John Galliano	53	11	36	78	1,024	45

In the 21st Century, if you’re trying to be oh so outré, oh so shocking, because you’re a freakin rock star fashion designer from Mars, remember that pretty much anything you say anywhere can go immediately worldwide – then again maybe he’s just a raging anti-semite.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 26 February - March 4 2011

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Libyan uprising	1,114	12,383	13,396	4,070	30,993
Christchurch earthquake	1,525	11,037	10,129	6,408	29,099
Carbon price	2,110	14,031	10,792	2,016	28,949
World Cup Cricket 2011	640	5,277	6,066	1,616	13,599
Oscars	600	3,167	6,028	1,105	10,900

International concern over the situation in Libya remains high, however any direct intervention remains purely on the drawing board as the US administration backed away from a no-fly zone, while one of Gaddafi’s only remaining allies Hugo Chavez attempts to negotiate a peace-keeping force.

Financial and physical support has flooded into Christchurch following last week’s devastating earthquake, with the death toll now over 160, with fears that there still may be bodies trapped in the wreckage. Estimates of the rebuilding effort have gone as high as $15billion and ten years to return the CBD to where it was before the quake.

Some people still aren’t convinced that anthropomorphic climate change exists, but there was certainly plenty of human induced heat in the debate over the carbon price that Julia Gillard announced late last week would be commencing in July next year. Gillard received strong criticism after having ruled out a carbon tax during the election campaign, but death threats to independent MP Tony Windsor reduced the rhetoric significantly by the end of the week.

The cricket world cup has already produced the usual shock result that these tournaments seem to manage, but this one was probably the biggest yet, the Irish team chasing down a massive total to defeat England with 5 balls to spare, while Australia faces its first real test of the tournament against Sri Lanka on Saturday night.

The Oscars were predictable and long, with The King’s Speech cleaning up most of the major awards, except supporting actor, where Geoffrey Rush lost out to Christian Bale. There were plenty of Australian winners however, in make-up, short film and editing categories, as well as the half Australian director of the winning film Tom Hooper.

Quote of the Week:

"I'm tired of pretending like I'm not bitchin', a total frickin' rock star from Mars” – Charlie Sheen tries to out-loony Muammar Gaddafi in one of his many attacks on the network that sacked him. But Gaddafi proves he’s still the most deluded: “All my people love me. They would die to protect me.”

Crikey Political Index 23 February - 1 March 2011

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 02:45:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	26,371	1,000
2	0	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	512	506	594	356	13,585	492
3	1	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	300	253	351	292	7,821	299
4	4	NSW Opp Leader	Barry O'Farrell	431	172	116	191	4,447	228
5	0	Premier	Anna Bligh	286	130	161	186	4,166	191
6	1	Premier	Kristina Keneally	245	203	132	168	4,595	187
7	8	Independent	Tony Windsor	176	149	148	111	3,802	146
8	4	Green leader	Bob Brown	158	133	135	128	3,547	39
9	9	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	93	113	133	71	2,971	103
10	-4	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	159	43	41	137	1,653	95
11	6	Independent	Rob Oakeshotte	123	106	72	76	2,383	94
12	22	Cabinet	Greg Combet	78	110	102	78	2,657	92
13	0	Premier	Ted Bailllieu	121	70	43	86	1,730	80
14	-5	Independent	Nick Xenophon	86	58	74	61	1,736	70
15	-5	Shadow	Joe Hockey	60	53	29	95	1,347	59
16	-13	Shadow	Scott Morrison	53	35	25	107	1,445	55
17	6	Outer Min	Bill Shorten	82	40	43	33	1,117	50
18	10	Labor	Nicola Roxon	69	53	30	34	1.122	46
19	-8	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	71	25	18	72	846	46
20	6	Shadow	Julie Bishop	56	31	44	52	1,066	46

In hindsight, I think Julia Gillard and Greg Combet will be seen to have managed to make the best out of what was always going to be a “courageous” but unavoidable decision on a carbon price. Quarantining the “lie” and letting it die down before the actual battle over the detail is probably a good thing, and most of the pressure now lies with the Greens in terms of compromise - to paraphrase Oscar - losing one carbon price may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two would look like carelessness.

Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott of course will also come under about as intense a pressure as politicians can come under outside a war zone over the next six months or so as all the stakeholders on the carbon tax start banging at their doors. And in other news the odd twilight zone of the NSW Election campaign continues, with all the journos struggling on in the face of a non-contest that has all the hallmarks of an older couple that haven’t liked each other for quite some time divorcing - everyone, including Labor, seems to just want it to be out of the way, so they can move on.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	1,498
2	Tony Abbott	355
3	Kevin Rudd	180
4	Anna Bligh	170
5	Barry O'Farrell	145

Last week we pointed out that asylum seekers aren’t nearly as big a talkback issue as many in the commentariat would like to think, but climate change and a carbon price most certainly is a big issue, and not just on the right wing stations, again despite the “insiders” declamations.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Charlie Sheen	89	71	277	177	4,283	154

Charlie was here two weeks ago, but he’s picked himself again. More entertaining than the Oscars, in that schadenfreude way that most humans are so good at.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 19 - 25 February 2011

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 04:30:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Christchurch earthquake	2,053	24,610	34.273	7,018	67, 954
Libyan uprising	689	10,395	8,213	1,885	21,182
World Cup Cricket 2011	736	5,334	4,212	1,099	11,391
Ricky Nixon	246	4,019	5,409	1,608	11,282
NSW election	1,147	3,026	1,738	2,099	8,010

An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale with an epicentre only 10kms from Christchurch has caused devastation in the South Island’s largest city, with many large buildings completely destroyed, others severely damaged and a death toll that is in to three figures with another 200 still missing. Mobile video and pictures of the devastation were online virtually as the earthquake occurred.

Libyan dictator Muammar Ghaddafi seemed a more isolated and desperate figure as the week wore on, with insurgents already in control of the East of the country, fierce fighting now occurring in the West. Ghaddafi has vowed to stay and fight as he accused the rebels of variously being sponsored by the U.S, Osama bin Laden and being on drugs.

Australia made it safely through their first group match against Zimbabwe at the One Day World Cup in a less than thrilling encounter, the Aussies sedately accumulating an average score that the Zimbabweans got nowhere near after their batting crumbled.

AFL Player Manager Ricky Nixon’s career remains in the hands of the AFLPA after allegations of misconduct surrounding the 17 year old girl at the centre of the St Kilda Facebook photo controversy.

The polls continue to point to a crushing defeat for the NSW Labor Government, with good debate performances from Premier Kristina Keneally seeming to have no effect on the NSW electorate’s view of the 16 year old government, with much of the media focusing on the plans of Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell once in Government, and what the exact size of his win is likely to be.

Quote of the Week:
“You in Zawiyah turn to Bin Laden…they give you drugs." Libyan dictator Muammar Ghaddafi raves at the populace of a small town near the capital as he desperately attempts to cling to power.

Beware of flaky research

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:00:00 GMT

We’re living in some pretty exciting times these days. It’s incredibly exciting to be able to understand how to deal with the changes, looking at potential impacts and working out where companies can use these changes to their own and their customers’ advantage. There’s a running theme through most of the changes and developments – being open, sharing, being a useful tool. Technology has very much become about finding ways to create value for everyone.

However, in the positively charged times of change we live in we encounter two camps. Those who really are wise and insightful in assessing the changes in the multimedia landscape and then are those who prey on the meek and weak. The ones who don’t really know how to understand what’s upon us and lap up anything from anyone who seems confident enough.

The latest experience of the second kind comes in the form of some research from WongDoody with the accompanying article from MediaPost:

Big Brands Not Making Most Of Facebook
The vast majority of top brands are on Facebook -- but they aren't doing enough to engage consumers through the site, suggests a new study by agency WongDoody. Of the top 100 brands as determined by Interbrand's Best Global Brands 2010 rankings, 84 have dedicated Facebook pages, with an average of 1.8 million fans.

My first question is Huh? So many brands have different requirements and objectives, what about understanding those first before you give these apparent hard rules on using FB and why just FB? And so what If you have 1.8 million fans. If you aren’t getting any sales in return it’s pretty much a waste of time!

Full of holes, misuse of analytical data and the potential to mislead the meek and weak. The top line glaring problems for me are:

Not all companies need Facebook
Different platforms have different attributes. Some work better for some kinds of categories and others not so much. Facebook isn’t and shouldn’t be the measuring stick. Companies should be assessing if they need to use social media, will they get ROI and where should they go to get that ROI.
Facebook may be great for companies with a high consumer focus but I’d strongly suggest against a parent company like GE going out guns blazing on Facebook in the hopes that everyone loves a parent company.
The bottom line here is Facebook does work when you’re a company with a strong consumer focus and you have the opportunity to utilize the leisure medium as it’s intended.

You can be sporadic or absent on social media
Contrary to popular belief, brands don’t have to be social-media-active all the time.
Once I worked on a shampoo brand and no one in the outside world cares that much about shampoo. It washes their hair and that’s about it. For this company the recommendation was about matching their resource to the intended objectives. They entered into the space when they attracted the most engagement from their audience, subsequently building a strong and effective path to purchase. And you know what? It worked!
Most people don’t care about brands that much. They’re also busy. Be realistic about what your resources allow and what your audience can actually digest. Disclosure/communication and managing expectation is a wonderful thing. If you can only contribute content every so often let your potential audience know. It can’t hurt and they’ll know why you only post once a month.

Giving up control is really about managing risk
Companies have more control in social media than they think. The real issue is not letting a person say anything they want on a Facebook wall. It’s really about how a company reacts to commentary or what companies choose to initiate. This is often where companies fall down by deciding to open up a can of worms instead of realising that by ‘not sinking to the level’, they could have let those comments slip into social media oblivion.
Interacting on social media platforms with the larger community means companies should consider different reactionary scenarios and how to react if X, Y or Z happens. They should prepare guidelines on how to react for different types of comments. Often that involves being patient and waiting for the people to speak up. In the end, it’s just simple PR.

Look at that! No smoke, no mirrors and real information to help those that need it. There’s no need to put the pressure on and give companies the idea that if they don’t have a sizeable number of completely active Facebook fans they will drown. It just isn’t true.

Image provided by fdecomite on Flickr under CC Attributions licensing.

Crikey Political Index 9 - 15 February 2011

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:45:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	32,247	1,000
2	1	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	726	946	947	433	22,572	763
3	2	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	502	460	413	330	11,180	426
4	-2	Premier	Anna Bligh	354	349	255	260	7,852	305
5	-1	Premier	Kristina Keneally	290	358	238	161	7,253	262
6	0	NSW Opp Leader	Barry O'Farrell	257	296	256	105	6,098	229
7	15	Shadow	Julie Bishop	151	146	233	39	3,913	147
8	2	Premier	Ted Baillieu	191	126	195	79	3,629	143
9	4	Premier	Colin Barnett	38	133	211	21	3,481	107
10	19	Independent	Bob Katter	52	139	107	21	2,515	80
11	-2	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	58	88	78	186	2,422	102
12	-1	Shadow	Joe Hockey	95	95	129	26	2,371	86
13	9	Cabinet	Nicola Roxon	50	129	92	20	2,277	73
14	4	Independent	Tony Windsor	105	117	87	21	2,202	82
15	-8	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	125	100	16	86	2,165	95
16	8	Independent	Rob Oakeshott	76	81	92	66	2,022	79
17	-3	Independent	Nick Xenophon	79	92	96	24	2,001	73
18	11	Shadow	Christopher Pyne	43	88	111	5	1,952	62
19	8	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	72	41	92	31	1,449	59
20	-8	Premier	Mike Rann	69	54	58	33	1,298	53

The Premiers feature heavily following the COAG meeting on health reform at the weekend. Despite the focus on her opposite number, the health backdown/ compromise/ stroke of genius (depending on who you read) kept Julia Gillard’s media numbers rising, showing yet more pragmatism from the PM and Health Minister Nicola Roxon. What all of this will actually mean for provision of health services to punters remains a mystery to most of us.

Sh*t continues to happen to Tony Abbott whose struggle to keep his grip on shadow cabinet has Joe Hockey weighing in, distancing himself from his more conservative leader and the Member for Cook (ie. the Cronulla end of Sutherland Shire, in case anyone didn’t know) on asylum seekers. It follows a week of leaks and claims that Andrew Robb would challenge for deputy leader Julie Bishop’s job and coveted Hockey’s as well. Nice time for a book launch, anyone?

Despite a public apology and early launch to NSW Labor’s election campaign, Premier Kristina Keneally won’t be heartened by the latest Nielsen polling that reflects what everyone suspected. She can safely book Bali in for the first week of April. For Gillard, on the other hand, lost state Labor votes could have positive implications, moving forward.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Tony Abbott	1,644
2	Julia Gillard	762
3	Anna Bligh	288
4	Kristina Keneally	231
5	Kevin Rudd	185

Incredible numbers for Abbott who had the undinted support of talkback land, which felt he was ambushed by Channel 7 on his conversation with troops.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Geoffrey Rush	111	66	142	39	2,238	90

Geoffrey’s on a BAFTA hat trick having won Best Supporting Actor for the King's Speech – he won the same award last year for A Single Man.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 5 - 11 February 2011

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 22:30:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Cyclone Yasi	3,128	7,607	6,545	5,738	23,018
WA fires	782	8,903	9,738	1,654	21,077
Egyptian unrest	800	5,386	4,932	2,644	13,762
Flood levy	811	6,062	5,416	1,091	13,380
Abbott comment	212	4,178	4,756	906	10,052

The battered state of Queensland is still recovering from Cyclone Yasi, which peaked as a Category 5 storm with 280km winds, the largest and most powerful cyclone on record to hit the region. The clean-up and the costs to the region’s infrastructure when added to the floods will push the state’s budget back into deficit, despite a huge charitable response and the Federal levy, while the banana industry must restart from near zero.

At least 71 homes in the Perth suburbs of Roleystone and Kelmscott were destroyed and another 32 properties were damaged by a devastating fire started last Sunday by a spark from an angle grinder, as an army of 150 firefighters and five helicopters battled to control two bushfires in Perth’s hills suburbs. FESA will examine increasing text message alerts to any mobile phone in the vicinity of a fire after the Bush Telegraph sounded first warnings of the danger.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak confirmed late this week that he would not be stepping down until elections planned for September, despite continuing widespread protests in Egypt. The decision comes despite growing international pressure to step down and grave fears about what forces may end up in control of the largest country in the Arab world if there is no peaceful handover of power.

The Gillard government faces a wait of up to a month to determine support for its $5.6 billion flood package after four crossbenchers said they were unlikely to make a decision until after a snap inquiry. Gillard stressed that more than half the $1.8 billion flood levy will come from people earning more than $200,000 while those earning under $50,000 pay nothing. Meanwhile, Tony Abbott's proposal to cut funding for Indonesian schools to pay for flood reconstruction was opposed by his deputy, Julie Bishop and the shadow cabinet.

A comment made by Tony Abbott to Colonel Jim Creighton and other soldiers in Afghanistan in relation to the circumstances that led to the death of an Australian soldier last year became news when Channel 7 dug up the footage and replayed it to Mr Abbott, who answered with stony silence. The story quickly developed into a debate about whether Channel 7 had used the footage appropriately.

Quote of the Week:
“This is facile gotcha journalism." Tony Abbott receives support from some interesting places – in this case former Labour Premier and fellow Bulletin journalist Bob Carr

Crikey Political Index 2 - 8 February 2011

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:45:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	984	1,000	24,822	996
2	0	Premier	Anna Bligh	586	642	1,000	457	19,987	671
3	0	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	381	348	402	195	8,494	332
4	1	Premier	Kristina Keneally	240	290	121	264	5,429	229
5	1	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	309	174	159	179	4,379	205
6	4	NSW Opp Leader	Barry O'Farrell	225	214	120	126	4,086	171
7	-5	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	167	101	150	107	3,062	131
8	13	State Min	Kevin Foley	148	66	86	25	1,768	81
9	8	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	50	72	48	128	1,771	76
10	1	Premier	Ted Baillieu	95	55	75	56	1,608	70
11	2	Shadow	Joe Hockey	39	70	67	30	1,482	51
12	27	Premier	Mike Rann	50	50	59	28	1,241	49
13	6	Premier	Colin Barnett	17	77	59	42	1,494	49
14	-6	Independent	Nick Xenophon	36	49	54	47	1,227	47
15	17	Green Leader	Bob Brown	67	27	16	71	801	45
16	8	Cabinet	Anthony Albanese	44	41	47	35	1,043	42
17	6	Cabinet	Bill Shorten	68	39	27	24	830	39
18	-11	Independent	Tony Windsor	54	12	30	54	694	37
19	-5	Independent	Bob Katter	50	28	45	13	814	34
20	-8	State Min	Andrew Fraser	54	17	18	45	596	33

No movement at the top as Julia Gillard maintains a lead over the natural disaster plagued Premier of Queensland, largely owing to the extensive debate over the flood levy, although we would expect Anna Bligh to be front and centre for at least the next 24 hours as Cyclone Yasi nears the coast. The anticipated damage bill from the cyclone will almost certainly recharge the debate about a permanent disaster levy – and a carbon price? Already it seems the realistic focus of that debate has moved from prevention to adaptation, with some people still missing that there’s a problem at all…

The independents all jump into the list thanks to their questioning of the flood levy with all of them and Adam Bandt refusing to toe the line either in part or in full. The joys of minority Government.

And the other main mover - Verity Firth…well, the soap opera has less than two months to run now, and the scriptwriters seem to be working overtime to try and keep the twists and turns coming right to the very last episode – surely the last four years is up there with the greatest pieces of public satire ever created. We on the sidelines can only applaud and admire.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	810
2	Tony Abbott	151
3	Kevin Rudd	147
4	Kristina Keneally	114
5	Anna Bligh	110

Big and overall mixed response to the flood levy on talkback, with many supporting the concept but unsure about the implementation abilities of the government.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Charlie Sheen	72	34	205	58	2,510	92

If he could go back and pick a different cleaning product as a surname rather than just copying his dad, surely Charlie Hoover would have been the one to go with...

Australia: Most mentioned issues 29 January - 4 February 2011

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 01:30:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Cyclone Yasi	1,294	1,8609	22,963	4,277	47,133
Egyptian unrest	1,256	6,143	5,578	1,168	14,145
One Day International	481	4,764	3,104	1,367	9,716
Flood levy	763	3,664	3,234	1,972	9,633
Cyclone Anthony	287	2,488	4,107	391	7,233

The battered state of Queensland is recovering from Cyclone Yasi, the largest and most powerful cyclone to hit that state in living memory. Yasi crossed the coast near Mission Beach south of Innisfail close to midnight on Wednesday and left 177,000 homes without power and many homeless. One death has been confirmed as a result of the cyclone.

Egyptian demonstrators took to the streets as activists protested poverty, unemployment, government corruption and the three-decade rule of President Hosni Mubarak. Protests were inflamed when internet services were shut down. Mubarak announced he would not run for re-election later this year; yet he refused to step down from office.

Michael Clarke reversed his recent fortunes by guiding Australia to its most spectacular one-day victory of all time in Sydney on Wednesday night. Booed in Brisbane last Sunday, the acting Australia captain was cheered on by his home crowd as his side ran down 6-333, the highest score ever made by England in Australia. Australia's 8-334 bettered the 7-330 it scored to beat South Africa in Port Elizabeth in 2002.

Taxpayers will pay up to 1% of their income for the next 12 months under a controversial flood levy announced by Prime Minister Gillard last week. The levy will contribute to the $5.6 billion infrastructure damage bill facing the federal government caused by the floods in Queensland and Victoria. The remainder will be raised by budget cuts. Opposition leader Tony Abbott confirmed the Opposition will vote against the levy, while the Greens are unhappy about cuts to green energy subsidies.

The precursor to Cyclone Yasi was Tropical Cyclone Anthony which battered north Queensland communities south of Townsville when 500km of coastline went on red alert on Sunday night.

Quote of the Week:
"We're not only confronting a very dangerous cyclonic event, we are confronting the very real possibility of significant further river flooding," Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh.

Crikey Political Index 26 January - 1 February 2011

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 02:45:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	24,262	1,000
2	0	Premier	Anna Bligh	427	308	455	342	9,083	383
3	1	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	350	319	442	164	8,271	319
4	5	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	235	230	255	121	5,372	210
5	3	Premier	Kristina Keneally	229	282	170	129	5,150	203
6	1	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	219	160	108	162	3,492	162
7	6	Independent	Tony Windsor	105	163	78	46	2,642	98
8	6	Independent	Nick Xenophon	86	114	148	29	2,699	94
9	*	State Min	Verity Firth	85	52	105	128	2,130	92
10	0	NSW Opp Leader	Barry O'Farrell	125	125	71	39	2,197	90
11	-5	Premier	Ted Baillieu	118	56	36	78	1,339	119
12	3	State Min	Andrew Fraser	56	39	47	62	1,229	51
13	1	Shadow	Joe Hockey	52	62	55	23	1,271	48
14	38	Independent	Bob Katter	61	61	38	27	1,334	47
15	12	Independent	Rob Oakeshott	66	68	14	23	970	42
16	12	Cabinet	Penny Wong	42	58	7	24	828	35
17	-1	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	32	18	23	58	659	33
18	8	Cabinet	Tony Burke	47	35	5	25	551	28
19	10	Premier	Colin Barnett	14	51	26	17	822	27
20	13	Greens	Adam Bandt	18	22	40	8	638	22

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	810
2	Tony Abbott	151
3	Kevin Rudd	147
4	Kristina Keneally	114
5	Anna Bligh	110

Big and overall mixed response to the flood levy on talkback, with many supporting the concept but unsure about the implementation abilities of the government.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Charlie Sheen	72	34	205	58	2,510	92

If he could go back and pick a different cleaning product as a surname rather than just copying his dad, surely Charlie Hoover would have been the one to go with...

Australia: Most mentioned issues 22 - 28 January 2011

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:30:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Queensland floods	3,882	3,249	2,408	4,869	14,588
Australian Open tennis	935	6,968	4,423	1,987	14,313
Victorian floods	1,731	5,100	5,155	1,948	13,934
One Day International	535	4,689	3,601	1,093	9,918
Flood levy	255	4,757	3,254	162	8,518

Queensland is in clean-up and recovery mode following the flood crisis in which floodwaters inundated an area greater than the size of New South Wales. The floods have been described as the worst natural disaster in Australia's history and Queensland is facing a $1.3 billion blow to its state budget, 25% of the total rebuilding cost forecast, with the Commonwealth Government to pay the remaining $3.9 billion. Premier Anna Bligh says flood damage estimates released today will be the start of a budget "rethink" with infrastructure priorities to change.

A hamstring strain ended Rafael Nadal’s bid to become the first man in 42 years to hold all four tennis slams simultaneously this week. That left the men’s Australian Open draw in the hands of Nadal’s conqueror and compatriot David Ferrer, England’s Andy Murray, defending champion Roger Federer and Serbian Novak Djokovic. In the women’s draw Kim Clijsters remains the favourite of both bookies and crowd alike.

Many towns in Victoria's north-west are still bracing for flood waters nearly two weeks after flooding first hit the state. Water is now making its way through communities upstream of Swan Hill and slowly spreading across the area south of the regional centre. The State Emergency Service said the floodwaters were moving at a rate of one to two kilometres a day. It’s expected to reach Swan Hill itself this weekend but probably won't peak until early next week as the Murray River swells.

In the Australia Day one-day cricket international between Australia and England, Jonathon Trott played himself into position to become England’s World Cup all-rounder by beating Australia with both bat and ball. Trott kept the series alive with a century and two handy wickets, securing a 21-run win that got England off the mark with three games to go.

Taxpayers will pay up to $5 a week for the next 12 months under a special flood levy. Low income earners and flood victims will be exempt from the temporary tax set to raise $1.8 billion. “We put out a hand to help the flood victims on the first day when they needed us. They still need us,” Julia Gillard told the National Press Club. Taxpayers earning between 50-100k will contribute 0.5% of their income under the new levy. Those on more than 100k per year will contribute 1%, with those earning under 50k exempt.

Quote of the Week:
In his Australia Day address in London the Prince of Wales disclosed he was the frequent victim of verbal abuse from Australians. “I have been called a Pommy bastard many times,” he said with a laugh. “But look what it has done for me. By god, it was good for the character. If you want to develop character, go to Australia.” The crowd of 500 Australians broke into laughter and applause at the Prince’s comments during the speech at Australia House.

Crikey Political Index 19 - 25 January 2011

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 05:45:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	1	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	11,481	1,000
2	-1	Premier	Anna Bligh	969	458	635	986	7,252	762
3	*	Premier	Lara Giddings	218	361	438	222	4,127	310
4	5	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	395	329	252	252	3,390	307
5	38	State min	David Bartlett	268	345	387	220	3,874	305
6	1	Premier	Ted Baillieu	259	297	339	215	3,420	277
7	-3	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	376	267	197	246	2,684	264
8	-5	Premier	Kristina Keneally	320	298	167	167	2,688	238
9	-4	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	295	250	161	202	2,463	227
10	-4	NSW Opp Leader	Barry O'Farrell	286	259	135	126	2,267	201
11	4	Cabinet	Bill Shorten	145	158	73	100	1,361	119
12	-4	Green Leader	Bob brown	174	59	7	183	753	106
13	4	Independent	Tony Windsor	137	157	38	67	1,148	100
14	7	Shadow	Joe Hockey	39	216	81	51	1,515	97
15	-2	State Min	Andrew Fraser	127	109	32	109	947	94
16	-5	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	104	129	68	61	1,101	91
17	-3	Premier	Mike Rann	140	46	55	108	743	87
18	-2	State Minister	Kevin Foley	89	105	76	41	973	78
19	-1	Independent	Nick Xenophon	83	99	18	61	729	65
20	*	Outer Min	Mark Butler	67	53	88	31	732	60

Following David Bartlett’s Facebook resignation, Gen-Xer Lara Giddings bolts into third place this week becoming Tassie’s first female leader. She follows a string of first-time female Labor premiers handballed difficult political circumstances; think Joan Kirner, Carmen Lawrence, Kristina Keneally and Anna Bligh, the first to be elected to the position.

Julia Gillard reclaims her mantle atop the table which, in a sign of the times, is led by women, with Queensland Premier Anna Bligh continuing to draw headlines. Treasurer Wayne Swan drops down the list despite warning the Queensland flood disaster will increase inflation next quarter - an apple a day won’t keep inflation away as fast rising fruit and vegetables prices and unprecedented rebuilding costs weigh on the economy.

Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, former head of SA Labor’s left, gained coverage following the release of a Productivity Commission draft report proposing an independent body to streamline aged care access. At the other end of his portfolio outgoing Australian of the Year 2010, Patrick McGorry, warned lives will be lost if the government doesn’t combat mental illness.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	385
2	Kristina Keneally	145
3	Kevin Rudd	97
4	Tony Abbott	92
5	Anna Bligh	60

While political talkback volumes dropped, we note a return to normality as Tony Abbott rejoins the chart. Does this signal an end to the opposition leader’s recent ability to avoid the spotlight?

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Oprah Winfrey	469	283	468	285	4,169	376

Oprah’s first show went to air as Queensland was under water. The talkback queen has since added her considerable two bob’s worth in drawing global attention to the disaster.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 15 - 21 January 2011

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:30:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Queensland floods	4,665	5,780	8,248	12,262	31,045
Australian Open tennis	814	7,469	5,130	1,131	14,544
Victorian floods	1,398	3,271	3,621	3,629	11,919
Golden Globes	244	1,024	1,958	664	3,890
NSW power inquiry	130	1,894	740	275	3,039

The death toll from Queensland flooding has reached 20 and is likely to climb with more than 10 people still missing. Anna Bligh commanded immense media attention again this week - and as flood waters rose across Queensland so did her standing. With rebuilding plans underway, she has announced a Commission of Inquiry into the floods that will look at a number of issues including the operation of the state's dams.

Rafael Nadal will bid to become the first man in 42 years to hold all four tennis slams simultaneously, yet he’s unlikely to reflect on the fact that the Australian Open has shared the headlines with some mighty natural disasters in recent years. Lleyton Hewitt bowed out early in a first round loss to Argentinean nemesis David Nalbandian.

Hundreds of people have spent the night in relief centres as record floodwaters continue to threaten towns across Victoria's north and west. About one quarter of the state has now been affected by the unprecedented floods, which have impacted 2,000 homes and are likely to continue for at least another week. Residents between the northern Victorian towns of Kerang and Swan Hill are currently under threat as the Little Murray River swells.

Ricky Gervais' Golden Globes hosting effort split critics this week with mainstream US newspaper critics generally panning the British comedian and creator of The Office while entertainment websites seemed to lap up the penis and plastic surgery jokes. The Social Network took top award honours along with actors Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) and Natalie Portman (Black Swan).

The NSW opposition called on the Keneally government to comply with the parliamentary inquiry on the power sell-off and show any documentation requested. Opposition leader Barry O'Farrell commented as details emerged that hundreds of millions of the $5.3 billion sale of NSW energy assets will go to paying costs associated with the sale. Chaired by Fed Nile, the inquiry is examining whether the sale represents good value for the taxpayers, and why eight directors resigned in protest at the deal hours before it was finalised last month.

Quote of the Week:

"It looks like this is possibly going to be, in economic terms, the largest natural disaster in our history.” Treasurer Wayne Swan comments on the ramifications of the recent flooding.

Crikey Political Index 12 - 18 January 2011

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 04:45:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	1	Premier	Anna Bligh	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	31,255	1,000
2	-1	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	623	556	456	430	15,462	516
3	0	Premier	Kristina Keneally	199	237	80	84	4,324	150
4	1	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	201	121	96	111	3,452	132
5	9	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	116	127	39	55	2,309	84
6	1	State Opp Leader	Barry O'Farrell	111	120	32	54	2,112	79
7	1	Premier	Ted Baillieu	115	90	53	53	2,125	78
8	2	Green Leader	Bob Brown	69	106	16	115	1,842	74
9	-5	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	117	34	57	89	1,713	102
10	10	State MP	Neil Roberts	71	86	75	32	2,310	66
11	14	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	66	67	22	49	1,307	51
12	14	Cabinet	Chris Bowen	35	44	15	70	977	41
13	-7	State MP	Andrew Fraser	57	11	26	38	732	33
14	1	Premier	Mike Rann	51	25	5	32	515	28
15	-6	Cabinet	Bill Shorten	43	26	4	30	504	26
16	-3	State MP	Kevin Foley	47	27	11	21	592	25
17	7	Independent	Tony Windsor	30	18	4	19	355	18
18	3	Independent	Nick Zenophon	17	14	6	14	310	48
19	38	State Opp Leader	Eric Ripper	29	13	4	5	254	13
20	-9	Shadow	Barnaby Joyce	18	24	2	2	321	12

Anna Bligh commanded immense media attention again this week – and as flood waters rose across Queensland so did her standing. While it remains to be seen if that will be enough to turn her fortunes around at the next election we note that three women remain atop our list in a likely first for Australian political coverage. You go girls.

Expect the asylum seeker issue to gain more tabloid steam as Immigration Minister Chris Bowen starts talking tough. In a blow to the refugee lobby, Bowen announced an agreement with the Afghan government likely to see one sixth of the Afghan boat people who arrived here since 2008 returned to the war-torn country.

West Australian Opposition Leader Eric Ripper is the biggest mover this week. He debuts here having fended off his (former) shadow treasurer and factional ally Ben Wyatt for the leadership. Cue tip for young Labor players about wading into a stoush without shoring up union support first.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Anna Bligh	786
2	Julia Gillard	623
3	Bob Brown	412
4	Wayne Swan	218
5	Kevin Rudd	215

Talkback volumes pick up, but still no Tony Abbott. The silence is deafening. Greens coverage continues to head north.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Rafael Nadal	591	43	211	256	2,317	275

As Nadal bids to become the first man in 42 years to hold all four tennis slams simultaneously, he’s unlikely to reflect on the fact that the Australian Open has shared the headlines with some mighty natural disasters in recent years. Good luck Rafa..

Crikey Political Index 1 - 12 January 2011

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:15:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	1	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	779	1,000	16,872	945
2	7	Premier	Anna Bligh	526	708	1,000	830	14,393	766
3	1	Premier	Kristina Keneally	319	404	265	359	5,380	337
4	3	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	316	230	263	187	3,754	249
5	-4	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	312	122	185	283	2,775	226
6	20	State	Andrew Fraser	58	17	27	670	1,663	193
7	28	State	Barry O'Farrell	123	177	84	85	2,037	117
8	-2	Premier	Ted Baillieu	156	90	73	99	1,420	105
9	7	Cabinet	Bill Shorten	91	60	75	181	1,279	102
10	2	Green Leader	Bob Brown	105	100	55	118	1,377	98
11	29	Shadow	Barnaby Joyce	65	128	168	31	1,889	95
12	-1	Cabinet	Tony Burke	60	111	40	63	1,214	69
13	14	State	Kevin Foley	102	11	56	58	606	58
14	-11	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	98	19	20	81	533	57
15	14	Premier	Mike Rann	70	76	42	44	945	54
16	6	Cabinet	Greg Hunt	63	61	47	57	870	53
17	1	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	95	25	16	61	514	49
18	7	Fmr Premier	John Brumby	89	11	19	74	441	48
19	13	Cabinet	Anthony Albanese	51	41	16	44	537	38
20	1	State	Neil Roberts	46	44	19	39	553	37

Despite being dumped from her own website as the Queensland branch of the ALP distances itself from the unpopular premier, Anna Bligh’s assured handling of the Queensland flood disaster is likely to galvanise her standing. That may not be the case for Julia Gillard, whose wooden delivery has failed to ignite public passion during the PM’s first six months in office.

While there are doubts many would recognise the next Premier of NSW in the street, let alone be able to name him, Ted Baillieu could assure him that will change as soon as Barry O’Farrell gains power. Kristina Keneally has little time to focus on the Sydney Festival and she restacks the deckchairs on the Titanic.

Opposition water spokesman Barnaby Joyce - the Nationals senator from the flood-ravaged town of St George – is the new year’s biggest mover for obvious reasons.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	595
2	Kristina Keneally	178
3	Anna Bligh	139
4	Kevin Rudd	98
5	Mike Rann	82

In what was a quiet time for radio-land, the glaring omission here is Tony Abbott whose noticeable media absence continues. SA Premier Mike Rann sneaks in following a sweeping cabinet reshuffle.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Michael Clarke	854	664	328	854	8,960	815

It’s hard to argue ‘Pup’ showed much mongrel in his debut as Aussie cricket captain. Poor performances with the bat complemented an inauspicious Ashes loss. The only way is up.

Crikey Annual Political Index 2010

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 02:30:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	4	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	919,272	1,000
2	6	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	960	875	903	936	825,844	918
3	-2	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	768	836	841	767	758,184	803
4	-1	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	258	237	218	216	209,757	232
5	26	Premier	Kristina Keneally	185	235	129	156	166,878	176
6	1	Fmr Premier	John Brumby	195	184	158	163	158,410	175
7	2	Shadow	Joe Hockey	162	124	138	135	122,116	140
8	2	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	196	99	83	168	99,020	137
9	-5	Premier	Anna Bligh	170	127	105	143	113,036	136
10	4	Cabinet	Peter Garrett	165	126	74	150	102,827	129
11	67	Independent	Rob Oakeshott	148	111	87	124	97,042	117
12	-10	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	165	75	72	138	80,012	112
13	4	Green Leader	Bob Brown	126	103	85	105	89,617	105
14	9	Premier	Colin Barnett	138	78	45	107	67,005	92
15	*	Independent	Bob Katter	129	79	67	91	72,307	91
16	47	Premier	Ted Ballieu	133	74	61	96	69,375	91
17	-1	Shadow	Barnaby Joyce	119	81	59	104	71,709	91
18	-6	Cabinet	Nicola Roxon	124	79	48	104	67,306	89
19	1	Premier	Mike Rann	128	57	52	107	60,482	86
20	10	Cabinet	Chris Evans	130	47	26	117	49,016	80

All change at the top of the list - at the end of 2009 most would have expected Malcolm Turnbull to drop significantly, perhaps off the list altogether, but far fewer would have picked Kevin Rudd not being at the top. Kristina Keneally was only days into her job when the list was produced last year, and just about everyone believes she only has days (90 or so) left.

This truly extraordinary year of politics also sees two Federal independents in the list but otherwise is pretty much as you might expect, dominated by senior Cabinet ministers and Premiers, the only other smoky being the Barnaby, who definitely had a more prominent first half of 2010 than second half – it will be interesting to see if he rediscovers his mojo in 2011.

Quite possibly who didn’t make the list is more interesting than who did. Penny Wong, the Minister for the greatest challenge of our time for most of the year and then the little known backwater of Finance for the rest, didn’t make it. Nor did her predecessor in Finance Lindsay Tanner. Stephen Conroy, the Minister responsible for the NBN wasn’t even close to making the Top 20, despite it being clearly the main federal issue, along with asylum seekers, post-election.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Talkback
1	Julia Gillard	27,120
2	Kevin Rudd	25,559
3	Tony Abbott	18,883
4	Peter Garrett	3,858
5	Kristina Keneally	3,682

Lots of daylight between the three main protagonists for 2010 and the rest, although Peter Garrett did get a fair shellacking early in the year over the insulation issue and the Premier of NSW was always going to be there or thereabouts.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Tiger Woods	238	71	161	200	121,100	167

Now before you complain – this has actually been picked scientifically – as appalling as it is, Tiger was the most mentioned non-politician in the Australian media for 2010. Now if that doesn’t deserve some yuletide greetings for our wonderful media, gotta love ‘em, then nothing does. So Happy Holidays meeja! – and we’ll still be here for you when you get back some time around Australia Day.

EOY Business Update

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

With the festive season nearly upon us, it is a great time to reflect on the current state of the media intelligence industry across Australia and New Zealand and where I see the industry trending in 2011/12.

In summary, the last 10 months has seen a really positive turnaround from the GFC which has been achieved due to a variety of reasons including increased business optimism, issues driving solid media commentary and whilst still no certainty, a somewhat clearer view as to the future of media content and where and how it will be accessed.

Commercial clients’ spending patterns have returned to previous levels and along with this, a greater need to measure results which has seen a significant increase in qualitative media analysis enquiries and projects. We have also witnessed an increase in ongoing reports over months/quarters as compared to one off reporting. This has seen our Analysis team grow considerably in media analyst roles in order to keep up with delivering reports.

With a federal election and three state elections, government business has also been strong and our regional capture, processing and alerting is now more important to all levels of government than ever as regional Australia’s voice in shaping leadership is proven and will only strengthen over the next 2 years.

Internally, Media Monitors industry account team structure has received exceptionally positive feedback as we make it our business to understand our partner client’s industry challenges and opportunities. The client Christmas functions around Australia and New Zealand in December saw over 1100 key contacts attend to meet and mingle with staff.

Media Monitors has continued to source and add additional content - we now have more than 700 press publications provided to us via digital feed, which is an increase of almost 500 outlets in the past three years. This has resulted in faster press production, delivery and an increased clip quality. We’ve picked up almost 80 additional hours per day in broadcast monitoring across Australia and New Zealand this year alone, through additional sources as they launch as well as increased fm radio monitoring. We’ve doubled the number of influential news websites we monitor, tripled our blog and UGC sources and we now capture more than half a million relevant news and social media items per day.

Looking ahead into the next half year there are a number of very exciting new products and enhancements coming up in 2011 - the first being the launch of Mediaportal Analytics which introduces a completely revised quantitative analytical and graphical user options for Mediaportal users, closely followed by an announcement regarding our social media platform release.

Social media is quickly establishing as a mainstream medium with board and CEO interest around organisational reputation and risk leading the need to monitor accurately. This is further developing into the enormous opportunities for proactive communications/marketing strategies for those organisations engaging.

Finally I would also like to thank outgoing Media Monitors - NZ Country Manager Sean Smith for his efforts and congratulate him on his new role as Business Development Director – ANZ. Sean will based in Sydney and lead our social media team. Of course Sean’s replacement as NZ Country Manager, Jarrod Smith is no stranger having previously held the position prior to his posting to China.

As the leading media intelligence organisation in the Asia Pacific region, providing premium services, a key challenge for the remainder of 2010/11 is to display value to our clients through relevancy, coverage, timeliness, industry knowledge, service, product and industry innovation.

Services that ultimately allows our business partners to truly “Make Sense of the Media”.

Photos from the Sydney Christmas Party

View from Cruise Bar

Cameron Buckley (Media Monitors), Ian Kortlang (Media Monitors), and Pat Daley (Salvation Army)

Alex Wilson (Wiliam), Adam Tedeschi (Wiliam), Deb Wiseman (Media Monitors), Gregg Amies (Media Monitors)

Darren Richardson (Media Monitors), Sally Edgar (Guidedogs Association of NSW/ACT) and Chris Williams (Media Monitors)

Gregg Amies (Media Monitors), Shelley Hammond (Media Monitors), John Croll (Media Monitors)

Jono Marais (Deloitte), Jason Eady (Media Monitors), Nimesh Shah (Media Monitors), Ian Turner (Deloitte)

Clayton Ormsby (Media Monitors) and Euan Fisher (Media Monitors)

Rio Nassar (Bridgeclimb), Angela Porter (Bridgeclimb) and Kristy Enright (Bridgeclimb)

Andrew Heather (Media Monitors) and Khali Challis (Media Monitors)

Patricia Kavanagh (Media Monitors), Luke Allen (Media Monitors), Jacob O'Shaughnessy and Jen Bolton (Australian Veterinary Association)

Sarah Larke (Media Monitors) and Kris Ashpole (Edelman Worldwide Public Relations)

Blackie McDonald Communications Group Girls

Simon Lloyd and Nikki Carlson (Text 100 Communications)

Australia: Most mentioned issues 11 - 17 December 2010

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 04:15:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Oprah Winfrey visit	1,115	11,136	18,382	2,977	33,610
Asylum seeker boat crash	585	9,878	7,812	1,162	19,437
Wikileaks	663	5,418	5,479	3,066	14,626
Governement bank reforms	840	5,471	5,477	895	12,683
England cricket tour	1,598	3,332	3,474	1,559	9,963

Australia is Oprah's new 'favourite'. This week the Queen of Talk endorsed the nation and its people during her highly publicised tour. On Tuesday she filmed two star-studded shows at the ‘Oprah House’ that are hoped to increase international interest in the country. Rarely has a visit of this kind generated such overwhelming media coverage.

Julia Gillard announced has announced three investigations into the sinking of the Indonesian vessel laden with asylum-seekers after it hit rocks at Christmas Island. The official death toll last night rose to 30, including four children and four babies, after divers recovered the bodies of man in his 20s and a boy about 10 years old, near the sunken hull.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange spoke outside Westminster Magistrates' Court after being released on bail, following an unsuccessful appeal against that decision. "It's great to smell the fresh air of London again," he said. The Australian is wanted for questioning over alleged sex offences committed in Stockholm while he was visiting the city in August. Judge Mr Justice Ouseley rejected arguments that Assange was a flight risk and renewed bail, pending moves to extradite him to Sweden.

Treasurer Wayne Swan moved to take pressure off mortgage rates by helping Australian banks, credit unions and building societies raise funds more easily and cheaply. The move, to be achieved by allowing institutions to issue covered bonds for the first time, is part of a major package of banking reforms unveiled this week in a bid to help smaller lenders claim more of the big four's market share.

Controlled aggression from the touring bowlers has set up England for a series-deciding victory in Perth after dismissing Australia on the opening day of the third Ashes Test. Australian captain Ricky Ponting and deputy Michael Clarke fell cheaply as England's pace attack capitalised on a grassy pitch to have the home side floundering at 4 for 36 before they fought back to 268 all-out.

Quote of the Week:

Hugh Jackman gave new meaning to crashing a party after his dramatic entrance to the Oprah Winfrey Show on a daring flying fox went wrong. The actor said he "forgot the brakes" when plunging from the top of the Opera House for his entrance to Oprah's Down Under special.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 9 - 15 October 2010

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Commonwealth Games	3,556	12,164	9,148	3,143	28,281
Chilean miners	460	7,452	13,244	1,533	22,689
Cricket v India	540	6,488	4,533	951	12,512
Murray Darling	1,036	7,687	2,113	1,282	12,118
Afghanistan	797	5,431	3,823	1,474	11,525

Scores of Australian gold medals kept the Commonwealth Games high in the media throughout the week, with perhaps more of the individual focus being put on those athletes that didn’t win, such as Matthew Mitcham and the women’s netball team, while a few positive drug tests were the major controversies, few complaints heard about the facilities or organisation in the second week of the Games.

Two days of television was completely dominated by the one-by-one rescue of the 33 miners trapped underground in Chile since August. The rescues generated a huge amount of coverage across the world, with the Chilean president at the mine site throughout the process and 24 hour news channels showing each emerging miner live.

Australia has slumped to fifth in the world Test cricket rankings following a whitewash in India, losing both matches after not being able to defend small second innings totals, falling seven wickets short in the second test, with Shane Warne gaining coverage for Twitter flaming Ricky Ponting’s field selections.

The big domestic political issue of the week remained the Murray Darling Basin, and the MDBA report calling for 25 to 40% reductions in water allocations across the Basin. Angry irrigators have packed town hall meetings throughout the four affected states.

The only other major national political issue was the increasing divergence between the Government and Opposition on matters relating to Afghanistan, Tony Abbott criticising a court martial, although he seems to have confirmed support for the current level of troop commitment.

Quote of the Week:

"We always say that when you go into the mine, you respect the mine and hope you get out" – Foreman Luis Urzua and the last miner out explains how the group of 33 managed to cope throughout their two and a half month ordeal.

Crikey Political Index 8 - 14 December 2010

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 04:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	1	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	855	1,000	1,000	788	16,013	911
2	-1	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	739	667	1,000	12,488	852
3	3	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	691	652	642	374	10,208	590
4	0	Premier	Kristina Keneally	317	241	183	250	3,671	248
5	5	Outer Min	Mark Arbib	184	300	357	103	4,874	236
6	-3	Premier	Ted Baillieu	295	182	93	208	2,539	194
7	-2	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	201	180	123	113	2,469	154
8	7	Shadow	Joe Hockey	139	170	150	65	2,437	131
9	-1	Premier	Anna Bligh	233	84	54	121	1,390	123
10	4	Cabinet	Greg Combet	130	164	47	38	1,625	95
11	9	Cabinet	Tony Burke	131	38	51	128	984	87
12	0	Green Leader	Bob Brown	84	88	37	52	1,030	65
13	10	Independent	Nick Xenophon	58	70	24	102	897	64
14	-6	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	58	78	77	41	1,195	64
15	9	Cabinet	Martin Ferguson	71	54	22	94	767	60
16	2	Outer Min	Bill Shorten	79	54	77	26	1,020	59
17	3	Premier	Colin Barnett	95	53	18	61	685	57
18	13	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	72	46	22	48	621	47
19	-7	Cabinet	Stephen Conroy	82	17	3	81	366	46
20	-2	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	64	45	28	41	638	45

A lot of change this week, but that’s more about lower volumes across the board than any big shake up in politics. Marn the big mover owing to the $47m woman Oprah Winfrey -actually I think she may be worth a fair bit more than that…whether she’s worth anything to Australian tourism remains to be seen.

Senator Arbib continues his recent run of being associated with somewhat less than stellar voting outcomes as we all try and keep a stiff upper lip about the 2022 World Cup being awarded to an oil-rich city state that’s never actually played in the World Cup. Note to US, Britain, France and whoever else about these IOC and FIFA contests – how about making them come to you?

Kevin Rudd up to number two as the main Australian politician caught out so far by the WikiLeaks, no doubt it will improve his standing in some people’s eyes if also further straining relations with Beijing.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Radio Index
1	Julia Gillard	359
2	Kevin Rudd	327
3	Wayne Swan	266
4	Mark Arbib	137
5	Ted Baillieu	86

A few people having a bit of fun at the Foreign Minister and the Minister for Sport’s expense on talkback over the last week, and quite a few providing marks on the PM now that we’re effectively at political year’s end.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Oprah Winfrey	1,341	2,148	2,966	800	38,105	1,821

Well, it just had to be didn’t it? As outlined in Crikey yesterday, a mountain of coverage - and just in case you were wondering, three times as much television as any politician this week.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 4 - 10 December 2010

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 03:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Eastern states floods	193	7,344	10,509	343	18,389
Wikileaks	552	5,600	6,676	1,977	14,805
Oprah Winfrey visit	495	4,279	7,233	1,883	13,890
England cricket tour	715	3,250	3,124	3,261	10,350
Interest rates	670	3,115	2,672	1,949	8,406

Torrential rain caused flash flooding across many parts of the eastern states this week with some areas experiencing the most significant flooding in twenty years. Further rain is forecast for the weekend.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested by officers from Scotland Yard's extradition unit after turning himself in on Tuesday. His London-based lawyer Jennifer Robinson said the Australian whistleblower would fight extradition to Sweden where he faces rape charges. She said the arrest would not prevent the publication of more of the 250,000 leaked documents that WikiLeaks is holding.

Oprah Winfrey brought her 300 strong audience to Australia this week, and the Queen of Talk made her first stop on Queensland’s Hamilton Island. The culmination of her trip will be two shows filmed outside the Opera House, renamed Oprah House by the media, on December 14. But first she and her guests will visit the Outback, NSW wine country, Victoria’s 12 Apostles and parts of Queensland on their whirlwind tour.

Australia's Ashes hopes are in tatters after its last-day capitulation at the Adelaide Oval allowed England to take a crucial 1-0 series lead. The result, a loss by an innings and 71 runs, is Australia's first innings loss to England since the Boxing Day Test of 1986. The series heads to Perth for the third test next week.

The Reserve Bank left interest rates unchanged at 4.75 per cent on Tuesday, providing relief for borrowers and retailers in the crucial shopping weeks before Christmas. The central bank meets again in February with many investors betting the official rate will be at 5 per cent a year from now.

Quote of the Week:

Some of Oprah’s guests, interviewed as they stepped off the plane in Sydney, displayed typical American enthusiasm for being Down Under. Said one: “Oh my God, another hemisphere.”

Understanding Influencers

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:15:00 GMT

A month ago a documentary on influencers was released. It’s a great piece which begins to uncover the realities of this breed.

“INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends and creativity become contagious today in music, fashion and entertainment. The film attempts to understand the essence of influence, what makes a person influential without taking a statistical or metric approach.”

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

There is no denying that influencers is a new key buzz word that’s here to stay. It isn’t a fad, it’s one of the cemented foundations of the new communications paradigm as we know it. Influencers are the key to spreading news and ideas across their social networks of interest.

We probably first saw use of the idea in Malcolm Gladwell’s book- The Tipping Point – where he investigated the idea of Mavens, Salesmen and Connectors. They all did their job to spread different types of information and an influencer is a simplified idea of those concepts. They are a trusted individual and the go to person on a certain topic.

When we come to the world of media, marketing and PR who are the influencers?

Official media people, i.e. anyone with a press pass, is an influencer. They have a platform which supports them and allows them to have a voice. On the other side is the existing audience base whether in press, online or broadcast. No doubt there is influential power, but it’s much more one way and harder to establish 2 way communication. Censorship and control may have something do with that.

Bloggers, tweeps and social media addicts have to build their audiences and become recognized as influencers. Once they arrive they often have the potential to influence people with more authority than traditional influencers. The removed barriers of access allows them to be more honest, upfront and simply more accessible that those in a corporation/media provider cannot adhere to. They are therefore more trusted.

The added benefit of being completely open and (generally) uncensored means everyone in the network has a say. The influencer is driving the conversation, but any comment, positive or negative, has a place.

Is there a difference in harnessing the influential power of either of these influencers?

There is, but it’s debatable. Once a social media influencer becomes as well known as any other media personality, do they not automatically become part of that celebrity bucket?
My initial reaction is yes- but these types are few and far between. Perez Hilton and Dooce are one in a million. Any marketing approach here would be viewed as the classic celebrity endorsement.

The influencers we all need to be harnessing are those who have real connections with their respective communities. They participate and connect with as many of these people in their communities as they can. They are part of something as opposed to the sole driver. They may also connect with people in the real world, or the prospect of meeting is a possibility. It is a more real relationship and all levels of pretense are removed.

And the simple way to get involved in these circles, with these influencers, is find ways to give back. Find the leverage point where your company/brand can connect and allow advocacy to grow. Relinquish a bit of control and respect these influencers – giving them complete freedom creates more appreciation. Influencers will feel that they are respected as equals and trusted by a big corporate.

What Next?

The bottom line is that these relationships are constantly evolving and the influencer importance within a communications strategy is growing. We are understanding new components of the influencer dynamic every day. But by tapping these new voices you can generate positive returns for your business and that’s never a bad thing.

Read the second installment to this post Understanding Influencers Pt II – Activating and Measuring

Image provided by Ted Van Pelt on Flickr under CC attributions licensing.

The good and the bad of iStrategy2010, Sydney

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:00:00 GMT

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend iStrategy2010 in Sydney.
As someone who has attended a lot of conferences and been disappointed many a time with the one or two nuggets I leave with, this one was pretty good. There were some really inspirational speakers who brought some great insights and ideas to the table and then there were the speakers who rehash the same old chestnuts that we’ve all heard before.

So let’s break it down:

The Good

Haresh Khoobchandani
Chief Marketing Officer, Consumer and Online - Microsoft Asia Pacific

Haresh was without doubt the best speaker at the conference. He spoke about Microsoft social media marketing operating on a dynamic basis and the notion that as technology gets easier and more sophisticated, things get harder for business.
Key points:

Facebook is not a communications channel, it is a social service. Unable to acquire data becomes a huge chink in a social media strategy.
Microsoft continually monitor their social media campaigns and re optimize tactics on the fly.
Search is a form of engagement- a nice thought and a different way of understanding the channel.
Microsoft heavily tracks competitors in the social space to benchmark their results. Year on year data is pretty much useless and comparison paints a much better picture.

Mark Wynne
President South Asia Kimberly-Clark

The Australian-New Zealand market is leading the way for Kimberley Clark. They’re changing from a ‘telling and selling’ marketing function to one which focuses on building relationships.

They’ve established communities around their 2 biggest brands- Huggies and Kleenex. They understand that nappies, tissues and toilet paper aren’t passion points for people in social media but parenting is. And they actually attempt to migrate their community from the Huggies to the Kleenex community as babies grow into kids.

The only fault (and not even such a bad one) is the lack of connectivity to fathers- but then there are Dads in the community, they just aren’t as vocal as the mothers.

Glenis Carroll
Group General Manager of Marketing Fairfax Digital

Glenis spoke in detail about email marketing and how important it is for most businesses. Numerous commentators continue to bring up the conversation that email is dead. It seems the only reason they do that is because they have nothing else to say and it stirs up a good debate - an easy way to create conversation.

The quote of the conference came out of this workshop- if Facebook says email is dead, how come you need an email account to login?

Email is effective if used correctly:

Prior to sending an EDM, always ask how you are going to make a conversation valuable to a customer. Sending effective emails minimizes the chances of getting on Spam lists which is an increasing problem for companies which rely on heavy EDM sends.
Benchmark open rates against your respective industry.
Subscribers are a long term investment and not a short term opportunity- results won’t happen in one click.
Clean your email databases every 90 days. Forrester reports that 27% of people change their email addresses every year (2009 statistic).

Other goodies

Nick Love
Managing Director, Australia & New Zealand at MySpace & IGN Entertainment

Nick made me want to venture back into the land of mySpace. They’ve realized their shortcomings, reassessed and created a hub that keeps your blood pressure down

Mark Jones
Digital Director, Fox Sports

Mark’s honest and frank approach to social media is refreshing. They’re trying, trying to make Fox Sports useful and more accessible to their fanbase.

The Bad

Panels

Panels weren’t the greatest largely due to the fact that everyone was on the same side. Effective panels need to have polarizing sides full of drama, hyperbole and misused facts. That’s when people get fired up and more interested in the discussion.

A workshop on Mobile

We’re at a stage of the e-Revolution where smart phones are becoming the norm. Yes it may have been the potential year of mobile in 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 and 2010, but in 2011 every Dick and Harry has a mini computer in their pocket (according to Nielsen, Tom might not have one yet) and they are appreciating the useful functionality that comes with it.
Missing this thought is the reason this workshop failed. Now that people and companies actually have a more solid understanding of this channel, how do we utilize it and shift marketing from pure message and play? How do you, as a brand, become a necessary functionality in someone’s mobile life?

And then from there, how can you further monetize and see returns?

Len Starnes - Head of Digital & Marketing & Sales General Medicine Bayer Schering Pharma
Phil Owens - Former Global Brand Head, Yaz Family Bayer Health Care

This panel discussion was disappointing and could have been so much more effective.

I think the main issue here is that Pharma is trying to use social media in a B2C sense. The restrictions surrounding pharmaceutical marketing is just too much of a barrier that the Pharma marketing function should reassess their approach to social media and create strategies within a B2B framework.

Social media doesn’t actually employ only one B2C strategy and copying that for a B2B context just won’t work. There is no way to compare the tactics employed by the 2 streams. B2B doesn’t have the natural passion points like a clothing brand or electronic device. It’s a completely different headspace and to mimic it within B2B is an immediate fail.

The suggestion I have for Pharma is take the insights from your target and the things you know about social media and apply those to your B2B social marketing strategies. Remembering that social media doesn’t just mean digital. Social media is a complete evolution in how companies talk to their customers. Use those insights to reshape relationships with clients in ways that work for pharma.

Key takeaways

The bad still weans some really good insight and understanding in the space. So not so bad after all.

I think the key to this being a good conference was the high level of understanding of social media and its impact on business. The other key factor was the way that case studies were more than just case studies. Strategy, methodologies and the derivation of idea processes enabled attendees to leave with new ways of tackling business issues, rather than just cool stories to tell.

If you missed this one, I strongly recommend going to the next iStrategy conference near your area.

Read Toula Serna's blog from this conference- Social media through the eyes of the uninitiated.

Crikey Political Index 1 - 7 December 2010

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	18,564	1,000
2	2	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	450	419	482	613	8,178	491
3	0	Premier	Ted Baillieu	576	366	450	496	7,934	472
4	3	Premier	Kristina Keneally	409	364	248	340	5,936	340
5	0	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	368	233	184	327	4,368	278
6	4	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	302	254	323	225	5,182	276
7	-5	State MP	John Brumby	413	77	87	403	2,639	245
8	1	Premier	Anna Bligh	336	90	59	133	1,835	155
9	29	Cabinet	Martin Ferguson	76	106	141	68	2,088	98
10	22	Outer Min	Mark Arbib	85	72	111	62	1,594	82
11	4	Green Leader	Bob Brown	100	42	60	96	1,106	75
12	-4	Cabinet	Stephen Conroy	90	27	11	150	762	70
13	-7	Independent	Nick Xenophon	51	63	10	131	954	64
14	14	Cabinet	Greg Combet	76	49	41	56	899	55
15	12	Shadow	Joe Hockey	87	30	43	59	779	55
16	5	Shadow	Julie Bishop	24	84	83	23	1,336	53
17	18	State Minister	Andrew Fraser	64	34	34	64	740	49
18	13	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	36	96	12	47	1,016	48
19	14	Premier	Colin Barnett	39	71	19	59	897	47
20	10	Cabinet	Tony Burke	60	46	25	45	723	44

Senator Arbib continues his recent run of being associated with somewhat less than stellar voting outcomes as we all try and keep a stiff upper lip about the 2022 World Cup being awarded to an oil-rich city state that’s never actually played in the World Cup. Note to US, Britain, France and whoever else about these IOC and FIFA contests – how about making them come to you?

Kevin Rudd up to number two as the main Australian politician caught out so far by the WikiLeaks, no doubt it will improve his standing in some people’s eyes if also further straining relations with Beijing.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Radio Index
1	Julia Gillard	259
2	Nick Xenophon	120
3	Kristina Keneally	95
4	Ted Baillieu	89
5	Kevin Rudd	73

Nick Xenophon up to second, but basically owing to an appearance on late night syndicated ABC radio, Julia Gillard still the only politician being even semi-regularly discussed on talkback.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Norman Hetherington	73	103	147	69	1,968	98

Vale Norman, just about the only really useful stuff I ever got from television was thanks to you.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 27 November - 3 December 2010

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 03:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
England cricket tour	904	11,594	8,873	3,096	24,467
Victorian election	981	7,765	8,340	1,591	18,677
Wiki-Leaks	323	5,954	5,245	1,537	13,059
FIFA 2022 World Cup bid	343	2,199	3,248	448	6,238
NBN	662	2,368	2,256	808	6,094

The Ashes cricket series continues to dominate the news, with the Adelaide test underway. Australia made two changes from the first test after only taking one wicket in England’s second innings, bowlers Johnson and Hilfenhaus making way for Harris and Bollinger.

If you live outside of Victoria the chances are you first heard the name Ted Baillieu this week, as he swept somewhat unexpectedly to power in the southern state, after eleven years of opposition for his Liberal/National coalition. Former Premier John Brumby was praised by the new Premier for his service.

Last Sunday, WikiLeaks began publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables, the largest set of confidential set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain. The documents will give people around the world an unprecedented insight into the US Government's foreign activities.

And the winner is… The surprising votes by FIFA's executive committee came Thursday in Zurich, announced 30 minutes apart, with FIFA President Sepp Blatter first declaring the 2018 host. "The 2018 FIFA World Cup, 2018 FIFA World Cup, ladies and gentleman, will be organized in Russia," said Blatter, in a crushing defeat for England. No country in the Middle East has ever hosted a World Cup, but that changed when Blatter opened the second sealed envelope, killing off Australia’s hopes to host that event.

Debate continued to surround the $43 million National Broadband Network, as the Gillard government successfully passed legislation through the senate to separate the retail end of Telstra from its wholesale arm.

Quote of the Week:
Qatar allayed the fears of some but not all FIFA voters by promising that stadiums, training venues and areas for fans will be cooled with solar-powered air conditioning when it hosts the 2022 World Cup. But it has yet to be proven that the technology will work on such a broad scale, prompting the American on FIFA's committee, Chuck Blazer, to quip: "I don't see how you can air condition an entire country."

Social media through the eyes of the uninitiated

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 01:00:00 GMT

I attended the iStrategy conference in Sydney last week to understand the concepts of social media and how organisations are leveraging the new communication channels with their clients. The conference included many inspirational presentations by companies who related their experiences, both good and bad and other presentations by motivating technology leaders who charted out their vision for the future.

It was difficult not to detect the main theme of the conversation. Growth in internet and mobile communications at an unprecedented rate, technology advancement which democratised the tools of production and consumers having more choice and asserting their views solicited or not. Rewards for those who engage with their clients and tap into this force are immense.

Hyperbolic numbers were thrown out like they were out of fashion, often the same anecdotes. But what became clear to me that while the experiences of large and small companies could be very different, companies are succeeding in this space only when they build relationships with their clients.

We listened to many innovative ways of marketing to clients using websites, Facebook and Twitter. And as I looked around me I noticed many had their heads down and interacting with their phones or occasional iPad. Not wanting to be left out, I decided to join the fray and experiment. I tentatively tweeted (or is it twittered?) my comments as the speaker was pacing the podium and flashing his PowerPoint graphics. I was encouraged by the approving nod of my colleague, who is mentoring me in my journey of discovery.

I found myself joining a flood of conversations both within and outside the conference. It was fascinating to hear the immediate thoughts of many around me. You feel the distinct pleasure of voyeurism creeping in. I found it surprising that people wanted to share their thoughts so openly and so continuously.

I was also trying to follow the presentation and make meaningful notes at the same time. Amazingly, and counter-intuitively, undertaking three simultaneous but related tasks seemed to concentrate my mind and focus it on the essence of the message. My notes make perfect sense!

At one point during the afternoon, someone tweeted their need for a Red Bull to help them through the long afternoon. Within less than thirty minutes and at the next break, the conference attendees were met warmly by two beautiful girls distributing free Red Bulls to one and all. I was instantaneously converted! It was such a powerful example of the power of the medium. Red Bull had its listening ears on and responded immediately, thus gaining the appreciation of all who were there. Red Bull now has a new admirer.

Read Deb Wiseman's blog from this conference- The good and the bad of iStrategy2010, Sydney

Crikey Political Index 24 - 30 November 2010

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 02:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	17,134	1,000
2	0	Premier	John Brumby	893	862	836	618	14,109	802
3	3	State Opp Ld	Ted Baillieu	563	783	932	529	13,671	702
4	1	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	458	448	458	354	7,559	429
5	-1	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	429	407	393	417	6,922	411
6	1	Independent	Nick Xenophon	253	398	278	415	5,834	336
7	1	Premier	Kristina Keneally	309	367	177	451	5,065	326
8	4	Cabinet	Stephen Conroy	269	342	227	205	4,668	261
9	2	Premier	Anna Bligh	381	168	46	145	2,221	185
10	-7	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	176	79	191	188	2,490	158
11	-1	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	194	149	75	213	2,217	158
12	6	Minor Party	Steve Fielding	169	174	168	110	2,797	155
13	0	Cabinet	Chris Bowen	328	84	66	87	1,611	141
14	*	State Minister	Kevin Foley	224	131	146	30	2,249	133
15	0	Green Leader	Bob Brown	107	101	119	114	1,894	110
16	14	Cabinet	Anthony Albanese	144	76	95	103	1,578	105
17	0	Independent	Tony Windsor	278	37	29	57	909	100
18	1	Shadow	Barnaby Joyce	117	148	71	36	1,716	93
19	-5	Greens	Adam Bandt	118	61	26	159	1,075	91
20	1	Cabinet	Penny Wong	119	33	29	147	882	82

The new Premier of Victoria, the man most thought would never make it, fell over the line in an unexpected but not totally surprising win, given the last five or so elections in Australia. The random explanations of why it happened from the politicians and the media will probably be more entertaining than the campaign itself, but that’s not a tough challenge.

Not much change elsewhere in the list, Tony Abbott maintaining his low profile and Wayne Swan dropping down the list as the robust discussion on bank profits and competition died down. Steve Fielding squeezes a few more moments of relevance out of his public service career, surely more squeezing to come over the next six months.

The biggest mover was Anthony Albanese explaining his line on same sex marriage and getting a piece of the NBN action with the Telstra separation bill sneaking over the line in both houses either side of the weekend. And let’s not forget Kevin Foley, who rounds out a pretty odd 12 months in South Australian politics.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Radio Index
1	Julia Gillard	327
2	Ted Baillieu	260
3	John Brumby	221
4	Kevin Rudd	103
5	Anna Bligh	94

The brand new Premier of Victoria managed a whole 260 syndicated calls, his (barely) vanquished predecessor 221. The elections may continue but the populace has thoroughly moved on from any focus on politics

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Julian Assange	143	97	194	118	2,449	138

Perhaps the most important international news of the year with the most lasting ramifications will struggle to make it into the top ten stories of the week in Australia.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 20 - 26 November 2010

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
NZ mine explosion	763	13,211	14,308	1,020	29,302
England cricket tour	1,049	8,382	6,564	2,381	18,376
NBN	837	6,647	4,629	916	13,029
Victorian election	706	2,969	1,976	721	6,372
Schoolies week	445	1,567	2,865	362	5,239

Australian commercial television news networks raced to broadcast live from the Greymouth mine explosion which rocked New Zealand last week, in the hope of a rescue mission to rival that in Chile. In a brutal reminder that the elements have the last word it was not to be. Twenty nine died.

Anticipation gave way to excitement as The Ashes series got underway at the Gabba. Bowler Peter Siddle vindicated a revamped Australian selection panel’s decision to overlook paceman Doug Bollinger with a stunning hat-trick on the opening day of the series.

After resisting pressure from Independent Senator Nick Xenophon to succumb to a Productivity Commission analysis of the NBN, the Federal Government closed the week with a dramatic turnaround, as Prime Minister Gillard intervened to promise a business case would be presented to parliament.

Coverage of Premier John Brumby and Victorian Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu narrowed as the week progressed, in the lead-up to Saturday’s state election, with polls increasingly predicting a tight outcome.

The Schoolies Festival on the Gold Coast ended with 30,000 teenagers from Queensland and NSW partying at Surfers Paradise throughout the week. While Police Superintendent Jim Keogh said too many teens broke the law by drinking in public, crowds were relatively well behaved.

Quote of the Week:
Abraham - "They are going to be placing their footy tips, downloading music, and looking at porn" Wong - "Matt, what would you like to tell us, mate?" Abraham - "I'm not telling you anything! I'm not telling you anything you don't know, Penny Wong" - Adelaide's ABC morning host Matt Abraham talking to Penny Wong about what most people will use the NBN for.

Crikey Political Index 17 - 23 November 2010

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 02:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	17,612	1,000
2	0	Premier	John Brumby	573	266	245	309	4,949	348
3	1	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	281	205	354	318	4,983	289
4	1	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	303	213	268	355	4,585	285
5	-2	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	298	184	143	318	3,430	236
6	1	State Opp Ld	Ted Baillieu	365	233	187	143	3,682	232
7	11	Independent	Nick Xenophon	176	354	166	112	4,155	202
8	1	Premier	Kristina Keneally	211	218	48	271	2,835	187
9	-3	Shadow	Joe Hockey	182	169	153	196	2,953	175
10	1	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	198	180	143	133	2,815	164
11	3	Premier	Anna Bligh	270	116	115	86	2,101	147
12	18	Cabinet	Stephen Conroy	192	164	64	88	2,034	127
13	-5	Cabinet	Chris Bowen	107	188	90	96	2,327	120
14	-4	Greens	Adam Bandt	160	106	80	92	1,708	109
15	-3	Green Leader	Bob Brown	143	122	55	97	1,650	104
16	9	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	86	80	92	142	1,661	100
17	10	Independent	Tony Windsro	87	53	57	43	1,533	94
18	20	Minor party	Steve Fielding	84	89	54	111	1,382	84
19	4	Shadow	Barnaby Joyce	36	169	97	15	1,959	79
20	4	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	109	101	42	44	1,236	74

It’s all about the NBN this week, and interestingly it’s the Shadow Minister who got more coverage than the Minister, although that’s not a one week story, Turnbull’s profile has been generally higher since August. Nick Xenophon the other main mover, he and Steve Fielding obviously determined to be key players in the seven months remaining during which their vote matters.

The Victorian election campaign has ever so slowly built up some steam, as some of the polls tighten and the Opposition go back to the old favourite Laura Norder, straight from the Bob Carr playbook on what to do when you don’t have much to say.

The asylum seeker issue seems to be drifting back out of tabloid favour for the moment, with both Chris Bowen and Scott Morrison dropping down the list, and the loyal reader (hi Mum) might notice that six out of the 20 top spots are filled by independent or Green politicians. Sign o’ the times.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Radio Index
1	Julia Gillard	202
2	John Brumby	146
3	Bob Brown	68
4	Kevin Rudd	43
5	Nick Xenophon	43

Low volumes continue across talkback, but the Greens remain a boogie man for callers to certain stations.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Ivan Milat	135	130	274	119	3,238	165

If I suggested certain parts of the news media are not unhappy to have an excuse to revisit every detail of the Ivan Milat case yet again, that would just be cynical of me, wouldn’t it?

Australia: Most mentioned issues 13-19 November 2010

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 02:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Prince William engaged	459	3,679	7,948	415	12,501
England cricket tour	1,408	4,567	4,458	898	11,331
Qantas safety concerns	494	3,866	5,162	823	10,345
Same sex marriage	367	4,198	3,444	623	8,632
Aung San Suu Kyi	262	2,719	3,199	646	6,826

The British tabloids were rushing to declare it will be the “wedding of the century” and Australian media weren’t too far behind, Prince William’s announcement that he was engaged to long term girlfriend Kate Middleton easily the number one story on Australian television this week, while the other media did find time to talk about a few more relevant issues.

Local concern over the upcoming Ashes series did not subside this week, with the England team continuing their good tour form and most of the Australian squad not firing in Sheffield Shield matches.

Questions continued to be raised after several further safety incidents during the week involving both Qantas and Jetstar planes, while Qantas continued to pursue Rolls Royce regarding A380 engine build quality concerns.

The biggest issue in Federal politics this week was same sex marriage, with Greens MP Adam Bandt strongly pushing the issue, while both major parties stuck to their policy of marriage being solely for heterosexual couples, despite numerous Labor MPs publicly supporting same sex marriage.

Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from home detention by the military junta and immediately declared her intent to continue to fight for democratic freedoms in her homeland.

Quote of the Week:
"I will happily take any Labor senator or member to the front bar of any working-class pub that he nominates so that he can advocate gay marriage - I will happily stand back and hold his coat." Senator Ron Boswell suggests the Labor Party’s traditional working class base is strongly against legalising same sex marriage.

Crikey Political Index 10 - 16 November 2010

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 02:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	22,996	1,000
2	4	Premier	John Brumby	479	256	232	245	5,823	303
3	1	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	346	216	154	398	4,878	279
4	-2	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	318	237	189	266	5,087	252
5	0	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	323	284	135	204	4,763	236
6	-3	Shadow	Joe Hockey	230	187	196	203	4,486	204
7	2	State Opp Ld	Ted Baillieu	322	184	162	134	4,000	200
8	5	Cabinet	Chris Bowen	147	223	120	73	3,573	141
9	-1	Premier	Kristina Keneally	208	160	34	131	2,290	133
10	22	Independent	Adam Bandt	128	102	145	140	2,933	129
11	14	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	110	110	74	128	2,184	105
12	0	Green Leader	Bob Brown	107	140	71	57	2,229	94
13	18	Shadow	Scott Morrison	99	112	91	23	2,119	81
14	-4	Premier	Anna Bligh	74	78	41	116	1,289	80
15	45	State MP	Joe Tripodi	65	144	43	55	1,923	77
16	-5	Cabinet	Penny Wong	37	93	82	41	1,836	63
17	14	Independent	Colin Barnett	87	53	20	67	930	57
18	-4	Independent	Nick Xenophon	49	56	49	64	1,227	55
19	1	Outer Min	Bill Shorten	53	22	23	78	689	44
20	-3	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	68	27	14	34	535	36

Call me young-fashioned, but I’m finding it hard to understand all the angst in the Labor Party over the gay marriage issue. It’s clearly not an issue that’s up there with interest rates, health or education in terms of bringing swinging voters down on side or the other (pardon the pathetic pun). It’s also something where the Labor Party can clearly differentiate themselves from the Liberals at a time when everyone’s calling them Tweedledumber, it’s something the clear majority of people have no problem with and (clearly the least important issue to those at the top…) it’s something that most members of the ALP support.

Kevin Rudd up another spot as various people bring out various books pushing their own version of recent history and some in the Press Gallery fall in line with the Sussex Street fantasy the election result was solely determined by the second week leaks. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. Meanwhile Tony Abbott sneaks ahead of his shadow treasurer for the first time in three weeks.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Radio Index
1	Julia Gillard	334
2	John Brumby	147
3	Ted Baillieu	107
4	Tony Abbott	87
5	Kevin Rudd	57

Low volumes again this week for the politicians on talkback. It seems the banks are taking most of the heat directly.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Ricky Ponting	260	78	130	210	2,780	170

More than a small amount of pressure on the man holding the most important position in Australia on the eve of the Ashes. Good luck punter, and let’s hope you don’t need it.

AMEC Award Win for Study of Sport and Gender in Australian Media

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:00:00 GMT

Media Monitors recently won four medals at the 2010 International AMEC Awards. The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication ( AMEC ) has 103 media analysis / research companies as members from 38 countries. At the 2010 Awards there were 92 submission across 11 categories. This blog talks about the analysis for the Gold medal we received for Best use of communication measurement within the public sector for the Australian Sports Commission.

View our other award wins

The Towards a Level Playing Field: sport and gender in Australian media report was a challenging, fascinating and unique media content analysis project to work on, due to the scope, scale and depth of research it presents. It is one of the most ambitious studies we have conducted in the analysis department at Media Monitors, and makes a unique contribution to studies of gender in media. I am thrilled that the report has been recognised internationally through the Gold medal for Best use of Communications Measurement: Public Sector at the AMEC awards in London, and being part of the report marks a high point in my career as a media analyst.

To begin with, some background: the Women and Sport unit of the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) works toward greater recognition of, and improved leadership opportunities for, women’s sport and female athletes in the media.

The ASC commissioned the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Media Monitors (MM) to provide it with comprehensive research to aid the development of new initiatives for the promotion of women’s sport.

The ASC’s brief initially was deceptively simple and had two main objectives.

Firstly, we needed to identify the percentage of coverage of female sport versus male sport, mixed sport and other sport in all media in Australia.

Secondly, the Sports Commission also recognised that the figures alone would be meaningless without an understanding of what the coverage was like. The nature and mood of the coverage, its quality was just as important as the quantity, and identifying trends in the tone of media coverage of male sport versus female sport, mixed sport and other sport formed the second objective.

Following extensive consultation with the client, the initially simple proposition was teased out and took on new dimensions. The final approach integrated multiple, complimentary methodologies combined to answer both of the ASC’s key questions as comprehensively as possible.

Our collaboration with UNSW required some innovative approaches to retain consistency across the two organisations’ approaches to the research and to this end I had the privilege of working with Professor Catharine Lumby (UNSW) on the final version of the report.

The research found that female sport receives a disproportionately low amount of coverage in Australian media compared to male sport (women’s sport was discussed in 9% of the television news reports analysed, compared to 81% for male sport, with the remainder devoted to horseracing and, to a lesser extent, mixed sports). For the first time, research showed that television news reports on female sport also had the lowest average duration of all types of sport. This provided one of the more sobering sound bytes associated with the research: horseracing alone receives more airtime than all women's sport combined, in Australian television.

Percentage of all sports coverage

The evening news is generally one of the higher rating programs, and is a major platform from which journalists describe Australian society to itself. That’s why we chose to analyse it. The relatively low proportion of reports on women’s sport on these programs highlights that despite the accomplishments of women’s sporting organisations in increasing the volume of media reporting on female athletes, there is considerable work to be done in securing media coverage of women’s sport in television news media in particular. And for my client having this quantitative data was incredibly valuable information to use as evidence, and as a benchmark.

But discussion of the quantity only tells half of the story, and only answers one of the client’s questions.

In terms of the quality of coverage, the study found that the coverage of women’s sport on television in Australia, while relatively scant, is more favourable than that of men’s sport.

However, the comparatively favourable tone of media coverage of women’s sport is a double-edged sword, as it also reflects the fact that female athletes must win in order to secure coverage, whereas male athletes tend to be discussed in media coverage regardless of their success, between matches and between seasons. Moreover, consistent throughout the report, gender stereotyping in coverage of women’s sport was minimal; in fact, coverage of sport in Australia would appear to challenge key aspects of both male and female gender stereotypes.

Sport in Australia was represented as a traditionally male culture that draws on a rich spectrum of narratives, with female sport as its less-complex, more-novel other. Television news coverage of male athletes was multi-faceted, in that it was subject to more consistent levels of reporting year round, with journalists and networks exhibiting a more sustained interest in the activities of male athletes between games, and even between seasons. Coverage of female athletes was comparatively one-dimensional, in that it was largely event-driven and confined to the reporting of results.

The tenor of coverage of women’s sport is therefore a positive basis for growth, for those with a vested interest in the promotion of women’s sport. The report provides evidence upon which women’s sporting organisations can build and develop their media relations strategies to better address the gaps in media coverage of their athletes.
As with all research, answering the question is really only the beginning. The Towards a Level Playing Field was publicly launched in May this year, and has been the starting point of a number of conversations among stakeholders to work towards more equitable coverage of women’s sport in Australian media.

The report is groundbreaking on a national and international platform, and is something we are incredibly proud of. It is a unique project for us as media analysts at Media Monitors, and demonstrates our ability to provide customised research for a diverse range of client needs, and to answer a wide range of client questions, no matter how sweeping or targeted those questions are.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 6 - 12 November 2010

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 02:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Qantas safety concerns	520	5,466	4,670	1,720	12,376
Clinton visit	395	4,573	5,485	462	10,915
England cricket tour	569	3,530	3,356	527	7,982
ANZ rate rise	207	2,766	4,738	245	7,956
Gillard in Asia	260	2,922	3,859	474	7,515

It was another tough week for Qantas, with its A380 fleet grounded for several days, with other airlines also looking into A380 safety concerns, and an anti-trust case in the US handing out fines to a range of airlines.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received extensive coverage surrounding her visit to Australia, primarily for a defence relationship summit in Melbourne with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Kevin Rudd and Stephen Smith.

The poor recent form of the Australian cricket team has increased tension and expectation in the week before the first Ashes Test, with the English current holders of the urn and desperate to wipe away memories of the terrible performances of English teams in Australia over the last decade.

The ANZ became the second of the big four banks to raise interest rates following the RBA’s Melbourne Cup day decision, also lifting their home loan rate beyond the 25 point RBA increase, but slightly lower than the CBA increase.

Julia Gillard continued her trip to Asia with the G20 meeting in Korea, with the APEC meeting in Japan following. Most of the coverage has focused on bilateral meetings with Asian leaders and President Obama.

Quote of the Week:

"I’m not sure what the problem is here…maybe something relating to zombie porn makes a great headline" – Director of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival Richard Wollstonecraft trying to explain why police raided his home in relation to the film LA Zombie which was shown at the festival in September, which has since been refused classification. He claims his copy of the film was destroyed a week after its showing.

Crikey Political Index 3 - 9 November 2010

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 02:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	19,364	1,000
2	2	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	614	648	674	374	12,020	578
3	-1	Shadow	Joe Hockey	430	424	546	338	8,896	435
4	1	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	434	337	482	484	8,051	434
5	-2	Opp Leader	Tony Abbot	311	400	340	176	6,657	307
6	0	Premier	John brumby	188	276	257	101	3,070	223
7	11	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	109	283	213	202	2,997	201
8	-1	Premier	Kristina Keneally	287	172	16	84	1,987	148
9	0	State Opp	Ted Baillieu	102	169	159	90	1,925	145
10	-2	Premier	Anna Bligh	160	47	72	229	1,147	102
11	17	Cabinet	Penny Wong	69	217	97	56	1,793	84
12	-2	Green Leader	Bob Brown	118	110	90	104	1,317	68
13	1	Cabinet	Chris Bowen	116	73	103	88	1,154	63
14	-2	Independent	Nick Xenophon	37	127	97	58	1,285	63
15	-4	Cabinet	Tony Burke	69	79	36	116	863	59
16	1	Shadow	Andrew Robb	79	47	92	75	904	53
17	-4	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	40	63	23	115	681	53
18	1	Independent	Tony Windsor	47	58	2	111	555	48
19	1	Shadow	Julie Bishop	50	50	29	60	555	41
20	17	Outer Min	Bill Shorten	50	57	32	29	558	39

The economy maintains primacy, the single political focus for the first time in 2010 as Australian politics seems to return to some kind of normalcy - money, sport and media moguls dominating news coverage.

Wayne Swan and Penny Wong the main movers as Tony Abbott slips to fifth. Is the increasingly subterranean media profile of the Opposition Leader planned or does he just not have much to say, or are the media just focusing more on others? It should be remembered that Tony Abbott regularly received far more coverage in early 2010 than either Malcolm Turnbull or Brendan Nelson did when they were leader.

The visit of Bob Gates and Hillary Clinton and the defence agreement between the US and Australia bumps Stephen Smith back to the top ten, while the ever camera shy Bill Shorten jumps into the top 20 with his brave views on gay marriage – he’ll support it, but only when everyone else does too…

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Radio Index
1	Julia Gillard	635
2	Wayne Swan	154
3	John Brumby	136
4	Joe Hockey	86
5	Ted Baillieu	82

Juila Gillard way ahead in volume on talkback after touring the region, while the Victorian election has everyone mildly excited to middlingly thrilled.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Joel Monaghan	127	420	418	205	7,277	293

And we thought nobody would be able to set the bar lower than Nate Myles...oh we of little faith.

Crikey Political Index 27 October - 2 November 2010

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	18,711	1,000
2	0	Shadow	Joe Hockey	599	524	470	283	8,952	469
3	0	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	385	353	386	298	6,813	356
4	0	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	508	257	247	295	5,010	327
5	1	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	252	215	201	170	3,721	210
6	19	Premier	John Brumby	118	304	260	91	4,394	193
7	1	Premier	Kristina Keneally	234	112	211	206	3,073	191
8	5	Premier	Anna Bligh	105	254	331	58	4,324	187
9	34	State Opp	Ted Baillieu	190	138	180	96	2,439	130
10	1	Green Leader	Bob Brown	89	210	204	58	3,180	140
11	-4	Cabinet	Tony Burke	162	203	64	92	2,439	130
12	2	Cabinet	Anthony Albanese	124	127	72	77	1,811	100
13	-3	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	132	83	91	67	1,555	93
14	1	Cabinet	Chris Bowen	196	76	38	44	1,177	89
15	-10	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	69	68	123	59	1,549	80
16	10	National	Barnaby Joyce	92	27	165	29	1,422	78
17	21	Shadow	Andrew Robb	54	67	101	43	1,338	66
18	-6	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	68	49	51	43	902	53
19	7	Shadow	Julie Bishop	0	21	55	57	683	33
20	-3	Independent	Rob oakeshott	0	58	51	21	837	33

Plenty of movement this week as the Victorian election campaign kicks off. The coverage so far has been interesting, as it seems a comfortable win for John Brumby’s Labor government but everyone knows that there’s no such thing as comfortable wins any more in Australian politics, so the pundits are desperately trying to sift the tea leaves and come up with something clever.

Joe Hockey starting to feel he might have pulled the right lever as his colleagues fall in behind him the way they definitely didn’t last week, while Nick Xenophon and the Greens have definitely joined that bandwagon and some bank bosses clearly ignore their PR people once again – well why would you listen to someone who earns 1/100th of what you do?

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Radio Index
1	Kristina keneally	264
2	Julia Gillard	258
3	Kevin Rudd	105
4	Wayne Swan	71
5	Joe Hockey	48

Kristina Keneally hits the top of the pile after her battle with Julia and the death of the solar feed-in tariff after less than a year, but overall the numbers remain low.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
Bart Cummings	1,405	669	1,112	617	18,812	951

He may not have won that 13th Cup, but he was clearly the major celebrity of the past seven days and it took an unprecedented French-Australian-American collaboration to beat him.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 30 October - 5 November 2010

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Melbourne Cup	4,087	14,508	19,779	4,924	43,298
Interest rates	2,057	11,943	12,302	2,754	29,056
Qantas A380 incident	232	3,883	5,738	1,005	10,858
US mid-term election	707	3,812	4,363	1,489	10,371
Cricket v Sri Lanka	347	5,544	3,809	390	10,090

All of the expectation surrounded the Bart Cummings trained clear favourite and dominant Australian racehorse of 2010 So You Think, but it was the Australian owned French horse named Americain that stole all the thunder with a dominant victory, with lightweight chance Maluckyday pushing So You Think into third place. In a sign of the increasingly international nature of racing, So You Think will now head off to Europe for the rest of his career.

While the country’s eyes were comprehensively focused on Flemington racecourse, two surprises came one after the other, with the RBA once again confounding the pundits by raising interest rates when most thought there would be no rise and then the Commonwealth Bank announcing a home loan rate rise of almost double the RBA increase, the bank earning the ire of many punters.

A Qantas A380 Airbus was forced to return to Singapore after an incident involving one of the engines. Qantas immediately grounded all of their A380 fleet until the causes of the incident have been fully investigated.

Only two years after a thumping presidential and congressional win for the Democrat Party in the US, one of the pillars of Government has already returned to the Republican Party, with the House of Reps swinging strongly back to the GOP, while the Democrats clung onto a small majority on the Senate. Most pundits put the blame down to anger at a perceived lack of strong action on the economy from President Obama.

The horror run continues for the Australian cricket team after the unsuccessful tour of India, being thumped in a Twenty20 international and managing to lose the first One Dayer against Sri Lanka despite having the visitors 8 down with 130 runs to get.

Quote of the Week:

"One of the most disgusting and downright dirty tactics I’ve seen or heard from someone within their own party" – AWU General Secretary Paul Howes adds to Julia Gillard’s woes by resurrecting Kevin Rudd’s alleged involvement in leaks to Laurie Oakes during the election campaign.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 23-29 October 2010

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 02:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Indonesian Tsunami	311	5,726	10,063	1,765	17,865
Spring Racing Carnival	975	6,483	8,615	1,207	17,280
Hockey on banks	847	4,497	4,558	782	10,684
Murray Darling	789	4,196	1,464	1,086	7,535
Afghanistan	760	3,387	2,118	1,230	7,495

The Mentawai islands off the west coast of Sumatra were hit by 3 metre waves following a 7.7 magnitude undersea earthquake on Tuesday night. The news dominated the Australian media, particularly television news. Two Australian surfing groups escaped the devastation wreaked by the tsunami, but the death toll was still rising as relief groups tried to reach remote communities hit by the waves.

So You think surprised no-one by easily winning the Cox Plate, but once again the focus moved off the racetrack after the horse’s trainer and industry icon Bart Cummings was taken to hospital during the week with a mild respiratory complaint. Cummings has said he expects to be at the track for the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.

Joe Hockey set off a storm in the business media late last week by seeming to suggest intervention in the financial system to stop banks lifting interest rates above official increases. The Government accused the Opposition of “economic Hansonism” while rumours of a split in the Shadow Cabinet over the issue were denied by Tony Abbott.

The Murray Darling remained a big issue on radio, print and internet with the Senate announcing one more inquiry and the Government and MDBA continuing to back away from the draft report released early this month, citing new legal advice. Meanwhile WA wheat farmers continue to suffer what has been described as calamitous drought conditions.

More Australian soldiers were injured in Afghanistan this week as the sometimes vitriolic debate over the court martialling of three Australian soldiers continued.

Quote of the Week:

"the effects of rain, combined with the effects of alcohol, which dilates the blood vessels, the risks are that people will lose their body heat" – Ambulance Victoria GM Peter Swan warns that the foul weather predicted for Melbourne on the weekend could spell hypothermia for partying Derby day racegoers

Crikey Political Index 20 - 26 October 2010

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 02:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	18,182	1,000
2	10	Shadow	Joe Hockey	305	475	436	310	7,826	381
3	-1	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	383	396	300	446	5,797	356
4	6	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	268	355	221	255	5,083	275
5	12	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	242	340	322	171	5,539	266
6	-3	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	385	160	158	337	3,463	260
7	-3	Cabinet	Tony Burke	406	311	70	145	3,456	233
8	-4	Premier	Kristina Keneally	296	248	111	191	3,324	211
9	13	Cabinet	Stepehen Conroy	215	204	159	204	3,347	195
10	3	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	141	172	182	71	2,974	141
11	-2	Green Leader	Bob Brown	177	181	101	100	2,474	140
12	-7	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	120	162	138	70	2,523	122
13	-7	Premier	Anna Bligh	222	82	40	129	1,382	118
14	-7	Independent	Tony Windsor	157	105	23	101	1,289	80
15	-7	Cabinet	Chris Bowen	76	107	62	88	1,508	83
16	0	National	Barnaby Joyce	74	75	43	47	1,047	60
17	1	Independent	Rob Oakeshott	90	54	24	53	776	56
18	16	Shadow	Andrew Robb	47	58	2	111	555	54
19	-7	Cabinet	Simon Crean	63	42	7	49	507	40
20	-6	Shadow	Greg Hunt	90	32	14	8	443	36

Well if Joe’s main intention was to lift his profile, it’s worked - the Liberal Party seems to be moving to a more historically normal situation for an Opposition, with half a dozen Opposition Leaders’ in waiting all scrambling for media coverage – although the dynamic of the hung parliament probably gives them more potential coverage to fight over.

As the Government continues to claim the high ground of economic rationalism while at the same time shuffling away from any kind of reform, either social or economic, the Howard and Costello bitching did at least get to the nub of the divisions in that party. Unlike Hawke and Keating it wasn’t totally about personal ambition - Its the elitist, patronising Whigs who’ve thoroughly lost control to the pick yourself up by your bootstraps, small business battlers – those who used to vote for Menzies but probably didn’t share many of his values or any of his background. For those who like irony - the Whigs have now all but taken over the Tories in the UK, but the Liberal Party here has gone the other way.

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Radio Index
1	Julia Gillard	289
2	Kevin Rudd	82
3	Tony Abbott	69
4	Kirstina Keneally	54
5	Malcolm Turnbull	40

There continues to be little interest in politics in radioland, even regional areas calming down somewhat, with only 17 calls mentioning the Minister for Water over the last week. The Rudd factor continues to baffle.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
James Packer	344	360	656	200	8,643	394

The once and future king of television got a monstrous amount of coverage this week, so here’s one more number to add to the pile.

Australia: Most mentioned issues 16 - 22 October 2010

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 02:00:00 GMT

Issue	Press	Radio	TV	Internet	Total
Afghanistan	919	9,648	7,923	1,672	20,162
Spring Racing Carnival	1,201	5,742	6,198	1,032	14,173
Mary MacKillop	1,149	4,265	7,072	1,616	14,102
Murray Darling	1,028	5,487	1,861	1,038	9,684
Packer buys into Ten	261	2,568	4,858	335	8,022

The first Australian parliamentary debate on our nine year involvement in the war in Afghanistan brought strong emotions to the fore from some MPs while the two major parties strongly reaffirmed their support for our continuing presence, Prime Minister Julia Gillard accepting that it may be another ten years before that presence is no longer required.

Much of the Spring Racing Carnival discussion has been about the short priced favourite for the Cox Plate, So You Think and whether any horse has any chance of beating him, but the death of leading jockey Stathi Katsidis put a pall over much of the Spring excitement.

Mary MacKillop officially became Sister Mary of the Cross, the first Australian to be recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church following a ceremony in Rome, Kevin Rudd and Julie Bishop both attending the canonisation celebration.

Water remained a key political topic with Federal ministers reiterating that the MDBA report was only one part of a long process towards a restructured irrigation regime throughout the Murray Darling Basin, while the MDBA continued to feel the heat in local fora across four states.

James Packer’s decision to buy a significant parcel of Ten Network shares was massive news, particularly in the broadcast media, many hailing it as the resurgence of free to air television, once again showing how self absorbed the media can be.

Quote of the Week:

"If he was Mr Ed he'd talk to me but I can only go on what I see and he looks just as good as he has in the last three months" 87 year old Bart Cummings remains bullish about his boom horse So You Think

Crikey Political Index 13 - 19 October 2010

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 02:00:00 GMT

These indices feature in Crikey every week

TW	Move	Position	Politcian	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	12,876	1,000
2	0	Opp Leader	Tony Abbott	537	508	503	489	6,509	509
3	2	Cabinet	Kevin Rudd	369	358	259	259	5,307	433
4	4	Premier	Kristina Keneally	326	510	259	259	4,738	339
5	-1	Cabinet	Tony Burke	270	340	108	283	3,085	250
6	5	Independent	Tony Windsor	188	276	257	101	3,070	205
7	19	Labor	Chris Bowen	109	283	213	202	2,997	202
8	-2	Premier	Anna Bligh	287	172	16	84	1,987	104
9	4	Green Leader	Bob Brown	102	169	159	90	1,925	130
10	-7	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	160	47	72	229	1,147	127
11	12	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	69	217	97	56	1,793	110
12	18	Cabinet	Simon Crean	118	110	90	104	1,317	106
13	3	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	116	73	103	88	1,154	95
14	21	Shadow	Greg Hunt	37	127	97	58	1,285	80
15	0	Cabinet	Greg Combet	69	79	36	116	863	75
16	-7	National	Barnaby Joyce	79	47	92	75	904	73
17	-5	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	40	63	23	115	681	60
18	-11	Independent	Rob Oakeshott	47	58	2	111	555	54
19	-1	Shadow	Cristopher Pyne	50	50	29	60	555	47
20	-6	Labor	Penny Wong	50	57	32	29	558	42

You never miss your water til your camel gets blown up..no, I have no idea what that’s meant to mean either, but at least it fits in with the ongoing surreal nature of Federal politics, dominated by one major debate with plenty of emotion, no easy answers and no clear resolution in sight and another debate with...yes, all of the above.

While the Government and Opposition are in furious agreement on Afghanistan and the current parliamentary debate seems destined to have no short or medium term impact on policy, does it prove that its better to publicly discuss these issues even where the main parties agree?

Meanwhile the biggest mover of all was Chris Bowen, with the announcement on moving some families in detention into the community while they are being processed. Perhaps that might lead to a discussion of what asylum seeker families generally do once they are in the wider community i.e. get jobs, pay taxes, have lower crime rates than the rest of us...

Talkback Top Five

Rank	Politcian	Radio Index
1	Julia Gillard	289
2	Kevin Rudd	82
3	Tony Abbott	69
4	Tony Burke	54
5	Chris Bowen	40

Surprisingly few calls mentioning Tony Burke or Chris Bowen, be interesting to see if that changes over the coming weeks.

Comparison

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	Total	Index
St Mary MacKillop	518	1,031	1,202	289	15,571	981

All us Catholics are now free to pray to the Blessed Mary, although why anyone else would care I’m still not quite sure.

Worth tweeting about: the top 11 tweets from Telstra and Sensis’ night at SMCMelb

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Well it’s been a whole week since last Tuesday’s SMCMelb event, where a room full of social media fanatics heard about the adventures and exploits of Telstra and Sensis in social media wonderland.

In that week there have been several wraps, reports and analyses of the evening, but here I am, late enough to the party to be positively ancient (in social media terms anyway). In my defence, I chose to sit in the sun and drink beer over the weekend.

But delving back through the #SMCMelb digest on Twitter, I discovered a handful of tweets that I just couldn’t help elaborating on. I think these reflect the most important learnings or interesting points made on the night, and I hope offer a different perspective to some of the other pieces already written.

So here we go, let’s start with some basics.

Hire the right people

Level 1. No, sorry, this isn’t even level 1, this is the “choose your character” screen. Kristen Boschma, Telstra’s head of Online Communications was a bit of a hit and is clearly driving Telstra’s success in the social media world.

She has blazed the way with some inspiring campaigns such as the HTC Desire review (read about it here) and launching Telstra’s corporate ‘3Rs’ social media policy to the public. Not to mention that she has implemented organisation wide training to Telstra’s 40,000 employees.

(Thanks to @emilynaismith for this tweet)

Don’t try to control the game, or those playing it

Telstra have been smart enough to recognise that their whole workforce have the potential to be a huge asset as ambassadors for the brand. As I believe Kirsten said (I’m paraphrasing):

“The benefits of organisation wide adoption of social media far out-weigh the risks”

As @andrewlitvak has highlighted, the best way to approach social media is to get your hands dirty. This is completely different, however, to charging in blindfolded (which many organisations have done).

@StephenColman draws great reference to Telstra’s ‘3Rs’ policy: Representation, Responsibility, Respect. The key point here is that Telstra have made this simple enough for anyone to understand, and have empowered their employees to get involved. The policy is simply grounded in the natural and intuitive nature of social media: it’s a very open platform for expression and engagement, just don’t leave your common sense at the door.

It’s also worth noting the fit been Telstra, who’s service enables people to connect via social media, and the platform. It makes sense for their staff to be happily showing off their products.

Treat everyone equally

Social Media as a customer relations channel has received some criticism for being a place where agitated customers can mouth off to get a response.

Organisations that pander to this behaviour (read: reinforce it) will never derive true value from their social media presence. ‘Engagement’ becomes a race to the bottom, reliant on fire-sale tactics that will never prove a sustainable ROI.

Telstra have clearly proven that avoiding this behaviour allows them to truly innovate in the space, and reap the rewards.

The million dollar question: who owns the social media within the organisation.

I personally believe this issue is one of the single biggest holding most companies back from successfully entering the social media world.

Why not add to @daveking‘s list PR, Legal and the board of directors (typically financiers, accountants and legals).

Nothing cohesive is likely to get done whilst numerous interested groups fight over control, and if you settle for letting everyone have a say, then you’ll get “vanilla”. Or worse, Nestle.

As your and my heroSeth Godin says: “fire the committee”. Just go back to my first point about hiring the right person to take charge.

Time for online to start informing offline

Thanks to @ashdonaldson for this one.

I think this is a really interesting situation that Telstra, and no doubt all the Telcos (and banks and other big corporates) are finding themselves in.

All of a sudden, they seem to have stumbled upon an effective channel for customer relations, feedback and promotions.

The basic fact is that social media, and especially Twitter, is perfect for customer relations and feedback. First of all, you get more good news with the (more) bad, because now people have a platform to easily and cheerfully share their good experiences.

More importantly, with only 140 characters, if you’re going to ask for help, you need to be very direct. There’s not so much room for getting aggro, you need to relay your issue first-and-foremost. I imagine this makes a big difference for the customer service rep on the other end.

Anyway, I created this little visual representation of the difference between offline and online customer relations. I think it captures the ethos of the scenario...

Click to enlarge

Content is king

FTW...

The whole web is about “killer content”. That is all.

Actually I’ll add one thing to this, an interesting quote I wrote down a while ago and, I apologise, cannot find my reference for:

“Technology is making ‘content’ irrelevant. It is what you are able to do with the content that is important.”

Sensis and Yellow Pages will do very well to bear this in mind (onto that below).

Thanks to @ofixler for such a simple, great tweet.

Telstra vs Sensis: sister corporations in stark relief

If you’re familiar with some of my previous writing, you may be surprised to hear me say that this is a bit unfair on Steve. Whilst Sensis doesn’t have an awful lot to put on display at the moment (except the flash-in-the-pan Hidden Pizza campaign), I was encouraged by Steve’s comments to “watch this space” over the next 18 months. I have maintained that Yellow Pages, if they spend their dollar overhauling their product, can really turn themselves around. Best of luck to them.

There was certainly some bemusement in the audience as to how Sensis (which is wholly owned by Telstra) could be having such trouble with social media when Telstra has been doing so well.

From the outside looking in, Sensis are the organisation still struggling to understand where social media fits into their organisation (see the earlier discussion about who owns/runs social media). From a marketing, product and communications point of view, it is clearly a momentous shift for them, and something they’re very slowly coming to grips with.

(Thanks to @katmatcreations)

How Yellow Pages can turn it around

Big thanks to @jessnichols for one of the best suggestions for Yellow Pages I’ve heard.

For those unfamiliar, API stands for Application Programming Interface. It is basically a set of rules and conventions to allow external sites to interact with and access a particular sites’ data (naturally the API specifies what data is publicly accessible, and keeps private data locked down).

If Yellow Pages released an API, then sites throughout the web could, for example, easily port Yellow Pages listings to their own sites, thus greatly increasing exposure.

Go back to the quote I referenced above about technology being the enabler for content to live and thrive. Right now, Yellow Pages have no valuable tech.

Finally, a note on what the evening lacked

Between everyone staring constantly at their mobile phones and the discussion itself, this night was definitely, as @SahilMerchant points out, heavily skewed towards Twitter (the upside of course being the inspiration and memories for this article!). It would have been great to hear some discussion of other channels.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Twitter was one of the most engaged channels available (just an impression, nothing to back up, feel free to correct me). But as @resultsnowin points out below, it is only ~1/3 the size of Facebook (if size matters to you), and let’s not forget YouTube.

Those are global statistics too. Although the data is getting on now (a lot happens in 8 months), Julian Cole has suggested Twitter usage in Australia is positively tiny. Though if you read the comments I questioned some of the conclusions there.

I think it’s worth keeping a local perspective on discussions around the reach of social media. Put all your eggs in that basket at your own peril.

And that’s a wrap

Well that’ll do, the top tweets from the night. In reference to the comment above about everyone constantly staring at their mobiles throughout the event, I will leave you with this reflective quote from @jedro74, it was a somewhat eerie sight:

Media Monitors - Australia

Crikey Political Index 10 - 16 May, 2012

Social Media Top Five

Comparison

Crikey Political Index 3 - 9 May, 2012

Social Media Top Five

Comparison

Australia: Most mentioned issues 28 April - 4 May, 2012

Australia: Most mentioned issues 21 - 27 April, 2012

Quote of the week:

Australia: Most mentioned issues 14 - 20 April, 2012

Twitter & Television - together they can generate fast and effective publicity

Crikey Political Index 12 - 18 April, 2012

Social Media Top Five

Comparison

Press

Radio

Television

Internet

Total

Index

SM index

173

125

419

149

4,012

214

145

Australia: Most mentioned issues 7 - 13 April, 2012

Crikey Political Index 5 - 11 April, 2012

Social Media Top Five

Comparison

Press

Radio

Television

Internet

Total

Index

SM index

244

252

427

65

2,435

247

145

Australia: Most mentioned issues 31 March - April 5, 2012

Quote of the week:

Crikey Political Index 29 March - 4 April, 2012

Social Media Top Five

Comparison

360m shortlisted for seven AMEC Awards

Australia: Most mentioned issues 24 - 30 March, 2012

Quote of the Week:

Crikey Political Index 26 Apr - 2 May, 2012

Social Media Top Five

Comparison

Press

Radio

Television

Internet

Total

Index

SM index

297

351

581

346

10,495

394

160

Crikey Political Index 22 - 28 March, 2012

Social Media Top Five

Comparison

Australia: Most mentioned issues 17 - 23 March, 2012

Crikey Political Index 15 - 21 March, 2012

Social Media Top Five

Comparison

Australia: Most mentioned issues 10 - 16 March, 2012