Andrew Bolt: Vic Govt’s Sky News ban is rank political censorship
THE Victorian Government’s extraordinary ban on Sky News is rank censorship — justified with lies by a political gang with plenty to hide, writes Andrew Bolt.
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THE Victorian Government’s extraordinary ban on Sky News is political censorship — justified by lies by a political gang with plenty to hide.
Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan today directed Metro Trains to stop screening Sky on platform TV screens, claiming she was responding to outrage over an interview on Sky with Right-wing extremist Blair Cottrell.
That was the first untruth.
Allan claimed Metro Trains had shown that interview.
That was the second untruth.
TRAIN WRECK INTERVIEW FOR TRANSPORT MINISTER
She then claimed her ban was to protect commuters from seeing such “hatred and racism”.
And that was the third untruth from a minister who should be sacked for so misleading the public in attempting to justify such unprecedented censorship.
Here are the facts that expose this Government as tin-pot dictators, punishing an arm of a media group that has exposed its stealing of nearly $400,000 from taxpayers in the Red Shirts scandal and its recklessly weak handling of African crime gangs.
The Sky interview with Cottrell — a mistake which Sky apologised for and led to the suspension of the program responsible — was never shown on Metro screens.
The only Sky content Metro shows is news and weather bulletins.
All that Allan could say when confronted by Sky with these facts is that she’d “been advised” differently and would now check. Check her own untruths.
What’s more, Blair Cottrell has also been interviewed at least twice on the ABC, as well as on Channel 7 and Channel 9. But will Allan now ban the Left-wing ABC?
As if. No, it’s the conservative outlet that gets censored.
The irony is that Sky is now the only broadcaster that has now publicly banned Cottrell from appearing on its shows, because of his threats and thuggery.
Yes, the only one. So the Andrews Government has in fact banned the only broadcaster where you are guaranteed NOT see Cottrell.
So what is the real reason for Labor’s ban? It is because Sky has some conservative presenters, me included, and has covered what the Andrews Government hates — topics such as is weakness on ethnic crime.
Sky is also part of the same News Corp media group as the Herald Sun, which has infuriated the Government by leading the investigation into its weak policing and stealing of taxpayers’ money.
The Herald Sun is too big to ban, but the Government reckons Sky is not. Do not think this is a conspiracy theory.
Allan — in a car crash interview today on, ironically, Sky — has now confirmed that her real problem with Sky was not this one (now deleted) interview with Cottrell that Metro Trains never even showed.
Pushed to justify her ban, she said she had received many complaints about Sky “over the years” from people — activists? — who didn’t want “this kind of content” on TV screens. She would now give them “more comfortable” stuff to watch.
Like Labor propaganda? Endless re-runs of Tim Flannery preaching global warming?
To repeat, those screens showed only straight news and weather bulletins from Sky, and nothing from its very popular opinion shows.
The activists complaining to Allan actually want Sky banned not for that news content but for those opinion shows.
And guess which of those shows particularly? Not the ones with Leftist hosts, but with conservatives — Peta Credlin, Paul Murray, Alan Jones, Rowan Dean, Chris Kenny, Rita Panahi and me, most of us also News Corp columnists.
This is rank political censorship, and Allan insulted Victorians by not even having an argument for it strong enough to withstand even five minutes of interviewing by Sky News.
No wonder she wants Sky banned.
Whether you are of the Left or Right, or just want debate, please do not let this government get away with this ban.
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