CHRIS UHLMANN: I couldn’t give a rat’s arse, Karl. Quite frankly, I’m tired of the bullying that comes out of that organisation, I’m tired of the bullying that comes out of 2GB, and again, I don’t really care what they say about me. It is that they are players in the game. Listen to them, watch them. You can tell that they’re players in the game, you can tell what it is that they’re trying to do. All I’m saying is that the Australian people are being caught in the crossfire. - Today, Channel Nine, 23 August, 2018

Hello, I’m Paul Barry welcome to Media Watch.

And that was Channel Nine’s political editor Chris Uhlmann, no doubt after a long night, ripping into News Corp, 2GB and Sky News for helping to create the leadership chaos we saw last week.

And, perhaps, channelling some of the public fury that’s reflected in these front pages:

HERE WE GO AGAIN - Herald Sun, 24 August, 2018

HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME - NT News, 24 August, 2018

END THIS CHAOS - The Age, 24 August, 2018

On Friday, after four days of high farce, Malcolm Turnbull became the fourth prime minister in the last 10 years to be torn down by his colleagues.

To be replaced, not by his challenger and hard man of the right Peter Dutton, but by his ally and Treasurer Scott Morrison.

So why did the Libs put everything at risk, given that Turnbull was still streets ahead of Bill Shorten as Australia’s preferred prime minister?

Well, losing 38 Newspolls in a row had many Liberals worried they would lose their meal tickets.

The government’s key policies were also in ruins.

But the real reason for the Dutton challenge was to bring Turnbull down and push the Liberal Party to the right, as the PM himself observed:

MALCOLM TURNBULL: There was a determined insurgency from a number of people, both in the party room and backed by voices, powerful voices in the media, really to, if not bring down the government, certainly to bring down my Prime Ministership - Seven News, 24 August, 2018

After the PM levelled that charge, one of his loudest media critics, Andrew Bolt, confessed:

ANDREW BOLT: Well, I have been trying to shift the Liberal Party to the right because clearly that’s the source of its dysfunction. … and you’re right, I mean, you know, I work on the radio station, the Fairfax-owned radio station, may I just add, that he singles out, I work for the News Limited papers that he singles out, and I work for this station that he singles out. - Sky News, 24 August, 2018

As a commentator, Andrew Bolt has every right to canvass his views.

But he was just one of an army of right-wing warriors on 2GB, Sky News and in the News Corp papers who from day one barracked for Turnbull to go.

And on Thursday, Nine’s political editor Chris Uhlmann was brave enough to call them out:

CHRIS UHLMANN: … everyone from the Prime Minister on down has pointed out to me that they believe that there is a campaign being waged against them … … that news corporations, so we’re talking about The Australian, Daily Telegraph and all of those tabloid newspapers around the country, 2GB in Sydney, led by Alan Jones and Ray Hadley, and Sky News in particular with its evening line-up, are waging a war against the Prime Minister of Australia. … because they’re not just commentators. They are players. They have crossed the line. - Today, Channel Nine, 23 August, 2018

Support for Uhlmann came thick and fast from seasoned journalists like Michelle Grattan who tweeted: “Brave and correct.”

And from the ABC’s Laura Tingle, who told 7.30:

LAURA TINGLE: Not only have parts of the News Corp stable been running a campaign against Mr Turnbull, but MPs say they have been directly lobbied by at least two prominent conservative commentators, Peta Credlin and broadcaster Alan Jones. - 7.30, ABC, 23 August, 2018

But on Nine ’s Today show, the Telegraph’s Sharri Markson had already weighed in hard in News Corp’s defence:

SHARRI MARKSON: I would very strongly leave News Corp out of any campaign at all. It is just wrong, it is just incorrect. And in Chris’ original speech he did mention The Australian and The Daily Telegraph … CHRIS UHLMANN: I did. Yeah, absolutely, that’s part of News Corporation, absolutely I mentioned them. SHARRI MARKSON: … and it’s wrong. - Today, Channel Nine, 23 August, 2018

Markson may be right. She and the Tele were not behind the attempted Dutton coup, they just broke the news and got the scoop.

But others in the News Corp empire – controlled by Rupert Murdoch, whom Kevin Rudd today described as a cancer on Australian democracy – certainly were campaigning.

And one of Rupert’s former editors was in no doubt about it:

BRUCE GUTHRIE: The News Corp products have become very heavily involved in this process, if I call it that. Both through their TV stations, Sky News, you know, particularly at night after 6 o’clock … I think they've crossed the Rubicon in this leadership challenge. I think they've gone from being observers to genuine players. - 7.30, ABC, 23 August, 2018

Thanks to Rupert Murdoch, Sky News after dark now looks more and more like Fox News in the USA and plays a similar role.

Its regular night-time hosts – Peta Credlin, Paul Murray and Andrew Bolt – are all hard-line supporters of Tony Abbott.

And their aim since he was rolled as PM in 2015 has been to get revenge on Turnbull and wrench the Liberal Party back to the right:

ANDREW BOLT: I warned on day one that Malcolm Turnbull was a narcissist. I warned that his one interest as prime minister would be to turn the Liberals, a right-wing party, into a mirror of his left-wing self and it would end in tears. Well Malcolm Turnbull, having now shattered the Liberals doing all that, today tried also to destroy the successor who could save what’s left. - The Bolt Report, Sky News, 23 August 2018

Sky’s night-time audience is tiny – about a tenth of Media Watch – but its attacks on Turnbull have had a real impact in Canberra, where the revolt occurred, and where Sky plays 24/7 in the offices of Parliament House.

And led by Andrew Bolt, those Sky hosts have been doing their damndest to blast Turnbull out:

ANDREW BOLT: … this man of the left, this cuckoo in the Liberal nest, made clear that he would rather burn the Liberal Party to the ground than let it return to its conservative roots. - The Bolt Report, Sky News, 23 August 2018

Paul Murray has also been tireless in his efforts to bring Turnbull down, and he was just as pleased when they appeared to be bearing fruit:

PAUL MURRAY: As we’ve told you all week, as has been evident for months … The Prime Ministership of Malcolm Turnbull is over. The question is only when. - PM Live, Sky News, 22 August 2018

But Murray also used his soapbox to address Liberal MPs directly to tell them what to do:



PAUL MURRAY: The time is now and if you’re in a position to make a change it’s time to make that change and most importantly if you are a minister you can’t have it both ways. You either support this captain and you are willing to be one of his soldiers who will go off the cliff or you are willing to give up the trappings of office in order to save your party. - PM Live, Sky News, 22 August 2018

Tony Abbott’s former adviser, Peta Credlin, has been yet another relentless Turnbull basher:

PETA CREDLIN: Make no mistake, something’s gotta change or the Turnbull government is going over a cliff … … mark my words his death warrant’s been signed and the scaffolding’s been built. It’s only now a matter of time. - Credlin, Sky News, 30 July & 21 August, 2018

Radio 2GB, now owned by Fairfax, has also been singing from the same conservative song sheet, led by Alan Jones, who has a weekly gig on Sky.

A rabid Abbott fan, Jones fired off this anti-Turnbull tirade on his Sydney and Brisbane breakfast show three weeks ago:

ALAN JONES: We have a Prime Minister who is utterly incompetent. His judgement’s gone, his capacity to govern is gone. … Malcolm, save us will you. Hand in your badge. Go away and give someone a chance who understands the real issues confronting this country. - The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 2GB, 6 August, 2018

That was just one of many broadsides. And a week later Jones tweeted:

I hope there are kids at school who don’t understand the calibre of their Prime Minister. Such an exalted office, so soiled by the behaviour of the person who holds it. - Twitter, @AlanJones, 16 August, 2018

Adding, in another tweet:

Has there ever been a leader like Malcolm Turnbull?



In the decency and humanity stakes, the bloke comes last. - Twitter, @AlanJones, 16 August, 2018

Jones’ running mate on 2GB and 4BC, Ray Hadley, has also been telling listeners he’s a big Turnbull hater:

RAY HADLEY: It’s not up for debate that I’m not a fan of Malcolm Turnbull, I’ve made that very clear all the way along, I don’t like him, I don’t trust him, I don’t think he’s a very good politician, I don’t think he’s a very nice man. - The Ray Hadley Morning Show, 2GB, 22 August, 2018

Hadley has also been a relentless booster of Peter Dutton, to whom he’s chatted weekly on his show.

And in the heat of last week’s battle he read out a message supporting his chosen leader, while making an unfortunate Freudian slip:

RAY HADLEY: … let me share with you a text that I got yesterday from a Liberal Party MP. “Ray, can you believe what you’re seeing? Scott Morrison is now running around trying to put a ticket between himself and Peter Dutton together to challenge Malcolm Turnbull. He’s told those he's lobbying he won't serve as my, as er, the deputy to Peter Dutton, he won't serve as his deputy. He wants to be the leader.” - The Ray Hadley Morning Show, 2GB, 22 August, 2018

Hadley says that was just a slip of the tongue and Dutton was not his source. But there’s been no doubt where his loyalty lies.

And the same is true of 2GB as a station, as even Miranda Devine observed:

MIRANDA DEVINE: It was utterly feral and vitriolic, I mean morning, noon and night. - Kenny on Sunday, Sky News, 26 August, 2018

However, as Hadley told Andrew Bolt on Sky on Friday night, he and his fellow right-wing megaphones did not bring down Turnbull by themselves:

RAY HADLEY: Look, my role in this has been overplayed by Malcolm Turnbull and his acolytes. I mean, for God’s sake, we’ve got 18 per cent of the audience, that means a large chunk of Sydney and Brisbane don’t listen to me... And it’s a simple fact, he’s looking for people to blame, well Malcolm, I’d say to you look in the mirror, mate. The image you see is the person to blame. Your policies were ineffective, you couldn’t convince the electorate and finally you couldn’t convince your colleagues. You wasted our time. You aspired to a job you were not capable of doing and now, given the tip toe by your colleagues, you want to blame the media. Wake up to yourself. Retire gracefully. Count your money at Point Piper and bugger off and leave us alone. - The Ray Hadley Morning Show, 2GB, 23 August, 2018

And on radio the day before, Hadley had hit back at Chris Uhlmann.

But in doing so he may have convinced many people that Nine’s political editor was at least partly right:

RAY HADLEY: He’s called Alan Jones and myself glass-jawed bullies. Well, Chris, I hope you haven’t got a glass jaw by the time I’ve finished with you for the next three hours. You are a suck and a sycophant of the Labor Party because of your very well-known Labor Party connections. - The Ray Hadley Morning Show, 2GB, 23 August, 2018

But right-wing commentators aside, was there a wider media conspiracy in the news pages and editorials to bring Turnbull down?

We don’t think there was.

Apart from The Courier-Mail, the key News Corp dailies did not push for Dutton.

And as the week wore on, all showed scorn for the Coalition’s madness, with even The Australian questioning the wisdom of lurching to the right, declaring:

The challenge is to fight for Coalition mainstream ground - The Australian, 24 August, 2018

And as The Oz also noted, Turnbull hardly lacked for media support:

Right to this day most of the Canberra press gallery along with the public broadcasters, Fairfax Media and a raft of online publications have barracked openly for his success. - The Australian, 24 August, 2018

So what if any difference did the chorus of conservative commentators make?

Well, we reckon they created or amplified a sense of crisis and made a small group of rebels believe that their champion Peter Dutton –

who had so little popular support – could be the party’s saviour.

As Peter Hartcher told Sky early on in the fight:

PETER HARTCHER: Let’s be blunt about this, he is electoral poison. The public can’t stand the bloke, in polling about alternative Liberal leaders he’s never cracked double, double digits. - Speers, Sky News, 21 August, 2018

But a year or more of relentless barking from Bolt, Jones, Hadley, Credlin, Murray and others like Rowan Dean, Ross Cameron and Tim Blair, persuaded 40 MPs in Canberra to forget that the polls were still close, the economy was doing fine, and the public didn’t like Dutton or his co-conspirator Tony Abbott.

As David Marr, a former host of Media Watch, told The Drum:

DAVID MARR: I think here, they have emboldened that cabal inside the Coalition to imagine that there is more popular support and more enthusiasm for their cause than there remotely is. - The Drum, ABC, 23 August, 2018

And Fairfax’s Jacqueline Maley made a similar point about the chorus of partisan rhetoric that Turnbull’s haters in the media served up. But she then drew a different conclusion.

JACQUELINE MALEY: … I don’t actually blame the media, I blame the politicians, because they’re the ones who failed to look over the heads of these commentators, who have a very small reach and a very loud voice and are very, very partisan, and you know, in some cases nasty viewpoint. They fail to look over the heads of those people and talk to normal Australians. And that’s why, I think, or it’s one of the reasons why you get this huge disconnect that we have now … - Drive with Richard Glover, ABC Sydney, 23 August, 2018

Canberra is a long way from the rest of Australia.

And the plotters were stuck in an echo chamber listening to a bunch of conservative commentators, ignoring the fact that a majority of Australians don’t share their values.

As pollster Michele Levine from Roy Morgan told the ABC:

MICHELE LEVINE: … the very right-wing perspective that Peter Dutton is associated with, and particularly also the association with Tony Abbott, is viewed very, very negatively … The electorate is actually becoming more socially progressive, more open-minded. But there is still a small group that have these very, very strongly, you know, right-wing conservative views and they feel them very deeply, even though they’re not a very large group. - ABC News, 23 August, 2018

So, with Scott Morrison now PM, and several conservative Dutton supporters promoted to the cabinet, will the right wing of the Liberal Party be satisfied and will the media megaphones quieten down?

On Friday it was not looking likely. Ahead of the vote, veteran political journalist Paul Kelly warned that if Morrison emerged the winner:

PAUL KELLY: This will be an extraordinary fiasco and setback and farce for the conservative forces, because, having brought on the crisis, they will have failed to actually secure the objective which is to make Peter Dutton prime minister. - Sky News, 24 August, 2018

Meanwhile, Fairfax’s Peter Hartcher reported this warning from a Dutton supporter in NSW:

“We have not seen factional war in NSW like we will see if Morrison is elected.” “Alan Jones and Ray Hadley will go feral.” - The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 August, 2018

We’ll have to wait and see how that plays out.

But since Morrison announced his cabinet there have been signs of a truce.

Starting with Tony Abbott who, after shooting his man, declared the war was ended:

TONY ABBOTT: The era of the political assassin is over and thank God for that. - Sky News, 27 August, 2018

Likewise, Ray Hadley.

Last year, he famously banned Scott Morrison from his radio show after a huge on-air bust-up. This morning he told listeners:



RAY HADLEY: … we can all repair bridges, me included … - The Ray Hadley Morning Show, 2GB, 10 April, 2017

And last night on Sky, Paul Murray was also flying the Morrison flag:

PAUL MURRAY: … you gotta back in this bloke. This bloke is an excellent chance of being able to beat Bill Shorten. This bloke is an absolute improvement on Malcolm Turnbull. - PM Live, Sky News, 26 August, 2018

And what about Alan Jones, what does he have to say of the new PM?

ALAN JONES: He’s entitled now to be given some clean air. In the hope that lessons have been learnt from the appalling past. - The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 2GB, 27 August, 2018

And what might those lessons be?

Well, one is not to let a cabal of conservative commentators persuade the Liberal Party to do something the public hates – knifing an elected prime minister.

Here is the front page of this morning’s Australian:

Voters savage Coalition chaos MORRISON FACES LOWEST PRIMARY VOTE IN A DECADE SHORTEN PREFERRED PM Shell-shocked party wakes to find itself at ground zero - The Australian, 27 August, 2018

It really was quite a week.

You can read more about tonight’s episode on our website, where you can read the transcript.

Also don’t forget Media Bites, Thursday on your favourite social media platform.

But for now, that’s all from us. Goodbye.