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September 21, 2005
The tabloid title says it all in its response to Mark Latham's political performance around the publication of his Diaries.
 The article inside by Bernard Lagan rakes over the coals of Mark Latham's long gone first marriage in a one sided manner.
It is done without ever mentioning that Latham's former wife, Gabrielle Gwyther, was on the payroll of the NSW ALP when she tried to damage Latham in the lead-up to the 2004 election. Latham was the federal ALP opposition leader at the time. 'Tis nasty personal stuff that leaves a taste of bitterness.
Sex sells. And The Bulletin needs sales to lift its declining circulation. The trouble is that there is not that much hanky panky sex by the Latham, suburban lad. No matter, what is there can be stirred. Or fictions invented.
This tabloid response goes beyond the media being defensive and closing ranks in the face of criticism. Packer wants his pound of flesh. He wants to see some blood flowing. That is what matters.
Digging further inside The Bulletin we find this op.ed by Laurie Oakes. It is full of tabloid vitriol:
The weird and ugly mind that penned The Latham Diaries would be running the country. The anger, viciousness and near-paranoia evident in the attacks on just about everyone who matters in the Labor Party would have been let loose upon the land. The responsibility for dealing with a terrorist attack or other emergency would be in the hands of a man whose temperament, it now transpires, could not stand up to an election loss or even a bit of intra-party argy-bargy. Our most important alliance, that with the United States, would be in jeopardy under an Australian leader holding the private belief –---one which he kept from the electorate –---that it is a form of neo-colonialism and should be ditched. It does not bear thinking about.
And then there is this rant:
There are, in the ALP and the media, people who have tried to set aside the vitriol, the vulgarity, the personal abuse, the blame-shifting, the self-justification, the narcissism and the nastiness of the diaries and the interviews Latham has given to help market his book.
This is an example of demonization that addresses none of the issues about the corruption of the Canberra Press Gallery.
It is sad to see a good Canberra journalist lose it by being overwhelmed by tabloid emotions.Tis the dark political unconscious surfacing. Maybe The Bulletin can reinvent itself as celebrity magazine and peddle the pictures and gossip about celebrities to an ever-expanding market?
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As you can imagine, I'm having a good laugh at this whole process, as are non-'progressive' folk all over the country. I don't have a lot of sympathy for Latham, though I haven't read the book yet (I will buy it if I can get a copy and have a read over the weekend.)
However the relevations have simply reinforced in my own mind my view that the sort of government we get reflects the sort of nation we are. This is a country, after all, that gets way overexcited by schlock-celebrity nonsense like "Big Brother" and "Australian Idle", and learns about partisanship on the football field. No wonder Australian politics is a grubby game.
And as for the Press Gallery, who really listens to those guys? I remember back in the Republic referendum; every man jack and woman jill was advocating a yes vote and the no vote won by a bigger margin then any election.