press release:

EYE is too "political" for Radio JJJ?

The Australian Government's national youth radio network, JJJ declared EYE's 'Politics can be Fun - Volume 1' CD as "...too political..." for airplay

For those who'd like to know the rivetting highlights,

Blatant Propaganda's spokesbeing, J. Citizen, September 30th 1999:

"...the Radio JJJ rep I spoke to in early-September said about EYE's "Politics... vol. 1" CD, words to the tune of: " ... I like it, it's interesting, the good sign is that it's still on my desk next to the CD player and I'm playing it - most CDs I receive get a quick spin and then go straight into the back room,... BUT, now that's probably the word you didn't want to hear....".

He then explained his reservations about promoting tracks like "Mandate" up the JJJ hierarchy (in order to be slotted into the rotational playlists) because of the track's political content.

He suggested EYE "... be more subtle." To EYE, "subtle" means: "pretending to say something without really actually saying anything". I sympathised with: "I do appreciate your (JJJ) position... in the shadow of the court actions last year by Pauline Hanson's "One Nation" (a political party) against JJJ and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) about the first Pauline Pantsdown single (which used samples of politician Pauline Hanson in a similar fashion to how EYE have sampled Prime Minister John Howard and others).... there are many other songs on the CD apart from the "Mandate" trilogy, if you can find others to play, though EYE realise they're not very JJJ'able - not very poppy - a bit too complex ..."

Of course, EYE are naturally a bit disappointed. Nevertheless, EYE understand that JJJ might not be so keen to play material that is directly critical of a government/political system that cut huge chunks off the ABC budget several years ago (even though they promised not to in the 1996 election campaign)... and have just made many more big cuts in 2000-2001.

In other words, are JJJ staff afraid to get on the wrong side of the Coalition government? Understandably so.

A case of don't bite the hand that feeds?

Indeed, the JJJ rep that EYE spoke to did say: "I have to think about my job."

If that's the case,
then the environment that the media finds itself
in this supposedly free and democratic country,
is a bit of a worry."

 

As a postscript, in early 2001, the John Howard government has ransacked the ABC again. The government is paranoid that the ABC is "too leftwing", perhaps because it's the largest medium that often criticises the government. As a result, it has sacked many staff members from the ABC, axed the program "Media Watch", which was a weekly critique of the appaulling and corrupt journalism and media around Australia. The government is now filling the ABC with their cronies from commercial media networks... people who will be less likely to blow the whistle.