Off the wire
• Portuguese soccer league standings  • Cruzeiro sack ex-Brazil coach Luxemburgo  • Portuguese soccer league results  • Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, Sept. 1  • Rwanda's peaceful institution rebuilding efforts touted as fruitful  • Roundup: Speakers of Parliament endorse Sustainable Development Goals  • Ban mourns sudden death of force commander on UN Haiti mission  • Senior U.S. official to visit China on important bilateral issues  • Parliaments should be innovative, productive: Angolan speaker  • News Analysis: Row between Italy, EU on migrant crisis may be about more than it seems  
You are here: 　 Home

Australian cabinet minister accuses state media, news outlet of political bias

Xinhua, September 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

One of Australia's most senior ministers has accused news outlets Fairfax Media and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) of trying to "bring down " the government.

Talking to ABC radio on Tuesday, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said there was a "huge move" by Fairfax Media outlets to destabilize the government while, later, he told Sky News that Fairfax was conducting a "jihad" against the Liberal government.

"I think it would be helpful if some of the commentators in the area, in this space of politics, started reporting on the incidents, as opposed to being players themselves," Dutton told the ABC.

"I think there's a huge move by Fairfax at the moment to try and bring the government down."

Dutton also hit-out at the ABC, Australia's state-owned broadcaster, accusing it of teaming up with Fairfax to influence the public.

"You ask me what I think of the current political environment, I think that's part of the problem. I think regardless of what Tony Abbott does, Fairfax will say it's bad. I think regardless of what Joe Hockey or the Abbott government does, Fairfax will say it 's bad," he said.

"They're being helped by the ABC as well, there's no question about that, some elements of the ABC."

The ABC was subject to funding cuts by the Abbott government in 2014, while a recent study indicated that more than 70 percent of ABC journalists are more likely to vote Labor or the Greens at a federal election.

More than once, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has accused the ABC of left-wing bias, while earlier this year he banned his ministers from appearing on an ABC-run politically-based panel show.

Dutton's complaints follow similar ones from former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard when she was in power.

She accused Rupert Murdoch's News Corp - then News Limited - of exhibiting right-wing bias.

In the lead up to the 2013 election, News Corp newspapers printed headlines such as "Finally... You have the chance to kick this mob out" and "Australia needs Tony," referring to the Labor Party and Tony Abbott respectively. Endi