Media Watch Dog: ABC's Sarah Ferguson has her own 'what would your mother say' moment berating Jacinta Price, glass-jawed Niki Savva needs a new crystal ball

Sky News AU

09-05-2025

It's become oh-so-boring and predictable when individuals say how 'EXCITED' they are about taking up a new position.
So, it was refreshing to hear ABC 7.30 political correspondent Laura Tingle say that she is 'EXCEPTIONALLY EXCITED' to be appointed to the position of ABC's Global Affairs Editor.
La Tingle will fill in the position vacated by John Lyons when he was appointed Americas Editor in February 2025.
As avid Media Watch Dog readers know, Comrade Lyons said on ABC TV News Breakfast on 18 March that his role was to 'translate the Trump presidency to an Australian audience.'
Somewhat pompous, don't you think?
Especially since the comments implied that the ABC's three-person strong Washington D.C. bureau was not up to the translation task.
Now, Laura Tingle has also thrown the switch to condescension.
In her 'I'm exceptionally excited' statement, Tingle also declared:
It's so important that the national public broadcaster has Australian eyes on the world, putting the significance of major global events into context for local audiences.
ABC Director of News Justin Stevens supported Tingle's case, declaring she has 'experience, knowledge and skills to help audiences make sense of the extraordinary times we're living in'.
It may well be that Australia really needs the likes of John Lyons and Laura Tingle travelling around the world telling us mere mortals what's going on.
Or it may be that these appointments are convenient for ABC management.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph on 31 May 2024, former ABC board member Joe Gersh had this to say about Lyons' role as ABC Global Affairs Editor:
Has the ABC passed the test of impartiality?
Take the case of its Global Affairs Editor, John Lyons, the ABC's lead on this issue. Lyons is an experienced and knowledgeable journalist, but also the author of a book highly critical of Israel and a long essay expressing contempt for the leadership of the Jewish community [in Australia] and its advocacy groups. How can he possibly be suitable to lead the ABC's Israel-Gaza coverage requiring, as its charter does, impartiality on the issue?
Laura Tingle is on record as accusing the Coalition government, when led by Scott Morrison, of 'ideological bastardry'.
She was an antagonist with respect to the Liberal Party when it was led by Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton.
Moreover, at the 2024 Sydney Writers' Festival, Tingle declared that Australia is a 'racist country'.
At the time, Justin Stevens had this to say:
Laura Tingle's remarks at the Sydney Writers' Festival at the weekend lacked the context, balance and supporting information of her work for the ABC and would not have met the ABC's editorial standards.
Although the remarks were conversational, and not made in her work capacity, the ABC and its employees have unique obligations in the Australian media.
Today she has explained her remarks in more detail to ensure there is a factual record of the relevant context and detail. The ABC's editorial standards serve a vital role. Laura has been reminded of their application at external events as well as in her work and I have counselled her over the remarks.
So, there you have it.
John Lyons, the vehement opponent of Israel, got the prize Americas Editor job.
And Laura Tingle, the vehement critic of Australia's (alleged) racism, got the prized Global Affairs Editor position.
All this suggests that, at Australia's taxpayer funded Conservative Free Zone, leftists-behaving-badly get the best appointments. ABC BRANDS SENATOR PRICE A FIREBRAND
On ABC Radio News on the morning of Friday 9 May, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was referred to as a 'firebrand'.
This is not news – it is opinion.
The term 'Firebrand' was also used by Jacob Greber and Olivia Caisley in their column about the Liberal Party on ABC News Online.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has a full name and a title.
Neither contains the word Firebrand. EDITORIAL KEY OVERSEAS POSTINGS AT THE ABC & NINE NEWSPAPERS GO TO LEFT-OF-CENTRE TYPES
As mentioned above, at the ABC, Laura Tingle has become Global Affairs Editor replacing John Lyons – who is now the Americas Editor based in Washington DC. Two left wing journalists who have been rewarded with great gigs at the taxpayer funded public broadcaster.
Meanwhile, Nine's overseas-based reporters are also left-of-centre types.
David Crowe is off to London to be European Correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald (re which see Can You Bear It?)
Meanwhile, the able Michael Koziol, another left-of-centre inner city type, is Nine's North America Correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald .
What's more, the word is that Nine's Australian Financial Review is sending its deputy editor news Jessica Gardner to Washington DC.
Not a political conservative among this lot – who have, or are about to get, plum overseas postings – replete with generous allowances, lots of travel, housing assistance and so on.
It would seem that at the ABC and Nine such gigs go to left-wing types.
This sends a message to young journalists and those in mid-career positions that if you want to get on at the ABC or Nine, it helps to be on the left. CAN YOU BEAR IT? SARAH FERGUSON'S VERY OWN 'WHAT WOULD YOUR MOTHER SAY?' MOMENT WHEN BERATING SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE
Perhaps the most dramatic media event of the May 2025 election campaign occurred when ABC TV 7.30 presenter Sarah Ferguson asked Liberal Party frontbencher Michael Sukkar: 'What would your mother say hearing you [Sukkar] interrupt her [Clare O'Neil]?
Comrade Ferguson was berating Sukkar for interrupting Labor's Housing Minister Clare O'Neil.
In fact, Ferguson interrupted Sukkar 16 times but only interrupted O'Neil on 8 occasions.
Moreover, O'Neil interrupted Sukkar more than Sukkar interrupted O'Neil.
How times change.
Move forward to the night of 3 May election when Sarah Ferguson interviewed Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price – the Opposition's Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs.
Let's go to the transcript:
Sarah Ferguson: Peter Dutton tonight has lost his seat. With your embrace of Donald Trump 'Make Australia Great Again' are you part of that loss?
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price: Oh, that's a big call, don't you think? I mean, you sling enough mud in an election it sticks. And we did see a prime minster who absolutely misled the Australian people all the way through and was rarely called out for his conduct and I think that's absolutely deceitful –
Sarah Ferguson: [interjecting] But Jacinta, let's just talk about this seriously. At a time when Donald Trump was sending shock waves around the world –
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price: [interjecting] I'm talking about it seriously –
Sarah Ferguson: [interjecting] Well, it's not a smear campaign. I want you to address it seriously Jacinta. At a time that Donald Trump was sending shock waves around world, disturbing – disturbing –
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price: [interjecting] Ok so if you don't think – if you don't think that I'm addressing this seriously, I am addressing this deadly seriously…
Which raises the question.
What would Sarah Ferguson's (late) mother say hearing her daughter interrupt Senator Price?
And what would the late Mrs Ferguson think about Sarah Ferguson's evident aggressive condescension in implying, on two occasions, that Senator Price's answers were not serious?
Comrade Ferguson's double standard in handling a Labor minister and a Coalition shadow minister raises the question: How unprofessional was that?
And here's another question: Can You Bear It? DAVID MARR CALLS A YOUNGER MAN (ALEXANDER DOWNER) 'RATHER AGED'
As Media Watch Dog readers are well aware, Ellie's (male) co-owner invariably walks the said canine on her Late Night Walk listening to David Marr presenting Late Night Live (aka Late Night Left) on ABC Radio National from 10.05 pm.
Comrade Marr and his team invariably provide great copy for Hendo.
And so, it came to pass on Monday 5 May – some 48 hours after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claimed victory for the Australian Labor Party in the 3 May election.
As usual for a Monday, your man Marr spoke with ABC TV 7.30 political correspondent Laura Tingle.
However, last Monday the segment was extended by around 20 minutes to over 40 minutes – presumably to accommodate a second commentator.
Enter The Age and Sydney Morning Herald columnist Niki Savva – who is also a panellist on ABC TV's Insiders program.
What do Comrades Marr, Tingle and Savva have in common?
Well, they are all vehement critics of the contemporary Liberal Party of Australia and all are antagonists of former Liberal leader Peter Dutton.
This session was (yet) another example of the taxpayer funded public broadcaster's lack of viewpoint diversity.
As would be expected in a Conservative Free Zone.
Now it's accurate to say that, as Opposition leader Peter Dutton conducted a poor election campaign.
This was also true of Scott Morrison in 2022 and Malcolm Turnbull in 2016.
However, Morrison did win in 2019 and three years later the Coalition was attempting to win a fourth term in office.
MWD just loved it when Marr, Tingle and Savva did a pile-on against The Australian and Sky News Australia – tinged with lotsa ageism.
For example, La Tingle (ABC TV's 7.30 political correspondent) referred to News Corporation appealing to 'old people in grey cardigans'.
As distinct from contemporary ABC audiences, apparently.
Soon after, Tingle mocked 'old white men in general'.
Then there was this with respect to The Australian columnists:
David Marr: Well, they tend to be white men, and they tend to be rather aged, but some of them can write terrific rhetoric, Laura. And you mustn't, you mustn't disparage them for that. I mean, there was Alexander Downer condemning the fantasy of changing the weather….
Fancy that.
David Marr (born 1947) regards former Liberal Party leader Alexander Downer (born 1951) as 'rather aged'.
Laura Tingle (born 1961) was the LNL 'youth' on Late Night Live that night.
As to Niki Savva – her age appears to be a state secret.
But Hendo recalls first meeting Ms Savva in 1976 in Old Parliament House – i.e. half a century ago.
As to David Marr's comment that The Australian 's columnists tend to be 'white men' – this would suggest that he doesn't read what such women as Janet Albrechtsen, Peta Credlin, Judith Sloan, Gemma Tognini and Caroline Overington have to say. How sexist can a 77-year-old bloke get?
In fact, MWD's estimated average age of the Marr/Tingle/Savva trio is circa 74 years of age – that is, older than the 'rather aged' Mr Downer.
Can You Bear It?
[Interesting. Does David Marr really believe that Australia can change the weather? – MWD Editor.] DAVID CROWE THROWS THE SWITCH TO SELF-INDULGENCE
At the end of ABC TV's Insiders each Sunday, the three panellists are invited to make a comment.
It's usually about Australian national politics.
However, on Sunday 4 May, the morning after the election, David Crowe, the chief political correspondent for Nine's The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, spoke primarily about the topic he knows best.
Himself.
Let's go to the transcript.
David Crowe: I'll see if I can say all this quickly. On Trump, it's interesting, he loves winners and so that could hold Anthony Albanese in good stead when that visit to Washington DC comes. But my main point was going to be a self-indulgent one. I'm leaving Canberra after 20 years. I've got a new gig at the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age . So, I want to say thank you –
David Speers: Tell us the new gig.
David Crowe: It'll be in Europe. Covering mayhem there. Instead of mayhem in Canberra. And it's sad to leave this this set up here, but I hope that you'll have me back in a couple of years. And on that note, I also wanted to acknowledge that all the people who campaigned and all the people who fought to hold their seats – there are so many good people in politics. We're very conscious sometimes of the narcissists and the awful people. And by the way, wasn't it a shame that Clive Palmer didn't do all that well? But there are so many good people, and they will be a loss. We saw that with Keith Wolahan's remarks, and I wish them well.
David Speers: Yeah, really well said David…
Talk about self-declared self-indulgence.
Do viewers of Insiders really care about whether or not Comrade Crowe is being sent to Europe for a couple of years to be Nine's Europe Correspondent based in London?
And did anyone need to hear Comrade Crowe's best wishes to 'all the people who campaigned in the election and all the people who fought to hold their seats'?
That's usually the role of political leaders.
As to Clive Palmer of the Trumpet of Patriots Party, Nine's chief political correspondent tried his hand at irony/humour.
Without success.
Well, for all his faults, Palmer spent an estimated $60 million on campaign advertising.
Quite a lot of which went to Nine Entertainment – Crowe's employer.
And Comrade Crowe condemned narcissists – after having engaged in a bout of self-indulgence.
Can You Bear It? IN WHICH QUENTIN DEMPSTER ADVISES PREFERENTIAL VOTING A CENTURY AFTER IT WAS INTRODUCED IN AUSTRALIA
Lots of thanks to the avid Mumbai reader who drew the attention of Ellie's (male) co-owner to this post on X by former ABC journalist Quentin Dempster:
How about that?
Preferential voting for the Commonwealth House of Representatives election began a century ago.
And Comrade Dempster feels the need to declare – at 11.36 on a Thursday morning - that to prevent any defeat by preferences, a candidate must win 50 per cent of the primary vote.
You don't say. [Yes he did. MWD Editor]
It would seem that your man Dempster is somewhat puzzled that the Liberal Party candidate Steph Hunt polled 19 per cent and recommended that her voters preference the Labor Party ahead of the Greens – thus defeating Greens' leader Adam Bandt.
MWD does not recall Comrade Dempster being upset when Adam Bandt won the seat of Melbourne in 2010 on, yes, Liberal Party preferences.
Can You Bear It? BENJAMIN LAW SEEMS TO BELIEVE THAT POLITICS IS A RELIGION
Did anyone read Zoe Daniel's interview with Benjamin Law in his 'Dicey Topics' column in The Good Weekend ?
The date was 19 April 2025.
Comrade Law is a leftist type and he invariably interviews those of similar ideological disposition.
For those who don't follow Law, his clever trick is to roll a dice and choose three topics out of six.
Namely, Death, Money, Sex, Religion, Politics and Bodies.
Comrade Daniel's dice landed on Death, Religion and Bodies.
The interviewee is expected to answer questions on the three topics.
Law's first question in the Religion segment was: 'What do you tick on the Census under Religion?'
The answer was 'agnostic'. No surprise there. But the second question was this:
Benjamin Law: You and fellow-independent, 'teal' MPs, represent a shift in federal Australian politics. Do you feel the country has lost its faith in the two-party system?
Zoe Daniel: I do. It's not just opinion: it's borne out in the statistics…
Can you believe it?
Comrade Law reckons that Australian national politics is a religion.
As to Zoe Daniel, she told Good Weekend that she has a 'potty mouth'.
And here's another question: Can You Bear It? MAIN PICTURE – FORMER ABC JOURNALIST ZOE DANIEL, WHO BECAME A TEAL MP IN 2022, PICTURED BY THE ABC DANCING WHEN SHE BELIEVED ON SATURDAY NIGHT THAT SHE HAD BEEN RETURNED AS THE MP FOR GOLDSTEIN SMALL PICTURE – HOW THE DAILY TELEGRAPH BROKE THE NEWS TO ITS READERS WITH A FRONT-PAGE DINKUS ON WEDNESDAY 7 MAY THAT COMRADE DANIEL HAD BEEN DEFEATED A NIKI SAVVA MOMENT NIKI SAVVA TEXTS ABC TV'S INSIDERS IN AN ATTEMPT TO DISTRACT ATTENTION FROM HER LATE 2024 CLAIM THAT PM ALBANESE SHOULD STEP DOWN WHETHER OR NOT LABOR WON THE 2025 ELECTION
There is one thing which many journalists have in common.
Namely, what in boxing parlance, is called a glass jaw.
In this instance – an inability to accept criticism.
This was evident in the ABC TV Insiders program on Sunday 4 May – the morning after the (election) night before.
David Speers was in the presenter's chair and the panel comprised David Crowe (Nine Newspapers), Jacob Greber ( ABC ) and Samantha Maiden ( News.com.au ).
In discussing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's stunning success in leading the Labor Party to a large majority in the House of Representatives – reference was made to Nine columnist Niki Savva (who happens to be a regular panellist on the Insiders' couch).
Let's go to the transcript:
David Speers: I seem to recall was it Niki Savva who wrote that win or lose he'd [Albanese] will be gone in this term. I'm not so sure. I think Anthony Albanese –
David Crowe: [interjecting]. No, I don't think it was Niki. But there was that idea that Anthony Albanese would have to move on in the second term and that was a judgment maybe six months ago by a commentator. I better not freewheel and try and name that commentator.
Turn it up.
Comrade Speers was correct.
On 5 December 2024, Niki Savva's column in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald was titled 'If Albanese wins the next election he should celebrate, then step aside'.
This is how Comrade Savva's column commenced:
If Anthony Albanese wins the next election to govern either in majority or minority, he should, after a decent interval, retire so Labor can regenerate.
Albanese succeeded brilliantly, certainly beyond his wildest imaginings and that of his friends, to become leader then prime minister.
He should count his blessings, then gracefully relinquish the job.
This is a benign view.
The more drastic, which has been bubbling away inside the wider Labor family, is that he has lost his mojo, his judgment has deserted him and if he can't summon the discipline to shape up, he should ship out before the election to allow someone else to take on a rampant Peter Dutton…
As avid readers well know, Media Watch Dog follows the maxim that it is unwise to make predictions – especially about the future.
Niki Savva's claim that Anthony Albanese should step down as prime minister 'after a decent interval' even if Labor won the 2025 election was foolish.
Right now, Anthony Albanese stands as one of Labor's most successful leaders – Bob Hawke won four elections, Gough Whitlam won two and Anthony Albanese has now won two as well.
Moreover, he is the only prime minister to increase a government's majority in the House of Representatives at its second election.
And what about glass jaws and all that? – MWD hears avid readers cry.
Well, this is what happened towards the end of the program – apparently after Comrade Savva texted David Speers or Insiders' executive producer Samuel Clark – when Comrade Speers had this to say:
David Speers: Niki Savva – mentioned earlier her forecast [that] the Prime Minister wouldn't see out this coming term. She did, however, forecast the other day that Peter Dutton and Keith Wolahan would be in real trouble of losing their seats.
Samantha Maiden: [interjecting] Do not mess with Nikki. She's coming for you now. Look out.
How sensitive can an abrasive Nine columnist get?
Comrade Savva's December 2024 assessment of the Prime Minister's political abilities was hopelessly wrong.
Rather than accepting the reality of her false prophecy, Savva wanted Insiders' viewers to know that she had written on 1 May that Peter Dutton (in Dickson) and Keith Wolahan (in Menzies) could lose their seats.
So what?
Dutton was on a margin of 1.7 per cent and Wolahan was on 0.5 per cent.
When Savva wrote this on May Day, two days before the election, Labor was well ahead of the Coalition in virtually all opinion polls.
It was hardly a bold prediction.
In any event, David Speers felt it necessary to state Savva's case while David Crowe remained silent concerning his earlier denial.
And so it came to pass that Niki Savva did not acknowledge her misjudgement about Prime Minister Albanese and pointed instead to an obvious statement that she had made about Messrs Dutton and Wolahan.
At the time Savva wrote about Dickson and Menzies – Anthony Albanese was saying out loud that Labor would win both seats.
[Interesting. I wonder why Niki Savva doesn't junk her crystal ball. In December 2024, she wrote that Anthony Albanese should give away politics after the 2025 election – win or lose. And in 2019 Comrade Savva had a book ready to go to the publisher after the 2019 election. It was titled Highway to Hell: The Coup that destroyed Malcolm Turnbull and left the Liberals in Ruins. As MWD readers know, the problem was that Scott Morrison led the Liberal Party to victory in May 2019. So the Savva book needed a new conclusion – as well as a new title. It was renamed Plots and Prayers: Malcolm Turnbull's demise and Scott Morrison's ascension.
And yet, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, along with the ABC, regard Comrade Savva as one of Australia's top political commentators. Come to think of it, perhaps this item should have gone in your (hugely popular) Can You Bear It? segment. – MWD Editor.] AN ABC UPDATE MWD 'EXCLUSIVE'. MONICA DOUMIT WAS PRE-INTERVIEWED FOR COMPASS PROGRAM ON POPE FRANCIS BUT WAS 'CANCELLED' DUE TO NOT FITTING INTO THE ABC'S CONSERVATIVE FREE ZONE
There was enormous interest in last week's Media Watch Dog segment titled 'ABC's Compass Demonstrates Lack of Viewpoint Diversity in Coverage of Pope Francis . '
The reference was to the Compass program Pope Francis: The Disruptor, which aired on Monday 21 April.
Compass producer Noel Debien put together a group of eight contributors for the program – which was presided over by Geraldine Doogue.
They discussed Pope Francis' legacy.
MWD had this to say:
There was not a Catholic conservative among this lot – as befits the taxpayer funded public broadcaster as a Conservative Free Zone. Everyone on the program – including Geraldine Doogue – was a progressive Catholic.
Especially those who had most to say, i.e. Geraldine Doogue herself, Paul Collins, Bishop Mackinlay and Francis Sullivan – along with producer Noel Debien. No surprise, then, that the Compass program was very much a Case for the Progressive Catholic Prosecution.
The views expressed by Geraldine Doogue along with those of Paul Collins and Bishop Shane Mackinlay of Sandhurst were of considerable interest. However, it is not clear how Francis Sullivan has suddenly become an 'expert' on the Catholic Church in Australia – or elsewhere. Unlike Doogue, Collins and Mackinlay.
…The three Australians who were interviewed at length – Paul Collins, Shane Mackinlay and Francis Sullivan – were all progressives. A conservative voice would have added some balance to the discussion. The likes of Monica Doumit or Philippa Martyr come immediately to mind as conservatives who might have had something useful – and different – to say. But then, as the saying goes, the ABC is a Conservative Free Zone which is virtually devoid of viewpoint diversity.
Lotsa thanks to the avid Perth reader who drew the attention of Ellie's (male) co-owner that Philippa Martyr had commented on the Compass program on Facebook.
In reply, Monica Doumit had this to say:
"LOL! I was actually pre-interviewed for this program. I spent about 90 minutes on the phone talking to the researcher but never got a call back. ðŸ¤'
How about that?
The Compass researcher spoke to Monica Doumit for an hour and a half.
But Compass did not interview her for the program.
Preferring to talk only to progressive Catholics – including Francis Sullivan, who, unlike Doumit, has never written about theology or Church history.
All this is further proof that the ABC is a Conservative Free Zone which is almost devoid of viewpoint diversity.
And so it came to pass that Paul Collins essentially agreed with Shane Mackinlay who essentially agreed with Francis Sullivan who essentially agreed with Geraldine Doogue who essentially agreed with herself.
A familiar story about the taxpayer funded public broadcaster. THE ABC's ELECTION COVERAGE BY A SPECIAL MWD CORRESPONDENT
The ABC's panel covering the night of the 2025 election chaired by Sarah Ferguson and David Speers featured Laura Tingle, Patricia Karvelas, Annabel Crabb plus Bridget Brennan.
Antony Green was covering his last election before retirement, and Jeremy Fernandez and Casey Briggs made somewhat brief appearances.
Also on the panel were Liberal National Party Queensland senator James McGrath and Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Redbridge Group pollsters Kos Samaras and Tony Barry provided additional analysis.
With such a large group, you'd expect some comprehensive analysis. Not so.
As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald CBD column on 4 May , despite being a part of it, Tony Barry took to Facebook afterwards to slam the ABC's election coverage.
Barry posted that the ABC's coverage was 'beyond woeful', 'just 6 hours of shallow analysis,' and 'unwatchable drivel'.
He also suggested that 'they should burn the ABC down to the ground and then salt the earth under it.'
Ferguson and Tingle dominated the panel, often grilling James McGrath.
At one point Tingle questioned McGrath about how a hypothetical Liberal government would boost growth – long after the Coalition had clearly lost the election. McGrath was sneered at for bringing up pre-poll and postal votes.
However, although they couldn't win the election for the Liberal Party, pre-poll and postal votes have made a difference in close seats.
Most notable in Goldstein where ex-ABC journalist Zoe Daniel lost to the Liberal Party's Tim Wilson.
Bridget Brennan's notable contribution was to bring up the failed Voice referendum to Jim Chalmers, asking twice if Labor is considering legislating a Voice to Parliament.
Brennan has a history of unhelpful contributions to the Voice debate – avid readers will recall that when appearing on the ABC TV Insiders panel on 31 July 2022, Brennan said the Voice 'does need to have teeth, it does need to be feared and revered'.
In response to criticism of its coverage, the ABC pointed out that they outrated the competition.
One wonders how many of those viewers tuned in to see the soon-to-be-retired Antony Green, versus the rantings of Sarah Ferguson and pointless comments from Annabel Crabb.
Meanwhile, over at Sky News, Tom Connell proved he has become the most accomplished psephologist in the Australian media.
[I think you were a bit tough on Ms Crabb. After all, she showed style in presenting a bunch of flowers to Mr Green at the end of the broadcast – only for your man Green to advise that he didn't have a vase. Oh well. Perhaps he can put the flowers in the bath. – MWD Editor. ] YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS
'You Must Remember This' is based on the chorus line in the song As Time Goes By which was popularised by the film Casablanca .
It is devoted to reminding the usual suspects (living or dead) of what they and/or those they supported once wrote or said or did.
Or, indeed, what they failed to write or say. HOW THE LATE JOHN PILGER DID A BUNK OUT OF SAIGON IN APRIL 1975 RATHER THAN AWAIT THE ARRIVAL OF THE COMMUNIST FORCES HE HAD SUPPORTED DURING THE VIETNAM WAR
As Media Watch Dog readers know, 30 April 2025 was the 50th Anniversary of the fall of Saigon, the capital of (then) non-communist South Vietnam, to the armed forces of the communist North Vietnam dictatorship.
In his column in The Weekend Australian on 3-4 May, Gerard Henderson wrote about the refugees from Vietnam who sought asylum in Australia in 1975 and after.
See here.
The leftist Australian journalist John Pilger (1939-2023) was based in Saigon when the city fell to the North Vietnamese Army on 30 April 1975.
Comrade Pilger had two options.
Stay in Saigon and witness the so-called 'liberation' of South Vietnam by North Vietnam (which received substantial military support from the communist rulers of the Soviet Union in Moscow).
Or do a bunk with the so-called United States 'imperialists'.
He chose the latter course – to what Pilger subsequently described as his 'shame'.
It's just that he had no evident 'shame' at the time.
The story is told in Chapter 17 of John Pilger's book Heroes (1986) titled 'The Last Days'.
As the North Vietnamese Army marched on the South Vietnam capital in late April 1975, Comrade Pilger sought refuge in the US Embassy in Saigon.
He described himself struggling 'through the crowd, pushing and using my strength in order to get my free ride away from the war' – adding 'I felt only shame'.
But, shame or no shame, Comrade Pilger sought to be rescued by what the left used to call the US Military Industrial Complex.
At around 6.16 pm on 30 April 1975, Pilger got a seat on a US helicopter, he called it a 'Jolly Green Giant' – which had landed on, and then departed from, the roof of the US Embassy.
He was taken to the USS Blue Ridge, the flagship of the US Seventh Fleet, where he shared space with Tom Polgar – the last CIA station chief in Saigon.
In his book, Pilger acknowledged that 'many' Vietnamese attempting to flee the communist forces at the time 'would not get out because there were not enough seats' on US planes and helicopters.
So how about that?
Given the chance to stay in 'liberated' Saigon and mix with communist forces – the anti-imperialist John Pilger managed to get a seat on a US military helicopter and sought the protection of Uncle Sam, per courtesy of the US taxpayer.
You Must Remember This.
Gerard Henderson is an Australian columnist, political commentator and the Executive Director of The Sydney Institute. His column Media Watch Dog is republished by SkyNews.com.au each Saturday morning. He started the blog in April 1988, before the ABC TV's program of the same name commenced.