Australian journalists in hock to the corporate media cult & an open letter to Chris Graham, Editor of New Matilda, requesting a right of reply, as Australia's equivalent of the the UK's HSCB Banking scandal is ignored

Addit - Nearly three weeks later on 23 March 2015 Chris Graham had still not responded to the request below for a right of reply (sent to him via email), so this fax was forwarded to him.

Dear  Chris,

I'm a Registered Nurse, not a journalist (though I harboured that ambition at 15). Luckily life sent me in the first direction, as I've got much better job security and public trust (I'm number one on a list that puts you at no. 20).  I think that's fair, as given the squalid news that seeped out of The Leveson Inquiry, you can be grateful health professionals don't do their jobs like journalists, because if they did you'd be in deep shit when you rock up your local Emergency Department, possibly clutching your chest or gasping for breath (or both).

Kate McCann (who is a doctor), dicusses this point in her book about her daughter's disappearance and the media witch hunt against her.  She says she's subject to strict professional standards and can be barred from practising if she trangresses, but journalists are never "Struck off" no matter how badly they behave.  The Press Council might shake their finger and tell them to be good children in future, but that's it. No effective sanctions apply.

I wouldn't have lasted more than 5 minutes in journalism after the blinkers fell. Teenagers are starry eyed. I had visions of fighting injustice and exposing graft, not sucking up to corporate toads. Knowing my temperament, I'd have walked out quite early after telling my editor to stick his head where the sun doesn't shine.

But despite my lowly status as a shift working nurse, it looks like I've riled the Australian media cult.  Top private investigator Col Chapman claims one organisation forked out around $7,000 to scrutinize me, with no result from their grubby initiative (amongst Col's many other allegations about Australian media crime).  Then Gary Adshead of the West Australian put my name in lights as did Fairfax, but both denied me a right of reply.  I also pissed off Eamonn Duff (a Fairfax hack), who publicly spat the dummy at me (accusing of an imagined "Crime"), though the courts were much harsher with him than I was - and Ben Eltham blocked me after I confronted him about his refusal to report the full facts about Allan Kessing, despite Ben mentioning that brave whistleblower in a recent  article.  Impressive achievements for a "Nobody" like me. I wonder what gets them so hot under the collar? Though as a psych nurse of over 40 years experience, a key lesson is truth hurts. In fact, it stings like hell.

So since I began my campaign for an innocent Australian woman, I've come to the conclusion Aussie hacks are a rather weird, cultish bunch.  I guess no more than a few hundred journalists (and regularly invited "Talking heads"), get promoted in "Major" outlets, though perhaps even "Hundreds" is an overstatement.  Those "Insiders" are quite incestuous and cliquey - and desperately chasing after an ever-shrinking pool of jobs.  Matthew Knott, who used to work for Crikey and refused to report on allegations of Australian media crime, now works for Fairfax. Personally, I think his job prospects would be considerably less if he'd followed up those serious accusations - but hey, we all have to pay the bills don't we? Just stop pretending the thin gruel served up to the Australian public is an honest, quality product. And what with falling sales and plummeting trust, it's clear consumers aren't fools.  The corporate media and journalism as a "Profession" is in crisis.

Ben Eltham moonlights for the ABC as you do Chris, and I guess if you're really good boys you might get a few more crumbs from the Establishment.  This brings me to Media Lens and their scathing critique of the the liberal, left media from a humanitarian/progressive view point.  I've followed their output for a few years and it's taught me that while I support and agree with some Guardian articles (and some New Matilda articles), the most vital awareness is a knowledge of what's left out, as the "Cult" stays within the prescribed boundaries.  Of course there's debate between "Left" and "Right," but it never strays from the defined boxing ring.

For instance, this brilliant article from Nafeez Ahmed (who was canned from the Guardian), about the UK's HSCB banking scandal, pushes the envelope way past anything published in New Matilda - and then in another powerful piece, it's also shown the liberal "Left" media sat on those shocking facts for over 12 years. In a similar vein, New Matilda has never discussed the murky dealings of Australia's most powerful bank, a financial institution which donates large sums to both sides of the political divide - and a corporate entity that was deeply involved in corruption issues at Sydney Airport on the day Schapelle flew.

So is the Macquarie Bank scandal the Ocker equivalent of the UK's HSBC shame? A code of silence kept right across the spectrum, from left to right?

New Matilda has chosen to publicly mock the issue's I'm writing about, so I'd also like to request a right of reply within your pages.  Is that OK, or are are you scared of what I might write? If it's rubbish, I'm sure your readers will discern that at once, but if everything I write is referenced and backed up by evidence (as it will be), I guess it could be embarrassing for you. But hey, you've got nothing to worry about, I'm only a nurse . . .

Look forward to hearing from you Chris.

Regards, Kim