A Quote by – Gerard Henderson

Topic of this Quote:

Government

Author Name:

Gerard Henderson

Born As:

Gerard Henderson

Other Names:

Gerard Henderson

Born:

Died:

                          Last year Sally Loane was dumped as the presenter of the 702 morning program in Sydney and replaced by Virginia Trioli. The word went out from the ABC that Ms Loane did not rate well enough in inner-suburban Leichhardt. Meaning, apparently, that she did not appeal to Green-voting-leftist-luvvies or to the Labor left and, horror-of-horrors, was just too middle class. The ABC even ran such criticism - if criticism is the correct word - on its web chat-room. The public broadcaster happens to be about the only media outlet which likes to publicise the views of critics who bag its own products and presenters. Usually, of course, the critics are leftists.

So Ms Trioli was called in from 774 in Melbourne where, shortly after 9/11, she had appealed to the inner-city leftist-luvvies in Fitzroy by suggesting that the best way to handle al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was to invite him around for a chat to discuss (in the parlance of the modern cliché) his issues.

Well, the good folk of Leichhardt may well be happy with Virginia Trioli - who has a tendency to preach at, rather than listen to, callers to the program. It is a matter of record, however, that her current ratings (at 7.4 per cent) are still lower than Sally Loane's final figure (at 9.0 per cent) - in spite of the fact that Ms Trioli's program commences and finishes earlier than that of her predecessor and, consequently, should rate higher since it benefits from the popular News and AM programs which precede it. Well, it might still do so - but it has not as yet. Ms Trioli has the talent to present an metropolitan radio program. But the manner of Sally Loane's axing, and Virginia Trioli's subsequent employment, was handled with a high degree of unprofessionalism.

Soon after taking up her Sydney gig, Ms Trioli headed back to Melbourne where, on Sunday 5 February 2006, she took part in a performance of Sedition!. According to the pre-performance advertising: 'Sedition! will bring together a coalition of comedians, commentators and satirists to protest against the Howard Government's recently introduced sedition laws...'. For 'balance', Kim Beazley was mocked as well. But not, of course, Bob Brown or - indeed - Osama bin Laden.