How those outlets design them says even more.
asserted
design → design → more
The Age and The SMH have fairly simple tote bags and mugs.
asserted
Age → have → bags
News24, formerly known as Sky News, launched its merch store with a set of MAGA-inspired swag.
asserted
News24 → know → swag
One item caught our eye here at On Background.
asserted
item → catch → Background
That would be a T-shirt to support presenter Gabriella Power’s digital-only show The Power Hour.
asserted
That → support → show
It’s not the lovely looking T-shirt, so much as the handsome stock image chap pictured wearing it on the News24 store.
asserted
It → ’ → store
It turns out the gentleman News24 have superimposed its merch over appears to be a former Brazilian footballer named Felipe Gabriel Dos Santos Xavier, who became an online influencer in Latvia after retiring from the beautiful game.
asserted
who → turn → game
With an Instagram following of 279,000 in a country of less than 2 million people and a starring role in a 2020 Latvian comedy film, Xavier has become a pretty big deal in the small Baltic country.
asserted
Xavier → star → country
But News24’s man has been at the centre of an even bigger story this year in his adopted country.
asserted
man → adopt → country
Xavier has lived in Latvia for 10 years, but local law meant he couldn’t become a permanent resident until 2030 or citizen until 2035.
asserted
he → live → 2035
That meant he risked deportation.
asserted
he → mean → deportation
So what did the Latvian government do?
asserted
government → do → what
It granted him special citizenship, which caused a stir over why he was allowed to bypass Latvian naturalisation laws.
asserted
he → grant → laws
We know immigration is key topic for News24 locally, but overseas issues get serious air time as well, with hosts such as Rowan Dean raising the overheated prospect of a “civil war” over migrants in Europe.
asserted
hosts → know → Europe
In 2020, Xavier posted a video to his YouTube channel saying he wanted to be an example for people of colour or foreigners who wanted to live in Latvia and addressing racism in the country.
asserted
who → post → country
“For example, two years ago and also last year when I was looking for an apartment all the time there was a situation where, if you’re from India or Uzbekistan, you had to pay a six month deposit rather than one month which is the standard in Latvia,” he said, according to a translation.
uncertain
he → look → translation
“And that’s racism, it’s also illegal.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
Against that backdrop, it’s great to see News24 choosing to inject some balance by choosing a man whose life story shows the value of migration to be a face of the channel.
asserted
story → ’ → channel
Latika Bourke, the London-based host of the ABC’s popular geopolitics podcast Global Roaming and a writer-at-large for the Stokes family’s news site The Nightly, caused quite the stir this week while following Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his press tour around the United States.
asserted
Bourke → base → States
Bourke, who is a former reporter for this masthead, lobbed up one heck of a loaded question to the PM as he prepared to receive a prize from an American international affairs think tank called the Atlantic Council.
asserted
he → lob → tank
“Don’t you feel like a bit of a fraud accepting this award when, at home, you screwed up the response to the worst massacre since Port Arthur?” Bourke asked.
asserted
Bourke → feel → Arthur
Albo’s one word response of “no” did nothing to tone down The Nightly’s subsequent coverage.
asserted
response → do → coverage
The outlet instead plastered a picture of their star reporter and her “fraud” line on the front page of their daily PDF newspaper.
asserted
outlet → plaster → newspaper
Bourke is no stranger to combining her journalism with a spot of activism, though.
asserted
Bourke → combine → activism
The part-time ABC host appeared at Albo’s presser wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with the Ukrainian coat of arms and its distinctive trident.
asserted
host → appear → arms
Just last month she celebrated 35 years of Ukrainian independence, capping off a social media post with “Slava Ukraini”, which loosely translates to “Glory to Ukraine”.
asserted
which → celebrate → Ukraine
Last year, three months before the ABC appointed Bourke to her co-hosting role, she was advertising her very own fundraising campaign for Ukrainian Action, a charity/activist group supporting the beleaguered nation against Russia’s barbarous invasion.
asserted
she → appoint → invasion
This isn’t apples for apples, but how would the ABC’s head honchos respond if Bourke’s global roaming co-hosts Hamish Macdonald or Waleed Aly were to post “free Palestine” or “glory to Israel”?
asserted
hosts → respond → Israel
Given the trio and Geraldine Doogue regularly discuss Russia and the war, her views are highly relevant.
asserted
views → give → Russia
It’s a tricky question for the ABC, which has spent years drawing the line between what staff can and cannot say as part of their employment at the public broadcaster.
asserted
staff → ’ → broadcaster
That challenge is particularly acute when it comes to staff like Bourke, who wear multiple hats by working for multiple outlets and plying their trade in part as journalists and partly as commentators.
asserted
who → come → commentators
The ABC overhauled its public comment guidelines for staff and contractors last year after the Antoinette Lattouf saga, who was employed for five days as a casual, during which time she was sacked for reposting a Human Rights Watch post.
asserted
she → overhaul → post
Then-chair Ita Buttrose later dubbed Lattouf an “activist” in court over her past posts on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
asserted
Buttrose → dub → conflict
Lattouf won that case, and a hefty pay-out.
asserted
Lattouf → win → case
An ABC spokesperson said Bourke has a significant public profile outside the ABC, due to her other work, working for The Nightly and publishing a self-titled podcast.
“ABC workers are members of the communities they serve and the ABC does not wish to unnecessarily curtail their engagement in civic life, including by expressing personal views outside of work,” the spokesperson said.
asserted
spokesperson → say → work
How did that work for Lattouf?
asserted
that → work → Lattouf
Trusted bots
News bosses around the country are facing a tricky balancing act.
asserted
bosses → trust → act
On one hand, they are trying to assure journalists their jobs will not be replaced by AI, secure compensation from AI companies and tell the public that human-produced material is better than slop.
asserted
material → try → slop
On the other hand, they are adopting AI themselves and figuring out how to use it in news production.
asserted
they → adopt → production
Just this week, News Corp Australia boss Michael Miller delivered a major speech at a Macquarie University event outlining why AI was a valuable tool for journalists’ work and not a substitute for it.
“Our journalists operate as accountable, identifiable figures, not automated feeds.
asserted
journalists → deliver → figures
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
