Linton Besser
@lintonbesser.bsky.social
Prize-winning reporter, writer, broadcaster. Host of ABC’s Media Watch. This is a personal account, opinions mine etc. Tips: lintonbesser@protonmail.com
Shades of the eruptions inside The Sydney Morning Herald in 2012. A must read on the dismantling of the Washington Post: www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
You Can’t Kill Swagger
My old corner of The Washington Post raised some of the best journalists in the business.
theatlantic.com
Re-upping with this, by far the more read thing in my feed lately. By @adambonica.bsky.social
Jay Rosen@jayrosen.bsky.social · 7mo ago"The wall looks permanent until the day it comes down." data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-wall-l... Several people I know have used the word "beautiful" for this piece, and that's exactly right. A beautifully phrased essay on the bind we're in— until we aren't. Recommended, in an extreme way.
Ghislaine Maxwell lied about Trump never going to Epstein's house (directly contradicted by her email correspondence with Epstein), and she was rewarded for that lie with a transfer to a cushier prison. The coverup is happening in plain sight.
On news of Matthew Carney stepping down at Four Corners, it’s worth reading his recent and stirring address on the 50th anniversary of the killing of the Balibo Five: www.abc.net.au/abc-internat...
50 years on, the Balibo Five remembered for their courage and conviction - ABC International Development
Esteemed Australian journalist and foreign correspondent Matthew Carney reflects on journalism and urges reporters to 'seek truth' at a special event in Timor-Leste, marking the 50th anniversary of th...
abc.net.au
Advice to Sarkozy from a fellow traveller: www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
My prison tips for Sarkozy: keep hush and let the sex jokes slide
The Tory ex-minister Jonathan Aitken was jailed for perjury in 1999 — whatever you do, he tells the former French president, don’t sing London’s Burning
thetimes.com
REAKING: New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Trump foe, is indicted by Trump’s DOJ. She has been charged with one count of bank fraud by the same U.S. attorney who brought charges against James Comey.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Trump foe, is indicted by Trump’s DOJ
She has been charged with one count of bank fraud by the same U.S. attorney who brought charges against James Comey.
politico.com
Fascinating piece on the rise of Christian fundamentalism in Trump’s America: www.spiegel.de/internationa...
Trump's Crusaders: Christian Nationalists Are Gaining a Solid Foothold in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump has opened the doors of power to far-right Christian nationalists. Their goal: an American theocracy. The separation of church and state in America is at risk.
spiegel.de
‘This Is Like Something Out Of A David Lynch Film,’ Says Man Driving Car With Headlights On
Criminal justice another of the institutions of state wilting under Trump: ‘On Sept. 20, 2024, with hidden cameras recording the scene at a meeting spot in Texas, Homan accepted $50,000 in bills, according to an internal summary of the case and sources.’ www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/t...
Tom Homan was investigated for accepting $50,000 from undercover FBI agents. Trump's DOJ shut it down.
The FBI and Justice officials closed the investigation, which a Justice Department appointee had called a “deep state” probe in early 2025.
msnbc.com
The most American essay so far this year: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/o...
Opinion | Why Does Everybody Swear All The Time Now?
nytimes.com
Fascinating analysis on Canberra’s culture of drops here: www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
Australia's press gallery has a unique problem with its political coverage
The federal press gallery is ceding power to the Albanese government. It needs to take it back.
abc.net.au
From cabinet secrecy to “factors against” access, Australia’s FOI amendment bill risks undoing gains won under earlier reforms www.themandarin.com.au/299152-foi-a...
FOI amendment bill not what John Faulkner, Allan Hawke wanted
From cabinet secrecy to “factors against” access, the FOI amendment bill risks undoing gains won under earlier reforms.
themandarin.com.au
Well overdue for media to ban “drops” by political parties that insist no third party comment can be sought. Insidious, does not serve readers. (The Age banned them at a state level, or at the very least discloses that that was a condition for the story). Time for it to end in Canberra.
Rodney Bridge, a resident of Perth, Australia, whose 16-year-old son took a hallucinogen bought from Silk Road and then jumped off a hotel balcony in 2013, called Mr. Ulbricht’s comeback tour “a disgrace.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/t...
The Spectacular Comeback Tour of a Crypto Convict
nytimes.com
See: every sector of the economy.
Royce Kurmelovs@roycerk2.bsky.social · 11mo agoSee: climate change.
I thought they were excellent, deeply thoughtful questions. Not rude, not one-eyed, but probing.
John Cameron@johnmichaelcameron.bsky.social · 11mo agoThe legendary Kerry O'Brien was asked by @lintonbesser.bsky.social's Media Watch what he would have asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had he interviewed him, rather than the sycophantic Sky News. These were his questions: #auspol
A century or so ago, it seems that no writers had this grammatical tic. Now it is everywhere.
The Objectively Objectionable Grammatical Pet Peeve
A semi-attentive investigation into a confounding sentence type.
newyorker.com
Amazing graph from Semafor -- China now forecast to account for almost 60% of all renewable energy capacity installed worldwide between now and 2030
I hereby formally propose a new term (unless someone already has): AE standing for Automated Enshittification
Nick Harkaway@nickharkaway.com · last yr.I gave the Royal Mail digital assistant a low score and it logged off half way through my survey answers and now says it's not available. I'm HOWLING.
Revealed: spies for hire used ‘Big Brother’ tactics on salmon farm activists
Revealed: spies for hire used ‘Big Brother’ tactics on salmon farm activists
Guardian investigation sheds light on private intelligence industry that runs covert surveillance operations * Is surveillance by private operators legal in the UK? Wildlife activists who exposed horrific conditions at Scottish salmon farms were subjected to “Big Brother” surveillance by spies for hire working for an elite British army veteran. One of the activists believes he was with his young daughter on at least one of the occasions when he was followed and photographed by the former paratrooper Damian Ozenbrook’s operatives. Continue reading...
theguardian.com
Worth a watch: Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
