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#20886290 at 2024-05-19 08:21:00 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #36: BADGE OF HONOR Edition

#35 - Part 27
Australian Politics and Society - Part 19
>>20736626 Accused Islamist terror teen 'poisoned by monster': social media radicalisation claim after Bishop Mar Mari, Wakeley stabbing - Community leaders and fellow young Muslims had grown increasingly concerned with the "extreme religious views" of the 16-year-old alleged to have stabbed an orthodox Assyrian bishop during a service in Sydney's southwest, amid claims he had been radicalised online. The teenager alleged to have stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and three others during a live-streamed service at Wakeley's Christ the Good Shepherd Church on Monday remains in police custody. The Australian understands concerns had grown among community members that the teenager had "spent too much time online", particularly on radical content across social media un?aligned to mainstream Islamic views.
>>20736633 'He's just a child': Family of teen accused of Wakeley church stabbing break silence - The family of the 16-year-old alleged to have stabbed an Assyrian bishop in Sydney say they are distraught after Monday's attack, and can't believe their once "gentle" but troubled son could be a terrorist. The boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is alleged to have stabbed high-profile orthodox Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel on Monday while he live-streamed a service. The teenager's parents have told The Australian, through a spokesman, that he suffers from anger outbursts, and have been left confused at NSW Police for designating the incident a terror-attack - the first since 2017 - so quickly after the event.

>>20736637 Video: Student Benjamin Cohen has taken legal action after being wrongly named as Bondi attacker - A university student wrongly named as the Bondi Junction knife-wielding murderer has taken legal action against Channel 7 after the network aired multiple live broadcasts labelling him as the culprit. Benjamin Cohen, a first-year student at the University of Technology, Sydney, has engaged law firm Giles George and is seeking an apology, compensation and costs for serious harm after he was falsely named as the Bondi killer. A concerns notice has been sent by Mr Cohen's lawyers to Seven West Media chief executive officer and managing director James Warburton outlining that the network incorrectly identified Mr Cohen as the wrong man who killed six people, and not the actual killer, 40-year-old Queenslander Joel Cauchi. Among those to wrongly name Mr Cohen included one of the network's highest profile stars - Sunrise co-host Matt Shirvington - who told Weekend Sunrise viewers on Sunday the killer was "40-year-old Benjamin Cohen, dressed in a Kangaroos ARL jersey", who was "shot and killed by a brave female officer." Shirvington's comments were aired on the program at 6.05am AEST and then just 10 minutes later hosts Monique Wright and Michael Usher spoke with reporter Lucy McLeod in a live cross and she too wrongly named Cohen as the murderer.
>>20741519 Stabbed Sydney Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel releases update, publicly forgives attacker and calls for calm - The bishop who was stabbed at a Sydney church on Monday night says he forgives his attacker and is "doing fine" after undergoing surgery. The Assyrian Orthodox Christ The Good Shepherd Church posted an update on social media this morning that included an audio recording from the bishop. A 16-year-old boy has been arrested over the attack and authorities are investigating it as a "terrorist incident". No charges have been laid. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel said he forgives "whoever has done this act". "I will always pray for you. And whoever sent you to do this, I forgive them as well is Jesus's mighty name," he said.
>>20741536 Teenage terror accused dropped out of school, was increasingly 'disobedient' - The 16-year-old boy accused of carrying out a terrorist attack at a western Sydney church had not attended school for months and displayed increasing disobedience at home before the shock stabbing of a bishop on Monday night. The 16-year-old, who cannot legally be identified, allegedly stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Wakeley during a livestreamed Bible session shortly after 7pm on Monday. Bishop Emmanuel and another clergyman received non-life-threatening injuries. The boy lost a finger during the attack, according to Premier Chris Minns. The teenager had not attended his high school for more than six months, a source not authorised to speak publicly said. In 2020, he had been suspended for bringing a knife onto school grounds. The boy's father had also seen signs of increasing "disobedience", according to an Islamic community leader who accommodated the father at Lakemba Mosque on Tuesday night.

#20498506 at 2024-03-01 11:03:05 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #34: UNITED AGAINST THE INVISIBLE ENEMY OF ALL HUMANITY Edition

>>20498499

2/2

The Albanese government's handling of the Meta move will be closely watched by the opposition and the wider public, as it comes under pressure to prove its ?credentials in holding tech titans to account.

In February 2021, Facebook suffered an extraordinary public backlash when it stripped all news from its platform in protest at the new law forcing it to pay publishers, but eventually relented following a terse stand-off with the Coalition government.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who orchestrated the introduction of the bargaining code, told The Weekend Australian: "The billion-dollar payday for Australian journalism that we achieved with the assistance of the ACCC was a world-first. But it was not easy. When Facebook suddenly shut down thousands of sites around the country, from the local bowls club to emergency services, everyone thought we would cave in. But we didn't. We held firm and won the day.

"Our legislation and the commercial agreements that were subsequently struck set a precedent for others to follow."

In a joint statement on Friday, opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor and communications spokesman David Coleman accused the Labor government of "ignoring the warning signs" of Meta's likely refusal to renegotiate its deal with Australian news publishers. "When Meta made similar announcements in the UK, France and Germany in September last year, the government should have immediately taken measures to prevent this from happening in Australia. The recent experience of Canada's negotiations with Meta were also a clear indication of its intentions."

Mr Taylor said Labor had been caught on the back foot. "This is a world-leading competition policy, and the government needs to use it," he said. "The warning signs were there and the government ignored them.

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said Labor was committed to backing Australian journalism.

"Nobody should be under any illusions about our resolve to use the powers that are available to us (under the news media bargaining code)," Mr Jones said.

"We want to make it clear that we are backing Australian journalism ... we have to ensure that (companies) who use content are paying for it. We're not talking about some plucky little start-up; we're talking about one of the world's largest and most profitable companies (Meta)."

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland blasted Meta's move, calling it a threat to Australian journalism. "It's a decision that suits (Meta's) own commercial interests, but is inconsistent with the government's aim of ensuring that we have strong public-interest journalism that is properly compensated," she said.

Mr Miller welcomed the government's support for the media industry and accused Meta of attempting to mislead Australians.

"Meta is using its immense market power to refuse to negotiate, and the government is right to explore every option for how the media bargaining code's powers can be used," he said. "It is attempting to mislead Australians by saying its decision is about the closure of its news tab product. However the vast majority of news on Facebook and Meta is and will continue to be consumed outside this product.

A raft of senior media executives and politicians took aim at Meta's decision to walk away from the pay-for-content deals.

Nine Entertainment chief executive Mike Sneesby said the move by Meta "does not recognise the significant and increasing value of Nine's journalism, unique content and brands to its platforms". Seven West Media managing director and chief executive James Warburton said Meta "needs to be designated".

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the decision would be a blow to public-?interest journalism. "Without professional, fact based journalism, Facebook will just be a collection of conspiracy theories, outrage and misinformation," she said.

ABC managing director David Anderson said he was "deeply disappointed" by the decision, as it would have an impact on regional journalism.

In its statement on Friday, Meta said its decision to walk away from the deals with news publishers was prompted by "an ongoing effort to better align our investments to our products and services people value the most".

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/meta-abandons-news-content-deals/news-story/5aef9b28697e26fb6ec8ddd6b2e84599

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRXLvB5Awxo

#13515316 at 2021-04-26 08:31:44 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition

Ben Roberts-Smith takes leave from Seven Network role during defamation case against newspaper journalists

Matthew Doran - 26 April 2021

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith is taking leave as boss of the Seven Network's Queensland operations, as he pursues a defamation case in the Federal Court.

The announcement was made by Seven West's CEO James Warburton in an all-staff email on Monday.

Mr Roberts-Smith launched the defamation case against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times newspapers over a series of stories from 2018 alleging he committed war crimes in Afghanistan - which he strongly denies.

The newspapers reject his claim, and the trial is due to start in the Federal Court in early June.

Mr Warburton said Mr Roberts-Smith's leave from his position as general manager Seven Brisbane and 7Queensland would begin immediately.

"Ben and I believe this mutual decision is best for both him and our company," Mr Warburton said.

"We expect Ben to return to his role upon the completion of his defamation proceedings.

"As the trial is currently set down for eight weeks, it's likely this won't be until after August."

Earlier this month Mr Roberts-Smith labelled further allegations about his conduct, broadcast on the Nine Network, as "baseless".

60 Minutes alleged he had buried USB drives containing purportedly compromising material in his backyard, rather than providing them to police and military investigators.

The program also broadcast secret recordings of Mr Roberts-Smith, in which he appeared to say he was indebted to Seven West chairman Kerry Stokes for financially supporting his legal battle and promised to destroy journalists who were publishing stories about him.

At the time Mr Roberts-Smith took aim at Nine's journalist Nick McKenzie, arguing he had not put any of the allegations to him before broadcast.

The Australian Federal Police have confirmed to federal Parliament fresh investigations into Mr Roberts-Smith had been launched following 60 Minutes' reporting.

Last year the Federal Court heard eyewitnesses had detailed to investigators how Mr Roberts-Smith allegedly committed a violent war crime, by kicking a handcuffed Afghan civilian off a cliff in 2012.

Mr Roberts-Smith denied the "false allegations", and said the newspapers reporting and defence of the defamation suit were "completely without any foundation in truth".

The newspapers scored a win in pre-trial wrangling in April, with Justice Anthony Besanko allowing four Afghan villagers and a member of the ADF to give evidence in the court case.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/ben-roberts-smith-leave-seven-network-role-defamation-case/100095586

#12946320 at 2021-02-16 17:42:42 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #13 - THE WAR IS REAL Edition

>>12815543
>>12930175
Google closing in on news content deals with ABC, Nine, Guardian

Google has stepped back from a threat to shut down its search engine locally and is on the brink of striking commercial deals with some of Australia's largest news organisations after months of hard fought negotiations over planned media bargaining laws.

The ABC, Nine Entertainment Co (owner of this masthead) and Guardian Australia are in eleventh-hour negotiations with the $1.8 trillion tech giant for use of their content on various Google services. Industry sources briefed on the talks indicated the deals could be reached within 48 hours. However, while the talks are in advanced stages, there is no guarantee the agreements will be completed.

Google threatened to turn off its search engine in Australia in January in response to the laws. The search giant's progress on agreements with publishers will shift focus to Facebook, which is yet to strike any deals for its own news product and has threatened to pull journalism from its platform if the laws aren't revised.

Kerry Stokes' Seven West Media became the first of the major media companies to ink an agreement with Google on Monday.

The flurry of deals comes as the Federal Parliament prepares to debate the Morrison government's media bargaining code legislation this week, which would force Google and Facebook into mandatory arbitration with news publishers for payment for value they obtain from having news content in news feeds and search results.

While the publisher deals would allow Google to avoid a risky arbitration process, media executives still believe the legislation is crucial to ensure tech companies pay for news content and contribute to funding public-interest journalism.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed the federal government had agreed to make some technical amendments to the bill following discussions with Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and Google boss Sundar Pichai over the weekend.

"These are improvements to the bill, these are technical in nature, but they also clarify the position of the government and I think they provide comfort to the players that we've got a workable code," Mr Frydenberg told Sky News. "We'll make those technical amendments public over the course of the next few days.

Mr Frydenberg also confirmed he would wait for more deals to be made before deciding whether to enforce the code against Google's search engine and Facebook newsfeed, or through their respective news licensing products: Google News Showcase and Facebook News.

News Showcase is a newly launched product available through Google's news app. Google pays publishers for certain behind-the-paywall articles that then appear on the platform.

"With respect to the designation of Search or Facebook, they are decisions that I would make after receiving the advice of the ACCC. But if there are commercial deals in place, then that becomes a different equation," Mr Frydenberg said.

Google has already struck commercial deals with a number of smaller Australian publishers for its Showcase product, including Crikey, The Saturday Paper and Australian Community Media, publisher of The Canberra Times.

Google and Facebook have been trying to quickly sign deals ahead of the introduction of the code, which could be legislated by the end of the week. The discussions were accelerated after high-level talks between Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Mr Frydenberg, Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Pichai.

Talks with other outlets such as Daily Mail Australia and News Corp Australia are ongoing. News Corp, which owns a string of papers in Australia as well as The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London, is expected to sign a global deal for its content.

Seven's deal will include News Showcase but could also include content on other Google-owned products such as YouTube and Subscribe with Google, a platform that helps news outlets engage with their subscribers. The company's chief executive James Warburton would not comment directly on the cost of the deal but said the money would be used to invest in journalism.

"It will improve the business, there's no doubt about that," Mr Warburton told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. "With The West Australian, we're one of the only publishers that's continued to invest in regional and community newspapers. What it does is it gives them a digital future and gives us some sustainability and a lot of that will drop to the bottom line and help us repay debt."

Mr Frydenberg said Mr Pichai had made clear in the discussion that Google wanted to remain operating in Australia.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/seven-west-media-inks-30-million-a-year-google-deal-20210215-p572iv.html

#12930175 at 2021-02-15 04:13:36 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #13 - THE WAR IS REAL Edition

>>12815543
Seven West Media strikes partnership with Google that will see tech giant pay for news content

Seven West Media has struck a landmark agreement with Google that will see the tech giant pay for news content in its first significant deal globally with a major media company.

The Australian-listed company announced today it had entered into a Letter of Understanding to form a long-term partnership with Google, which includes providing news content to its Showcase product.

Kerry Stokes, chairman of Seven West Media, which publishes The West Australian as well as 19 regional papers and PerthNow, said the agreement was a great outcome for Seven West Media and Google.

"Our new partnership recognises the value, credibility and trust of our leading news brands and entertainment content across Seven and West Australian Newspapers," he said.

The deal comes after a Senate Committee last week endorsed the Federal Government's proposed media bargaining laws, which could force Google and Facebook to pay Australian media organisations for the news they use on their platforms.

The new laws, which have been pitched as a way to "safeguard public interest journalism", will be among the first in the world to demand that multi-billion-dollar tech firms share revenue with news outlets.

The laws, first drafted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, will establish rules for negotiations between digital platforms and registered Australian news businesses over sharing revenue from the use of their content.

Mr Stokes thanked Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims, and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who he said had been instrumental in the outcome of the "ground-breaking" agreement.

He said the leadership shown by them in their push for the proposed News Media Bargaining Code meant Seven West Media could conclude negotiations that resulted in fair payment and ensure the company's digital future.

"The negotiations with Google recognise the value of quality and original journalism throughout the country and, in particular, in regional areas," Mr Stokes said.

He said he believed that Google was committed to the spirit of the proposed code.

Mel Silva, managing director for Google Australia and New Zealand, said the partnership with Seven West Media meant the teach giant would make a substantial investment in the future of journalism not just across the metropolitan areas, but importantly in regional areas too where titles like the Kalgoorlie Miner and the Harvey-Waroona Reporter were at the heart of the local community.

"Seven West Media is one of Australia's leading integrated media companies across broadcast, print and digital news and joins with 21 publications across a variety of titles as diverse as The West Australian, 7NEWS, PerthNow, the Albany Advertiser, the Geraldton Guardian and the Broome Advertiser," she said.

Ms Silva said Showcase had been well received since it launched in Australia just over a week ago. She said Google's publisher partners had received one million views of their content in just eight days.

James Warburton, chief executive of Seven West Media, said Google recognised the strength of the media company's audiences through its engaging content and leading platforms.

"We are excited to be partnering with them as we pursue the next stage of our Strategy," he said.

The LOU is subject to executing a long form agreement in the next 30 days.

Seven West Media said it would advise more details once the long form agreement was finalised.

https://thewest.com.au/business/media/seven-west-media-strikes-partnership-with-google-that-will-see-tech-giant-pay-for-news-content-ng-b881796344z