Wrong at the top of his voice
"Alan Jones: There are all sorts of stories doing the rounds. We're just trying to present the truth here, that's all we're seeking to do.
— ABC Camera Tape, 22nd August, 2011"
The trouble is, Alan that you relayed rumours and falsehoods instead, publicly abused those who were telling the truth, and then for days afterwards insisted that you'd been right all along.
Welcome to Media Watch, I'm Jonathan Holmes.
According to Alan Jones, last Monday was
"Alan Jones: ... a dark day for Australia, a dark day for Australia.
— Sky News, 22nd August, 2011"
and the treatment of the Convoy of No Confidence in Canberra was...
"Alan Jones: ... the most disgraceful thing that's ever been done to democracy. The people who come here can't actually get into the precinct to be heard.
— Sky News, 22nd August, 2011"
Well, it's true there weren't many people at the rally in front of Parliament House. Organisers had promised thousands, but by late morning there were still only hundreds.
The explanation, Jones declared to the protesters, and via Sky News, to the nation, was that...
"Alan Jones: These people can't get in. There are thousands, someone...
They come from all over the country to represent their concerns and someone has instructed the Federal Police to stop them, from allowing them to go where they want to go ... and there they are tooting their horns ... this is the most shameful ...
— Sky News, 22nd August, 2011"
He made that claim over and over again. And it simply wasn't true. What was true, as Sky News's David Lipson explained a short while later, was that...
"David Lipson: ... the trucks were not given permission by police to come right onto the road next to Parliament House. They've known that for a few days. The road right next to Parliament House next to me is blocked off, AFP are there, the idea being they didn't want to close down Parliament ...
... the plan was to park the trucks off site and then bus the protesters in en masse.
— Sky News, 22nd August, 2011"
But before they parked, a lot of the truckies decided to make their presence known by circling Parliament House and blowing their horns.
ABC 7.30's Chris Uhlmann hitched a ride with one of them ...
"Chris Uhlmann: And what made you decide to join this rally?
David Johnson: Oh, I just felt pretty strong about what she's doin' to the country at the moment, so ...
— ABC, 7.30, 22nd August, 2011"
Read the 7.30 story transcript
According to Chris Uhlmann, truckie David Johnson told him that ...
"... the police had been great and had said that the drivers could spend all day circling Parliament blowing their horns if they wanted to, as long as they didn't block traffic ...
— Chris Uhlmann, Political Editor, ABC 7.30, 26th August, 2011"
Read Chris Uhlmann's response to Media Watch’s questions
Listening to the CB radio, adds Uhlmann...
"it was clear that the truck drivers circling Parliament had decided that that was the way they wanted to protest, rather than join the crowd on the lawns listening to speeches.
— Chris Uhlmann, Political Editor, ABC 7.30, 26th August, 2011"
Alan Jones had simply misunderstood the situation.
Meanwhile someone had fed him another rumour - and he was busily passing that on to the leader of the Opposition, and the nation...
"Alan Jones: ... and now a convoy which I understand is 2km long, has been stopped at the border between NSW and the ACT. So the people who've come from all over Australia who want to be here, have been denied the opportunity to be here ...
— ABC News, Camera tape, 22nd August, 2011"
But that wasn't true either. The ACT police absolutely denied it. And when we asked convoy organiser Mick Pattel whether trucks were stopped at the border, he told us...
"That's totally incorrect. That's misinformation from someone
— Mick Pattel, Organiser, Convoy of No Confidence, 25nd August, 2011"
That's essentially what reporter David Lipson told Sky News's viewers that morning. And this is what Lipson then copped from Alan Jones, for having the temerity to challenge the great man's rumour-mongering ...
"Alan Jones: Where is he? I spoke to this fellow from Sky News and he said ... where is he? Well come on over here and explain yourself! Come on over and explain yourself. Come on over here and explain yourself. No! What, oh won't come!
— ABC News Camera Tape, 22nd August, 2011"
Shortly afterwards, Jones was at it again, this time publicly excoriating The Sydney Morning Herald's Jacqueline Maley.
"Alan Jones: I've just been asked by a journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald, am I getting a fee for being here today.
— ABC News, Camera Tape, 22nd August, 2011"
The nerve of it! You're a public figure, Alan, taking a highly political stand. That means journalists are allowed to ask you questions. All you had to say was 'No, I'm not taking a fee', and that would have been that. But no...
"Alan Jones: Where is she? Oh she's gone! Disappeared! Where is she! She's gone! She's gone eh! Can't stand and front, can't stand and front, no can't stand and front ...
— ABC News, Camera Tape, 22nd August, 2011"
Gee you're a bully, Alan. But there's a bigger kid in the Federal Parliamentary playground than Alan Jones. And that evening he politely but firmly put Jones in his place.
"Laurie Oakes: To quote the man behind the convoy, Mick Pattel, I think Alan might have been misled. Laurie Oakes, Nine News.
— Channel Nine News, 22nd August, 2011"
Safely back behind his microphone in Sydney, Jones spent much of last week rejecting everyone else's account, and playing over and over this one call that he received on Tuesday morning ...
"Caller Mike: I too drove into Canberra yesterday and there was at least two kilometres of trucks pulled up just inside the ACT border.
Alan Jones: Well now stop there for a minute. That's precisely what I was told, and I reported that to the audience, and now of course I've been vilified for telling people an untruth ...
Caller Mike: It was police at the end of it, police in the middle of it and police at the beginning of it. And they were pulled up, stationary, off the side of the road.
— 2GB, The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 23nd August, 2011"
Alan Jones kept saying later that caller Mike was a truckie stuck in that convoy. But he wasn't. We've checked.
He was commuting to his Canberra office when he drove past the halted trucks. And here's the probable explanation for what he saw, from convoy organiser Mick Pattel ...
"On Monday, about 60 trucks went out just near the border to wait for the convoy coming in from NSW so that they could all drive in together. The police escorted the convoy because Canberra is not truck-friendly.
— Mick Pattel, Organiser, Convoy of No Confidence, 25th August, 2011"
But Alan Jones preferred to believe in a conspiracy ... and to lash out at anyone who didn't.
"Alan Jones: Laurie Oakes's credibility is nil on these matters. But he wasn't there yesterday, he wasn't at the rally ...
... and perhaps people going round and round and round in Canberra and unable to park their trucks or participate in the rally, perhaps that's not a story. But what is a story is that you managed to misrepresent what, in fact, did happen. Well I was there, I know what happened ...
— 2GB, The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 23nd August, 2011"
No you weren't Alan. Not where the trucks were going round and round. You were on a rostrum, up on the hill, yelling at journalists. And according to the ABC's Chris Uhlmann, you totally misrepresented what happened.
"I was there. Both on the lawns then in a truck. No one had any complaints about the Australian Federal Police. No one suggested that there had been any interference with the rally.
— Chris Uhlmann, Political Editor, ABC 7.30, 26th August, 2011"
There you go Alan. Someone else to have a go at.
But remember, we're just trying to present the truth here. That's all we're seeking to do.
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