Editing Media Watch (TV program) (section)

==Reception==
The show's presenters have taken some pride in the vehemence of the criticism it attracts; at one point, the opening credits were made up of a montage of such criticisms, prominently featuring a description of original presenter Stuart Littlemore as a 'pompous git'. In 2002, the then-editor of ''[[Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]]'', Campbell Reid, sent host David Marr a dead fish; a replica of it is now awarded as the Campbell Reid Perpetual Trophy for the Brazen Recycling of Other People's Work.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005-11-07 |title=The Barra 2005 |url=http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1499128.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514220904/http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1499128.htm |archive-date=2006-05-14 |access-date=2006-02-12 |website=Media Watch |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref> Known as "The Barra" and bearing the motto ''Carpe Verbatim'', it is awarded annually for bad journalism and particularly plagiarism (a practice for which Reid was frequently criticised).

''Media Watch'' scrutinises all media outlets, and has criticised its own network, the ABC.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Enker |first=Debi |date=2004-12-09 |title=Fifteen minutes of fame |work=[[The Age]] |publisher=Fairfax Media|location=Melbourne |url=https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/fifteen-minutes-of-fame-20041209-gdz5hx.html |url-status=live |access-date=2020-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022005042/https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/fifteen-minutes-of-fame-20041209-gdz5hx.html |archive-date=2020-10-22}}</ref> When Marr was host from 2002 to 2004, the show often criticised Marr's employer [[Fairfax Media|John Fairfax Holdings]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2007}}

[[Robert Manne]], writing in ''[[The Age]]'' in 2007, commented that:
<blockquote>Media Watch was once, unashamedly, a program of the left... was sometimes unbalanced and unfair, usually intelligent and witty, always fearless and tough. No program more effectively tracked the steady drift of the political culture to the right. No program more effectively scrutinised the politics and practices of the contemporary commercial mainstream media—the rise of commentariat Islamophobia, the scandal of "cash for comment". The fact that it was not "impartial" was the key to its unpopularity in certain quarters, but also to its importance and success.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Manne |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Manne |date=2007-04-04 |title=The new bland and dull ABC |work=[[The Age]] |publisher=Fairfax Media|location=Melbourne |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-new-bland-and-dull-abc-20070404-ge4l3w.html |url-status=live |access-date=2020-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019225412/https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-new-bland-and-dull-abc-20070404-ge4l3w.html |archive-date=2020-10-19}}</ref></blockquote>

===Criticisms from News Corp outlets===
Commentary programs and segments on [[Sky News Australia]] also allege the program has a consistent left wing bias. Following the [[2019 Australian federal election|2019 federal election]], Sky News Australia commentator [[Chris Kenny]] (writing for ''[[The Australian]]'') claimed that the program had a reliance on [[Australian Labor Party|Labor Party]] or [[trade union]]-aligned journalists for its criticisms of [[News Corp Australia|News Corp]]. Kenny further claimed a failure to disclose these alleged associations, and opined that this undermined the credibility of host Barry's analyses of News Corp's output & business methods.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-09-02 |title=Partisan push on ABC's Media Watch |work=[[The Australian]]|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/partisan-push-on-abcs-media-watch/news-story/ed6a3729bcc6a12edf06e1194b98d27d |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

''The Australian'', which is regularly criticised by ''Media Watch'', has been a long-term critic of the show. In August 2007 it editorialised that ''Media Watch'' "lacks journalistic integrity and conducts its affairs along the lines of an insiders' club that pushes its ideological prejudice at taxpayers' expense".<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-08-23 |title=Old tricks back at Media Watch |work=[[The Australian]]|publisher=News Limited |department=Opinion |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22290476-16741,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=2014-03-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070908185248/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C25197%2C22290476-16741%2C00.html |archive-date=2007-09-08}}</ref>

In June 2007, an episode of ''Media Watch'' entitled "Have Your Spray"<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Have Your Spray |url=https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/have-your-spray/9975612 |access-date=2020-10-19 |series=Media Watch |network=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=2007-06-18}}</ref> strongly criticised ''[[Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]]'', among others, for failing to censor racist comments on their website forums posted over an extended period, but then allowed strongly anti-Semitic comments to remain on its own web forum for a "few minutes" until removed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-06-25 |title=Media Watch fails racism test |work=[[Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]] |publisher=News Limited |url=http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/media-watch-fails-racism-test/story-e6frfmyi-1111113814400 |url-status=dead |access-date=2007-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409014527/http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/media-watch-fails-racism-test/story-e6frfmyi-1111113814400 |archive-date=2016-04-09}}</ref> The ABC later launched an internal inquiry into claims and criticisms published by ''News Corp'' mastheads that ''Media Watch''{{'s}} allegedly relied on ''IslamicSydney'', supposedly "an Islamic website that peddle[s] anti-Semitic and jihadi messages", for this story.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kerbaj |first=Richard |date=2007-07-12 |title=Media Watch's jihadi sources |work=[[The Australian]]|publisher=News Limited |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,22058577-7582,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=2008-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071205054333/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C20867%2C22058577-7582%2C00.html |archive-date=2007-12-05}}</ref>