"angriest parking warden ever"
Now the infamous British blogger Madame Arcati has compiled "Madame Arcati's 10 most stupid journalists of 2009 " we decided it was time to visit that strange website "Australia's Worst Journalist' to find the current state of play.
Try as we might as have others, we still cannot uncover the author of this damning compilation of noted hacks but the list remains the same-just the pecking order is different.
Paul Barry (right) who featured at No 1 a month ago with his top selling biography of billionaire James Packer has been knocked of his perch by the Human Headline Derryn Hinch who is labelled a " RECIDIVIST CRIMINAL previously incarcerated and highly likely again ..FAILURE...". While it's true Hinch did a short stint for naming a convicted sex offender in defiance of a judge's order he's hardly a 'criminal'. And is it fair to call Derryn a failure ?. He's never been out of work since he arrived from New Zealand over 30 years ago although he has been on the merry-go-round that most journos usually find themselves on during their career.
Hinch always bounces back even when he outraged half the country by claiming the King of Television Graham Kennedy had died of AIDs-shocking a million housewives who until then believed that Gra Gra had just never met the right woman. Rob Astbury, once Melbourne's top sports broadcaster put that myth to rest when he penned the bestseller 'King & I about his long love affair with Kennedy. Hinch had the good manners to apologise publicly. Although one might re-call when he fronted a tabloid TV show with his ''Shame File" sledging the odd dole-bludger and such, comedian Ben Elton dubbed him "like the angriest parking warden I've ever seen".
At the site you can now vote on your choice of evil reptile and it should be noted that one of tSS's favourite scribes Annette Sharp of the Daily Telegraph has only garnered a pathetic 1.8% of votes. Poor old Ben Butler of Sharp's Melbourne stablemate the Herald Sun has scored a whopping 67% of votes. Ben's upset someone badly.
We're a little troubled though with the site's description of one scandal merchant - "Numerous factual errors. Unable to transcribe accurately factual matters or deliberately engages in falsehoods to degrade his subject, and heighten his vitriole". We agree. Said hack is as vitriolic in print as in public ( a sad trait of many Aussie hacks) and rarely checks his facts but can be saucy at times.
And Annette Sharp who apparently ' fabricates articles, never names so-called "sources and breaches almost every code of journalistic ethics".Errr..we always thought that keeping one's sources confidential was part of the code of a journalist's ethics.
As to Madame Arcarti's list, she is possibly correct in most of her choices including the chubby Perez Hilton who is yet to break an original story. tSS once had to share a lift at the Sydney Hilton with Perez who wore an ill-fitting bathrobe and had decidely pungent BO.
But Arcarti has the temerity to attack an Australian icon, who after Mother Mary McKillop is to be named as Australia's first saint by Pope Benedict in March next year, is surely next in line-Germaine Greer. Send the evil Madame hate mail immediately !
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"A week is a long time"
..in politics" famously said the former British PM Harold Wilson but it could well apply to show-biz.
Now 2GB radio host Chris Smith, pictured right just over a month ago happily posing here with his wife Abbey and publicist Sally Burleigh for tSS at a Variety Club bash, has had his career put on hold indefinitely after it's alleged he 'groped' 3 girls at the radio station's Christmas party. Chris says he is bi-polar and has a drinking problem and cannot re-call the event. Chris also says Abbey and the kids have temporarily left the marital home
..in politics" famously said the former British PM Harold Wilson but it could well apply to show-biz.
What with Tiger Wood's fall from grace just a week after his Australian visit with his rampant libido on show for all the world to see (why hasn't ESSO signed him up for a "put a Tiger in your tank" advert campaign ?) and Home & Away's Todd Lasance's career stalled just as Hollywood beckoned.
Now 2GB radio host Chris Smith, pictured right just over a month ago happily posing here with his wife Abbey and publicist Sally Burleigh for tSS at a Variety Club bash, has had his career put on hold indefinitely after it's alleged he 'groped' 3 girls at the radio station's Christmas party. Chris says he is bi-polar and has a drinking problem and cannot re-call the event. Chris also says Abbey and the kids have temporarily left the marital home
Meanwhile Sally Burleigh pictured left with ex-husband actor Steve Bisley in happier days ,was in the Downing Street Centre courts today telling of how Steve allegedly pushed her head against a wall leaving a dent and that "all hell broke loose"during a domestic at their Balmain home. Bisley has been charged with assaulting Sally, which he vigorously denies. Currently starring in Sea Patrol, Bisley also appeared in the famous Mad Max films
