I make no secret of the fact

I do not particularly care for Mr Rupert Murdoch or some of his family and staff. I have to confess I have never met any of the Murdochs but I have met a number of journalists who were and are, ultimately, employed by him.
I have also met any number of politicians from the far right to the far left. Like journalists and policemen the people who most ill-suited to being politicians often are the people who become politicians. Other people simply do not want the job.
One can hardly blame them. Whatever you did you would not be able to please everyone. You would rarely be able to do what you promised because the system does not work that way. There are constraints. Even the best intentioned people find themselves frustrated by the system.
Some are cunning enough to work the system to their advantage so that they are able to achieve more than others - or ruthlessly slash their way into the top jobs. All of them will also make mistakes along the way. They will make errors of judgment. They will do things and say things they will wish they had not done or said.
Like many other people I have also been observing the media even more closely of late. Support for our Prime Minister has plumbed new depths even though the media has been restrained in its criticism. There seems to be a belief in the media that the government should be allowed to "run a full term". There have been no calls for an election even though the government is technically a minority government held together by several independents - at least two of whom went against the wishes of their electorates.
There are reasons for all this of course. First of all many journalists, although not all, tend to support the current party in power. Second, they cannot afford to be too critical because their sources of information would dry up. Third, their ultimate boss believes it is advantageous for him to have this government in power rather than the alternative. He has brought down governments before and he could do it again. Friends in the UK say Murdoch could still bring down the government there. If he is going to go he will take the government with him.
It is then doubly strange that Julia Gillard, with exceptionally low popularity ratings, should choose to question the integrity of the Australian media now - especially when it has given her a remarkably sympathetic press so far.