MAKING BOLT FULLY ACCOUNTABLE FOR EVERY WORD HE SAYS IS THE WAY TO BRING HIM DOWN

It’s not really enough to merely criticise Bolt’s racist Islamophobic ways. Nor is it enough to simply demand that Bolt be removed from the mainstream media where he abuses the right to free speech in order to peddle his hatreds and fear-mongering paranoia on a daily basis.

In order to create the conditions that will lead to Bolt’s downfall, it is essential that criticism of Bolt be accompanied by clear and concise argument that rebuts and lays bear his every claim exposing him for the propagandist that he is.

This in itself is a difficult task for various reasons, not least of which is the fact that Bolt’s commentary at his blog and his TV stint on a full-time and full-pay basis allows him to be relentless in his peddling of hate and fear. Because of this, it would require an army of people to counter every word he said or wrote.

However, Bolt does have his weaknesses; he’s repetitive and he’s predictable. He also hates being tied up with legal suits or even being threatened with legal suits. It’s a case of once bitten, twice shy. It also costs Murdoch a lot of money in lawyer’s fees. This means he has to think carefully about what he writes and often needs to run stuff past his newspapers legal people before he publishes some material. He’s even been barred from moderating his own blog because of fear of legal action.

So, how does one set about taking Bolt down? The best way which avoids any claims that he is being deprived of his freedom of speech is to make him accountable for what he says by proving and demonstrating that his rants are based on nothing other than racial prejudice and paranoid hatreds; in short, proving beyond doubt that he is, despite his denials, nothing other than a hate-filled racist.

One way to make him accountable is to make the fullest use of the Australian Press Council. To challenge Bolt directly via email or even via his blog will get you nowhere; he’ll ignore it if you email him or simply not publish your comments at his blog. A complaint to the APC, however, is something neither he nor his publishers can ignore. The complaint, though, has to be legitimate. One needs to show clearly some deliberately misleading fault or clear lie in his journalism. The process is also very time consuming.

A far better way of making Bolt accountable for what he says is via the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and so on. Folk should be encouraged to write their criticisms of Bolt but include in that criticism a debunking of what he says and, importantly, provide irrefutable evidence that supports ones debunking argument.

It’s not an easy task; Bolt is articulate and experience has taught him to be careful about his use of words. But, in the end, the only way to make Bolt accountable is to beat him at his own game and that is by creating as wide an audience as possible that will expose him for what he really is.