Barnaby Joyce Would Like You To Know He Is Definitely Not In The Albanian Mafia
Barnaby Joyce would like everyone to know that he’s
definitely not in the Albanian mafia.
You know, the classic rumour that the former deputy PM is
actually low-key running with mobsters from a small Balkan country? Oh, you
haven’t heard that one?
According to Barnaby it’s one of the classic rumours floating
around about him, only it seems he’s the only one who’s heard it before.
Before denying the non-existent rumour, Barnaby was actually
making an interesting point about the impact online platforms like Google and
Facebook have had on journalism. The Sydney Morning Herald interview took a
turn when he started talking about some of the fake news he’s been the subject
of over the years.
“A classic one which is ridiculous is that I’m in the
Albanian mafia. It’s not true,” he said.
Glad we were able to clear that up.
Interestingly enough, in 2015 a News Corp investigation
claimed that Balkan-based gangs had “entrenched infiltration” of almost every
level of Australian society.
Earlier in his interview, Barnaby was advocating for digital
platforms like Facebook and Google to employ their own journalists and produce
their own content, or get hit with a levy to fund investigative journalism.
“There has to be some investment in journalism. Otherwise
what we’re going to see is radio will survive because [it’s] hands free, TV
will go to Married at First Sight and other things, and then Netflix will
muscle them out, and papers will go broke,” he said.
“The vast majority of your advertising revenue is being
ripped off you and sent to Google and sent to Facebook and sent to Twitter and
sent to Reddit or whatever. As you slowly go broke, and you will, it
[journalism] is going to be replaced with this very noxious peripheral echo
chamber.”
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