Tim Blair
Tim Blair (born 1965) is the Associate Editor (Opinion) of the Daily Telegraph newspaper[1], a conservative journalist, commentator and blogger working in Sydney, Australia.
Blair began his journalism cadetship in 1988 at 23, working for the now-closed Truth newspaper in Melbourne. In 2004, the Sydney Morning Herald said that "Blair, 39, is top dog among the new Australian digerati. He is an experienced, conservative political commentator who some days draws more than 20,000 readers to his website. He even earns about $800 a month from advertising."[2] In 2006, timblair.net polled second only to the newspaper blog All Men Are Liars in the 2006 Weblog Awards category of "Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog."[3]
In addition to running his blog, he is the opinion editor for the Sydney Daily Telegraph,[4] and writes a weekly column there. Before that, he was news editor for The Bulletin, for which he also wrote a column.
He is a former senior editor of Time, Truth and Sports Illustrated,[5] and has also written for Fox News.[6] He has also appeared on 4BC and Radio National.
Contents |
[edit] Personal life
Blair was born and raised in Werribee, Victoria. He supports the Collingwood Football Club and lives in Bondi Junction, Sydney.
In January 2008, Blair announced on his blog that he had abdominal cancer[7] and wrote about his impending surgery (and encouragement from Tony Snow) in a newspaper column.[8] The surgery successfully removed the tumor[9] which had not spread.[7]
[edit] Politics
Blair is particularly critical of what he calls Islamofascism and those he regards as climate change alarmists and hypocrites. He also regularly critiques the work of bloggers such as Margo Kingston and writers Terry Lane, Mark Lawson, Tracee Hutchison of the Age and Robert Fisk. Politician Al Gore and cartoonist Michael Leunig are also regular targets. In contrast, Blair frequently quotes writers such as Mark Steyn, James Lileks and Andrew Bolt with approval.
Starting a few days after George W. Bush's visit to Baghdad during Thanksgiving 2003, Blair has documented and debunked claims that a roast turkey Bush was photographed holding up was plastic.[10][11][12][13] The roast turkey was real.[14]
The phenomenon of far right and far left groups allying with extremist Islamists is called "Blair's Law [sic]" ("the ongoing process by which the world's multiple idiocies are becoming one giant, useless force"[15]) by conservative and libertarian bloggers.[16][17][18][19]
[edit] Controversy
As an outspoken columnist and blogger, Blair is frequently criticised by political opponents.
In 2007, Media Watch, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV program which Blair has often criticised, stated that The Daily Telegraph, other newspapers and Blair failed to censor racist comments on their websites.[20] Blair and the Telegraph reported that Media Watch had themselves failed to censor antisemitic comments at their own website,[21][22] and that their story relied on "unacknowledged assistance"[23] from "Muslim Village, [a website which] is guilty itself of publishing offensive comments".[24] The ABC later launched an internal inquiry into Media Watch's dealings with Muslim Village.[25]
In March 2009, Crikey, an online media site, alleged that Blair "comments under a pseudonym on his blog and various other blogs" and was "unprofessional in his conduct as a journalist".[26] Crikey issued a partial retraction a few days later. In April 2010, Crikey fully retracted their report and apologised,[26] after Blair commenced legal action.[27] Blair subsequently accepted a confidental settlement.[28] This legal action drew claims of hypocrisy, with Blair once claiming that "journalists suing journalists" was "graceless and weird".[29]
Later in 2010, Crikey retracted and apologized for an "offensive and indefensible" statement about Blair and Andrew Bolt.[30]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Movements at the Tele". Daily Telegraph. http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mediadiary/index.php/theaustralian/comments/movements_at_the_tele/. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ "Shooting for top dog in cyber town", Brigid Delaney, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 October 2004
- ^ The 2006 Weblog Awards — Best Australia or New Zealand Blog
- ^ "Employment News", TimBlair.net, 20 November 2006
- ^ "Just for the record", TimBlair.net, 2 September 2007
- ^ For example: "Sometimes Moore Is Less", Tim Blair, Fox News website, 22 March 2002
- ^ a b Tim Blair (14 January 2008). "A Visit to the Infirmary". TimBlair.net. http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/a_visit_to_the_infirmary/.
- ^ Tim Blair (19 January 2008). "Grit your teeth and grab that devil by the throat". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/grabbing-devil-by-the-throat/story-e6frezz0-1111115349877.
- ^ Tim Blair (5 February 2008). "Recovery Update". TimBlair.net. http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/recovery_update/.
- ^ Tim Blair (7 December 2003). "The Guardian's Plastic Turkey". TimBlair.Spleenville.com. http://timblair.spleenville.com/archives/005278.php.
- ^ Tim Blair (31 August 2006). "Turkey Roll". TimBlair.net. http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/turkey_roll/.
- ^ Tim Blair (17 March 2007). "Rudd and the turkey role". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/rudd-and-the-turkey-role/story-e6frezz0-1111113168235.
- ^ Tim Blair (blog post) (11 May 2011). "As We All Know". The Daily Telegraph. http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/as_we_all_know/.
- ^ "Corrections". The New York Times. 11 July 2004. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E7DE113BF932A25754C0A9629C8B63.
- ^ Post by Tim Blair (at an earlier blog), 23 May 2002
- ^ "Ted Rall, David Duke, Robert Fisk, Lyndon LaRouche, al-Ahram, Hitler, Noam Chomsky, Blair's Law, the Arab News, and Me", Frank Portman, Blogs of War, 15 May 2002
- ^ "Why I am not Celebrating Today's News from Austria", Ben Ze'ev, Six Days blog, 21 February 2006
- ^ "It's Not Just A Good Idea, It's Blair's Law", Ed Driscoll, 4 September 2006
- ^ "Idiots of a Feather...", J. F. Beck, RWDB blog, 12 December 2006
- ^ "Have Your Spray", Media Watch, 18 June 2007
- ^ "Prejudice Expressed", Tim Blair, timblair.net, 19 June 2007
- ^ "Media Watch fails racism test", The Daily Telegraph, 25 June 2007
- ^ "Friends of the ABC", Tim Blair, timblair.net, 25 June 2007
- ^ "Antoinette Helped", Tim Blair, timblair.net, 27 June 2007
- ^ "Media Watch's jihadi sources", Richard Kerbaj, The Australian, 12 July 2007
- ^ a b "Crikey Apologises to Tim Blair". Crikey. 12 April 2010. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2010/04/12/crikey-apologises-to-tim-blair/.
- ^ Tim Blair (2 March 2009). "Journalism in the Age of Crikey". Daily Telegraph blogs. http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/journalism_in_the_age_of_crikey/.
- ^ Sean Nicholls and Leesha McKenny (13 April 2010). "Blair bitch project". Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/mr-john-keeps-his-reputation-20100413-s59m.html.
- ^ "Blogger's weird decision to sue" Sydney Morning Herald, 1 April 2010
- ^ Tim Blair (28 August 2010). "Crikey Regrets". Daily Telegraph blogs. http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/crikey_regrets/.
[edit] External links
- Tim Blair Blog - The Daily Telegraph (May 2008)
- Tim Blair's weblog - archive only since move to Daily Telegraph Site
- Right Wing News - The Tim Blair Interview (April 2002)
