Vision of a former Deputy Prime Minister lying flat out on a Canberra footpath late at night, clearly swearing profusely into his mobile and appearing for all intents and purposes to be rather drunk would be news worthy, wouldn’t one think?

Well, that was the view of the washed-up old hacks who compile Media Glass House after social media vision appeared of Barnaby Joyce on a Canberra footpath doing exactly that. Social media site X was awash with the video (snapshot below) from late yesterday of the Member for New England and federal shadow minister calling someone a dead fucking cunt as he lay in a superbly supine position on the footpath in inner-Canberra after a mid-week night function at Parliament House.

Reminded our MGH compilers of that famous episode from Yes Prime Minister when Jim Hacker had a few too many on an OS trip and was pictured in a similar position to Joyce. He thought he’d largely escaped bad publicity when his staff explained that one major UK daily had simply said the PM looked tired and emotional .. until the staff added the paper’s kicker head… AS A NEWT!

So how has our fair, balanced, objective nationally owned news source the Australian Broadcasting Corporation covered this very newsworthy story? Seeing it’s about the bloke who was once regarded as the nation’s best retail politician? A fierce family-values defender who once opposed a cervical cancer vaccine to girls because it might make them promiscuous? The much-loved local member and devout Christian family man who ran photos of his then wife and four daughters in campaign material while porking his staffer in Canberra?

As this post was being finalised for uploading, the ABC’s online news service had 31 stories teased on its home page. But nothing at all about Joyce’s spectacular fall from grace. Ditto under its “politics” and “ACT” tags.

And as we were about to go live, Media Glass House has monitored the full three hours of this morning’s ABC TV’s Weekend Breakfast program with the same result: great lead stories on people who might have too much of a B vitamin in their systems, the remake of The Dry movie, Pakistan election results, is Joe Biden losing his marbles, kids wagging school, etc, etc.

And a quick reminder: the man pictured is definitely Joyce. That is not in dispute and the ABC knows that. So no excuses there.

So we ask a simple question: who at the ABC and in its various news divisions has sent down an edict that this is not a worthy news story? Too sad? A possible very personal issue of alcohol abuse to be dealt with by Joyce and his family away from the glare of the public spotlight?

They couldn’t even run it with this sort of warning to all Australians: “The following story includes images of a leading Australian politician who may in fact be as pissed as a fart”?

Let’s face facts. Late at night, and you try to sit down on a planter box for whatever reason. You slip off it so what does any sane, sober, sensible person do? Okay, that might have already ruled out Joyce but let’s move on. You hop up, keep walking or find a more secure spot to sit down and make your call.

That Joyce preferred to lay supine on the footpath for long enough to be videoed shouting “dead fucking cunt” into his mobs is not a good look. And the MGH repeats to the ABC: it is also VERY, VERY NEWSWORTHY.

But obviously not to the ABC. Not under Ita Buttrose’s watch. Maybe it might have gotten a run if Joyce had been a Labor shadow minister?

POSTSCRIPT: Joyce’s current wife Vikki Campion has attacked those who have put the video out in the public domain and claims she’s pretty sure her husband’s dead-fucking-cunt comment would have been aimed at himself seeing he was a bit of a self-flagellator. We should perhaps all be grateful Joyce wasn’t shown doing that!

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