‘Sunrise’ Attempts To Cover Own Ass By “Apologising” For Shitty Newstart Report

Yesterday’s Sunrise debacle in which they haphazardly parroted a bunch of Government propaganda designed specifically to take some of the wind out of the sails of the growing push to raise the Newstart rate has been dragged from pillar to post since the moment it aired.

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The segment trotted out the glib and deliberately provocative claim that 78% of Newstart recipients had had their payments suspended at one point or another and were therefore “dole bludgers” who were “taking advantage” of the system, as opposed to ordinary people trying to navigate the deliberately labyrinthine who have had payments automatically cut off for a laundry list of utterly ridiculous reasons, some tenuous at best, others a flat-out illegitimate.

Presenter Natalie Barr issued apologies for the segment on Twitter throughout yesterday as the backlash against Sunrise grew, and the show began fervent attempts to scrub its presence from all its social media channels.

This morning, the show went one-step further by offering a grovelling on-air apology for the segment, claiming it was a “poor choice of words” that may have “mislead some viewers.”

The full text of the apology,

Now, a word on a story we brought you in yesterday’s news. We used the term “dole bludgers” early in the show when referring to those who’ve had their Newstart payments suspended. That may have mislead some viewers.

As we clarified in subsequent bulletins yesterday, and in our live interview with the Minister responsible, Michaelia Cash, there are many welfare recipients whose payments are suspended for reasons other than doing the wrong thing.

It was a poor choice of words and we are sorry about that.

Spectacular work all around here, dumbasses. Way to bloody go.

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