The only losers are Smith, Milne and Bolt

Michael Smith of 2UE, Glenn Milne of The Australian and Andrew Bolt of the Herald Sun last week all attempted to bring down Prime Minister Julia Gillard with attacks on her judgment.

But the funny thing is they are the only ones who have lost anything in this who fiasco!

Glenn Milne has been axed from the ABC’s Insiders program (which is sad cause it would have been fun to see him and David Marr go at it about the article):

Statement regarding Glenn Milne

Glenn Milne was an occasional contributor to the Insiders program. He has been informed that Insiders has decided not to offer him any further appearances on the program.

This decision is based on a range of factors, one of which included The Australian's decision to both withdraw and apologise for an inaccurate column by Mr Milne on August 29, 2011 which did not meet the newspaper's own editorial and legal standards.

Panelists are selected for inclusion in the Insiders program based on the quality of their work for their various publications and outlets. Mr Milne's column containing what The Australian called "untrue" assertions about the conduct of the Prime Minister was therefore relevant to his role as an Insiders panelist.

In the context of live television, panelists have serious editorial responsibilities, and this was the basis for the ABC's decision: we were not confident that these responsibilities would be met.

 

Now Michael Smith of 2UE has been suspended:

2UE 'absolutely' support talkback host ... but suspend him anyway

The talkback host Michael Smith has been temporarily suspended by 2UE station management after he was "slammed" by the ABC's Media Watch program last night.

…

The general manager of 2UE, Tim McDermott, said Smith was off air "temporarily" to "put a bit of caution to the wind".

He said the station supported Smith "absolutely" but thought it prudent to remove him from his show before a meeting tomorrow to discuss this issue after "we got slammed by Media Watch".

…

Media Watch host Jonathan Holmes said last night that "Smith either didn't know, or didn't care, that every allegation in it has been aired, and dealt with publicly by Julia Gillard, multiple times".

 

And Bolt nearly took his bat and ball and went home:

Column - How Gillard tried to kill a story

Andrew Bolt

Yesterday morning I was considering resigning as a News Limited columnist.

I thought this company that I love, that I have long admired for its defence of free speech, had caved in to pressure from a Prime Minister to close down reporting of a matter of public interest.

That matter was Gillard’s former relationship, professional and romantic, with union official Bruce Wilson who, unknown to her, was ripping off employers and members of the Australian Workers Union, of which he was state secretary.

 

You can watch the Media Watch program on this story here.

 

But no doubt all three will be back and attacking the Prime Minister better than ever in no time.