Asher Moses zionist tabloid journalist for SMH

August 1st, 2014

Awake Goy

The Asher Moses debacle
Mike Arrington seems to be accreting enemies like barnacles on an oil tanker. The latest stoush involves Asher Moses (his blog appears to be down, though the Google cache isn’t), journalist for the Fairfax newspapers (Sydney Morning Herald and The Age).

The last two weeks has brough a fresh wave of TechCrunch hate. I’ve learned to avoid responding to this stuff in the past because it just draws more attention to it, but tonight a reporter from the Syndey Morning Herald named Asher Moses emailed me and said “First off, great site – i’m a regular reader of yours.” He then went on to say he’s working on a story about the “disclosure scrubbed at techcrunch debacle.”I took issue with his use of the term “debacle” before actually speaking to me – this tells me everything I need to know about this particular reporters slant on this “story,” and basically told him to fuck off. And while I’m not surprised that someone is looking to do a hit job on TechCrunch, I am surprised that traditional media is starting to see TechCrunch as newsworthy enough to attack. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.The first lesson to learn here is that if you want to act like a journalist when you talk to Mike Arrington – or any source for a story, for that matter – it is best that you do your homework on the type of language you should use.
Journalists are treated with apprehension at the best of times, as most people who have had any previous contact are highly aware that a wrong word by them could result in adverse publicity. This is especially true when you’re cold-calling a source, who doesn’t know you from Adam and thus doesn’t know about your own level of professionalism and history of ethical conduct (or otherwise).I don’t blame Mike for treating journalists like heavy ordnance, because he knows all too well that little red glowing dots are being painted all over his head and torso by snipers in the MSM who would love to bag him for their trophy cabinet. Asher should know that, being a reader of TechCrunch, and his first strategy should have been to spend time disarming Mike. Just giving a glib bit of praise wasn’t going to cut it. Asher’s language got him in trouble.As for why the MSM are attacking Mike and TechCrunch, that is obvious to me, at least in the context of the tech media. First, TechCrunch is a direct competitor to tech media such as the technology sections of the Fairfax newspapers, which have been sickly at best since the last boom. If there is to be a new boom, then TechCrunch and its imitators are the media vehicles that will dominate new ad campaign budgets. Second, the TechCrunch model is an attack on tech journalism itself. Its writers are not arts degree holders or J-school graduates, they have MBAs and computer science backgrounds. They’re startup CEOs, not journalists, who see writing not as a singular full-time profession but as a tool that is only one part of their personal arsenal of weapons to Get Shit Done. Third, Mike is beating them. He’s getting the scoops that previously bolstered the circulation and/or page views of CNET, Computerworld and PC Magazine.All of this leads to a situation of mutual distrust that is bound to spill over into spats like this. Mike is perfectly reasonable if you treat him with respect. He doesn’t owe journalists anything, and if they want to get anything out of him then they have to realise who they’re dealing with.UPDATE: Along with all of the other kerfuffle in the blogosphere,

Herald journalists did themselves no favours by continuing to display arrogance in their responses. David Higgins left a highly condescending comment on Crunchnotes lecturing on how Mike must adopt formalised ethics and kowtow to journalistic institutions in order to join David’s exclusive club of collegial old boys. Also, Stephen Hutcheon of the SMH’s Mashup blog posted a petulant piece which characterised the post you are reading as an “uninformed rant”. Hey, my rants are all informed! Hutcheon saw fit to publish a private email from Arrington to Moses… does that break clause 3 of the MEAA Code of Ethics about respecting confidences in all circumstances? Funny how the only supporting article that Stephen could find was at another MSM source. Not that there weren’t more anti-Mike articles out there, but the Fairfax lads haven’t shown any inclination to engage with bloggers at any level above paternalism. The more they talk, the higher they hoist their petard.
posted by Paul Montgomery 7:58 PM

4 Comments:
Phillip Molly Malone said…
Hmmmm… Makes me think of Bad whether and tea this story (i.e. put the bad whether in the cup for the tea). Why does Mike get to bag the ass out of people when it suites him but when questioned, he goes crying to mummy? If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen! And he complains about PayPerPost advertisers have the option to only accept positive articles! Maybe Mike should take another Mike’s advice and start by looking at the man in the mirror!JMTC (if I am allowed to have my own opinion by Mike)Molly
7:05 AM, November 02, 2006
Asher Moses said…
Don’t fret Paul; i’m sure Mike will get around to covering your startup eventually. No need to try so hard.
8:25 AM, November 04, 2006
Paul Montgomery said…
Heh, he covered it even before I was ready, and I’m still not ready. Thanks for the advice though, Asher.
12:35 PM, November 04, 2006
Rogers said…
Arrington’s persecution complex doesn’t help his credibility. He built his name on adoring press calling him a Web 2.0 kingmaker. It was inevitable that the press would eventually get around to dethroning him.

alias Asher Moses calls Aussie women sluts

http://hoydenabouttown.com/20090514.4924/asher-moses-calls-woman-slutty-groupy-on-twitter-twitter-explodes/

Last night, SMH reporter Asher Moses was twittering about the Johns/rugby ‘gang bang’ business.

Moses twitters under his own name, with “Technology Reporter, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age” in his bio. He wrote to the world:

“So Matthew Johns’ career is over because a slutty groupy had consensual group sex with him and his teammates 7 yrs ago and now regrets it?”

Because Asher Moses’ remarks have been deleted from his twitter timeline by him, but are still there (perhaps temporarily) on a twitter search, here’s a screenshot. (Read from bottom to top.)
[For those not familiar with the medium, the first name on the line is the author; any name preceded by @ is a reply to the person of that name.]

Immediate responses varied, but included:

JeanBurgess: @Mosesmoses are you serious?

plasmaegg: @Mosesmoses not sure whose worse – John’s who people like you who think its ok

babycakesjase: @Mosesmoses So how much agency does a single19 year old girl have surrounded by a bunch of footy players?

Me9_normalMoses_normalJen_Bennett: @Mosesmoses I think you might be about to get your derrier kicked on twitter.

Moses furiously tried to defend his remarks before deleting them:

Mosesmoses: @plasmaegg @jeanburgess According to Johns (and I guess the cops who cleared), the woman raised no objections and was actually instigating..
But wasn’t getting far:

trackta: fuck off Mosesmoses

glittertrash: @Mosesmoses: Fuck, dude, could you please not refer to a woman at the centre of a story of arguable/blurred consent as a ’slutty groupy’?

Then there were those who supported him:

StuartLivesey: @Mosesmoses watch it mate – the bloodhounds are out there baying for blood and they don’t care about the truth

He tried again:

Mosesmoses: Maybe i’m being overly sympathetic to Johns after watching him on ACA. But still, he didn’t do anything illegal. Immoral? Opinions vary..

But still wasn’t getting far:

_gnosis: SMH need to train their technology reporter in how to use social media http://twitter.com/Mosesmoses/status/1782753262
(note that that url now leads to a chirpy “This page doesn’t exist!” error message)
plasmaegg: @Mosesmoses of course they are going to say that… WTF did you expect them to say – yeah we gang banged her against her will?

Moses tried a bit of PPQ:

Mosesmoses: @glittertrash How is it blurred?
Blokes stepped in to be the Balanced Voices of Reason and/or Denial:
bigyahu: @Mosesmoses his career’s not over. He’s been sacked by a network that cares about what its female middle class audience thinks.

bengrubb: @Mosesmoses The issue remains as to whether it was consensual. I didn’t watch ACA, so don’t know whether he said otherwise.

purserj: @Mosesmoses: It’s ACA, has as much to do with journalism as Today Tonight
JoelyRighteous: @Mosesmoses I have minimal exposure to this debate but if it WAS concensual why is it an issue at all? If people want to gangbang go for it.

Scar68: @Mosesmoses It was very well stage managed but I agree. Also why is he the only one being keel hauled.

Another bloke threw in a pointed question:

benmckelvey: @Mosesmoses So, is this the official SMH line?

Moses kept trying to engage:

Mosesmoses: @glittertrash People make their own decisions and have to live with them…if the cops charged Johns with rape I wouldn’t have this opinion

But the crowd were having nothing of it:

glittertrash: @Mosesmoses: Cops haven’t laid charges, so she’s a ’slutty groupy’? Nice.
JeanBurgess: RT @glittertrash @Mosesmoses: Why is the terminology ’slutty groupy’ NOT a fucking juvenile attack on an already distraught woman?
johnkung: @Mosesmoses One can only hope that your career, such as it is, will be over with that comment.

Moses shrugged:

Mosesmoses: I just think Johns is being crucified when cops haven’t charged him with anything. Morally, I think he was in the wrong..

Flying monkeys flapped around:

PeakingLegoman: @Mosesmoses tks for saying that. I watched ACA and Johns was not lying. Absolutely was not lying. fucnk bitch needs to own her own mistakes
glittertrash and Jen_Bennett pointed out his double standard way more politely than I would have:

glittertrash: @Mosesmoses: morally in the wrong vs ’slutty groupy’. Perhaps a moment of self-examination of your own double standards, please?

Jen_Bennett: @Mosesmoses you might want to reconsider your use of “slutty groupie” since it suggests all blame on her.

Moses claimed it was just a problem of terminology, and again decided he knew perfectly well what went on that night, and it was all 100% consensual, or something vaguely along those lines anyhow (perhaps she was a big Slutty McSlutterson and deserved to get gang raped as a consequence of her “decisions”?):

Mosesmoses: @glittertrash @Jon_Bennett @christianmccrea Ok, shouldn’t have put it in those terms. But I think both made their own decisions..
And made the point that he does draw the line somewhere, women don’t actually deserve to be attacked with a broken glass (only with a penis, which they secretly all love dontcha know?):
Mosesmoses: @newsbee I completely agree. Greg Bird glassing his girlfriend? That is disgusting. I’m definitely not defending that kind of behaviour.
Then, marykozlovski noticed that Moses had deleted his “slutty groupy” tweet:
marykozlovski: @Mosesmoses Why tweet this (http://bit.ly/A6AZ (expand) ) then delete it?
And Moses again claimed it was all about his simple lack of mad dictionary skillz:
Mosesmoses: @marykozlovski regretted the choice of words but I still think johns is being unfairly treated..

Pressed on the issue:

marykozlovski: @Mosesmoses Why should you be able to retract comments, when you wouldn’t allow people the similar privilege in SMH?
Moses’s only response?

Mosesmoses: @marykozlovski @jeanburgess Twitter isn’t SMH.
Screenshot of that last exchange, in case it doesn’t last online:

Follow further developments here at a search for ashermoses on Twitter.
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This article was written by lauredhel
Lauredhel is a forty-something woman with a disability. She lives in her Western Australian family home where books, Lego, and soapmaking gear constantly compete for space. She blogs about feminism, reproductive justice, freedom from violence, the use and misuse of language, medical science, being disabled, her vegetable garden, and whatever else pops into her head. Lauredhel also blogs at FWD/Forward (feminists with disabilities), scribbles at her personal dreamwidth journal Selective and Arbitrary, and co-moderates Hollaback Australia. She joined Hoyden About Town in 2007.
lauredhel has written 1331 posts for Hoyden About Town. If you liked this post, you might like to subscribe to the feed via RSS or EMAIL to get instantly updated for more posts like this.
{ 23 comments }
1 fuckpoliteness May 14, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Nice work documenting this!
2 Liam May 14, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Why should you be able to retract comments, when you wouldn’t allow people the similar privilege in SMH?
Classic.
3 Mindy May 14, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Epic fail Asher Moses.
4 Jet May 14, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Good on Twitterdom for calling him on it, and excellent documenting, Lauredhel.
5 feminamist May 14, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Nice catch! Don’t suppose Moses will be joining Johns in saying “Sorreh”, as in “Sorreh I’m guilty of absolute stupidity”.
6 Linda Radfem May 14, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Asher Moses eh? There’s another name for the shitlist. Great to have a record of this.
7 Amanda May 14, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Crikey:http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/05/14/smh-tech-writer-snagged-in-johns-group-s-x-storm/
8 Lauredhel May 14, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Re Crikey: In which yet another large media source strips out author attributions when they mine stuff from the internet. They attribute all of the ashermoses tweets, but strip out attributions for all the others quoted. Why?
9 Amanda May 14, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Sorry, just saw your tweet about it. Weird.
Asher tweeted earlier in the week (and I have a screenshot):
“Governor General just toured the newsroom. Seems like a bit of a wank to me.”
The appears to have been deleted last night as well (maybe before though, someone only brought the deletion to my attention this morning.) Terribly juvenile is the best you can say about the content (whether he means the GG or the tour is a “wank”), but I thought then how on earth you be clueless enough (as a tech writer!) to attach that to your own professional persona.
10 skink May 14, 2009 at 6:55 pm
you may wish to round up a posse and head over to Patti Chong’s blog on WAToday, who is saying similar things about this issue.
Patti says:
“Johns is innocent. The law gives him the presumption of innocence. He is only guilty in the court of morals. But it takes two to tango and I am not fussed about what consenting adults do behind closed doors. He is only answerable to his wife and family and not to the media.
The fact that no charges were laid goes to show the Police were satisfied that there was no lack of consent.”
http://blogs.watoday.com.au/theverdict/2009/05/johns_pays_the.html?page=fullpage#comments
11 orlando May 14, 2009 at 6:59 pm
The fact that no charges were laid shows that the police weren’t confident that they could get a conviction. I’m so sick of no charges = no crime. Worse: no charges = no harm.
12 SunlessNick May 14, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Good catching Lauredhel.
13 WildlyParenthetical May 14, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I am too, Orlando. People keep raising the whole ‘the police didn’t find anything’ thing… I still remember when I was doing criminal law at uni, I spoke to a friend-of-a-friend who had become a police officer only a couple of years ago. I said something about the problem with getting the rape of sex workers even recorded at police stations, and he said ‘Well, yeah, because it’s not… I mean… they can’t… I mean… it gets really complicated with them, because you can’t really tell if…’ It was clear that if a sex worker had come in and reported a rape, it was extremely unlikely he would have done any of the paper work, let alone investigated.
In amongst thinking about the way the law works, and courts and judges and suchlike, which are all really important sites to address in battling low rape convictions, let’s not forget that police officers play a role here too, and often their attitudes about what counts as a crime reflect some pretty conservative, heteronormative and misogynist values. No charges can mean an enormous variety of things. I’d also be interested to know what rape law in NZ was like at the time (given that it’s a fairly recent change in NSW law that puts the onus of proof on the defendant (i.e., he has to prove consent) and no longer suggests that ‘if he thought she was consenting, there’s no crime’). It wouldn’t surprise me if part of the reason no charges were laid was because of problems with the law…
14 Cat May 14, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I don’t know if it was this site, or over at LP, but there’s a shocking statistic that no footballer from any code has actually been convicted of rape in 29 years.
If it’s true, I really wish it were reported more. It would shut a lot of people up in the “no charge = no crime” quarter.
15 fuckpoliteness May 14, 2009 at 9:47 pm
That *is* fucking infuriating Orlando and WP. I wish I had my Crim Law text to hand, the stats on the number of rape complaints that get dismissed in the first instance by police is staggering.
16 Lauredhel May 15, 2009 at 4:17 am
Andrew Crook’s Crikey article cheeses me off more every time I look at it.
Apart from the characterisation of a few really quite politely worded responses to Moses’ misogyny as “the Ten Plagues”, and calling this a “group sex storm”- it’s the passive construction of what’s gone on in this particular incident that’s getting to me. The headline claims that Asher Moses was just “snagged” in it. Oops! What bad luck for him, eh?
It’s up there with “Oh, well, that was unfortunate wording.”
Dudes, don’t shove your balls in my face, then turn around and tell me it was the scrotum fairies.
17 tigtog May 15, 2009 at 5:29 am
@ Lauredhel:
Dudes, don’t shove your balls in my face, then turn around and tell me it was the scrotum fairies.
That sound? A thousand clicks as that sentence is cut ‘n’ pasted into quote files.
18 Jet May 15, 2009 at 9:39 am
*falls over laughing at the scrotum fairies*
I liked one a friend used a while ago, “Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining,” but I think yours is a keeper.
Thanks, I needed that.
Jet’s last blog post..Stop it. Just stop it.
19 Helo May 15, 2009 at 11:48 am
Nice job getting this – for all the crap journalists on this issue there has been some good ones that have stood up – snaps to Rebbecca Wilson, Caroline Wilson (The Age), Sarah Ferguson (4 Corners) and Jacquelin Magnay (SMH?) and yay to Tracy Grimshaw for finally being a journalist!
20 Lauredhel May 15, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Turns out there’s a google hit for people who think “Scrotum Fairies” would be a great band name. And there I thought it was original.
21 Lauredhel May 17, 2009 at 12:09 pm
*blanch*
That foul Margie McDonald article from Fox Sports has also been published in The Australian. The one that equates going to a hotel room with a footballer with robbery, and rape by footballers with correctional police action. The one that says we should be teaching young girls at home and at school that if they enter a private space with a footballer, whatever happens next is their own damn fault, and that anything that’s done to them after that is not a crime.
Pure Poison has an excellent response.
22 orlando May 17, 2009 at 2:30 pm
You’d think that the last thing footballers would want would be for all the women to suddenly go “sorry, can’t shag you because I don’t fancy the whole team”.
23 orlando May 17, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I haven’t come accross Pure Poison before. Thanks for the pointer, it’s great.

alias Asher Moses muslim views on SMH

http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/05/14/smh-tech-writer-snagged-in-johns-group-s-x-storm/

You’d think a technology reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper would be aware of the perils of airing his private views on very public internet forums.

Apparently not. Sydney Morning Herald geek-in-residence Asher Moses found himself in deep trouble last night after he broadcasted his take on the Matthew Johns “group sex” scandal via social networking site Twitter.

At around 7pm, Moses, having just witnessed Johns’ squirm-inducing 22-minute interview with Tracy Grimshaw on A Current Affair, posted his considered assessment of ‘Clare’, the then 19-year-old at the centre of the controversy that looks to have ended Johns’ media career.

ashermoses: So Matthew Johns’ career is over because a slutty groupy [sic] had consensual group sex with him and his teammates 7 yrs ago and now regrets it?

The offending tweet was quickly retweeted by several of Moses’ 796 followers, who rather than acquiescing silently, unleashed the online equivalent of the Ten Plagues:

@ashermoses Sooo … you think that apart from doing something morally wrong, you think he … didn’t do anything wrong? Right. Of course.

@ashermoses You’re right! What with a journalist NOW calling her a ‘slutty groupy’, why wouldn’t cops believe an entire NRL rugby team?

@ashermoses How’s this for an opinion — you don’t think its a problem for a group of people to coerce another person into s-x.

@ashermoses is ‘one of those types’. Always a bit sad to lose another one.

But instead of standing by his comment, Moses quickly deleted it, possibly unaware that in the Twittersphere, the digital imprint is permanent.

He then went on the defensive:
ashermoses: I regretted the choice of words but I still think johns is being unfairly treated.
ashermoses: Ok, shouldn’t have put it in those terms. But I think both made their own decisions.
ashermoses: I just think Johns is being crucified when cops haven’t charged him with anything. Morally, I think he was in the wrong.
On the question of rape, Moses expressed his deep seated faith in the Antipodean criminal justice system:

ashermoses: if she was coerced he would have been charged 7 yrs ago … if the cops charged Johns with rape I wouldn’t have this opinion.
After the Twitterstorm died down last night, some other Twitterers raised the question of why Moses should be able to retract his comments, when the same opportunity isn’t available to posters on either the SMH blog to which Moses contributes, or the hard copy of the paper.
To which Moses responded:

ashermoses: Twitter isn’t SMH.
Contrast that with what Moses said himself in this SMH feature written in response to the Fake Stephen Conroy scandal: “Making seemingly private comments on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter is now a sackable offence for some professions,” he wrote.
Crikey contacted Moses for comment but he didn’t respond before deadline.