Prize-winning reporter, writer, broadcaster. Host of ABC’s Media Watch. This is a personal account, opinions mine etc. Tips: lintonbesser@protonmail.com

Joined September 2011
52 Photos and videos
Linton Besser retweeted
A woman calls into the Persian Manoto News program, saying she is the daughter of a senior commander inside Iran. Very disturbing conversation.
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RT @ABCmediawatch: A tourism reporter has been showcasing the whale watching industry on Seven News, but who’s paying for the splash? #Med…
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Linton Besser retweeted
Replying to @MarkUrban01
The Field Marshal was a board member of my company @RivadaNetworks for about 17 years. There was one particular board meeting he attended where he had just got back from a visit to special forces in Afghanistan in his regimental colonel role. Whilst on his visit an emergency raid was called, the Americans had located a very big wig target in a compound and the unit Charles was visiting got the mission. The troops asked ‘Sir’ if he would like to join the raid, and of course he did so eagerly. Kit on, into the chopper. Job got done. He was in his seventies! One thing he hated was parachuting. 798 jumps. He said he was absolutely terrified on every one but had to pretend he loved it so as not to worry his men. My favourite of his extra curricular missions during his time on our board was one involving the pinching of General De Gaulle’s flag from a place it had been (in Charle’s view) unfairly held in London and returning it to the President of France in Élysée Palace. It deserves its own movie, it would be brilliant.
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Linton Besser retweeted
Disappointing but unsurprising in an increasingly secretive Australia. Think many increasingly view FOI as a waste of time… Of course, the opacity continues elsewhere 🧵 abc.net.au/news/2025-09-02/l…
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Strata industry peak body in NSW announces support for the scrapping of insurance commissions in the wake of @4corners @abcnews Strata Trap investigation of last year: abc.net.au/news/2024-09-09/t…
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Linton Besser retweeted
22 Aug 2025
Trump on FBI raiding Bolton's house: "I could know about it. I could be the one starting it. I'm actually the chief law enforcement officer."
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Linton Besser retweeted
The FBI is searching the house of John Bolton just days after he angered Trump by criticizing his handling of Russia. Trump during his campaign vowed "retribution" against his critics and Kash Patel included Bolton on his list of "deep state" figures. nytimes.com/live/2025/08/22/…
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This is most excellent from Gittins
How the lobbying industry works to stuff up our economy bit.ly/4ohU44M #ausecon #ausbiz #auspol
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Linton Besser retweeted
The most corrupt White House in history: This is an account of what people are paying, directly to a PAC called MAGA Inc, in order to meet the president, get pardons, change policy nytimes.com/2025/08/02/us/po…
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Linton Besser retweeted
"Why was the flight delayed for an hour?" "The pilot saw a problem with one of the engines, but it's okay now." "Wow, you've replaced an engine in an hour?" "No, we've replaced the pilot" (An old Soviet joke... Congrats, America)
The President sees a bad jobs report, and responds by getting rid of the person in charge of the statistics. This is how America becomes a third-rate country.
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Linton Besser retweeted
In our new investigation into Russia's use of children for their military drone program, crucial evidence came from @tashurkevich's undercover phone calls. Here are some of the most striking confessions she extracted.
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Linton Besser retweeted
I pay tribute to the life and legacy of a wonderful Australian, Peter Ryan. This is a devastating loss for Australian journalism and economics. So many of the decisions taken around boardroom tables and cabinet tables were shaped and influenced by Peter’s authoritative voice first thing each morning. He had an unrivalled talent for drawing out the vital elements of each day’s economic news, a remarkable ability to separate the consequential from the trivial. On busy days when you didn’t have time to pore over pages and pages of economic analysis, you knew that a few minutes of Peter would be decent start. We will miss him, we mourn him, and our hearts go out to his loved ones and many admirers.
20 Jul 2025
A look back at the life of Peter Ryan and his career as an award-winning journalist. ab.co/3UtsCTP
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Linton Besser retweeted
Sri Lanka’s multimillion-dollar loan to buy dairy cows from Australia in a failed bid to boost local milk production was borrowed from a Dutch bank now at the centre of a money laundering investigation. #SriLanka #Australia #TheNetherlands sundaytimes.lk/250615/news/h…
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Linton Besser retweeted
After 16 years, The Project winds up at the end of the month. 11 Logies, one Walkley, 4,500 episodes. Many laughs. Good luck to all my colleagues who have made the show what it was (and is, until June 27) 🙏🏻
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Linton Besser retweeted
3 Jun 2025
Hundreds of pages of secret documents leaked to the ABC provide a rare glimpse into how human censors and AI erase references to the Beijing's violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1989. ab.co/45BFQ7W
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Linton Besser retweeted
The challenge for any journalist who accepts such a gift is to not trade it in for their professional obligation to ask the tough questions, canvas inconvenient facts and indeed to bite the hand that feeds them. #MediaWatch
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Linton Besser retweeted
2GB fluffs up a scandal about children dressing up as animals. But are there any facts to substantiate the furore? #MediaWatch
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Can you imagine the AFP Commissioner or the Secretary of Home Affairs posting something like this? What has happened to America?
Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick for FBI Director, shared an AI-generated video of himself chainsawing Members of Congress, political opponents, and media outlets. Dangerous and disqualified.
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Linton Besser retweeted
this is interesting because ICE and so on are visibly morphing into the apparell of extra-legal "security services" the world over
HAPPENING NOW: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was just taken into custody while protesting outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention center
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