Tim Blair

Tim Blair is a conservative journalist, commentator and blogger working in Sydney, Australia. He was born and raised in Werribee, Victoria.

He began his journalism cadetship in 1988 at 23, working for the now-closed Truth newspaper in Melbourne.Blair supports the Collingwood Football Club and lives in Bondi Junction, Sydney.

In 2004, the "Sydney Morning Herald" said that "Blair, 39, is top dog among the new Australian digerati. He is an experienced, conservative political commentator who some days draws more than 20,000 readers to his website. He even earns about $800 a month from advertising." [ [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/05/1096949512606.html "Shooting for top dog in cyber town"] , Brigid Delaney, "The Sydney Morning Herald", 6 October 2004] In 2006, timblair.net polled second only to the newspaper blog "All Men Are Liars" in the 2006 Weblog Awards category of "Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog." [ [http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_australia_or_new_zealand_blog.php The 2006 Weblog Awards — Best Australia or New Zealand Blog] ]

In addition to running his blog, he is the opinion editor for the Sydney "Daily Telegraph", [ [http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/employment_news/ "Employment News"] , TimBlair.net, 20 November 2006] and writes a weekly column there. Before that, he was news editor for "The Bulletin", for which he also wrote a column.

He is a former senior editor of "Time", "Truth" and "Sports Illustrated", [ [http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/just_for_the_record/#288976 "Just for the record"] , TimBlair.net, 2 September 2007] and has also written for "Fox News". [For example: [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,48562,00.html "Sometimes Moore Is Less"] , Tim Blair, "Fox News" website, 22 March 2002] He has also appeared on 4BC and Radio National.

On January 14, 2008, Blair announced on his blog that he has abdominal cancer and will be undergoing surgery. [ [http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/a_visit_to_the_infirmary/ Tim Blair ] ]

Politics

Blair is particularly critical of Islamofascism and those he regards as climate change alarmists and hypocrites. He also regularly critiques the work of bloggers such as Margo Kingston and writers Terry Lane, Mark Lawson, Tracee Hutchison of "the Age" and Robert Fisk. Politician Al Gore and cartoonist Michael Leunig are also regular targets, as are claims that George W. Bush held up a plastic turkey during his Thanksgiving 2003 visit to Baghdad. [ [http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/turkey_roll/ "Turkey Roll"] , TimBlair.net, 31 August 2006] The turkey was in fact genuine. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E7DE113BF932A25754C0A9629C8B63 Corrections] , 11 July 2004, "The New York Times"] .

In contrast, Blair frequently quotes writers such as Mark Steyn, James Lileks and Andrew Bolt with approval.

The notion of far right and far left groups allying with extremist Islamists is sometimes called "Blair's Law" ("the ongoing process by which the world's multiple idiocies are becoming one giant, useless force" [ [http://timblair.blogspot.com/2002_05_19_archive.html#76862981 Post by Tim Blair (at an earlier blog)] , 23 May 2002] ) by conservative and libertarian bloggers. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20020816093131/http://blogsofwar.blogspot.com/2002_05_12_blogsofwar_archive.html#76576518 "Ted Rall, David Duke, Robert Fisk, Lyndon LaRouche, al-Ahram, Hitler, Noam Chomsky, Blair's Law, the Arab News, and Me"] , Frank Portman, "Blogs of War", 15 May 2002] [ [http://sixdaysmore.blogspot.com/2006/02/why-i-am-not-celebrating-todays-news.html "Why I am not Celebrating Today's News from Austria"] , Ben Ze'ev, "Six Days" blog, 21 February 2006] [ [http://eddriscoll.com/archives/009551.php "It's Not Just A Good Idea, It's Blair's Law"] , Ed Driscoll, 4 September 2006] [ [http://rwdb.blogspot.com/2006/12/idiots-of-feather.html " Idiots of a Feather..."] , J. F. Beck, "RWDB" blog, 12 December 2006]

Controversy

In 2007, "Media Watch", an Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV program which Blair has often criticised, stated that "The Daily Telegraph", other newspapers and Blair failed to censor racist comments on their websites. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1954733.htm "Have Your Spray"] , Media Watch, 18 June 2007] Blair and the "Telegraph" reported that "Media Watch" had themselves failed to censor antisemitic comments at their own website, [ [http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/prejudice_expressed/ "Prejudice Expressed"] , Tim Blair, "timblair.net", 19 June 2007] [ [http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,21959678-10388,00.html "Media Watch fails racism test"] , "The Daily Telegraph", 25 June 2007] and that their story relied on "unacknowledged assistance" [ [http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/friends_of_the_abc/ "Friends of the ABC"] , Tim Blair, "timblair.net", 25 June 2007] from "Muslim Village, [a website which] is guilty itself of publishing offensive comments". [ [http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/antoinette_helped/ "Antoinette Helped"] , Tim Blair, "timblair.net", 27 June 2007] The ABC later launched an internal inquiry into "Media Watch"'s dealings with Muslim Village. [ [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,22058577-7582,00.html "Media Watch's jihadi sources"] , Richard Kerbaj, "The Australian", 12 July 2007]

References

External links

* [http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/ Tim Blair Blog - The Daily Telegraph] (May 2008)
* [http://www.timblair.net/ Tim Blair's weblog]
* [http://www.rightwingnews.com/interviews/timblair.php/ Right Wing News - The Tim Blair Interview] (April 2002)