Churches accused of influencing 'Idol'
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Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:51:14 GMT |
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SYDNEY, Oct. 9 Controversy is brewing over claims Assemblies of God church groups are influencing the results on "Australian Idol."
The Daily Telegraph's "Australian Idol" blog has been a forum for the debate about the impact block voting has had on contestants Matt Corby, Tarisai Vushe, Ben McKenzie and Daniel Misfud -- all allegedly members of Assembly of God pentecostal church groups.
Non-member Jacob Butler was voted off the singing competition show Monday night.
The Australian current affairs show "Today Tonight" has aired a two-part series about the way AOG church Hillsong allegedly has been pressuring members to vote for finalists who are AOG church members.
The expose also dealt with allegations Hillsong has been stacking auditions with members, the British newspaper said.
"There's been a lot of talk this week about our top eight and what they chose to believe," Monday night's edition of "Australian Idol" host Andrew G said. "Using the latest investigative journalist research methods available to me, guys, can I have a show of hands. How many of you here are members of Hillsong?"
Although nobody raised a hand, critics argue the question was misleading because it mentioned only Hillsong and no other AOG churches. Copyright 2007 by UPI
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Rigged? Or was this suggestion of rigging what caused the problem?
By:
Adrian ,
Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:41:51 GMT
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I don't believe for a moment that a church could sufficiently influence the entire nation to vote in one way. Where is the evidence? Where are the newsletters that they sent out ordering people to vote? Or even saying to people "Hey, Matt Corby (et al) are members of our church"? Seriously, it didn't happen. Not only didn't it happen, but yet again Today Tonight got it wrong. They aren't all members of Hillsong Church, or even Assemblies of God as a whole. Tarisai and Matt are, but that's it.
And this raises a few questions.
Before this Today Tonight story, Tarisai and Matt were the favourites to win the competition. As of writing this, Tarisai has just been eliminated in 5th place, while Matt will probably be eliminated next week. Not only has this favouritism changed, but Tarisai was booted off in a week in which she received more publicity than any other member (a lot of negative, but far more positive than negative). How can someone who had 5 times as many messages of support for her than any others, and more than twice as many as the other 4 combined be voted off? That's just absurd. To suggest that it is actually based on SMS votes is stupid. Its not if Tarisai Vuche was voted off this week.
And if we look at who has been voted off since the Hillsong rumours broke, we have nothing but members of Hillsong church.
- Mark
- Ben (highly controversial)
- Daniel
- Tarisai (ridiculously controversial)
Of course, some sources suggest that Matt isn't really a member, hence he has been kept for 4th place. And Marty is the next after that, for 3rd place.
1 is a coincidence, 2 in a row is more than a coincidence. 4 in a row is a conspiracy.
How many members of the public cared enough to change their voting? None really. But how many people on Australian Idol wanted so desperately to keep the illusion of being fair that they decided to get rid of everyone with any association with Hillsong?
Its disgusting really that a talent like Tarisai could be taken off not because of anything she did wrong but because of a church that she belongs to, or is suspected of belonging to.
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Hillsong/Australian Idol
By:
A Dickinson ,
Sun, 14 Oct 2007 22:58:12 GMT
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Is it too hard to admit/surmise that perhaps the finalists all got there because they each have talent??? How many weeks of judging and elimination have they each got through??? Come on, stop the witch hunt-these performers have TALENT who cares where they 'church' or not...ONYA Aussie talent-keep performing!!!!
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Voting on Reality television shows
By:
anthony scott ,
Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:38:03 GMT
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The entire system of ringing up to vote for your favourite star is rigged & they know it is as well.
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hillsong
By:
rachel ,
Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:59:52 GMT
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today the 10th of october i watched on channel 7 sunrise which were encouraging people to vote for mark who is competing on dancing with the stars now i have heard nothing from the media.
all i can say is that you are being really hypocritical that you jump on christians and not them
i believe there is something wrong with the way you guys the media work
now im 14 years old born again christian and am absolutely fed up with this stupid thing so all i can say to all you media is that " Build a bridge and walk over it"
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