Having just returned from England I have to say I am disgusted at Australia’s media. Not only is it one-sided; news that is 3 weeks old is being reported as new, sexism is rife and don’t get me started on the negativity and irresponsible comments being made.
Like most people I like to watch the news in the morning while having my breakfast. Recently I had to change the channel as ABC Breakfast started reporting nearly word for word what was front page news in England’s newspapers 3 weeks ago. Unfortunately I switched the channel to channel 10’s Breakfast show just in time to hear their male host call someone a “twat” for wearing a helmet while skiing. This was at 7:30am! The time when children are getting ready for school. Way to encourage kids to wear helmets guys.
I had already gotten disgusted with the Southern Cross Media Radio station the day before as they started a negativity campaign against an actress’ comment that she was still open to the idea of having children at 47. Then there is the ever present sexism issue. As I am typing this Sunrise is cutting to images of a male model to “distract” their viewers from comments made by Kochie, and being rather blatant about it.
Am I wrong in thinking that Australia’s media has gone down the tubes? What happened to the days when the news was accurate, impartial and current? When did the media decide that being negative about someone’s personal life was appropriate behaviour, let alone making disparaging comments about safety? We have already discussed the blatant sexism in media, so I will refrain from commenting about that. But Splatfriends, are you as disgusted as I am in Australia’s media? Most importantly, what can we do about it? I have already phoned channel 10 and made a complaint about their hosts inappropriate language and downright scary comments.
I’ve given up on ever thinking the media is going to worthy of my respect or that of others. The only person I like on television at the moment is Karl Stefanovic and it certainly isn’t because of his reporting ability…
Obviously it’s his suit wearing ability mixed with his teeth
My favourite is when he is roughing it and takes his jacket and tie off and rolls his sleeves up -
Dear god he is sexy!!!
I greatly dislike Karl Stefanovic. He’s an even bigger douche than Andrew O’Keeffe.
AND it is very difficult to out-douche Andrew O’Keeffe
Exactly.
Who is Andrew O’Keefe?
He is like a walking Dad joke…
I’m not exactly sure what to means, but I presume it means that he his devastatingly handsome and very funny too.
I’m assuming this because, when I use some of my best comedic material on Smoph, she makes mention of this “Dad Joke” thing too.
I loathe both of them.
I’d say i’m fairly impartial to it now, much the same as someone is impartial to a cockroach squished into ther footpath. The quality of our media will always be biased as long as they have an owner.
I’m just resigned to the fact that most news that I view on TV is essentially rubbish and designed to keep people watching past the next ad break. That’s probably why there are attractive media personalities doing the weather rather than a meteorologist (with the exception of David Brown).
Will it get any better? Probably not. I now view news to get the jist of what’s happening in the world. If I want to know more I can look at 7 different global news websites and split the difference.
Media is a business. Contraversy is good for business. Even if that contraversy is manufactured. Indeed, manufacturing of contraversy is pretty much its own industry.
I get it. I don’t like it but I understand how it happens.
Write an online headline about a prominent indivuduals poignant speech on a serious topic, and then write an online headline next to it about somebody’s wardrobe malfunction. Guess which gets more reads.
If the shift in Australian media is representative of what the majority of Australians want to see, then that makes me a sad panda.
I guess this is my point Beez, when did the “majority” shift their focus from real news to trash?
I for one, don’t know anyone who prefers the trash over the news.
I’m wondering if the media has just gone over the top on the “sex sells” attitude, which frankly is sad!
Most importantly, what can we do about it?
I think it was about the time Guttenberg invented the moveable type printing press.
You’re a sad panda because the media panders to the masses.
Hur hur hur.
Nicely put Jessmeca. I was thinking of doing a post on this but gave up because I couldn’t get out of rant mode and keep it to a reasonable length. You have summed up my feelings on the topic quite succinctly.
As for the three-week old news, I will often mention an interesting article from the SMH to my daughter and she will say “Oh, that was in XYZ weeks ago.” I don’t member the actual name of XYZ but it’s a free newspaper she picks up while travelling to work on the railway. Maybe they are just recycling it form the British newspapers etcetera (I can’t imagine a free paper has huge journalistic resources) but at least they are doing it in a timely manner.
It would be MX, which is the free commuter paper put out by News Ltd, in Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane.
It therefore has a lot of the same stories as the Herald Sun, both print & online, plus other stuff which is sometimes amusing, sometimes just plain silly, but it passes the time…
The Daily Telegraph in Sydney has a bad habit of repeating stories from MX into the next day’s paper too.
I used to read MX when my Mum worked in the city (she’d bring it home for me cos she knew I liked reading it)…I got a good chuckle from reading all the dumb things people say out loud, although it did make me despair at the collective intelligence (or lack of) in today’s society from time to time…
**** Tangent Alert **** (Although it is about a news article so it is somewhat related).
Has anyone else seen this rubbish screaming at them from the news.com.au page?
http://www.news.com.au/world/pregnancy-from-rape-rare-says-us-senate-candidate/story-fndir2ev-1226453804523
Appalled doesn’t even begin to describe my thoughts!!!!
-_-
I dont want to live on this planet any more.
I just dont.
Sorry Poppit! Was so upset by this article that I had to share it on here to get some sane responses and perspective …
No – that is completely ridiculous Belle. I was reading it earlier and wanted to scream. How is it possible that people like this are even allowed to breath!
That is atrocious.
… I feel sick.
What happened to women’s rights?
This topic is very emotional for me, I was raped, I fell pregnant and then because of physical abuse I miscarried. I have been told that I can never have children.
No-one has the right to tell me what I can and can’t do with my body!
So sorry Jess – I didn’t mean to upset you
and I am so very sad at what you have been through.
I was appalled that this was coming from a Senator …
Don’t You feel sorry Belle, you have done nothing wrong.
I am equally appalled that this comes from someone who is supposedly “educated” and should know better.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, It’s just when the people have power that it starts to get scary. This is very very scary.
I often wonder how the wives of men who make awful comments like the above feel!?
The thing that ticks me off is that yet again it is a man thinking he knows a woman’s body.
In an ideal situation, yes this is true. Pregnancy is aided by the happy things that happen in the bedroom. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen in the worst situation in the world for women.
Also Poppit, I have wondered this myself. Someone should do that interview.
I guess we have to remember that this comes from the country where education and women’s rights are something that the far right pretend to have.
Does it scare anyone else that we see thses kinds of opinions popping up everywhere? Women’s rights are slowly eroding, ones that were so-hard won.
It scares me, a lot!
But there’s so much apathy, particularly from our generation Miss J. I don’t know what to do to address it though.
I don’t know if it is genuine apathy, or a combination of lazyness and a feeling of helplessness.
Things get so scary for peoples rights in general but so many people dont know what to do about it. I’m one of them, I don’t know what I can do to try to fix this problem!
I just saw this myself – scary to hear this sort of attitude from anyone at any time, but even worse from someone seeking a high political office.
i’m really horrified to read this. To think that there are people out there like this maggott really bothers me. As for letting him back peddle, it’s just as bad, after coming out with something like that they should be made to stand by it and wear the consequences, in this case a global hate campaign is really the only thing that is applicable.
There are some places that still report news (mostly). I would watch SBS/ABC for news without too much bias. I have given up reading the Herald Sun for its disgustingly obvious right-wing agenda. The Age has its moments too.
Jessmecca, I think all newspapers are pandering, because their business model is becoming obsolete. Paywalls for the internet sites is how they are attempting to address it, but I don’t know if that is the right way to go. We will see how well that works. They are all struggling. What we can do is try and support those that do offer a range of news without huge bias. At the moment that is difficult to find, I know.
You’re right, Jess – I have come to such a state of apathy that I just don’t bother with the news anymore.
But I do have an idea about how to make it right. Watch this space!
Because I’m between contracts at the moment, I’m watching more TV than usual and at different times – and last week I caught Al Jazeera news on one of the SBS channels. Have to say, I was quite impressed by the story coverage and (what seemed) very impartial and factual coverage of world news.
I’ll definite try to watch more of it – I’ve heard that amongst journalists it has quite a good reputation too,
Totally agree – watched it when we were in India recently & it was excellent.
It’s not just Australia’s media.
It’s been going downhill for a long time. I don’t know exactly when “advocacy journalism” became a regularly used phrase over in the US, but it’s pervasive and an oxymoron.
News stories no longer contain “just the facts ma’am.” They contain a political or social slant designed to get their particular flavor politician elected or cause controversy. In fact, it’s damned near impossible to find a news story that’s news and not an op-ed piece that’s been elevated to the front page.
Over in the US if you want a progressive slant on news you watch CNN. If you want a conservative slant you watch Fox. Both will present the exact same story, but with their version of “the facts.”
It’s ridiculous
I watch very little news on the tv, nor do I read much online ‘news’, as I grew frustrated with the way stories were presented, facts were rare, and the next day you were bound to be served up the same story with different facts. Frustrating.
If I want to watch news, I will watch SBS news, as it tends to be a more global coverage, and the third story of the bulletin isn’t about how a dog lets a monkey sleep with it or some other fluff story. At least with SBS I can hear about goings on in Europe, the Middle East and Africa – areas that local news programs seem to forget exist.
I feel quite helpless to change it. As long as local/commercial news networks are owned by individuals or corporations who have their own agendas, it’s going to be this way. The only true way to express how we feel about the content being presented to us, is to switch off and stop buying. But that’s not likely to happen either, says the cynic inside me.