Why I love Channel 7 News < /sarcasm >
Alright, I just finished watching 24 (which is just getting good now that Tony and Michelle are back on) and I made the mistake of hanging around for the Channel 7 News update. I simply laughed out loud.
First story, Hurricane Katrina, about to mess shit up in the States. Usual stuff: waves overs piers, satellite images showing red blobs heading towards green blobs. And then the piece de resistance, the on-the-scene reporter. Reporting from Mobile, LA, complete with rain coat, umbrella, background wind and everything. Seriously, it just looks ridiculous. Drop the charade and go somewhere warm and dry. It just reminds me of the skit Adam played on the Daily Source Code a while back done by Pete at Rasterweb (I think?). My personal favourite part of the story? Ann Sanders signing off to the windblown reporter with the completely resonable phrase, “take it easy”.
Second story, The Model (you know, Michelle Leslie / Michelle Lee whatever) has revealed she is actually Muslim. Collective gasp. If this is the best her hotshot lawyer can come up with, she is in serious strife. Apparently, The Model, fresh from shooting swimwear and underwear ads, is now donning full head-to-toe black garb and a hijab. Just don’t let the attention-seeking backbenchers catch you in anything resembling a religion-based headscarf. Lesson here: when on drug charges in Indonesia, the best thing to do is just anything at all, as long as you stay in the news. Still, she’s higher in my esteem than the other bloke busted recently with a truck load of drugs. He (apparently) was quite happy to be arrested, as he was ‘out of smokes’ and cheerfully told family and friends that he’ll see them in a few years. Personally, I think it’s fantastic that we are offloading these Australians to Balinese prisons. It’s the Balinese I feel sorry for.
Third story, John Brogden’s resignation. This was ludicrous when the ’story’ broke and now it’s just getting stupid. Long story short: the NSW opposition leader called the Malaysian-born wife of outgoing premier Bob Carr, Helena Carr, a ‘mail-order bride’. So you can see the repulsive nature of the man already. But it gets better. At the same time, he’s also been busted having a shot at a couple of female journalists. It’s one thing to have a dip at a party, but two female journalists? Just asking for it really. I’ll just leave it with a quote from Bob Carr on Brogden: “Brogden has no character, Brogden is a featherweight mediocrity who ought to be voted out of the leadership of his party this week.” Says it all, really.
Final story, the cricket. We are currently sucking against England. And it’s the fourth biggest news story in the world.
Thank God I didn’t accidently catch Today Tonight. Current top stories? Paradoxically, they are debunking the CSIRO Diet, while road-testing meat pies. Anyone remember Frontline?
Yeah I do remember Frontline. Thats why I say at the end of most of these reports:Hmmm… Martin Di Stasio with that report!Molly “>http://mollyzine.blogspot.com
—–COMMENT:
“Lesson here: when on drug charges in Indonesia, the best thing to do is just anything at all, as long as you stay in the news.”Sorry if I’m being thick, but is this meant to be sarcastic too? Being in the news when on drug charges in Indonesia is absolutely disastrous. The best thing to do is absolutely nothing that might attract media interest. Australian Christopher Packer faced the death penalty there earlier this year for “arms smuggling”, but got the Indonesian police to drop the charges & is back here now. Packer hasn’t bothered to deny paying a bribe. He’s kept a very low profile.Christopher Currell, another Australian, was arrested in Bali in 2004, for “planning to export 70,000 ephedrine tablets, a base ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine, to Australia in 2004 as well as ephedrine tablets that had been ground into powder.Currell (get this) was found guilty of the minor charge of acting as an unlicensed pharmacist [!], and given a six month sentence. Sentence commuted to time already served.”These are only two of many, many obscure cases there have been before the Indonesian courts that show how misguided most people are about typical sentencing laws there. Because the Australian media trump up the “death by firing squad” angle, a great many people are still convinced Schapelle Corby “got off lightly” with 20 years. It’s completely untrue. Her sentence was harsh enough to shock some of the Indonesian media. “Personally, I think it’s fantastic that we are offloading these Australians to Balinese prisons. It’s the Balinese I feel sorry for.”Why? What’s your reasoning? You think Balinese people don’t take drugs too? Four other people were busted with drugs along with Michelle Leslie at that party. All of them were young Balinese guys. Don’t get me wrong. I’m no “Boycott Bali” racist (far from it), but why “feel sorry” for the Balinese for something they have in common with Australians? (A percentage of people who use illegal drugs.) They aren’t “noble savages” unlike we evil, decadent Westerners. They’re just the same as “us”. Some good, some bad, some merely stupid.
—–COMMENT:
There was definate sarcasm intended. The general point that I was trying to get across was two-fold. Firstly, that to take drugs into Bali, or obtain drugs over there is a stupid thing to do and that if there haven’t been enough high-profile cases recently to illustrate the point, then I’m questioning the capacities of those continuing to do so.Secondly, I’m criticising the media (in this case Channel 7) for the same reasons I think you responded to the post. The hype that they inject into cases like these can blow everything out of proportion. You make a good point regarding this about Currell’s sentence being quietly commuted while Corby apparently (and loudly) ‘got off lightly’. Cases like Corby’s, The Nine’s and Leslie’s offer the Balinese judicial system the opportunity to make a widely-heard statement to Australia and other countries about bringing drugs into Bali. While I would like to think that this would not influence a case, the Packer case raises the question of their dedication to the cause. Therefore, I have to agree: Having a publicised case is potentially dangerous.The ‘offloading Australians’ comment was a rather flippant reference a more Darwinian attitude. By removing people with the inability to see that drugs in Bali are a bad idea, then the average intelligence of the country must by rising. This isn’t a Bali-specific statement though, feel free to send the majority of people who watch Today Tonight for the weight-loss tips and ‘Australia’s biggest dole bludger’ stories wherever you like. I have no problem admitting this is an extremely arrogant frame of mind. I just get easily frustrated these days.And I whole-heartedly agree with your final statement. I am not necessarily pro- nor anti-Bali, but I do feel bad for the pasting their country has taken recently. They have their own issues to deal with and I think that the Australian media chasing people away by hyping stories like we have been discussing is not helping at all.In short, my issue is with Australians severly lacking common sense and those in the media who potentially do more harm than good in their chase for a controvesial story. While I do not ‘pity’ the Balinese (I am not that arrogant), I do regret the affect that these two groups have on their country.I realise sarcasm is not the best way to get a point across on the internet, but it was great to read your considered comment, thanks.
—–COMMENT:
“Secondly, I’m criticising the media (in this case Channel 7) for the same reasons I think you responded to the post. The hype that they inject into cases like these can blow everything out of proportion. You make a good point regarding this about Currell’s sentence being quietly commuted while Corby apparently (and loudly) ‘got off lightly’. Cases like Corby’s, The Nine’s and Leslie’s offer the Balinese judicial system the opportunity to make a widely-heard statement to Australia and other countries about bringing drugs into Bali. While I would like to think that this would not influence a case, the Packer case raises the question of their dedication to the cause. Therefore, I have to agree: Having a publicised case is potentially dangerous.The ‘offloading Australians’ comment was a rather flippant reference a more Darwinian attitude. By removing people with the inability to see that drugs in Bali are a bad idea, then the average intelligence of the country must by rising. This isn’t a Bali-specific statement though, feel free to send the majority of people who watch Today Tonight for the weight-loss tips and ‘Australia’s biggest dole bludger’ stories wherever you like. I have no problem admitting this is an extremely arrogant frame of mind. I just get easily frustrated these days.And I whole-heartedly agree with your final statement. I am not necessarily pro- nor anti-Bali, but I do feel bad for the pasting their country has taken recently. They have their own issues to deal with and I think that the Australian media chasing people away by hyping stories like we have been discussing is not helping at all.In short, my issue is with Australians severly lacking common sense and those in the media who potentially do more harm than good in their chase for a controvesial story. While I do not ‘pity’ the Balinese (I am not that arrogant), I do regret the affect that these two groups have on their country.I realise sarcasm is not the best way to get a point across on the internet, but it was great to read your considered comment, thanks.”Thank you. I want to apologize for leaving you that strident, humourless comment in the first place. It embarrasses me now, having reread what you wrote. I really appreciate your kind of flippant/glib “take” on Australians-in-trouble-in-Bali according-to-the-media-gaze.I think I understand the spirit in which you were writing and I found what you wrote very witty and funny, in a nice subtle, understated kind of way too. Mwah.
—–COMMENT:
No need to apologise at all. It’s always nice to read and talk about issues like these. I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment. By the way, do you keep your own blog or site at all?