Although The Bug’s Media Glass House generally sticks to highlighting the many and frequent errors of our mainstream mediocre – as our tagline above shows – we do occasionally like to showcase news outlets that get the story exactly right – almost.
And so it should, seeing news really should be factual, right? And of course the MGH takes notice when that news out of Nine’s newsroom in Brissie is factually accurate … almost.
So, here’s Channel 9 Brisbane 6pm news co-presenter Andrew Lofthouse getting the news right – almost – as he opened the bulletin on Monday night.
His lead-in tease as he tag-teamed co-anchor Melissa Downes with the night’s top news items? A blunt admission from the Queensland police commissioner “…as a former cop declares we’re living in a lawless state”.
Heavens above! A LAWLESS STATE! Surely that should have been the lead yarn?
Well, it was … almost. It came after the lead story on a couple of French pastry chefs who allegedly tried to import cocaine worth more than $60 million, the latest report on the triple fatal road accident near Gympie and a bus rollover on the Sunshine Coast.
But eventually Melissa got to the “state of lawlessness” yarn that began with the Queensland police commissioner admitting that there was a small cohort of repeat young offenders who no longer feared the police or anyone else for that matter.
Reporter Tim Arvier then showed viewers a montage of some of the cars stolen in the Sunshine State over the weekend – you could almost get the impression any Queenslanders who still found their car in the garage Monday morning to be exceptionally lucky – before adding this voiceover. “….the problem according to criminologist and former detective Terry Goldsworthy is young criminals no longer fear police”.
Which is exactly what the state’s top cop said but, nevertheless, here’s Goldsworthy direct to camera: “…that just goes to some of the issues we have in terms of lawlessness, almost, up here in Queensland”.
What? Hold on! Lawlessness? Almost?
What on earth happened to Lofthouse’s assurance at the start of the bulletin that a former cop had DECLARED Queensland a lawless state? There’s a world of difference between the declared reality of something and the almostness of it.
How about you BUGgers out there. Say you’re going to be knocked down by a car while taking a walk later today? Relax! It’s a hypothetical. Would you prefer to be declared dead at the scene or found to be just almost fatally injured? There is a world of difference to you, your family and friends. One still suggests hope for the future, even though it might involve a wheelchair and plenty of house ramps.
Nevertheless, the tired, burnt out hacks who compile the MGH think they can still applaud Channel 9 Brisbane’s 6pm news for getting things right on the night – almost.
It can’t be easy being entirely factual when you’re a news service that’s shown for many months now a burning obsession with tearing down a tired, out-of-date and out-of-ideas state Labor government led by a party-girl Premier who’s no longer interested in her day job; a government plagued by law and order, health, transport and other key issues that only David Crisafulli and others on the LNP Opposition benches have real answers for.
Want to be alerted immediately a new blog hits Australia’s longest running and most offensive satire site? Simply click on the Follow sign or the link below to be emailed new yarns the moment they are uploaded! The very second we go far too far – and trust us we will – you can then quickly unfollow via the three dots!
The Bug Online 