TV News coverage of rally

[tausyankee@optusnet.com.a]

I would be interesting to hear what people thought about the coverage of today's event. I thought it was highly variable.

Channel 9 led with the protest and called it "huge" but ABC News mistakenly said it was only about the Mary River dam and the protest was "led" by Cate Molloy.

I think it is important to point out to the ABC editor that this is about "no mega-dams" ! And one that is certainly not being led by any one politician or group, rather a broad-based coalition.

[Darren E]

We watched all 4 major newscasts.
10 - pathetic as expected. If you can't SMS to "vote someone out", it is not news for 10. (Incidently, I don't know why they didn't try this for the Tasmanian miners a few weeks ago).
7 - OK. Said the protest was led by Cate Malloy, which I though was a bit dumb until I saw that she was indeed near the front of the march.
9 - Liked this much better because my face was on TV for about 0.5 seconds! But seriously, although their coverage to date has been the best of the commercial stations, they still don't really care because neither does their target audience.
2 - Best as usual. Actually showed Rick Elliot, the guy from Rathdowney, and Steve Dennis with a few seconds of "Mary must never be dammed".

[Darren E]

Let's see how the newspapers go in the next few days:
Gympie Times had a major presence, but that is really preaching to the converted.
Sunshine Coast Daily were also there in force, but as above...
Courier Mail - I think I saw one, but to date they've been happier printing full page colour ads telling us how good the ALP water strategy is. Let's see if they can lift their game.

[nellie]

i watched the 7 and the abc both were very much the same. i thought it was focused on cate molloy as our news, north qld, then went straight on the the alp conf. i don't think i saw any other politician in the front line on the brief footage that was shown. i guess she has really put her neck on the line now. will be interesting to see if she goes ahead with the private members bill.
congratulations on the effort that everyone put in today.

[Rev Watt]

Though all coverage was lousy - didnt see me anywhere
The ABC said 300 people - I thought they were about 3times too small - any crowd gestimators out there?
Did you notice one clip had a guy saying, "We are not interested in compensation, we want life, WE WANT A DAM"
did they cut him off from adding "removed"
They reported the "angry mob" pretty well though!
_________________
Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. John 4:13f

[tejama]

I thought 300 was a bit of an underestimate too. I was at the very back of the group the whole time, and thought the crowd ahead of me was much bigger than that. The resonating sound of everone chanting was terrific - hope some of it filtered upstairs to those attending the conference.

[Bronwyn]

Have been slow responding tonight as you may have noticed, been busy fending calls from TV producers wanting an inside scoop on whats really going on in the headwaters......I mean headquarters of "DAM CENTRAL"
I of course politely refused to divulge any "TOP SECRET" info & proceeded to continue my chant "NO DAMS" "BUGGER OFF BEATTIE" NO DAMS" glancing fleetingly at the TV screen I see myself with Cate and Bob embracing Wheezer aboard the most deliciously adorned canoe floating down the majestics of Mary, the banks crowded with cheering people of all ages, and nationalities, the entire animal kingdom, and I can actually hear the animals speak. We, three, holding the most endangered animal of all, THE BEATTIE, so carefully so as not to bruise him, about to set him free in to the wild again.......................Then my elbow fell off the lounge armrest and I woke up!! "Sheesh" and I really thought I had a moment of glory too. OH weeell, back to the wonderful state of "dreamland" I really do need more sleep!!

P.S There DEFINATELY were more than 300 there today! I lost count of my fingers and toes long after 300.

[Darren E]

Commiserations Rev Watt. You’ll just have to try harder next time.

But a serious omission from all 4 broadcasts was the excellent contribution by Reverend Dr. David Pitman. He spoke very eloquently about the social impacts of the dam proposal, and the pitiful social responsibility shown by the Qld Government on this issue. The state leader of one of the country’s largest and most respected churches should surely have demanded some publicity.
You deserve credit for bringing this issue to the attention of the church hierarchy.


Oh, and Bronwyn, I was nearly prompted to ask what crop it is you actually grow on your farm But your counting is right - must have been close to 1,000 people.

[SteveB]

As a person used to counting cattle, and having watched large groups of children being herded around like cattle into school assemblies and fire drills etc. for many years - my estimate is about 700 in the march down the street
_________________
"Bad luck ... you dickheads. Suffer in your jocks". (from: the Castle)

[tausyankee@optusnet.com.a]

SteveB - as you know media crowd estimates are often subject to manipulation and spin.

So far I have seen media estimates of 300, 400, and "huge". My own estimate was close to yours - between 700 and 800 people.

In indifferent partytown Brisbane on a rainy Sat. morning that is pretty well unheard of...plus I reckon the rain kept numbers well below what they could have been (over 1000).

[tausyankee@optusnet.com.a]

The Sunday Mail leads with the Cate Molloy story... Limited News is true to form, obsessing over internal party conflict and leadership atmospherics

[Rev Watt]

Wow did we cease to exist in the eyes of Brisbane media again - Sunday Mail was very careful not identify which angry group Cate Molloy led - very strange, was it a disgruntled faction of the Labor party?
Yes the media missed the significance of Dr Pitman throwing his considerable weight (no pun intended) behind our cause - but they will notice yet as he takes our cause to the joint heads of churches later this week.
I have been told a "Sunshine Coast Sunday" paper carries his press release on page six. I will follow that up and also let you know how the joint heads meeting goes.
I am not invisible, Darren is less invisible.
What a motley crew we are - but one day we will be seen by the press in Brisbane!!
_________________
Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. John 4:13f

[stevem]

I was interested to see what spin the Brisbane Media would put on Saturdays Rally, being a little concerned that Beattie may use it as his own “political wallpaper”. Credit where credit is due, Cate certainly “talked the talk AND walked the walk”, but except for the “suggestion” that this was a “ NO DAMS” green tinged environmental demonstration, there was very little attempt by the media to inform Brisbanites that there would be wholesale destruction and devastation of communities, productive farmlands and that this dammed proposal was seriously flawed from the start.

Cheers
Steve

[elaine]

I agreewith you, stevem. The technical and environmental issues of this dabacle are being well looked after by our group of experts, and I too believe that the community destruction side now needs to take the platform. I've said previously that this dam notion will bring about the extinction of Homo sapiens subspp. maryvalleyensis, and that the actions being taken by our state government must surely contravene the Constitution, Human Rights issues and, possibly, the Labor Party's own civil rights statements. Most of us may not have the knowledge or wherewithall to delve into these papermazes, but we are capable of putting pen to paper to get this message to the people of Brisbane. I think it important, though, that we suppport the other water-saving ideas that the govt is pushing (after all, most urbanites will financially gain from these moves), but really push the point that wholesale destruction of communities (both here and at Logan) to build dams - which we have shown to be a flawed idea - is a very unAustralian move.

[stevem]

Well said elaine, from the coverage I saw the people of Brisbane would not even realise that this is about people too.