Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Exploitation by the Media and What is it Wednesday?


Well things have been a bit cooler again, but the forecast is for very hot again tomorrow.

NSW seems to be the main problem place for fires at the moment with the fire near Coonabarabran still the main worry.
Dozens of houses have been burnt out in the area.
The ABC (that is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation)  News tonight featured an interview with an elderly gentleman they flew in by chopper to see his burnt out home (the local roads are still closed by fires).
He was visibly upset but spoke with dignity.
 Despite that I have to say that the whole piece felt like exploitation to me.
The journalist in question got footage of this poor fellow in one of the hardest situations a person can face; and splashed it across the country (and maybe the world).

What do you think?
Am I being too hard on the media?

On a cheerier note it is Wednesday so what on Earth do you think this is.

I think this one is harder than last week.
No points will be awarded for the obvious answers of : "water", "sea" or landscape related answers.

What is the object in the foreground?

5 comments:

Old Kitty said...

A handlebar from a boat!?

Awww what was the point of flying this poor man over his burnt home?!?!

Now that's exploitation and poor journalism! Take care
x

Linda G. said...

That is definitely exploitation by the media. I find that kind of "reporting" nauseating.

But to the cheerier note...I think that might be part of a huge steering wheel for a boat.

mshatch said...

The media is the same everywhere, always trying to catch people in their most harrowing, awful, sad, angry, worst moments and then splashing them across the screens for everyone to see.

As for your piccie...hmm, I think that is metal painted white, beginning to rust, maybe a metal railing but on land, I think.

Anonymous said...

Definitely exploitation on the part of the media, I would say. What could possibly be their motive in taking the man to view his burnt out home? I cannot believe that it was an act of altruism.

As to WIIW, I'm stumped. I'm thinking that it could be a steering wheel on a boat. But what is Al up to on a rusty boat, I wonder and where was he on said vessel to be able to take the pic? The stretch of water has the look of an inlet or sound so the metal could be a railing on land or a pier. Do you have piers in Oz? Sorry for blathering on...

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

As for the media coverage of the fires... or any other tragedy... news reporting too often takes a back seat to sensationalism and exploitation. It takes a very low person, in my opinion, to shove a microphone in the face of someone who has just been bushwhacked by something horrific, and ask, "How do you feel?" Horrible.

As for your picture, maybe part of a frame for hanging a dinghy beside a pier?