In times of tragedy, like the second Christchurch quake this week, the Australian media delight in a sob story. Obviously they don't take glee in people's death, treating such things with the seriousness it deserves. But when it comes to other losses, say of property, then the people become fair game for their emotional poking.
Whereas the Brits show stoicism and the Irish have a tendancy to laugh things off the Australian media like people to be really distraught at returning to their homes to find them damaged. As an unwitting member of the public surveys the damage, grim-faced. Their possessions flood-damaged, their home probably to be destroyed. In comes the probing microphone, the annoying reporter. Who instead of asking questions such as: "How does it feel?", "What have you lost" instead reals of leading statements, some of them not even questions. Such as "gosh this is terrible, tell us how terrible this is", "how on earth are you going to cope with such tragedy" "this must be the worst thing ever" "tell us exactly how upset you are". They are provoking emotion, trying to get people to cry on camera in order to get a news story.
I don't know whether the Australians view crying as a more responsive news story, especially from blokes, in the machismo aussie culture or whether its just journo hacks being very very low.
The worst example came this week with a reporter interviewing a woman who had returned to her home outside Christchurch having been away at the time of the quake, to find that a giant boulder, at least 5m cubed, had rolled through her house. Obviously she was a bit shocked and teary, so the journalist went in for the kill. "Imagine if your kids had been in the house at the time". You've just lost your house, you're on the verge of tears and the journalist asks you to imagine that your kids were dead. I mean, come on.
It just makes me angry.
Whereas the Brits show stoicism and the Irish have a tendancy to laugh things off the Australian media like people to be really distraught at returning to their homes to find them damaged. As an unwitting member of the public surveys the damage, grim-faced. Their possessions flood-damaged, their home probably to be destroyed. In comes the probing microphone, the annoying reporter. Who instead of asking questions such as: "How does it feel?", "What have you lost" instead reals of leading statements, some of them not even questions. Such as "gosh this is terrible, tell us how terrible this is", "how on earth are you going to cope with such tragedy" "this must be the worst thing ever" "tell us exactly how upset you are". They are provoking emotion, trying to get people to cry on camera in order to get a news story.
I don't know whether the Australians view crying as a more responsive news story, especially from blokes, in the machismo aussie culture or whether its just journo hacks being very very low.
The worst example came this week with a reporter interviewing a woman who had returned to her home outside Christchurch having been away at the time of the quake, to find that a giant boulder, at least 5m cubed, had rolled through her house. Obviously she was a bit shocked and teary, so the journalist went in for the kill. "Imagine if your kids had been in the house at the time". You've just lost your house, you're on the verge of tears and the journalist asks you to imagine that your kids were dead. I mean, come on.
It just makes me angry.
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