Thursday 16 December 2010

The Bulletin does good

Credit where credit is due!
I thought the headline on the Bully's story this morning about the horrific and wretched deaths on the cliffs of Christmas Island yesterday was both sensitive and respectful. 

Full recognition that these were/are people seeking freedom and security and none of the "illegal immigrants" "people smugglers" or "queue-jumpers" we normally hear so much of from the MSM.  It also happens to be a beautiful construction. 

Well done to the sub-editor who wrote it.

PS: Compare the Bully's effort with this little trash piece from (surprise, surprise) Dennis Shanahan in (surprise, surprise) The Oz:   NO politicians wanted to be seen to be taking political advantage from the tragic sinking of the people-smuggling vessel.

2 comments:

Dee Lowe said...

But when you read on to the editor's comment on page 18 "Illegal refugees remains a thorny issue ..." your pat on the pack should fade away to a wag of the finger. Refugees are not illegal! The Refugee Convention is still in force along with the Safety of Lives at Sea Convention.

Island View said...

You're right of course Dee - seems that I'm a victim of my own rule about not reading editorials (and perhaps some dark desire to give the Bully at least one positive post in the 400 or so made to date!!)

While I wouldn't expect Editor Gleeson to understand that "illegal refugees" is actually a tautology, I still think that "Refugees crushed on freedom's shore" was a beautifully worded headline - clearly one written by a subby and not by the Editor!!