What should we expect from the Bully tomorrow?

... a bit more yoof bashing perhaps?  It will be fascinating to see how this story is reported and how the write-up compares to previous reports about arson in the town.  Expect the worst:

When you’ve found your whipping-boy, whip it, whip it good

Following my long post yesterday, I see that the Bulletin is at it again today (so much for the power of the blogosphere!).

Today’s front page screamer (not available online - isn't that interesting!) moves from the completely inappropriate “war-zone” language of yesterday’s Bulletin to talk of “madness” and pleas for the Premier’s intervention. The hook for today’s beat-up? - the release of the most recent Statistical Review by the coppers.

The article quite rightly expresses concern at an apparent increase in assaults in the last year and manages to note later that, in reality, the data only indicates reported crimes and is not a count of actual crime. But they then somehow manage to imply that all of this is evidence of a youth crime problem (“madness”?).

The data they use is for all ages and says nothing (repeat, nothing) about youth crime. In fact, it also says nothing about Townsville – the data is for a region covers that about ¼ of the State and that stretches from the coast to the NT border.
Unfortunately, the coppers report isn’t available online as yet (check here later) – it will be interesting to see whether in fact there is any type of reversal in the trending decline over recent years in young offenders involved in crimes against the person (see here).

Furthering the impression that this is all about kids (and welfare mothers for that matter), the article then goes on to regurgitate Mooney’s proposal to somehow withhold welfare payments (not quarantine them) from the parents of bad kids – however that is going to be decided (see the end of this post).

We finish off with news of a new police operation targeting kids in Kirwan and a report that 100 kids have been checked (presumably, that the coppers had seen and perhaps talked with) in 3 days (and NOT broken any laws necessarily). Finally, there is a listing of ‘crimes’ detected (presumably) in that operation and again, no evidence that they were committed by young people – despite the implication.

All in all, shoddy work and a totally meaningless analysis - as we’ve come to expect from the Bulletin. But then whipping boys (or is that dead horses) are there for one thing – to whip.

Vigilante press – The Bulletin gets its posse & Mooney gets a whipping-boy

The Bulletin will not give up easily. They are determined to elevate the city’s young people to the position as our number 1 problem (and best newspaper seller)

They started their latest effort to create the news (as opposed to reporting it) two Fridays ago with a page headed “Gang Violence: the fightback” (see this post). Included there was a story manufactured from a few quotes by some lone unnamed individual who’d presumably rung into the Bully with an idea to set up a “Guardian Angels’” type community-watch group.

Of course, one man does not a vigilante group make. and the next day (Saturday 24th) three people turned up to his Victoria Bridge ‘rally’ – well actually one if you don’t include the ‘organiser’ and his missus

Undeterred by the small turn-out (despite the Bully’s free publicity), the Bully reported the following Wednesday (28th) that “Residents band together to fight Townsville crime” and publicised another meeting by the ‘group’ for yesterday (Sun 2nd May).

To generate a bit more heat and momentum for that meeting, the Bully then ran a story on Saturday: “Trouble at Willows, parents blamed” with the introduction “Willows Shopping Centre resembled a war zone on Thursday night”. Apart from the bad business sense in getting most military personnel off-side with the belittling use of the term “war zone”, this was a fair attempt to whip-up a bit of community outrage – reports (of reports) of 300 kids at the Willows that night (no wonder the Willows marketing managerseemed pretty unconcerned by it all), a witness to 5 kids screaming at each other… they even ran a video online of the “mayhem” that night.

I’d encourage you to have a look at the video here – no gangs, no fights, no ‘mayhem’, no ‘war zone’ just what looked like a few groups of kids with not much to do and little money to do it with.

Which brings us today’s report of the community meeting held yesterday and apparently attended by 30 people – although it’s not actually clear whether this number includes the politicians, coppers and hangers-on who were there (a count of the number of households present would have been much more enlightening, if somewhat less impressive).

Judging from the Bully’s report, three things came from the meeting:

• Tony Mooney returns to type and tells us that the parents of all bad kids are on welfare (and presumably black)



• The Bully got its vigilante group sorry, “resident-led patrols”, which it will no doubt now send a cub reporter out with one night with to do an expose on the city’s underbelly



• The coppers actually already run a community-based law and order program – it’s called Community Watch! It’s well established, been around for decades, and in most suburbs where groups form they then fold up after a year or two when the residents involved come to understand that crime in their area isn’t actually anything like as bad as they perceived it to be.

I wonder if the Bully, Mooney, Wallace, the coppers or anyone else (like a Bulletin journalist) at the meeting thought to check with a few local kids about what to do? My guess is that they would have said – “give us something to do”.

By the way, Mooney’s proposed withholding of welfare from ‘bad parents’ will not get up:

• the policy is in fact for the quarantining of part of a person’s welfare so that it can only be spent on certain goods, and



• it’s unworkable in terms of kids on the streets at night who are not under-age and not breaking the law.

A bit of a worry when the aspiring federal member doesn’t understand federal policy or program limitations!!

But then I’m sure that won’t stop the Bully from milking the ‘story’ for all it's worth.

Footnote
Determined to maximise the unruly kids and their bad parent angle, the Bully’s online ‘coverage’ (I use the term loosely) today is actually headed by a story about the Police’s “disgust” at the behaviours of kids at Grooving the Moo.

Despite lots of reporting of the impressions of one copper, the only fact in the story was that “by 3pm, five people had already been taken to hospital by ambulance due to severe intoxication”.

Sounds like the real story was about the management of entry to and alcohol serving at the event - but it is unlikely that it will get written, given that the event organisers had probably spent 10-15,000 on advertising in the Bully in recent weeks.

From the kids and parents i've spoken to this morning, it was a great event, well managed, fantatsic music and a happy crowd.

Let the beat-up continue

The Bulletin is really determined to whip-up fear of young people and fear of youth gangs in particular and maybe they are starting to succeed.

Pushed off the front page by the circus that is the NRL industry, The bully’s page three effort today even has a page header slogan “Gang Violence: the fightback” under which are bundled 3 stories:

The lead article is about the boss of McDonalds at The Willows complaining about kids hanging in his car park and getting into the occasional argument or fight. Doesn’t sound like gang activity to me – nor apparently the Willows Marketing Manager, Donna O’Neill who is reported as saying “…no impact on trade has been noticed.” Sounds more like the McDonald’s Boss should take responsibility for his car park and his business and hire a security guard if he has a problem – it’s what, for instance, Sunferries does on Full Moon Party night.

Second is a small story about a new initiative to put a BBQ on at the Riverway Skatepark on Thursday nights as a way of giving local kids somewhere to go and (presumably) enabling youth workers to engage with them. All good stuff.

But it was this quote from Kirwan copper Sen Sgt Garry Eddiehausen that particularly caught my attention: “A lot of youths have issues with police, so if they can talk to community members, it may make a difference”

Maybe, just maybe, it’s some police who have issues with dealing with young people (have you ever watched a young copper and a young adult male standing toe-to-toe, chests puffed?). And of course youth workers make a difference – their effectiveness is well established, it’s just the funding that isn’t

The third article is a pure beat-up - but a dangerous one. Longer than the second good news article, this one quotes some poor lone unnamed person who’s presumably rung into the Bully with an idea to set up a “Guardian Angels’” type community watch group. Of course, one man does not make a vigilante group and we’ll see how many turn up to his Vic Bridge gathering on Saturday - my guess is six!

Irrespective of how many turn up though, the guy’s response is perfect illustration of the dangers of the media’s beating up the youth gangs/black kids out of control hysteria in order to sell papers. To see the logical conclusion of irresponsible media presentation of young people, see this earlier post


Was the “Gang Violence: the fightback” page header necessary? No.  Did it illustrate the story?  No.  Did it seek to inflame the best selling emotions - fear and anger?  Yes

Exactly who is “out of control” here?

After beginning to despair that the Bulletin was becoming too boring to blog, we have today’s front page beat-up in true Bully style

I had been mulling over what to post in response to the story of the death of a mentally ill man at TGH last week, particularly in light of the COAG negotiations that are going on right now.

But today’s front page “Gangs out of control” followed by “Gangs of thugs on rampage” on page four gives me the chance to do three birds with one post:

First today’s Gangs on the Rampage beat up:

• There is no evidence in the story or reported from the police of any gang activity – rather a group or groups of young people.



• The incident of the 66 year old getting bashed is a nasty one but the article of course only reports one side of the story – I’d love to know for example whether the old man’s son and his friend said or did something to provoke the fight that the old man ended up getting himself in the middle of.



• In 08/09 there were on average 4.5 assaults per day in the Townsville Police District - presumambly the other 3.5 that happened yesterday didn't rate a mention

Segue to the case of the mentally ill man who died after being restrained by police and sedated at the Townsville Hospital's mental health unit where he’d gone seeking help but was told to go home as there were no beds available.

• A man dies, the mental health system is apparently left wanting, there's yet another black death in custody and the Bully gives it (from memory) page five coverage.

See where I’m going here? (Apparently) black kids out of control - major story / crazy black man dies - a sad and unfortunate incident

Segue to the COAG health negotiations going on as I post:

• I’d be the first to agree that they health system needs fixing and that a national system is one of the required fixes but I’m appalled at the lack of discussion on preventative health services and mental health services.



• And we have had in Townsville within the last week an unnecessary death as the most dramatic evidence of the need for improved funding for mental health services.



• The Bully today devoted all of a 9cm column to the health system negotiations

Pity the Bully couldn’t (or wouldn’t?) pick the real story to beat up.  See also this earlier post about The Bulletin's sister paper, the Adelaide Advertiser's efforts and effects of beating-up race-based gang hysteria.

PS: My bet is that Rudd will throw something on the table at COAG on mental health as part of the bidding process and in part to keep the Oz of the Year quiet

It's about the power and accountability of the press

Hungrybeast last night had this excellent piece on the the role of the mainstream media in inventing the “Gang of 49” myth.  It particularly and rightfully highlighted the role of Colin James from Murdoch’s birthplace, The Adelaide Advertiser in the creation and exploitation of the myth.

It then goes on to show how the baseless hype the press lived off for weeks and months is actually germinating and feeding the development of a gang culture among Aboriginal kids in the city.

James and The ‘Tiser should be held liable

I was reminded of our own Bulletin’s efforts – see my earlier posts here



Also available here

FAILED? Well the Bulletin did at least

The Bulletin was at it again on Saturday – beating-up a nonsense bit of writing into a front-page murder and mayhem story.

“FAILED” (their choice of all caps, but very bad form I’d say if I were their teacher) screamed the front page header followed by “Educating against era of violence” (missing an “an” – again, very bad form and lost marks) splashed across pages six and seven, just below “What’s up with North Queensland schools” (online version here).

It actually took a full 24 hours before I could summon the courage (or is that, was bored enough) to read Alexis Gillham’s “Special Report”.

Personally, I get a bit sick of everybody assuming they’re an expert on education (or hospitals, or homelessness, or blackfellas for that matter) and I was dreading reading what, I’d assumed from the editor’s headlines, was going to be yet another uninformed attack on our education system and/or the kids who use it.

Reading the story, I soon discovered that it was in fact another muddled headed diatribe of the type I’ve come to expect of The Bulletin.

The only ‘evidence’ of our schools facing an “era of violence” as the headline suggested was a quote from a “school bullying prevention and management consultant” (you immediately worry when you read ‘consultant’) who claimed in the opening paragraph that “Townsville school students will soon be wielding guns and machetes, creating a violent backdrop for ‘innocent’ classmates to spend an major chunk of their day” (my guess this was a bit of sub-editing ‘licence’ rather than an actual quote as the Bully implied).

Well, that and the hard statistic that the town has had two school lockdowns this year – exactly the same annual average as for the last unknown number of years as we later learn from the Northern Vice President of the Qld Council of Parents and Citizens Associations. Not necessarily an alarming increase, perhaps just the year’s average achieved early - only time will tell.

The story goes on to use suspensions and expulsions from school as a proxy indicator of increasing violence in schools and to argue that this region is worse than others. A few facts might help:

• Suspensions and expulsions from school can happen for any number of reasons with violence being only one of them.
• All of the data used in the report (and here) is from 2008. That is, it tells us nothing of what is happening in our schools in 2010
• For every 100 students in the region there are there are about 15.4 suspensions a year – that’s not 15.4 bad kids, just 15.4 suspensions. For example, all kids who are expelled usually go through a number (at least three) suspensions – so for every 100 students there might be in reality 3-5 “problem kids”. As a matter of interest, I wonder what the ratio is on Flinders St East, at Lavarack Barracks or in the Tax Office? – not much different I’d wager!
• North Queensland’s suspension rate is high but not the highest in the State – Wide Bay-Burnet is the highest.
• North Queensland expulsion rates are also high, but far from the highest. Ours is 1.6 per 1,000 students, while the Far North’s is 2.6 and the South Coast’s is 2.9
• The article quotes (twice) a figure of 21 expulsions over three years. Best I can tell, this is actually a count of ‘cancellations’ in the 2008 year. A ‘cancellation’ occurs because “a post compulsory age student if the student displays persistent refusal to participate in the program of instruction” (EQ web site) – expulsions are a totally different thing (are generally behaviour rather than attendance related) and the count was actually 47 in ‘08

Bottom line to all of this (apart from there being no evidence presented by the Bully that our kids are to blame for an “era of violence” – because surely that is their headline’s intention) is that suspension and expulsion rates are far more likely to be a reflection of a schools management practices (and the socio-demographics of their student population) than anything else as both actions are totally at the discretion of the Principal.

Finally, at least 1/3 of the article compares suspension and expulsion rates in the public sector with those in the private sector without any reference to differences in the socio-economic demographics of the student populations in the two sectors or, of course, the funding per student differentials. Either Alexis Gillham is a product of the private school sector or just plain intellectually lazy or both (they tell me it happens)

For me however, the last word comes from a mate of one of my children attending (a State) high school. She was the victim of fairly violent attack on the school bus from another girl who had already been suspended (and who had been led to believe the girl she was attacking was the cause of her suspension). The ‘bully’ was immediately expelled – for which I was glad when I first heard of this.

But interestingly, a couple of months later, the “bully” saw the “victim” at Stocklands Mall, stopped her, apologised, took her for a coffee and explained that the expulsion was the best thing that happened to her as it enabled her to get a clean start at a new school with new friends and get away from a group of girls who were using her to get at other girls.

I also learnt that that group of girls have since been left largely powerless as they have no one to get to do their bullying for them and (is often the case) are too gutless to do it themselves (a bit like The Bulletin one might say).

All-in-all, I thought that story the best advertisement for the value of suspensions and expulsions as a behaviour management tool within schools.

And lastly, if I were a Grade-10 English or SOSE teacher I would have FAILED both Alexis Gillham and the Bully’s headline writer for an incoherent, factually wrong and dreadfully argued article.

Murdoch's Townsville Bulletin – bigotry, bile, bad english and incomprehensible bullshit

I have long held that the most influential section of any paper's editorial pages is the cartoon – it is the one bit of any paper that everyone reads and absorbs.

Partly for this reason and partly because too many journos over the years have told me that you don't get to the top of the press food chain (i.e. to be Editor) because of your investigative or writing skill, I make a habit of never reading editorials – the only people who do are other journos and politicians.

But in order to top and tail this earlier post, I had to read yesterday's editorial in Rupert Murdoch's Townsville Bulletin. And what a piece of incoherent racist bile it is! You won't find it online but I have included a scan of it here so that you can judge for yourself (click to enlarge).

Leaving aside the criticisms listed in that earlier post, statements like “indigenous crime in Townsville is out of control” and “...as a society we're losing a generation of young Aboriginals, and this is borne out by police statistics on juvenile crime” need to be shown up for the lies and factual nonsense they are:

• In the five years to 2008/09 arrests of indigenous juveniles for crimes against the person (surely, the most serious crimes) in the Townsville Region (Townsville and Mt Isa Police Districts) rose it is true - by a 14 or a massive 4%. Not exactly out of control, especially when you consider that arrests of white kids for similar crimes rose by 191 or 39%

The Editorial goes on with: “A significant percentage of youth crime in North Queensland is perpetrated by young Aboriginals”.

• At 37% of all juvenile arrests for crimes against the person in '08/9, this is actually true but there is (as you’d expect) no recognition in the editorial of the fact that this rate has fallen significantly from the 44% it was in '04/05.

Perhaps a more accurate angle for the editorial would have been “Crime by white kids out of control”

The rest of the editorial gets very confused. I’m not sure whether this is intentional, representative of a racist streak or just plain bad writing.

The Editor goes on to segue from youth crime into a diatribe about “mandatory rehabilitation” for young offenders and then on to criticism of the effectiveness of expenditure ”...on rehabilitation services for drunken Aborigines”:

• “mandatory rehabilitation” is of course a oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. Any psychologist (and anyone who battles with giving-up the fags or the grog) will tell you it is simply not possible to rehabilitate someone unless they want to.
• I’m not sure where they get their “nearly $10 million is spent every year on rehabilitation services for drunken Aborigines” but this is more like the figure spent on homelessness and public intoxication programs in the city – services which of course are targeted to and used by both whitefellas and blackfellas alike. As a matter of contrast I’d love to know how much it costs the public purse to subsidise on the one hand and police on the other Townsville’s drink, drugs and fight area (Flinders St East).
• You also have got to wonder what any of this has to do with juvenile crime

One final but key criticism of the editorial relates to their assertion that “for reasons that welfare and mental health experts are still trying to establish, there is a generation of young Aboriginals who are at war with the world. They are angry and disenfranchised from mainstream society”:

• It is true that there many young people (of every colour imaginable) who could be described thus and there are copious amounts of research to show that the one common and by far most significant contributing factor, now and over the ages, is poverty – pure and simple. If young aboriginal people are over represented in this group, then it is for one reason – they are seriously over represented amongst the poor in our society.
• To correct the editorial’s English and further to this last point – one can’t be disenfranchised from mainstream society, you are disenfranchised BY mainstream society.

I know that the staff at The Bulletin read this blog and I hope they are suitably embarrassed by the diatribe published in their editorial yesterday.

PS:  I’ve included Rupert Murdoch’s name (now three times) here in the hope that his minders will pick up this post in their daily scan of the net to see what is being said about their master and his empire. Perhaps as a result Murdoch will take a look at the editorial quality of his Townsville bull-sheet.

Alternatively, you could email him directly here: rmurdoch@newscorp.com

It’s got nothing to do with us - Everybody else is to blame

The representative of many of the traders in Townsville’s fight precinct – Flinders St East - today told the House of Reps. Inquiry into the Impact of Violence on Young Australians that its members effectively have no responsibility for the fact that “violence in hotels and pubs has become more vicious, erupts more easily and often involves weapons”.

It’s all to do with drugs (of which alcohol isn’t one apparently!), the yoof of today and poor policing and sentencing it seems.

Just like the only effective response to global warming is to make polluters pay for the full cost of their profits, the only effective response to the cost to the community of alcohol is to make them that profit from it pay the full cost.

Townsville Bulletin Trash Piece No. 429

What exactly is today’s front page of the Townsville Bulletin, "Hilltop Hoodlums", on about – Yoof bashing running amok and old ladies in Yarrawonga, the Hilltop Hoods assault fans at their concert? Is the sub-heading “police nab 80 in blitz on drunks” referring to the size of this hoodlum menace?

Is the headline on the full story on page two, “Wasted Youth.” Implying that the hoodlum gang are all spaced-out on crack? No the sub-heading give its way: “Kids caught boozing at music concert” – drunken 12 year olds at the Hill Top Hoods concert or was the Carols by Candlelight??

The blatant sensationalism and yoof bashing in this trash piece by Jessica Johnson really annoys me for a number of reasons:

• My guess is that the 7 youths were in fact young people – most likely aged 17
• None of them were drunk – just drinking under age
• The real crime here was committed by those selling the alcohol to underage punters
• The article fails to report on the really ugly side of the 80 alcohol related charges made by the coppers on the weekend with the only reference to the real centre of alcohol related violence in Townsville – Flinders St East, home to so many of The Bully’s regular advertisers – a small pic of a whitefella passed out in the Street.

But then, a bit of youth bashing, blackfella bashing or muslum bashing is always good for sales

Post Script: I wonder how many families slipped their 17 year old a cold one from the esky at Carols by Candlelight last night?

Post Script #2: I recommend "Grog, crops and social control" by John Passant in The National Times

What annoys me about schoolies week

No! it’s not the schoolies or the occasional misdemeanour or over-exuberance that a few of them can be guilty of. I get annoyed by some of the press’ constant search for the sensational story (not The Bulletin I must point out – their coverage has been sympathetic and measured).

But I get really annoyed that no one seems to point-out that Schoolies as we know it is the invention of the tourism industry and the accommodation and alcohol retailing industries in particular – designed to fill their coffers during what would otherwise be a dead quiet period before the start of the xmas money making season.

This story, Criticism of schoolies smacks of hypocrisy, by Jane Fynes-Clinton in today's Courier Mail is worth a read for a bit of balance and perspective.

Yoof bashing - always good for a headline

Yet another Bully beat-up - Their front page splash this morning announces that gang warfare has erupted in the town.
Despite twice quoting the Police that they had no information that the "attack" was gang related, Andrew Strutton's report takes the comments of one young witness as sufficient 'evidence' to assert that gang warfare is about to explode in the city. And of course, the ever quick on the up-take Councillor Last, uses the Bully's report of the issue to warn of the impending arming of the 'gangs' and forthcoming death in our streets.

Mind you – it all makes for a better headline that “Kids fight after school”.
And speaking of kids – I wonder how all of the young people who attended the Full Noise Music Festival would appreciate being called such on the cover page add for the Loop Magazine article about the festival?