There were some great comments on my last post about The Bully bullying bloggers, including a fantastic offering from NormanK called We're the Voice which I've now given pride of place in the blog sidebar.
In case you didn't see it, Inside Business (I wonder how many at the Bully watch it?) on the ABC this morning had a great piece on the media's absolute fear of transparent (read, real) circulation figures and the lengths they have gone to (and still do) to bodgy the data in order to continue hoodwinking their real customers - the advertisers. Read the transcript or view the vision here
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Friday, 8 October 2010
Anon and proud of it: The Townsville Bulletin celebrates our first birthday
Well, well, well! Haven’t we bloggers really got up the nose of The Bully? :-)
As a rule, I don’t read editorials – mainly because I know that the only people who do are journos and politicians (editorial cartoons however are a very different matter).
Touchy aren’t they? Not information they would be keen to have out there perhaps?
Touchy as the the Oz was at the critiques of their work by Grog's Gamut? I've asked the question before here, but, given that I seem to have drawn their fire publicly, I wonder if they are so touchy they will out me next? - after all, I know they've worked out who I am!
Of course I could use their own language back at them and say they are the cowards if they don't - knowing the increased readership I'd get and backlash they'd get!! But I won't.
For the record, my reasons for Island View’s anonymity are simple – I’m a small businessman trying to make a living and pay the rent in a small regional city and, believe me, publically calling the most powerful and most connected media outlet in the town to account wouldn’t be real good for business!
I may well be a coward but I’m certainly not stupid!
PS: today is more-or-less the first anniversary of Blogging Townsville and The Bully's Editorial has been the absolutely best anniversary gift!! It's given me food for another post which will now float in the blogosphere forever with a Townsville Bulletin tag and showing them for what they really are.
UPDATE: In the comments below, both Bill and Craig Thomler @ eGov AU point out that Townsville Bulletin Editor, Peter Gleeson, chooses for his Editorials to be published anonymously - just like this blog and yes, just like Grog's Gamut. See more in Craig's post here on the propensity for the mainstream media to publish material by the widely read (and often either very wise or very funny), Anon.
Craig also managed to find the Bully's editorial online here
Finally, I note that in the hardcopy Saturday Bully this morning, there were no letters and no published txt messages about yesterday's Editorial. As of this morning, there are no comments on their on-line opinion page. Doesn't sound much to me like their editorial was representing the "voice of the people" - more like the voice of someone in power who's not used to being challenged, let alone questioned or held to account.
As a rule, I don’t read editorials – mainly because I know that the only people who do are journos and politicians (editorial cartoons however are a very different matter).
So when reader M pointed me to today's Bulletin editorial, I just had to go out and pay good money for a hard copy !! And what a doozey it is – it’s not available online, but click on the graphic to read it full-size!
The story about the outing of Grog’s Gamut is now getting pretty old given that it happened over 10 days ago (I posted here on 28 Sept.)
Now I might be getting up myself a bit here, but I can’t help but think that rather than finding a bit of passion in a 10-day old story, the Bully are lashing out at this post from yesterday morning where I pointed out data from the Australian Newspaper History Group showing that the Bulletin’s average daily readership (or sales - it is unclear) is just 26,395 and had declined by almost 10% over the first half of the year!!!
Touchy as the the Oz was at the critiques of their work by Grog's Gamut? I've asked the question before here, but, given that I seem to have drawn their fire publicly, I wonder if they are so touchy they will out me next? - after all, I know they've worked out who I am!
Of course I could use their own language back at them and say they are the cowards if they don't - knowing the increased readership I'd get and backlash they'd get!! But I won't.
For the record, my reasons for Island View’s anonymity are simple – I’m a small businessman trying to make a living and pay the rent in a small regional city and, believe me, publically calling the most powerful and most connected media outlet in the town to account wouldn’t be real good for business!
I may well be a coward but I’m certainly not stupid!
PS: today is more-or-less the first anniversary of Blogging Townsville and The Bully's Editorial has been the absolutely best anniversary gift!! It's given me food for another post which will now float in the blogosphere forever with a Townsville Bulletin tag and showing them for what they really are.
UPDATE: In the comments below, both Bill and Craig Thomler @ eGov AU point out that Townsville Bulletin Editor, Peter Gleeson, chooses for his Editorials to be published anonymously - just like this blog and yes, just like Grog's Gamut. See more in Craig's post here on the propensity for the mainstream media to publish material by the widely read (and often either very wise or very funny), Anon.
Craig also managed to find the Bully's editorial online here
Finally, I note that in the hardcopy Saturday Bully this morning, there were no letters and no published txt messages about yesterday's Editorial. As of this morning, there are no comments on their on-line opinion page. Doesn't sound much to me like their editorial was representing the "voice of the people" - more like the voice of someone in power who's not used to being challenged, let alone questioned or held to account.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Just how powerful are the churches?
When you consider that some 75% of Australian women and GP's support the removal of abortion from the Criminal Code, you really have to wonder what Anna and John-Paul are afraid of (other than the right-wing of both their parties)? I'd say the men who represent/control the 19% of people who go to church at least monthly
The most appauling aniversary
19 November, in a little over a month, will be the sixth aniversary of the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee at the hands the Qld coppers - SIX years and today this:
The decline and decline of the Townsville Bulletin
North Coast Voices reports that the Australian Newspaper History Group's October 2010 newsletter produced by Rod Kirkpatrick (which I can't find online) shows:
Four regional dailies had double-figure percentage declines in circulation for the three or six-month period to 30 June, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. They were: the Standard, Warrnambool, 16.45; the Gold Coast Bulletin, 15.31 per cent; the North West Star, Mount Isa, 12.98; and the Geelong Advertiser, 11.56. And the Townsville Bulletin, down 9.95 per cent, was only a whisker short of a double-figure dip.
Further to Anon's question in comments. Unfortunately I can't find the original data, but as I understand it, the table show a -2.5% fall in the Bully's circulation in April-June with the 9.95% fall discussed in the text refers to the 6 months to end June.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Friday, 1 October 2010
ALP 2010 Election Review
The ALP Have set up a website for anyone to make submissions to their national review of the Election Campaign. Here's my two-bobs worth
I'll keep it to the point:Two-bob is better than nothing!
1) In Herbert, the Federal/Rudd intervention to preselect Mooney was a huge blunder - lots of bagage with the punters and little support (even loathing) in the Branches
2) Herbert seems to be like many other electorates in the lack of talent available among our (ALP) potential candidate pool
3) More broadly, changing leaders was the right thing to do, going when we did was probably the right thing, the "Rudd leaks" were killers and the campaign was woefull, uncreative and largely missed the point. Campaigns should be managed by tacticians not statiticians (or worse, market researchers) - You know what I mean John!
4) We seem to have forgotten that we weren't elected in '07 because of Rudd - it was because the punters want the big issues addressed. Since then we've played the same small target we've played since we lost Keating as leader and have suffered the consequences.
5) I don't envy your task
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