19 July 2011

The Local Fishwrapper

When I was a kid, this town's newspaper was different.  It was well-respected as a reliable source of news but in recent years it has become sensational, with ghastly attention-grabbing headlines to mask a dearth of ghastly attention-grabbing stuff going on in the town.

When we were in the process of moving here, casual visits to our new town were marred by catching sight of the local paper screaming at us: "Woman tied up, raped in city hotel" and "Man faces court over murder" and "Couple charged over firearm offenses."

So maybe there wasn't such a dearth of ghastly attention-grabbing stuff going on after all.

And now, you don't even want to win the car they are giving away.

7 comments:

Emily Sue said...

Ha! That's gold (in a really bad way). It's also a little disturbing that the 'win a car' section is bigger than the murder story. A bit like those news stories on TV... "3 Australians killed overseas! THREE AUSTRALIANS! Oh yes, and 15,000 other people... and three Australians!" Er, perspective?

Andi said...

Wow! Our papers seem much more "newsy." Based solely on that photo, mind you.

Allegro ma non troppo said...

Yeah, that's no good.

Catherine said...

A very topical post right now Ms. de Elba, given the scandals surrounding Rupert Murdoch. If only he owned the Chronicle - it may just be shut down. Wouldn't that be a boon!!

It made me laugh to read this post. Dave and I laugh about The Chronicle every time we are up there, although it sometimes is seriously un-laughable. There is always, ALWAYS some pedophile story on the front, or something similar, as you say, and always, always sensationalised, poorly written, unfactual etc.

SERIOUSLY - WHO would put the "win a car" ad on the same page as that headline?!

If only they had YOU to write for them, things would improve, would they not?

Unknown said...

I think there's a general trend for news to be sensationalist. We know too much--there's too much info available--too many news channels and outlets so 'they' think the only way to attract readers is to sensationalize everything. It makes me weary.

The Accidental Housewife said...

I loved the Darwin papers, there was either a cane toad, a croc or a shark on the front cover every day. Or occasionally a giant python. One time there was even a shark fighting a crocodile! Win!

The real news was hidden deep inside - the day the pope died it was only mentioned briefly on page 8, in the world news section. Lol.

tinsenpup said...

That's just too perfect! Awesome!