Friday, April 22, 2005
Bitchy
Mmm Bitchy, is what I thought when I saw this little piece by The Herald Sun. No by-line of course, ‘cause that’d be naming names, just seven little sentences designed to send a coded message amongst all the reporters on the Police beat, that an unnamed ABC journalist is to be treated with disdain by the tight little club who do the crime reporting.
Now The Herald Sun claim that our man, let’s lets call him “Scoop”, has committed two crimes.
He forgot, temporarily, that the Police Minister was Tim Holding. Did you know that? Well you do now and I expect you to remember it. You’ll be tested later on.
If you didn’t know then I’ll forgive you, because Mr. Holding is new at the job. The Police Minster used to be Andre Haermeyer until quite recently. Mr. Haermeyer was well known to all because he was making such a botch of things. Mr. Holding on the other hand has just been quietly and competently getting on with the job, and keeping a low profile. So Scoop forgot his name for a few seconds. Is that a crime?
The other crime that Scoop committed, was using the term ‘the talent’ to refer to victims of crime. Okay a little insensitive perhaps, but hey, aren’t we all? Do you think that Generals never refer to soldiers as Grunts? Or airline staff refer to ‘Cattle-class”? Or Senior consultants to their juniors as ‘cannon fodder’?
No, this is a pointed little dig at my mate Scoop. And what’s Scoop’s problem? His problem is that he’s showing them up. He’s getting in people faces, making himself unpopular by pushing the boundaries. Scoop wants to push the limits of journalism in this city, and the cosy coterie that’s got the Police beat all sewn up doesn’t like it.
I say go for it Scoop. Keep up the good work. Give Police reporting the kick up the arse it needs, and it'll make a Bob Bottom of you yet.
Note: 3000 character limit on comments Now The Herald Sun claim that our man, let’s lets call him “Scoop”, has committed two crimes.
He forgot, temporarily, that the Police Minister was Tim Holding. Did you know that? Well you do now and I expect you to remember it. You’ll be tested later on.
If you didn’t know then I’ll forgive you, because Mr. Holding is new at the job. The Police Minster used to be Andre Haermeyer until quite recently. Mr. Haermeyer was well known to all because he was making such a botch of things. Mr. Holding on the other hand has just been quietly and competently getting on with the job, and keeping a low profile. So Scoop forgot his name for a few seconds. Is that a crime?
The other crime that Scoop committed, was using the term ‘the talent’ to refer to victims of crime. Okay a little insensitive perhaps, but hey, aren’t we all? Do you think that Generals never refer to soldiers as Grunts? Or airline staff refer to ‘Cattle-class”? Or Senior consultants to their juniors as ‘cannon fodder’?
No, this is a pointed little dig at my mate Scoop. And what’s Scoop’s problem? His problem is that he’s showing them up. He’s getting in people faces, making himself unpopular by pushing the boundaries. Scoop wants to push the limits of journalism in this city, and the cosy coterie that’s got the Police beat all sewn up doesn’t like it.
I say go for it Scoop. Keep up the good work. Give Police reporting the kick up the arse it needs, and it'll make a Bob Bottom of you yet.
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