Categories
Melbourne News and events

Barassigate: Day 5

Now don’t get me wrong — street violence is a terrible thing. And legendary footy coach Ron Barassi has to be commended for putting himself at risk on New Year’s Eve to come to the aid of someone being attacked.

The whole thing is symptomatic of some of the worst ills of society.

But really, just how many consecutive days can the Herald Sun milk this thing? Today’s story was on page two, no less.

2/1/2009: Security footage shows football legend Ron Barassi being bashed

3/1/2009: How night of fun ended in street terror for Ron Barassi

4/1/2009: Ron to the rescue … again

5/1/2009: Ron Barassi saved my life: Tess Green

6/1/2009: Police say they are closing in on thugs who bashed Ron Barassi

So that’s five days so far. Given football legends and street crime are Herald Sun staples, I’m gbetting they get at least another five.

Mind you, if it results in action to help solve the problem, I suppose it’s worth it.

Looking forward to seeing what day six brings…

Update 7/1/2009 (Day 6): Opinion: Look to New York cop model

Update 8/1/2009 (Day 7): Ron Barassi confident police will track down attack thugs

Update 9/1/2009 (Day 8): A reference only, in a story about another (more serious) attack on NYE: Slashed man was 30 seconds from death. I hope at least as many police resources go into this case than Barassi’s. Breaking news: Ron Barassi’s alleged attackers arrested by police

Update 10/1/2009 (Day 9): Ron Barassi ‘happy’ at arrest of man over St Kilda attack

Update 11/1/2009: Apart from a list of the Herald Sun’s top online stories of the week, no mention. So they got to day 9 before taking a break.

Update 12/1/2009: Editorial: Doyle’s plan to clean up

By Daniel Bowen

Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.

11 replies on “Barassigate: Day 5”

You can and should blame the herald sun, but people want to read it…this is just the sort of thing I’ve been pondering – how do we make climate change and the state of the world even just a tenth as interesting and real to people. I wonder whether Barassi would be interested?

Janet does bring up a very valid point. Why are we so interested in these types of things. Do we need to know that Paris Hilton bought herself a candy-pink Bentley just like her Barbie car of childhood? My god, the amount of money spent on that would feed so many families in Africa and make so many wells and make so many kids be able to attend schools. And yes save lives. But do we “CARE”? Heck no. Back to the Herald Sun, or the People, or the garbage the hack media call “news”. One person at a time I guess Janet. Slow and steady, until the planet tells them to care, I guess.

While I agree that the media saturation on this is bordering on the ridiculous, I don’t think it’s *quite* the same as reporting on Paris Hilton’s adorable pink Bentley ;-) There is a legitimate news story – ONCE – in a 72-year-old man going to the rescue of a woman under attack, famous or not – it’s is neither as pointless / vapid as the purchase of shiny new toys, or as voyeuristically meaningless as endless absorption in the love and reproductive lives of actors and singers.

That said, it is getting just silly now.

hehe :) I work for HWT (Herald-Sun) and it’s laughable at what they will publish on the front or pages 2/3/4… I respect Barrasi’s efforts, but in the scheme of things, this ‘news’ isn’t worth the ongoing spread.

And this is exactly why I can’t watch commercial news broadcasts. Because I spend half my time shouting at the television, “that’s not news you inane moron!” Not that the ABC doesn’t also stoop to stupid trivia in the name of news on occasion – it just doesn’t seem to do it as often, particularly on the radio. SBS news is of course the best but you miss out on some local news which is actually interesting.

Journos are the worst for getting on the piss and getting into trouble.

The HWT Christmas party was particularly bad I have heard.

Comments are closed.