A Couple of Brickbats and a Bouquet
Brickbat One: More Time Wasting By "Current Events" Folk
ANYBODY over the age of 35 remembers Danny "I Bashed a Tranny" Bonaduce from his time on The Partridge Family. His story of hitting rock bottom before clawing his way back to a form of respectibility has been told countless times over the past five years. Channel 9's Richard Wilkin's interviewed the diminutive redhead on A Current Affair last night. So what is so interesting about Bonaduce? Some new, exciting project? An earth-shattering confession that'll rock the entertainment industry? The benefit of his wisdom? Not really. Just an overview of his life (which,as mentioned, has been done to death so many times over the past five years by every media avenue available to man). So freaking what? This is news? I don't think so. Surely it had nothing to do with his being a judge on the Channel 9 reality show My Kid's A Star which aired the same night? Surely not! To be fair, he wasn't on last night's episode, but the question begs to be asked is it current affairs or infotainment? You be the judge...
Brickbat two: Can I Have Some Editorial With That Please
MX Magazine is a quick read on the train on the way home. Sydney's free give away will never win a Pulitzer Prize, but there is the odd snippet of interest and it usually leads with the topic of the day. Lately, my pet hate has started to creep in....advertorials dressed as editorial. Next time the promotor of 80s icons-turned-hasbeens Boyz II Men gives you the detes on their next tour, tell him to take out an ad. Putting the contact number to get tickets at the bottom of the "editorial" doesn't help in the credibility stakes.
A Bouquet: Some Balance...At Last
Well done Channel 7 on giving some balance to cabbies. On Tuesday night Today/Tonight did a sting on taxi drivers and how much they overcharge unsuspecting visitors to these fair shores. Seems upward of 50 percent take advantage of naive tourists, especially for those that English is a second language. Last night, they went into bat for cab drivers and the perils they face every night when dealing with drunken, violent passengers. It may not have been balanced in the traditional sense (after all, they were two unrelated stories, albeit about the same industry), it did show a programme willing to explore the pitfalls in one of the most thankless jobs going.
ANYBODY over the age of 35 remembers Danny "I Bashed a Tranny" Bonaduce from his time on The Partridge Family. His story of hitting rock bottom before clawing his way back to a form of respectibility has been told countless times over the past five years. Channel 9's Richard Wilkin's interviewed the diminutive redhead on A Current Affair last night. So what is so interesting about Bonaduce? Some new, exciting project? An earth-shattering confession that'll rock the entertainment industry? The benefit of his wisdom? Not really. Just an overview of his life (which,as mentioned, has been done to death so many times over the past five years by every media avenue available to man). So freaking what? This is news? I don't think so. Surely it had nothing to do with his being a judge on the Channel 9 reality show My Kid's A Star which aired the same night? Surely not! To be fair, he wasn't on last night's episode, but the question begs to be asked is it current affairs or infotainment? You be the judge...
Brickbat two: Can I Have Some Editorial With That Please
MX Magazine is a quick read on the train on the way home. Sydney's free give away will never win a Pulitzer Prize, but there is the odd snippet of interest and it usually leads with the topic of the day. Lately, my pet hate has started to creep in....advertorials dressed as editorial. Next time the promotor of 80s icons-turned-hasbeens Boyz II Men gives you the detes on their next tour, tell him to take out an ad. Putting the contact number to get tickets at the bottom of the "editorial" doesn't help in the credibility stakes.
A Bouquet: Some Balance...At Last
Well done Channel 7 on giving some balance to cabbies. On Tuesday night Today/Tonight did a sting on taxi drivers and how much they overcharge unsuspecting visitors to these fair shores. Seems upward of 50 percent take advantage of naive tourists, especially for those that English is a second language. Last night, they went into bat for cab drivers and the perils they face every night when dealing with drunken, violent passengers. It may not have been balanced in the traditional sense (after all, they were two unrelated stories, albeit about the same industry), it did show a programme willing to explore the pitfalls in one of the most thankless jobs going.
