Archive for January, 2008
January 10, 2008 at 10:54 pm · Filed under America, Learning to Blog
I’ve been blogging for 16 months now and today heard the most unsettling story of a blogger.
Major Andrew Olmsted was writing on the war in Iraq for The Rocky Mountain News - a daily newspaper in Denver. Sometime ago he wrote a posting that wasn’t immediately published. It was to be published in the event of his death.
Today that posting is live as Olmsted is not.
I respect his wish not to use his death for political purposes so I will withhold commentary on the war and the toll it takes. Instead I encourage all to read his final posting.
“This is an entry I would have preferred not to have published, but there are limits to what we can control in life, and apparently I have passed one of those limits.” (read more)
My sympathies to his wife and family.
January 9, 2008 at 6:46 pm · Filed under America, Media Industry
My love-hate relationship with the media continues unabated. Remember long, long ago - in yesterday’s papers? Hillary Clinton was portrayed as having a meltdown when asked how she was holding up on the campaign trail. (Now remember - the presidential candidates are working 16 hour days on average.) Hillary’s voice broke. She fought back tears. She said it was taking its toll.
POUNCE! The media descended on her like flies on a cow pat. “Hillary’s Meltdown!” cried one. “Candidate in Crisis” said another newspaper. She was seen as a loser flailing in the wake of Barrack Obama and her race to the White House was all but over.
They say a week is a long time in politics. But in today’s news environment a day is a decade.
Today Hillary is “back on track” and she’s “the comeback kid.” (For those living in the deepest caves of Cooper Pedy she won the New Hampshire primary - now get back to opal mining, you louts.)
And that “meltdown?” That’s the “real moment” when voters could see her as a person. The connection was “profound and emotional.” Women voters flocked back.
So now the carnage begins - advisers are being changed and we can expect to see a lot more of the personal side of Hillary. I’m not quite sure what that means. After healthcare reforms failed in the early 1990s we didn’t get cookie recipes from her. Do we get to go shopping together? Can we talk about raising kids? Will she go on the couch with Dr Phil and talk about adultery?
Here’s the question of the day: When Hillary Clinton’s campaign says we can see a lot more of her as a person, what do they mean?
January 8, 2008 at 7:36 pm · Filed under America, Australia
One of the most cherished rights in any democracy is freedom of speech. China jails dissidents for expressing their opinions, as do other police states including Burma and North Korea. Providing opposing opinions to government ensures checks and balances - and avoids extremes and abuses.
Today I am in Adelaide, quaintly known as the City of Churches. It is also home to Australia’s only convicted terrorist, David Hicks.
With saturation media coverage Hicks was released from jail between Christmas and New Year and was taken by supporters to an undisclosed location to begin the adjustment to civilian life. Five years of solitary confinement and egregious treatment mean he’s no longer able to function in society. An acclimatization field trip in a van had to be called of due to a panic attack. Hicks thought he was being taken back into US custody for another series of interrogations under questionable techniques.
So now he is free. But Hicks is not free to talk. He cannot discuss his treatment under US captivity. He cannot talk about the deal that returned him to Australia - but freed him after the federal election. He cannot chronicle to the public his illegal actions that led to his arrest.
Look at it this way. We’ve all been at the receiving end of bureaucratic stupidity, whether it’s a disagreement with local council or a dispute with the telephone company. We witness idiocy every day. And we vent to family members, friend or neighbours. It’s therapeutic. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban can sell photos of their expected baby when it’s delivered (way to go guys!) for up to $2 million.
And yet David Hicks cannot speak.
A gag order is a major deprivation of freedom and is being applied at a time when we need to know all about government abuses of power. It is Hicks’ right to speak. It is our right to hear.
January 7, 2008 at 9:57 pm · Filed under Issues Management, Globalisation, Public Relations
NSW Tourism is filming a Bollywood film entitled, “Victory.” This “Bend if Like Beckham” sports story focuses on the trials and tribulations of the Commonwealth’s favourite sport - cricket. Shot at favoured locales across Sydney the film may be seen by as many as 1 billion people in India.
It couldn’t happen at a worst time.
Yesterday India’s cricket board called off the current test tour of Australia. Players who had boarded a bus for a match in Canberra disembarked after an hour and returned to the Radisson hotel - indefinitely.
At question is a multi-game suspension for one of India’s top players for a racial slur. But dig not much deeper and a wellspring of discontent springs forward - against Australia.
Captain Ricky Ponting is in the headlines with major papers across the nation calling for his dismissal. He led Cricket Australia to victory as team captain. But he did so in ways labeled disgraceful and unsportsmanlike. The letters to the editor are awash with cricket fans protesting against our own team. The Sydney Morning Herald runs an editorial with a superbly written opening line:
Australia’s cricketers and their managers have managed to pluck a moral disaster out of their victory in the Sydney Test against India. (Click to read more.)
So. Cricket India is holed up at the Radisson. Cricket Australia is under fire for poor sportsmanship. In India an effigy of the Second Test umpire was burned in the street.
Sounds like a terrible time to undertake a Bollywood Film promoting Australia using cricket as a theme. But then again “The Producers” had us all humming along to “Springtime for Hitler and Germany.” Perhaps they just need a really memorable show tune for “Victory.” Any suggestions for the song title?
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Today that posting is live as Olmsted is not.
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