Monday 24 August 2009

They just don't get it

Any local or visitor that attended any one of the many weekend Festival Cairns events, from the amazing Parade to the inaugural Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, would have felt a sense of pride in our community and region.
The Parade was an amazing collection of community groups and individuals that were celebrating the tropical north of Queensland.
The Indigenous Fair alone had 10,000 visitors and nearly half a million dollars in sales since it opened on Friday, and the launch of the wonderful Festival Cairns - revitalised this year by Cairns Regional Council - who have done an amazing job bringing a new event together after the community asked for a radical change.
So, at a time when the city was celebrating the success of telling our stories and enjoying what we're good at when we come together, the Cairns Post chose to have a go at the Mayor and Council on no less than four pages of their weekend edition.
This newspaper is becoming so sad that it's becoming a regional embarrassment. We now publicly make excuses for it to visitors and friends.
As Matt Heirink, a CairnsBlog reader said, the story about getting a Feng Shui expert to use her psyhic ability, to have a go a the Mayor, was such a new low for the Post.

Jodi Brunner was given photos of naughty footballer Todd Carney, disgraced developer Tom Hedley and Mayor Val Schier.

"She was not told who they were and did no research on her topics," the Post wrote. "Ms Brunner, who has been studying faces for 15 years, gave very accurate readings for three of the Far North’s best-known people."
"She immediately picked Carney as a footballer, Hedley as an entrepreneur, and Shier as a leader," Matt Heirink, writing to CairnsBlog said. "While disgraced sportsman Carney and disgraced developer Hedley were applauded for being clever, poor Val got the thumbs down for being a bad communicator."
About Carney she said he would be quite good as a captain, and Hedley: "He’s got a very entrepreneurial face shape, he’s very clever and as he gets older," Jodi Brunner told the Post.
The stunning revelation about our Mayor was that she could get along better with people if her eyebrows were darker. "Eyebrows represent communication with peers,” she said
And this is meant to be the basis of creating news? Getting psychics to tell you what they think?

It was only last month that the Post was using their website anonymous comments as the total basis of a story "Mr Smith of Woree said that..."

The Cairns Post has gone to new depths in this paper's continuing campaign to denigrate our Mayor and the Council.

Last week the Cairns Post started on a path of biting the hand that feeds them. The revelation that Council spent money of a promotional video, along with almost every other local Government in Regional Queensland, the Post got the viewing numbers wrong. Very wrong.

They subsequently blamed Channel 7, producer of the programme, and mis-quoted the audience. It was very foolish, stemmed from jealously, that they missed out, and yet another vain attempt to say the Council is wasting money.

The head of channel 7 was in town last week and was furious when he read the Post article. The TV show that the Cairns Post criticised had actually been seen by 220,000 people, including 48,000 in Sydney, not counting regional WA or Tasmania. The Sea Change Tree Change series has also been screened to domestic and international visitors in 6,700 hotel rooms in Cairns.

It's ironic that the Cairns Post, which receives a vast majority of Council's advertising budget, was commenting on the medium of TV being used as a promo by Cairns Regional.

Maybe the Council should move towards radio and TV advertising, instead of the trash that the Post is publishing.

Disgruntled Kerie Hull, once a servant of communication for the Council, now seems to be very busy feeding information to the Cairns Post, that she alone is privileged to be aware of. Hull, along with former CEO Briggs, was instrumental in organising and approving this Channel 7 deal, whilst she was working in the office.

The Post has clearly become one sad reflection of our community, with a single-minded motivation. Any thinking person can see right through.

They just don't get it.

20 comments:

Veritas said...

Observers of the Cairns Post are witnessing the symptoms of a floundering and decaying tabloid. Its integrity is in taters.

On the other hand its sister paper the Townsville Bulletin has creditability and is seen as a positive and responsible community newspaper.

Any organisation that has lost its identity, usually drifts in a moribund state.

The Cairns Post has lost its identity, does not have a community vision and is directed towards the transient tourist population.

Its pages, for all intents and purposes are full of dramatic, evocative and sensationalised items with little positive substance or depth.

It does have a financial vision though and that is to provide a vehicle for revenue raising through advertising. The discredited editorials express purpose are to provide infill between the pages of advertisements.

Ever since The Cairns Post lost the sage editorial guidance some years ago, through the retirement of Allan Hudson, its reputation has gradually disintegrated to a discredited rag of Fleet Street style and substance.

It is unlikely that this slide will be arrested/reversed unless there is a conscious decision by its management to once again become an organ of the local community, the protector of democracy and the bastion of accountability and transparency.

The Community is poorer for the contempt that the Cairns Post is held in.

CBD Warrior said...

As opposed to the CairnsBlog, who's proprietor has been caught forging times on photos, and flat just making shit up.

The CairnsBlog is nothing more than an internet mirror of its sister publication, the Cairns Post.

Linda said...

Forgery? So where is the lawsuit from Blake/Hull.

Martin T. said...

re: "Disgruntled Kerie Hull, once a servant of communication for the Council, now seems to be very busy feeding information to the Cairns Post, that she alone is privileged to be aware of."

Geez Michael - speculation much?

3rd Floor Council staffer, JJ said...

Hey Martin, any follower of this blog will know those behind who's been leaking info to the ComPost and who it is who knows specific info about the so called "scandals" that the crap tag had published "from a leaked source".

Also, and as I work in Council, we know things like the leaked budget details when only one staffer wad working on it.

The so-called pr backdrop wall that the Compost rubbished Val for was of Hull's doing and her baby.

Not difficult to put 2 and 2 together when you work on the third floor up here Martin.

Veritas said...

I was unaware of todays Cairns Post when I composed my original comment.

Just take a look at todays front page headline. Is that story worthy of front page exposure?

Attaching itself to some elderly person's misfortune to sell newspapers is indicative of its editorial standard and absurd reporting ethics.

I wonder how many bored individuals will 'copy cat' the episode!

Nicky J said...

I interviewed Val on the weekend for a promo for the I Love Cairns speaking competition (www.ilovecairns.org) and she was the best person I interviewed all day. I was impressed with her communication skills! Even better than Gary Mehigan from MasterChef!

CBD Warrior said...

Yo Linda,

You obviously don't understand what a "lawsuit" is designed to do. Who's going to sue an unemployed, unemployable Kiwi with no assets?

What's the point?

Thorton's Peaking too soon said...

Oh dear CBD Blakie. You are one sad puppy.

Drive ya dated MX5 and tight pants acting like a horny teenager, we know what you've done for our city..... Zip. Nothing. Zilch. Plus, story round town is you're broke and loney. Just look at you round the Council table!

Blake tried to use Council lawyers when he got it for free under Briggs, but Tabulo won't allow it.

Also, Blake is rather distracted these days to defend the indefencible. Why, after his last failed attempt to send a legal threat, would he want any more attention on his torus little life after being dumping by every single Councillor from the Finance Committee chair?

Blake's Sydney sister who often gives him legal advice, probably tells him to stop drawing attention to his sorry arse.

That's why he is lying low.

rebecca said...

that's nice Nicky.

but what about her leadership skills?

Barron River Barry said...

Rebecca, you sound like a certain cairns councillor in drag!

Brian L, Kewarra said...

Interesting how CBD carries on. He uses the same attacks on Bryan Law, saying he's unemployed etc etc.

Because he can't debate a subject with any intelligence, he'll fabricate rubbish in an attempt to defame and attack people he knows nothing about. This is a distrCtibg technique, but rather transparent and vain.

As I've said before here, this says more about the idiot himself than what he's writing.

Jodi Brunner said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jodi Brunner said...

In response to your comments, I'd like to add that the newspaper did exaggerate somewhat on what I said and I regret that the Mayor was taken in that light in order to get a few extra ratings for the newspaper. I was not particularly critical of her, other favourable comments I made about her were not included. Oh and BTW I'm not a 'psychic' so probably you need to read properly yourself before making comments too.
Jodi Brunner
www.fengshuimaster.com.au

Tony Hillier said...

And now the ComPost has the hide to nakedly lobby councillors to vote for former councillor Peabody's waterworks — in between mercilessly flogging its second-rate rock concert (to the exclusion of virtually everything else on the Festival Cairns program!). It's enough to make you weep!

Jerome Turner said...

Hey Tony Hillier, I don't suppose the addition of Snake Gully to the timeout line-up would make it a "first-rate" rock concert, would it? Ha ha ha ha ha!!!

Tony Hillier said...

Absolutely not, Jerome, but the old Snakes (hiss, hiss) would add a bit of variety to the Time Out bill! If you want to hear a diversity of sounds in one band, I suggest you attend Kamerunga's concert at the Botanic Gardens during Carnival on Collins on Sunday, Sept 6th (12.50-1.30pm). Rumour has it that their debut CD is to be nominated for an ARIA award!

KitchenSlut said...

It was a promising start for the new festival format however unreported was that the Esplanade hub music following the excellent fireworks didn't seem to match the website schedule?

Saltwater Band hit the stage a full one hour and fifteen minutes after the starting time indicated on the website! Not sure if this was related to the illness of the key man combined with an extraordinarily boring timelapse to set up for the band of over half an hour after the crowd being advised there would be a ten minute turnaround.

Nicki, you may have been impressed by Val from the perspective of an interviewer however while my own experience can't fault her direct personal communication skills she struggles in mass media such as radio. She is no match for Gary Mehigan here and you are deluded if you think so from the perspective of the consumer. Something she needs to work on .....

Syd Walker said...

I just checked out Jodi Brunner's interesting website.

Her face, on the homepage, is very impressive. Without reading further, I did an analysis on Jodi's face to try out my talents in this fascinating art that's increasingly in demand.

Based on facial analysis alone, it seems clear to me (and I'm no expert!), that Jodi is strong-minded, well-organized and dedicated to her chosen career. She's the type of person who might well be contacted on occasion by a tawdry provincial tabloid desperate to improve its ratings.

Am I right or what?

Steven Nowakowski said...

Hey Syd,

You now need the Cairns Post to publish your results to make it credible.!