Abandoning Bali for Thailand ...

[chuckwoww]

gobbledonk said:

No problems Emmitt - I suspect that BB is alluding to the fact that we cant rely on the news re Iraq being 'genuine', particularly with the Bush administtrations aversion to having another Vietnam in terms of press coverage. Embedded reporters, networks being squeezed when they do get hold of something like Abu Ghraib, etc. My guess is that you have to watch Al Jazeera, see how the same story is being 'sold' by the Western media, then plumb for something in the middle.

 

Off topic I know but I can't let it pass without a comment. It's the editors who have the power not the journalists. They decide if a story gets headlines or buried on the back pages. Of course the editors listen closely to the publishers or they soon lose their jobs.

[gobbledonk]

I think the thing which angers me about the whole 'freedom of the press' spiel is that they are bought and paid for, just like pretty much everyone else in a capitalist society. For every Woodward and Bernstein, there are innumerable hacks who are happy to write whatever politically correct tripe the 'machine' wants, knowing full well that the competition for their jobs is cutthroat. We do have *one* TV station which refuses to play by the rules:

 

Dateline Makes Headlines Around the World

 

In keeping with SBS Dateline's reputation for quality current affairs and newsbreaking reports last week's world exclusive report on Afghanistan made headlines around the world.

 

The report by Stephen Dupont and John Martinkus was a front page story in The New York Times and featured prominently in countless publications and electronic media reports throughout the world including The Washington Post, CNN, BBC, The Guardian (UK), ABC (US), Radio Free Afghanistan, Al Jazeera, The Daily Times (Pakistan), The Times (UK) Xinhua China, Japan Today etc.

 

(For world coverage of the report check http://news.google.com/news )

 

As a result of the report, on the desecration of Muslim corpses by a division of the American army, the Pentagon has announced that the US Army has started a criminal investigation into the allegations.

 

As far as this being 'off-topic', I dont know that it is - there is an entrenched media attitude here in Oz that portraying Indonesia as a haven for extremists/terrorists 'right on our doorstep' is in the best interests of the Australian public. It sees defence budgets increase, innumerable white papers written, and Police given search and seizure powers that Stalin would have envied. I stand by my assertion that this is a tragedy

 

- of all the different races in Asia, the Javanese and Balinese would have to be some of the most laidback and apolitical I've encountered. The TNI are a separate issue for another discussion.

- Bahasa is one of the simpler languages to learn - its taught in many of our schools, just as English is taught in many Indonesian schools

- the Oz government has worked extremely hard to forge a relationship with Indonesia, arguably neglecting its relationship with other Asian nations (Malaysia for one) : it survived military intervention in East Timor, so surely it can survives Islamic terrorists on an predominately Hindu island.