Friday 14 September 2007

Asymmetric Journalism?

I wonder why The Chaser’s APEC stunt scored the highest ever audience for an ABC comedy? Could it be that Australian viewers were unaccepting of the heavy-handed security modeled on the most extreme that the Americans can offer, or maybe they were browned off by the hype? Or maybe they just thought it was funny?
Either way, it made very effective television. Perhaps this heralds a new kind of asymmetric journalism? The best way to highlight absurdity is to turn its consequences on itself, using whatever structures are set up by those who created it.
The people who really suffer from this are the rank and file police who can’t win once they’re caught up in it all. Maybe it’s time the police unions involved exhibited a little bit of courage and spoke up for their members.

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The Forgotten Men

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