A Current Affair and their tabloid sister Today Tonight must be over bashing Muslims this week. In the wake of the terrible tragedy in Japan, where thousands of people have lost their lives and many more are injured and homeless, ACA are asking this thoughtful and considerate question as a viewer poll:
"Should Australia focus its resources on Queensland before sending aid to Japan?"
That's right, while tens of thousands are left waiting for assistance and the search for survivors continues, lets do our best to drum up more xenophobic nonsense. Its a new take on the foreign aid debate.
Not surprisingly, 78% of people think we should support Queensland first. What, we cant do both?
Was the same question asked when Christchurch suffered an earthquake only weeks ago? Worth remembering that Japan sent teams of support to New Zealand for that disaster.
Don't worry, they wont be on this issue for long. Back to the Hey Dad saga for some more vilification.
The Coles Supermarket inspired milk price war seems to have captured the attention of the Federal Parliament as well as the media. $1 a litre for home brand milk and all of a sudden the dairy industry is up in arms about how much money this could cost them. Really? Its not like Coles or Woolies actually own any cows and they ain't going to import the milk.
The major suppliers of milk to the supermarkets need to pull their head in. Particularly when you understand that they just negotiated a generous 3 year deal with the supermarkets. Prices for dairy farmers aren't being squeezed. What is being squeezed is the fat margins the suppliers have enjoyed on their own branded products. With a move to home branded products, that leaves the skinny milks and the REV's losing market share. Remember that the same people who make the branded products also make the home brand being sold for $1 a litre. So if you have a problem guys, don't make it. Problem solved.
Meanwhile Coles claim that their $1 milk isn't a loss leader - a product sold at a loss to get you in store to purchase other items with strong margins. Id be surprised if it isn't a loss leader, but even if not, with all the advertising the margins would have to be very small.
At the same time, while we are all looking elsewhere, Coles and Woolworths/Safeway have raised the prices on other items. Ive personally seen a number of my regular purchases go up in price in the last 2 months. Some small, some as much as 30%. So while they claim that "down down prices are down", it only applies to some items. And "staying down"? Yeah, until when? Whats the end game strategy when prices go up - and they will. These supermarket wars will end at some stage.
And then we have product range. Anyone else noticed how limited the range is at Coles these days? By all accounts they have slashed the range of products on offer by more than 25% in the last year. An item i purchased there 2 weeks ago - an Arnott's product no less - was not available a couple of days ago. Shelves are being stacked full but the range is much less. So bad it was almost like shopping at a milk bar. So far as i can tell, Woolworths haven't followed their lead. Time will tell.
A Current Affair outdid themselves at the start of the week with their "exclusive" new twist to the Sarah Monahan Hey Dad "scandal". The story was heavily promoted before being aired on Monday night. It ran for about 13 minutes - about half the show's length. For the first 11 minutes all we got was a complete rehash of the story aired 12 months ago. Just repeated footage, nothing new.
And the exclusive story? News that Sarah Monahan is "considering" taking civil action against a former member of the cast. Anti climax? You bet. With Two and a Half Men now cancelled, perhaps ACA could fill the 7pm slot with repeats of previous episodes. Running rehashed stories with old footage and calling it news is just a con job.
Then again, given The Age ran the story the next day as if it were new, and not based on 12 month old information, perhaps rehashing is the way to go. Meanwhile the police investigation continues. Lets hope they aren't pressured into making determinations based on tabloid TV.
Apparently Brendan Fevola was asked to leave Crown Casino by staff after he sat down to play poker. It is reported that it was done in his interests as he has a gambling problem. Yes he does. Something he freely admits. So why oh why is there a need to plaster such a story all over the news.
On one hand we talk about what a terrible addiction gambling is, how we should do much more to help those with problems. The Age pontificates about it endlessly. But it doesn't stop news organisations kicking a man while he is down. Of all the problems in society, a bloke with a gambling problem spending his own money isn't news - and doesn't help. Its not like he was knocking over old ladies and stealing their handbags. He has a problem, accept it and move on to real news.
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