A typical stereotype of Nimbin was exemplified by ABCTV's Tony Jones in introducing a film clip made by the hirsute Mook and Peej and screened on the "Q & A" program last night.
He could not resist snidely commenting that, "of course they are from Nimbin." which remark raised some sniggers from the in-house audience.

In fact neither of the two is from Nimbin but I feel it justifies the conclusion to my article - that some media don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Graham

Hmmm, isn't the point being missed here? The article, as I understand it, is about perceptions of Nimbin as portrayed through the media. That topic was addressed in some posts, but most have simply written down their own perceptions of Nimbin, which is interesting (a bit) but not what we might more profitably be considering.
While he editorialises, in order to show us the difference between a long-term resident's view and that of writers such as Piers Ackerman, Graham Irvine has made a careful study of media perceptions of the village; and despite the fact that he frequently, and in my view, disrespectfully, substitutes the word 'hack' for 'journalist', I still think this is a scholarly piece with much to say about how a million people can look at the same sight and see a million different things; and about how hard it is to change the media's mind, and by so doing, alter public perceptions.

I've tried very hard to get this sentence out of my head - honest I have - but it keeps coming back to haunt me.

>>There's more cultural and social development happening in the Northern Rivers than just about anywhere I can think of in Australia<<

CJ, with the greatest respect - and profound curiosity - could you spare a moment or two to expand on this?

As a city dweller in Australia for thirty years or so, and having visited various country towns every so often during that time, I can't quite come to grips with the "more cultural and social development happening" concept.

Please, could you help me out here, with just a couple of examples?