Malcolm, I could not agree with you more.

Any notion that the media is not as significant an influencer of public perception than the content itself is almost completely dead.

There's no single, credible source as there was in days gone by; to form a perspective, individuals are now, more than ever, required to carefully analyse the different opinions before forming their own.

This brings your comments on fact-based reporting into even more stark relief, as the content is all too often incorrect (or worse still, politically aligned) & the need to get the story out as quick as possible undermines factual reporting.

Thanks for the great article.

Ab-so-bloody-lutely. Australians would be better off asking their next door neighbour what was happening rather than relying on the media.

The commercial news media have hyped themselves out of arena of public discourse. There is no longer the language left to describe commonplace events such as Mrs Fergusson, a pensioner of Fortitude Valley being smothered to death by her 13 cats. Shock! Horror! Who's to blame?

If you want to see the daily use of the maximum superlative, log on to The Adelaide Advertiser. The fires in Victoria are a HOLOCAUST. I get the idea but ...

'hordes'

No Screws, hoards. They were hidden away.

No.

If you wished to use it incorrectly, knowingly, as a pun, then 'hoards' - with inverted commas.

But easier to get a proofreader.

Is 'oops' that hard to say?

My pun, Screws.

>>No. If you wished to use it incorrectly, knowingly, as a pun, then 'hoards' - with inverted commas. But easier to get a proofreader. Is 'oops' that hard to say?<<

But not my article, I'm afraid, so you may have picked the wrong target.

But if it makes you feel better,

'oops'

Headlines sell full stop. that's why fears of global warming,climate change,ozone depletion,endangered animals pay.

Education is the key. I defining moment for me was my year 11 English teacher playing an episode of "A Current Affair" with stories of cat's stuck up trees and disrespectful yoof and posing the question "are these 'current affairs'?". I own a debt to you Miss V.

I totally agree. I also think that 'A Current Affair' is a fantastic cure for this phenomenon. After you watch one program, you find it difficult to take any of this fear-mongering seriously.

If people did, they'd have to spend all their time cowering under their beds, for fear of out-of-control alcohol-crazed yoof who might steal all their coupons to pay for some fantastic miracle skin cream.

A few of my pet-hates:

1) Adding the suffix '-gate' to the headline of any controversy. This is tired. And old. Journalists who do this should be flogged. No, it's not watergate. I don't care how clever you think you are, you're not Woodward or Bernstein.

2) Ray Martin.

3) The use of the phrase 'liberal elite' or 'chardonnay sippers'. I get it. You don't like educated people who disagree with you or hold different political views. Can't you just be upfront and call them suspiciously educated sounding tofu munchers?

4) Info-tainment. Banish this scourge from our shores before it takes hold.

5) Any article which includes the phrase "people close to the star have told 'X-publication' that she was...."
This is code for *bulldust* that can't be substantiated, but it's also an indication that you're wasting your time reading it.

Oops! ;-)

Well Screw this is a serious matter.
News is entertainment - Murdoch.
If so, then the media cannot report anything of real substance. Take the bush fires - we sit teary eyed watching the country burn because the information passed on by science and technology through the media on how to avoid death from bush fires has been mixed in with commercial breaks, satire and infotainment for decades. The media is just not taken seriously. Seriousness is left to 'professionals', but they use the media to get through their messages. OOPs indeed!

Maybe Jesus will come back and save our bottoms, or John Lennon perhaps. Or Walt Disney. I know, the Fat Pizza Boys....