Police rescue young couple from burning car

Two police officers saved a young couple from a burning car yesterday morning in Frankston.

Darren Brown, 25 and Sally Weinstein, 24, were in the car when it crashed into an embankment wall and burst into flames.

“You could see flames coming from the undercarriage of the car,” said Senior Constable Glenn Paxton, who was present at the scene. “Once we had them out I grabbed a fire extinguisher from our patrol car and put the flames out.”

Witnesses report that the car was struck by a glass bottle, thrown by a group of men who were at the McDonalds restaurant on Wells St in Frankston.

Brown reversed the car to confront the men, which provoked a further attack when the rock that was thrown through the windscreen injured Brown, resulting in the car crash.

Paxton and his colleague, Detective Senior Constable Craig Small were parked on a side street and tended to the injured passengers.

Weinstein sustained a broken arm, while Brown’s condition is still to be confirmed.

An investigation is currently underway and police wish to speak to four caucasian men who were at the scene, believed to be involved in the accident.

CHOICE media release

Genetically modified ingredients are not being disclosed on food labels, consumer advocacy group, CHOICE, reveals this week. The mandatory labeling of GM ingredients on  food products are not strictly enforced in Australia, and therefore consumers are unable to distinguish between  foods which have  and have not been genetically modified.

CHOICE Senior Campaigner, Clare Hughes, states “You have the right to know if your food comes from GM crops or GM fed animals, directly or indirectly. The law should require full disclosure of any GM ingredients so that consumers have all the information they need to make a truly informed choice.”

Foods which may contain genetically modified ingredients range anywhere from breakfast cereals and snack foods, to cooking oils and sauces. Meat and dairy products in Australia may also be derived from animals that have consumed GM feed, which does not need to be disclosed on the label.

There is no hard evidence to suggest that GM foods are harmful, however, CHOICE argues that the extent of research undertaken so far does not exclude them from being unsafe. Additionally there are environmental and ethical issues in regards to genetically modified foods, which may influence the buying decision of consumers.

CHOICE is urging consumers to demand better labelling of GM foods in Australia, and to bring this issue to the attention of the Food Labelling Review Panel.

one week of brain strain gave me 3 tiny ideas!

So I have racked my brain all week trying to think of potential stories and (most importantly, accessible!) interviewees for the short news story piece! I found it quite challenging at first but as the juices started to flow, I realised that there is a lot going on out there that could be of high interest and is of relevance to different target groups. The only thing I thought I should stick by was to find a story that I am personally interested in and have some amount of knowledge in already.

1. the proliferation of online shopping for cosmetics in Australia. eg. kitcosmetics.com, skincarestore.com.au… compared to retail purchasing. This trend has been an interest with online shopping experts as it has examined the changes in buying behaviour in consumers over recent years. It has been recognised that online shopping in Australia is still not at the same level in comparison to the US and UK, and it would be interesting to find out how soon it picks up, if it actually does. I found that I could relate to this, as I have had direct experience with this as an online consumer, and I think it would be great to know the real deal coming from the experts!

possible interview sources: L’Oreal Paris marketing manager, kit cosmetics online sales team

2. approach to children’s health issues and actions taken to promote healthy eating in 2010. I wanted to examine the different initiatives taken for the young Australian population in response to promote healthier eating habits. This idea came to me in light of Jamie Oliver’s recent visit to Australia, launching his Ministry of Food campaign to encourage healthy cooking in homes. Further, I wanted to look into governement initiatives like the ‘Kids – Go for your Life’ program, and what kind of social responsibility multinationals like Nestle and Walt Disney are committed to.

possible interviewees: Nestle representative, Walt Disney Co Food, Health, Beauty category manager, primary school principal who is part of the GFYL program, vegetarian cafe owner & mother of 11 year old

3. Melbourne’s ‘Marvelous March’ (thatsmelbourne.com.au) – why are so many great events crammed into March? LMFF, Food & Wine Fest, Comedy Fest, Grand Prix… Events don’t pick up again til Spring Fashion Week! It might be worth taking a look at what other event organisers are doing to fill the calendar, as there is a good 5 months where Melbournians will crave some quality activities and entertainment (weather dependent, of course!)

possible interviewees: Program co ordinator for the Melb Food & Wine festival, thatsmelbourne.com.au Marketing & Events team

Investigative reporting

The article written by Paige Williams is based on key figures which sets the foundation for the way she tells her story. It seems that she would have consulted census data to report such figures, as well as a range of primary sources with whom she was able to directly quote from. In depicting a very broad and sensitive issue like poverty, it makes sense to try to get as close to the source as Williams’ had, by obtaining council and government reports and statistics, as well as finding out who might be directly affected. The story produced by Nick McKenzie relied on evidence from letters and referenced historical reports in the media of the subject of his investigation. He also went to government sources for further information as well as quoted directly from his subjects.

The investigation itself presents the story as being based on facts and actual evidence, which is the purpose of an investigative report – to reveal the truth in detail and context. The investigation acts to inform the audience of what would generally not be public knowledge without some in depth research, and it gives the story a complete dimension and a seemingly full rounded exposure of what the issue is.

Given that both articles are of a different nature, the methods by which the investigations were carried out would have been different. Williams’ article aimed to paint a picture of a crisis situation, to generate awareness and attention to a societal problem. In terms of gathering data, I believe it would have been easier to do this than to investigate particular persons who would try to conceal information, as in McKenzie’s investigation, to protect their reputations. Figures and statistics are generally available to the public and would not be questioned as closely as a direct enquiry into certain public figures. Williams’ used a real life example in portraying the point of her investigation, where she writes a narrative about Vicky and Will and portrays them as key characters that the audience can follow and sympathise with, and I thought this was a very clever way of aligning hard facts with a real life story that reads fictional in description. In McKenzie’s investigation he relied on a great deal of what had already been stated and found in previous reports and letters to build his investigation, but only quoted from one of the parties mentioned, Eric Fitzgibbon.  It might have been worth attempting to interview Helen Liu, to contrast actual verbal claims to documented evidence of letters with which she was involved.

Pomo Oz discussion

In the Tabloid Deconstruction chapter from Pomo Oz, Niall Lucy equates journalism to photography in the sense that what is written by a journalist is much like evidence, or a record of an actual event – “a modern-day journalist doesn’t so much write as point a keyboard at the world, capturing what ‘was’ or still ‘is’”. Niall illustrates that the immediacy of capturing the moment through words makes reporting much like an analogic photo – where the moment is described more or less in the way that it forms as an image, and is assumed to be true because there is no space or time to change what is real.

Niall’s view on journalistic writing is that, much like a photograph can be interpreted a certain way when presented in a particular context, so can text when the view or image that the journalist is trying to convey is described by a select choice of words – “textual meanings are never independent of contexts, so that textual referents are not pre-given but produced”. He blatantly suggests that the delivery of words is just as powerful as photographic evidence and can be used for any purpose so long as it is attributable, and was derived from a knowledgeable source, which the public assume is the job of media professionals.

The influence and reach that words and images have can dictate the outcome of high profile issues, giving journalistic writing a great amount of authority. The example Niall uses with the ‘children overboard’ issue, whereby the Howard government uses this aid their electoral stance, shows that words and images can indeed be manipulated and used in ways that are not completely truthful or without bias, and can and will overshadow that which remains in the dark or undisclosed. He makes it clear that there is a lot of power in the words delivered by journalists, because as their job is to report, the public need to trust that what they see and read is true. Having this kind of power, can obviously be used differently, depending on who exercises this power.