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A horror movie, right there on my TV

Daniela Elser

by Daniela Elser

13 Jan 05:45am

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Filed under: Brisbane, Disaster, Floods, Media, Queensland Floods, Toowoomba

41 comments

There will come a time for introspection, but for now we watch the tide.

Before dawn broke this morning much of Brisbane’s CBD will have been swamped by a muddy deluge that will scour and scare the city.

But this is a news story like no other in our history because this story is playing out painstakingly live on at least four channels.

The Victorian bushfires in 2009 chased through the bush and left carnage in their wake, as the media scrambled to tell the countless horror stories that had played out.

This time, we find ourselves unsettlingly waiting for the carnage to unfold, helped along by the rolling news coverage.

Yesterday the nation watching the swelling river take the city, a wired mania feeding off constant updates from furrow-browed blondes with microphones.

Around Queensland and Northern NSW there were a herd of (mostly) young women chasing tragedy. They are the crop of TV journalists who have found themselves narrating an unfolding, incomprehensible natural disaster.

The persistent, breathless news bulletins and live crosses that swamped the major channels mean the nation, as a whole, is living though this mud-slicked misery in intimate detail.

Near constant media briefings, hour after hour of footage of brown water ripping and roaring through towns and paddocks, has pushed this natural disaster into every living room in the country like never before.

In times of anxiety we hunt for information - a classic symptom of disaster scenarios, according to psychologists - and we are ravenously consuming and producing vast swathes of information in hitherto unknown proportions.

Never before have we had a national tragedy play out on Twitter and Facebook, offering a beguiling intimacy and empathy between those at the epicentre of this and those watching, frustrated and shocked from the sidelines.

There is no question the vast proliferation of broadcast and social media is changing the way we, as a nation, experience tragedy and disaster. Will this level of coverage also change the way we make sense of this experience, how we assimilate it into our collective memory?

Nick Earls wrote in the New York Times this week: “Events like this flood not only show our stoicism, but create it. It’s important to Queenslanders, like all Australians, that we see ourselves as people who look adversity in the eye, stare it down and band together to overcome it.”

But, are we looking calamity and sorrow in the eye or becoming disoriented in an overwhelming, constantly unfolding tale?

Most commented

353"Gifting", "journey" and other words we hate
309Thomson didn't answer the question everyone is asking
246A big day for Thomson, who thus far is guilty of nothing...
242They must pay for one's bitter disappointments
230Craig Thomson speaks. Meanwhile, in Australia...
230South Australia. It's the middle bottom bit.
224The most laughable, err, spoof since Einfeld
224Punch on: Open thread 17/05/2012

41 comments

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    • BK says:

      08:09am | 13/01/11

      “In times of anxiety we hunt for information ”

      Actual information has been quite scarce. The media has been satisfiied to simply go up to every victim that they see and ask them how they feel. If the media had any decency, they would leave these people alone. Some of us want cold hard facts. Every insurance company and many state government departments would have flood modelling yet all we have seen is the model linked to this article, which makes it hard to identify streets and suburbs. Every news network has choppers, yet they reported rumors without checking the truth of them. In the flooding in western Queensland, it would be great to know which rivers are rising, which are falling, where the water is heading and which roads are open or closed. All the media, including government websites, showed inaccurate or useless information.

      They just need to stop asking people about their feelings and do some real journalism.

      Reply

    • John Smythe says:

      09:01am | 13/01/11

      totally agree with you BK. Sadly though, news has long since been anything what news should be about…it’s all sensationalism now.

      As much as I empathise with those experiencing losses, I too agree that the last thing they need is cameras shoved in their faces asking them how they feel while the overall issue is STILL ongoing.

      Better reporting would be as you indicate above. Sad part is…I foresee that there will be some logies or something of the sort for the reporters “who risked life and limb” to bring us this tale of disaster…....

    • dancan says:

      09:32am | 13/01/11

      Agree with you BK.  These “reporters” remind me of the old ambulance chasers.

    • Dani says:

      11:45am | 13/01/11

      The BOM website has actual useful information about the various rivers, their levels and whether they are rising, falling or steady. the DMR website (http://highload.131940.qld.gov.au/) has current info on road closures. These two are the only useful sites I’ve found smile

    • HeatherG says:

      03:13pm | 13/01/11

      I’m in Brisbane, and I turned off the television media/southern state reports and just kept an eye on the Qld Police Facebook site. I spent the last couple of days going about my “normal” business (apart from not venturing out, for obvious reasons), and watching DVDs while keeping one eye on FB to see how my friends within the wet zones are doing.

      I should clarify that actual information for those of us in this city has actually been very good: warnings, evacuation plans; which streets should be affected and to what extent; transport warnings and the like. Personal politics aside, I cannot fault the Lord Mayor, Anna Bligh and the Qld Police and other rescue services. The media websites have not always been helpful, but the BCC and Qld Police Facebook/Twitter & You-tube Services and Translink websites have had pertinent and up-to-date info, including regularly debunking myths (such as spurious reports that Brisbane’s drinking water is unsafe and that the Wivenhoe is failing—water’s safe, Dam’s fine, some trains are running hourly).

      I have been fortunate to have been *just* out of the flooding area but my friends in the flood zone were all individually doorknocked by the BCC and given advice on whether to stay or leave, and it has been very easy for me to find out info as to whether those of them with me are able to go home today (one can, thank Fluffy, and his house remained dry). *Local* media outlets have followed the “don’t report rumour” protocol.

      My suggestion, if you’re in the southern states, is to hop on the Qld police website http://www.youtube.com/user/QueenslandPolice and watch the Press Conferences on you-tube. They will set many people’s minds at ease and give better info. Another useful site for anyone who needs travel info is: http://www.translink.com.au/travel-information/service-updates/bulletin/1294864170

      And Dani has already linked the DMR site.

    • Sarah Siltman says:

      11:06pm | 16/01/11

      Agree with Heather. I was in a flood zone, (luckily stayed dry on a hill) but had no tv, signal - got cut at the start of the floods, and I just watched twitter, Facebook flood groups, Qld police website, and ABC 612 on the radio. I got HEAPS of information this way, and knew exactly what was going on down to the minute.

    • Lazy Jesus says:

      08:55am | 13/01/11

      I know this is sad/important etc, but seriously do we really need this constant rolling coverage? I tuned in to see the Channel 9 news at about 6am today and all I saw was an hours worth of footage of a tugboat pushing something down a river.

      I’d actually like to be able to get the rest of the news that has happened in Australia and the rest of the world. I mean I don’t really expect anything close to a competent news service from Channel 9, but come on, how is watching a boat for an hour more important than the actual news of the day?

      Reply

    • PD says:

      09:20am | 13/01/11

      Lazy Jesus, just turn it off and ignore it then. Get up and go for a walk instead of watching TV - perhaps you have that luxury.

      The coverage is there for those that value it, and perhaps even need it. It’s not compulsory to follow it. If you’ve had enough of the coverage, why visit this thread and comment?

    • Lazy Jesus says:

      09:59am | 13/01/11

      I don’t think I ever said I was sick of the coverage. Actually, reading it back, I am 100% sure I NEVER said that, so don’t attribute things to me I have never stated. What I DID do (for the slow ones) was question the neglect of the REST of the news, I understand there is a focus on this one story and I also understand why that is, but really can’t a network spare 5 out of 60 minutes to let us know what is happening in the rest of the world (rather than follow a f**king tugboat for an hour).

      “why visit this thread and comment?”

      I was under the impression commentary is why this site exists. Now I know better, thanks.

    • Jess says:

      10:56am | 13/01/11

      Lazy Jesus I agree with you. What about the bush fires in WA that saw peoples family get evacuated? I only know of this because a friend of mine had her parents evacuated.

      I appreciate all the coverage but when there are no new updates and they are showing the same footage over and over it would be nice to see something else. These floods are devastating I’m not denying that, but sitting there watching all the people crying and the homes is heartbreaking and one can only watch for so long.

      Before you all say I’m insensitive and don’t know what these people are going through, I do know. I have been through floods in the Northern Territory and currently 5 of my families homes are in danger in Queensland and I have still not been able to get in contact with my god father in Toowoomba.  I know that watching the report is not as heartbreaking as what it is to be there but constant shots of flooded streets where I know my family live do not put my mind at ease. The media has a habit of dramatising stories (as they did with the 06 flood in Katherine NT).

    • Shifter says:

      11:06am | 13/01/11

      @PD - I’m in WA, and was quite keen to see the already delayed T20 match last night. The over coverage of this disaster delayed the finish of the match until 10:30pm AWST, or 3 hours after the game had actually finished.

      I don’t want to see 3 different reporters telling me the same things in between snippets of the same interviews, with the same background footage endlessly looped.

      Yes, people have lost houses, businesses, livelihoods, but there is only so many times I can see that floating restaurant crash into a bridge and keep myself from laughing.

    • Tedd says:

      11:21am | 13/01/11

      LazyJesus, The initiative of that tugboat driver - Dug Hyslop - to voluntarily try to prevent that 300 tonne section of walkway crashing into structures down the river, including the Gateway Bridge, and succeeding, may be one of the big stories of these series of disaster.  And you underplay it.  Look how many times you use the first-person pronoun - “I” - in your posts.

    • Tedd says:

      01:11pm | 13/01/11

      sorry - Doug the tugboat pilot, not Dug

    • M says:

      02:43pm | 13/01/11

      I agree with you, there is bushfires in WA, flooding in NSW and Vic as well, not to mention other disasters like the flooding in Sri Lanka, Brazil and the Phillipines happening now.

      Not only am I sick of the rolling coverage, but I don’t need to see the same thing over and over 24/7 across all 5 channels… The tv has been largely switched off the last few days and I am finding online news much better as I can better filter what I take in and don’t have to hear the drivel

    • Ask a stupid question says:

      04:40pm | 13/01/11

      Comment of the Year, Shifter. It’s so inconsiderate of people to go losing their lives, homes, businesses etc when we’re waiting to watch a game on TV.

    • Shifter says:

      04:44pm | 13/01/11

      @Tedd - great bit of initiative by the tug pilot there. I hope in the aftermath the Qld recognises him in some way, as he’s probably saved them a lot of money.

    • Mr Subramanian says:

      11:31am | 13/01/11

      I am reminded about how fortunate we are to live in Australia, even in the midst of a natural disaster like these floods. As a nation, we are wealthy and prosperous enough that we can and will help those affected rebuild, and that the overall loss of life, while tragic, is low compared to what’s happened in these other places.

    • NQ says:

      10:40am | 13/01/11

      Dear channel 7 and channel 9,

      75% of QLD is declared a disaster zone. QLD exists outside of Brisbane/Ipswich.  Do you recall a town by the name of Rockhampton?  You seemed thoroughly interested in it last week.

      That is all.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      05:23pm | 13/01/11

      Hey, Channel 9 or on the ‘Gundy’ bandwagon now…cause its going for a ‘record’.....

      Moral of the story - you better be going for a record disaster or you don’t make the news…..

    • Tony says:

      10:42pm | 13/01/11

      The ‘75% of Queensland’ is a classic piece of sensational misinformation. Rockhampton is much less than halfway up the coast so where is the 75%? Then some say it is population but 150 houses in Rocky were flooded out of a city of 75,000. In Brisbane the proportion is much less.

      These floods are a terrible tragedy without the sensationalism. Have no idea what such figures are designed to achieve.

    • Mim says:

      10:44am | 13/01/11

      As a person who has evacuated my home and can’t get in to check damage; and has family and friends flooded into their homes and currently we are unable to communicate with them to find out what impact the 4am peak had -  rolling coverage has been fantastic. If you want other news, change channel - other stations are covering other topics, or check the news on news.com. For those of us currently living through this - rolling coverage is keeping us informed where we can get no other information.
      So far we have seen footage of several peoples homes who we know stayed in - and are happy to see they are safe, as well as seeing footage of flooded streets and knowing that our friends and neighbours have lost everything.

      Reply

    • BobbyDan says:

      12:53pm | 13/01/11

      @Mim, the ABC Local Radio from Brisbane was streamed all over Australia via the internet. We were able to keep up with what was occurring there and be in Western Australia listening and following the description and the names of suburbs and streets.
      With the power off and bad/jammed telephones we atleast knew relatives were above the flood waters. An excellent service.

    • NQ says:

      01:00pm | 13/01/11

      Fair enough, and I am sincerely sorry for your loss,  but what about the people who aren’t on the Brisbane or Bremer rivers who are currently experiencing flood disaster: Sunshine Coast and Caboolture immediately come to mind, let alone all the communities further west and further north who have been flooded for the second and third times in as many weeks.  They are also currently living through this.

    • M says:

      02:54pm | 13/01/11

      Switch to which other channel? Its been rolling coverage on all 5 channels 24/7 for the past 3 days. No cartoons for the kids… and they’re not reporting anything new. It is the same over and over.

      If you need constant information ABC radio has been broadcasting the warnings and advice. If you need information about friends/family, ring the hotline. TV really needs to give people a break and only report what really is News. Rolling coverage is unnecessary. Instead of having all those reporters in Brisbane how about using the resources, and choppers, to actually help people?

      My TV been off for most of the week because I can’t watch the drivel that comes out of the pointless “and how do you feel” interviews. What about the WA fires, the WA floods, the NSW floods, the Vic floods?? What is happening up in country QLD now? What about Sri Lanka, Brazil?? What about Julian Assange? What about Lake Eyre and the Coorong??

    • TheRealDave says:

      03:19pm | 13/01/11

      I was watching 9’s ‘rolling coverage’ yesterday via the net whilst at work here in Sunny Brisbane and loudly proclaimed my disgust at the constant use of flood animations by 9 during the day.

      They showed the 3.5m flood and what it would do, lovelly blue leaking around the 3d Brisbane….but when you look at it you go ‘meh’ not much there. So to up the ante, and depsite telling everyone for hours that the expected ‘peak’ in the CBD would be around 5.5 or less…..so what does 9 do? Thats right, it shows what a 7m flood would do. And incase you didn’t get ‘the full horror’ it decided to colour the water red.

      7m?

      Why not show Godzilla stomping down the Brisbane River with Riparian Plaza in one hand and the Storey Bridge in the other?

      Fair dinkum

      The other highlight to inanity was when the Dark haired chick brought out local Brisbane Channel 9 weatherman Garry Youngberry and she seemed genuinely dissapointed that the rain had stopped and kept asking him if any more was coming. Poor Garry, he had to explain to her about 5 times that no rain was forcast for more than a week.

      But it gets better! They dragged him back out an hour later to show a ‘forecasted’ cyclone that ‘should’ appear around Australian day that ‘might’ turn around and come back to the SE Corner aroudn Jan 29…complete with lots of angry red and circles around it.

      Talk about pathetic scaremongering.

      Reply

    • fairsfair says:

      04:17pm | 13/01/11

      I agree Dave. I couldn’t believe that cyclone thing. I was chatting to my ma on the phone at the time and we both had the telly on mute. Our conversation was interrupted by simultaneous laughter. WTF? It was so rediculous. They are trying to forecast a cyclone for Brisbane that is currently threatening formation near Vanuatu. I live in Cairns and when a cyclone forms and hovers off the coast they can not clearly tell us what it is going to do and are often wrong (thats not a criticism - it is a cyclone after all!), yet here - following the floods they are able to predict the formation and then where it is going to hit two weeks in advance. PLEASE.

      This kind of crap needs to be stopped because as indicated by a lot of comments here we all start to develop disaster fatigue. Don’t get me wrong, you at no time resent the people involved - but my word there is only so much footage you can tollerate before you simply decide that you can not take anymore.

      I also wonder what the motivation was behind feeling the need to nationalise this coverage? As if people far away do not feel helpless enough! The fact that Brisbane was able to watch it is foreign to me. I was in Larry. The power was off for over a week. Australia saw pictures of the damage before we knew how bad it was. In that situation the issue is that you wanted to see but you can not. So I think this is definately a first in that those who were affected were able to monitor the situation. But a bit of centralised information would be appreciated, allowing the rest of Australia to get some other information.

      I also wonder,  whatever happened to the universal emergency sound? The noise that you associate with an information update - it seems to have disappeared. How are people to distinguish actual emergency information from Karl Stafanovic just recalling his experience of cyclones in Cairns in the 80s?

    • TheRealDave says:

      04:37pm | 13/01/11

      Agreed.

      I also noticed with amusement that all the Brisbane Channel 9 folk got shipped out to be replaced with Mexican imports who took great pains to mention any past historical link they may ever had had with Brisbane, no matter how tenuous. We had a suburb called Waco for a few hours….and the dippy shiela they sent out to Ispwich was telling me how they came through Goonda to get there…meanwhile poor old Bruce Paige, a Brisbane News TV icon was shipped out to Dalby…....is it that hard to get reporters out there who actually DO know the area?

      I was kinda hoping Karl would fall off the Kangaroo Point cliffs…..surely I wasn’t the only one?

    • BobbyDan says:

      09:24pm | 13/01/11

      All over done now, when Tracey went through Darwin there was nothing for days until a guy set up a net work of hobby radio people and messages got through via Perth.

    • M says:

      09:43am | 14/01/11

      I didn’t see it, but apparently channel 7 sunrise posed the question “What if there are sharks in the flood waters?” Sharks? Really? LOL

    • Nightingale says:

      03:26pm | 14/01/11

      @M - ” didn’t see it, but apparently channel 7 sunrise posed the question “What if there are sharks in the flood waters?” Sharks? Really? LOL “

      Actually, yes, bull sharks, seen quite frequently through Goodna, my mate almost fell backwards when she saw one hanging around her old (old i mean completely destroyed) work. And, don’t be fooled, bull sharks are quite agressive when need be, and remember the river is connected the the ocean, ocean = sea life even when we aren’t flooding.

    • EM says:

      03:44pm | 14/01/11

      M, there have actually been several Bull Sharks spotted in flooded areas, especially Goodna.

    • Shawn says:

      03:54pm | 13/01/11

      I am amazed at the ammount of people from areas where floods have knocked out whole homes, and basic services such as electricity and phones, yet they are still able to log onto facebook and the punch. It truly is a miracle!

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      04:22pm | 13/01/11

      Whats even more of a miracle is lazy journalists reading out Bogan tweets and Facebook comments live on air as if it was headline news…....

    • Nightingale says:

      03:33pm | 14/01/11

      Ever heard of mobiles with internet connections? Or are you still using smoke signal to get in contact with people? Also, crossed your mind they might be staying else where? (Kinda of hard to live UNDERWATER) But, hey, we can’t all be cynical, but I guess someone has to be.

    • Tony says:

      10:36pm | 13/01/11

      A topic worthy of discussion. Once the people involved in the disaster were left in shock, disoriented, emotionally drained, needing assistance. I wonder if the impact of modern media will mean that a much vaster audience is left in shock, numbed into immobility. When we are emotionally overwhelmed we switch off, shut down, go robotic. That is the last thing the people in the midst of tragedy need from the population at large.

      Overall, the media coverage has been a mass of misinformation mixed with sensationalism. If you want a differing death count, flood height, uninformed opinion then just switch channels. Accurate information is essential for community safety but the media just don’t seem able or willing to provide it.

      Reply

    • Nelly says:

      09:30am | 14/01/11

      I’m here in Brisbane and my suburb was one of those that flooded.  Incredibly luckily for me my street was not affected and we didn’t even lose power.  We’ve had bags packed and evacuation plans in place and have been watching the news and the internet for advice. But I agree that the non-stop coverage has been too much.  I’ve been glad of actual INFORMATION, but watching the same horrific footage being played over and over (especially from Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley where my family is) and trying to sift through all the hype and rumours to find out what we actually need to do has been exhausting and stressful.  Facebook has been more helpful and we’ve been getting a lot of our info from the Police and Council pages.

      Reply

    • Frustrated says:

      11:05am | 14/01/11

      I don’t know about all of you, but I would rather live in a little more ignorance of the ‘facts’ (drivel) that has been reported round the clock, if I knew that those multiple new helicopters had left the journalist and equipment operator at the station, embarked an aircrewman to supplement the pilot/observers, and focussed upon picking up people…. mind you, how could we ever live without “what if a nuclear bomb filled shark swam down the river that has turned to acid from global-warming” type conjecture that they’re filling up the spaces with…

      Reply

    • storm supporter says:

      01:36pm | 14/01/11

      i was amazed to find out they had a whole area named after a rugby league player! (Lockyer) surely that is hero worship taken too far.

      Reply

    • Bananabender says:

      09:30pm | 14/01/11

      Contrary to the ludicrous TV hype 80-90% of people in Brisbane were not affected at all by the floods. About 10% lost power and only 1-2% were flooded.

      Yet the far more devastating floods that occurred near Rio de Janeiro yesterday barely rated a mention in the press.

      Reply

    • Lee says:

      12:49pm | 15/01/11

      Hate the headline. This is reality, not a movie…

      Reply
 
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