60 Minutes
We’re a bit squiffy about media outlets paying for stories in this country. Unlike in the UK, where any single mum with a third nipple can get a pay cheque from a newspaper, here we like our paid media appearances to be reserved for heroes or, at least, worthy folk.
No one begrudged the huge sums paid to Brant Webb and Todd Russell, who spent two weeks trapped down the Beaconsfield mine. They’d earned one of the biggest media cheques ever.
But going to air this Sunday night is a paid-for 60 Minutes interview with Gordon Wood, whose conviction for the murder of his girlfriend Caroline Byrne was recently quashed on appeal.
Continue reading "Should only people we like be paid for their stories?" »
It’s the worst part of being a working journalist. Those times you approach people for their story, when they’ve been through the most terrible time of their lives.
I’d love it if every story was just the opposite. And mostly they are on 60 Minutes. This week I’ve finished writing stories on adorable animals, a very successful businessman, a surprising health advance, and a man who risked his life in a war.
But last week, my focus was on the Keep family who lost their 2 year old daughter, and both her Grandmothers, when their house literally was ripped open in the Grantham flood.
Continue reading "Grantham story was definitely no ambush" »
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Donna Riley says:
So the Grantham flood wasn’t an important issue. My brother and his wife did that story to let people know that none of the residents of Grantham had no warning what was about to hit them and they and the rest of the community want answers. If they had been… Read more »
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unbelievable says:
Sorry St Michael - have had better things to do - like raise money for the people of Grantham - maybe you could try it! All you need to know is that Matt & Stacy had a lot of input into the story they ASKED 60 minutes to do (yes… Read more »
The dramatic return of 60 Minutes on the weekend raises new questions about so-called “death knocks”.
In the first story, reporter Michael Usher interviews the Keep family, who last month lost baby Jessica and both grandmothers in the Grantham flooding.
The 23-month-old was torn from her pregnant mother’s arms. It is difficult to imagine a greater tragedy.
Continue reading "A fine line between reporting and milking a family’s grief" »
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Tracy Lindley says:
Thanks Wendy. I am not actually a resident , just someone who has become very close to many of them whilst doing a support project for them and will continue to do so for a long time. Cheers. Read more »
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Ginnie Carroll -Wilson says:
Well said Nury and I so agree.As media dies down people just carry on with their normal lives as though nothing ever happened. And yet they have no idea of what the people of Grantham and the Lockyer valley are still and will be going through to rebuild their lives.… Read more »
Channel Nine’s decision yesterday to cave in to the bullying of the Victorian Government and Beyond Blue is deeply depressing. No doubt the network could see it was in a lose-lose situation.
Even if it were to win in the courts and have the injunction lifted which prevented it from broadcasting a 60 Minutes piece on the suicides of four teenagers in Geelong, it would be forever hostage to the accusation it had blood on its hands if any others from the school were to take the final solution.
Continue reading "60 Minutes should have run the suicide story" »
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Benji says:
After the revelations on Media Watch on Monday night regarding 60 minutes harrassment of the parents who didn’t take part in an attempt to bully them into it, not to mention the fact that pictures of the deceased children were used in promos without the parent’s approval, I personally think… Read more »
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Dan says:
“When do-gooders and governments start asking courts to ban programmes they haven’t seen because they discuss matters they would prefer left alone we are entering dangerous waters” except beyond Blue HAVE seen it. We don’t have unlimited freedom of speech, and if there’s a reasonable possibility that running a story… Read more »
It’s a complicated formula, how much a TV network is prepared to pay for ratings.
60 Minutes has just sealed a rumoured $200,000 deal with British back packer Jamie Neale, to do an interview to air this Sunday night, up against the Masterchef final.
Someone at Willougby obviously thinks its worth paying that much for Jamie’s version of how he survived lost in the Blue Mountains for 12 days.
Continue reading "Will you watch 60 Minutes on Sunday? Me neither." »
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pteropod says:
As i told you guys many times , IT WAS A RIGGED SHOW!!!!! It had to be crying Julie, Poh is Asian the australian public would not accept a asian for AUSTRALIA MASTER CHEF simple is that. it had to be a lambchop cooker to win thr title, This show… Read more »
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davido says:
As they say… if you dont watch it - they wont put it on. Read more »
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