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Thank you, Crikey reader Tim Deyzel for this comprehensive shellacking:
Re. “Thorpe’s ‘many medals for Qantas’ — just a dash for cash?” (yesterday, item 6). Odd that radical changes in the Arab world, ongoing WikiLeaks leaks and a massive cyclonic slap to Queensland were less important to Crikey than the return to a pool of a bored (possibly broke) swimmer. Three full-length articles dedicated to the hopes and dreams of an individual and his sponsors are noise at best.
If you’re beset by production/technical problems, and short on editing resources, then here’s an easy way of gaining some perspective:
1) Run all three articles through a word cloud generator:
2) Pick the most frequent (i.e. biggest) words. In this case let’s say the top three
3) Take ‘Thorpe’; ‘return’; ‘swimming’ and rework into a meaningful sentence or headline
4) “Thorpe returns to swimming” will do
5) Insert as a one-line entry in ‘Media Briefs (if you must)
6) Wait until 2012 for your next installment when you report “Thorpe Not Selected”, “Thorpe Wins X Medals” or “Thorpe Wins No Medals” (if you must)
Any more coverage than this and you’re just pandering to the national insecurity, which equates the national sporting interest with the national economic/commercial/political/security/etc interest.
In our defence, Tim, we took the opportunity to run yesterday’s entire edition through a wordle, tag cloud thingummy:
But point taken, nonetheless. Can we interest you in a trip to London in 2012 to provide our poolside coverage?
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11 Comments
Tim’s right. I would hazard the guess that Thorpe’s swimming career is of practically zero interest to most of us in a Crikey context, and anyway those who want to know more can get an eyeful from any tabloid or commercial TV station.
Okay, so three articles on Thorpe might have been a bit much, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. I like seeing sport being given the Crikey treatment.
Passing reference would have sufficed. Bit over the top though from Tim.
I’m with Tim.
Three stories? Can’t say I noticed because I always scroll past such stuff.
Crikey sports obsessed? They are based in Melbourne, ‘nuff said.
But, as someone who has done research on skin cancer, did no one remark on Thorpe’s incredible skin yesterday (on tv reports which one can hardly scroll past quickly unless previously PVR’d). I thought my tv colour control had gone astray but no. He has seriously OD’d on sun, even worse if he continues to do that in Dubai or Abu Dahbi (but maybe all the pools are inside and climate-controlled?). Poor example for Australian youth.
it’s all make-up, Michael JAmes juust like the comeback most likely.
I’m with Tim ; this was not over the top
Crikey’s detractors overlook the actual context of these articles.
Thorpe’s return is news and ,as has been rightly pointed out, will be reported heavily by our mainstream news outlets.
One of Cirkey’s main functions is to analyse our news media and the news itself, to question the motivations and relationships between the beast and that on wich it feeds. Thorpe’s presser and the announcement (and the sponsorship deal attached) are, like it or not, matters of significance.
Crikey was diong it’s job and shouldn’t be pilloried for Thorpe/Virgin/whichever pr company thought this was a good idea’s timing.
As I said in another comment on the same subject; I wish Mzz Danielle Keighery would use her energy to spruiking one of our scientists. Ha!
MICHAEL R JAMES: Not all Melbournians are check-shirted, wear moccasins, the dreaded knitted beanie, call each other ‘mate’, and have as their only conversation the bloody football. Though Christ alone knows they are the dreaded masses.
Personally I-as an irate taxpayer-resent the Olympic teams stuffed with hopeless athletes, and attended by twice their numbers of officials; all of whom get return airfares, accommodation in glamorous cities, surround the team members at the opening ceremony, look like berks, carry the world’s most infamous beer gut: and have a collective IQ of fifty.
TIM: Go to the top of the class.
Hear, hear enough of Thorpe already!
Dr Harvey M Tarvydas
Well, there’s Media, Crikey and others.
There’s floods with or without human interest.
There’s wars and demonstrations with or without human interest.
There’s politics with uninteresting or interesting humans.
There’s making money or going broke with or without human interest and crime.
There’s Human Interest with or without Thorpe or sport or Olympics or money or retirement.
Crikey thank God is Human with or without talent or sport or mistakes or war or flood or Human Interest but Crikey has guts and readers with opinions including Tim creating a fuss which would have been dead by now except for Tim and Crikey but that’s Media.
Dr Harvey M Tarvydas
So Tim is part of Crikey now, I’m not.