Greg Sheridan’s piece in the most recent Weekend Australian exemplifies how problematic the unquestioning rehashing of items in the news cycle can be, writes Eleri Harris.
Forest fires
DNA testing is dragging out the agony for fire victims
It would seem that there are a lot of families suffering unnecessarily in the service of the (remote) possibility of making one mistake, writes Lynette Turney.
When journalists become victims
Perhaps journalists might be more ready to listen to and learn from colleagues who’ve been to the other side, writes Melissa Sweet.
Andrew Forrest visits Kinglake
“We don’t want the talk, we want your money”: Kinglake residents meet with Australia’s wealthiest man.
Fuel reduction burns made no difference on Black Saturday
Fuel reduction burns do have their place but on “Black Saturday” they made no difference to the outcome, writes Simon Birrell.
Insurance industry uses dubious fire stats to get its own way
The misleading use of figures by the Insurance Council is primarily driven by their ongoing campaign against the fire services levy in place in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, write Denis Nelthorpe and Fiona Guthrie.
How Qantas benefits from your bushfire generosity
The devil is in the details of the Qantas frequent flier point bushfire appeal, writes Ben Sandilands.
Victorian bushfires: Australian spirit present
I was also in Marysville that Saturday afternoon. How different my impressions were to Peter Chamber’s, writes Julie Bell.
Lowbottom High Diaries: Yellow ribbons and buckets of coins
A pall hung over the classroom that first week as our charges came to terms with the fact that there is more to existence than MSN and Facebook, writes Trevor Diogenes.
Victorian bushfires: disregard demagogues, ecogogues and celebrity dilettantes
Black Saturday’s firestorm generated a propaganda wordstorm. Ideology masqueraded as analysis. Each faction claimed to speak for the dead but spruiked their own agenda, writes Frank Campbell.
The bushfires, the pain, the climate change
We were warned. Over and over again scientists told us of the increased danger of bushfires fueled by severe, protracted drought and record-breaking heat waves, writes Liz Conor.
I survived Marysville for an orgy of ocker self-love
My emotions, and the way I’ve been talking about them in order to deal with them, have been hijacked by the emotions of “the nation” and its faithful organ, the press, writes Peter Chambers.
Victorian bushfires: disaster p-rn and story telling
The Victorian bushfires could be an opportunity for new relationships between media and public. Instead, the worst of the coverage has been formulaic, writes Margaret Simons.
Did Miranda Devine incite violence?
There is a smell of blood in the air as well as smoke, as communities, individuals and the media look to find someone to blame for the Victorian bushfires, writes Greg Barns.
Fires spark a new front in the culture wars
The fierce debate over the role of fuel-reduction burning in preventing bushfires has exposed a deep divide in Australia over attitudes to the natural environment, writes Clive Hamilton.
Don’t blame the greenies, blame the lack of bunkers
The flames of culture wars are burning fiercely over Black Saturday, writes Ben Sandilands.
Apocalypse Now lesson for bushfire survival
Lives could have been saved in last Saturday’s fire storms if simple guidance had been broadcast over areas where people had no information, writes Ben Sandlilands.
How fire refuges became a thing of the past
Once considered a practical, even obvious approach to bushfire safety, the provision of designated Fire Refuges in at-risk communities has fallen out of favour, writes Chris Paver.
The Australian’s fuel reduction obsession
With the embers still burning, The Australian’s obsessive, one-sided attempt to paint the fires as basically down to evil greenies continues apace, writes Guy Rundle.
Gawenda: journalists move on, disaster remains
Media not only covers an event like the Victorian fires, but in a sense, creates and defines it as well, writes Michael Gawenda.
Parks Victoria uses the fire crisis to light up the Prom again
Why is it that Parks Victoria and DSE get away with taking every opportunity to light fires in National Parks and stir local sentiment for more and more fires? asks Lionel Elmore.
Tips from a bushfire survivor
Canberra firestorm survivor Liz Tilley writes, I just can’t bear to see those victims in Victoria not benefit from what we learned in Canberra. So, for what it’s worth, here are my tips for a “great” relief.
Too soon to jump one way or another on fuel reduction
The extensive records of what burned and what did not, what burned quickly and what did not will provide invaluable information for future vegetation management of communities living in the bush, writes Lionel Elmore.
Twitter: enabling the new global rubberneckers
We can watch as much bushfire disaster p-rn as we want without stirring from home, writes Stilgherrian.
Rundle: What has Black Saturday taught us?
Without surrendering the notion that we can dramatically improve our reaction to fire, a little circumspection about easy answers might be the least we owe to the dead, writes Guy Rundle.
