Anna ‘talks the talk’
I must admit Anna Bligh did a good job over the week of the crisis in Brisbane – she definitely “talked the Talk”.
People with the attention span and memory of a lighting bolt are obviously easily taken in by “the Talk”.
How about this for over the top adulation…
“It’s hard to find enough superlatives to describe Anna Bligh right now. I want her to be my mum and my prime minister and my best friend. I want to sit in front of my TV and just watch her talk because with every sentence, she manages to strike an extraordinary balance of compassion and calm and heartbreak and resolve.”Years of mismanagement all cancelled out by a couple of hours on TV according to writer Jessica Rudd (yes – that Rudd family) on mamamia I don’t think so – she needs to ‘walk the walk’ as well but watch her polls rise 10 or more points.
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All I saw Anna Bligh do was read media releases to the ignorant lazy ‘chooks’ from the assembled fourth estate. They then asked numerous vacuous questions in answer to which she or the ‘experts’ standing behind her like shop window dummies simply repeated the text from the media releases over and over again.
This went on for 10 minutes or so until the TV stations crossed to a talking head standing near brown water who then repeated yet again what Bligh said live a few moments ago to their ‘anchors’ who dutifully nodded sagely and thanked them for their insight.
All the TV channels did it except ABC24 which dropped the ball on the first day and spent the next week looking for it in the mouths of climate change alarmists and mutual admiration sessions of the ABC’s twittering heads.
I hope the ABC didn’t pay too much for its appalling media management software and hardware. The pitiful attempt to use jerky YouTube like streaming video from Bligh’s media sessions and other locations was pathetic, especially when one could flick over to a commercial channel and watch the same babbling nonsense in widescreen HDTV with unbroken high fidelity sound.
That said some of the media coverage was riveting, especially the quickly turned around mobile phone and other footage which brought to viewers the horror and fear of those caught up in the flash flooding in Toowoomba and downstream.
Meanwhile here in country Victoria a tide of dirty water is creeping its way from the Great Dividing Range north to the Murray inundating everything in its path.
The talking heads on local TV are not politicians but experts in their fields. They include SES coordinators, hydrologists, engineers and local shire, CFA and police representatives. They are providing relatively concise factual information to those affected. Especially on ABC local radio which is doing an excellent job with several reporters and presenters who live in several of the flooded towns providing accurate reporting of river states and local effects.
In my humble view all leaders both Liberal and Labor in Queensland have done a great job under very trying circumstances. Do I agree with all their decisions?……No I certainly do not.
However, this natural disaster is not the time to take cheap political shots. Victims do not appreciate that approach. We appreciate the support and efforts made to get our life back on track despite our political differences, whatever they may be.
Keep up the good work, Anna, Campbell, Jane, Paul etc.
Peter