Week 4 - A Know For News

Discussion Questions

1. This has been posted after question 5.

2. If I was writing this article I would focus on the value of currency. The issues surrounding this woman are vast with a huge amount of controversy. Immigration and detention in Australia are serious issues . "Media must determine the strength and relevance of any new comment or circumstance and assess what, if anything, it adds to the debate. Does it add a new dimension?" - when concerning this case I would think it definitely would. Issues of protest would be raised concerning the treatment of asylum seekers, and much debate would be raised.

The second value I would choose is Human interest. This is definitely a story which would "interest humans". Although this is a news value that is sometimes linked with entertainment, I believe serious issues have there place under this heading. They can "inspire empathy or arouse community concern".

My third news value would be conflict. This issue would spark much debate within society, and have a heightened public interest. There would be issues sparked not only among society in general, but between politicians and various community groups. Running stories concerning conflict encourage individuals to develop their own opinions.

3. I would run the story on Prince Charles. He offers a larger prominence news value to that of the mayor. Even though the mayor's speech is much more valid and credible, there is no denying that Prince Charles would evoke much more public scrutiny of the subject than running the mayor story.

4. Any piece of information that people did not know before

5. No, they should not be assigned equal value. Different stories rely on different news values, "the five Ws and H can appear in multiple combinations and in different order of importance in any particular story". (Conley & Lamble, p. 83). However, each of them should be should be listed as close to the beginning of a story as possible.

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More Australian survivors arrive home for treatment

Posted Fri Dec 31, 2004 9:11pm AEDT

A 58-year old man has been transported to hospital after being flown home to Australia from tsunami affected Sri Lanka.
Ambulance officers met a specially-charted plane from Colombo and picked up the man who had multiple wounds and lacerations.

He is currently in a stable condition in St George hospital in Sydney.

Also on the flight was Anya Rowlands who is still coming to terms with the extent of the damage along coastal areas of Sri Lanka.

"I was shocked when I saw the news reportage on the TV because when you are actually in something I don't think it's nearly, it doesn't feel like it is when you are there so we've just sort of been helping tourists and things and some local people get connected with their families," she said.


Ninth Australian confirmed dead in tsunami


Posted Wed Dec 29, 2004 11:16pm AEDT

A ninth Australian has been confirmed dead as a result of the tsunami disaster, with many more still missing.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has identified the ninth Australian victim as 61-year-old Canberra woman Magdalene Balachandra.

Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Secretary Bruce Billson says concerns are held for the wellbeing of nine other missing Australians.

"There are 27 Australians in hospital at the moment," he said.

"I am pleased that we've confirmed the safety and whereabouts of 3,121 citizens and we're also working through the almost 5,000 possible Australians who may also be in the region."

The other Australian victims include a 6-month-old baby and an 81-year-old woman from Western Australia, three men in their 50s from Queensland, a 16-year-old boy from Victoria, a 3-year-old girl from New South Wales and a 39-year-old man who is a permanent resident of Australia.

Authorities say it may take days and in some cases weeks to identify victims due to the fact some bodies are in a very bad state.

Ninth Australian Confirmed Dead In Tsunami

Melbourne tsunami victim's parents arrive home


Posted Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:49pm AEDT

The parents of 16-year-old Melbourne boy Paul Giardina, who was killed in the tsunami, have flown home from Thailand.
Paul's body will be returned to Melbourne tonight.

His uncle, Vince Parisi, says it was very difficult for Paul's parents to return without their son.

"You know they've had a terrible three days, or four days, you know, the cuts and bruises mean absolutely nothing, it's certainly emotional trauma that they're suffering," he said.

Melbourne tsunami victim's partents arrive home


More than 720 dead from quake, tsunamis in Indonesia



Posted Sun Dec 26, 2004 11:06pm AEDT

A total of 721 people have been confirmed dead in Indonesia from a powerful earthquake and tsunamis that struck the northern tip of Sumatra island today but the toll is expected to rise.

First sergeant Suwarno, a police spokesman in the Sumatran region of Aceh, said in his district there were 378 dead, while other parts of the province reported updated fatality figures.

"The search is continuing and it is believed that there are still more than 100 others killed as many people are still missing," said First sergeant Suwarno, whose office covers the North Aceh region.

Doctor Fadli Hanafiah, director of the Cut Mutia hospital in the Lhokseumawe area of Sumtra's Aceh province, added that 83 fatalities had arrived so far.

"Bodies continue to arrive from various areas," he said

An officer on duty in east Aceh district who declined to identify himself said that 29 people were found dead in his area.

Earlier tolls from local officials in the Aceh district of Bireuen confirmed 95 dead, while in the neighbouring province of North

Sumatra, the fatality figure was put at 54.

More than 720 dead from quake, tsunamis in Indonesia

Earthquake, tsunamis kill thousands in Asia

Posted Sun Dec 26, 2004 11:06pm AEDT 
Updated Mon Dec 27, 2004 3:07am AEDT
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The world's fifth-largest quake in a century hit southern Asia on Sunday, unleashing a tsunami that crashed into Sri Lanka and India, drowning thousands and swamping tourist isles in Thailand and the Maldives.

Exact death tolls throughout the region have been difficult to confirm but reports suggest over 6,000 people have been killed.

The worst hit areas appear to be Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia.

A wall of water up to 10 metres high triggered by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake swept into Indonesia, over the coast of Sri Lanka and India and across southern Thai tourist islands.

Sri Lanka, where officials put the death toll at 3,225, appealed for emergency international assistance, President Chandrika Kumaratunga's office said.

Around 1,600 people have been wounded and 1 million people, or 5 per cent of the population, were affected, Sri Lankan officials said.

"The President has declared a state of national disaster due to the seriousness of the situation," her office said.

The death toll in India has been put at about 2,000 and in Indonesia over 1,800.

The earthquake of magnitude 8.9 as measured by the US Geological Survey first struck at 7:59am local time off the coast of the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra and swung north with multiple tremors into the Andaman islands.

The earthquake was the world's biggest since 1964, said Julie Martinez, geophysicist at the US Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado. "It is multiple earthquakes along the same faultline."

It was the fifth-largest earthquake since 1900, she said.

"These big earthquakes, when they occur in shallow water... basically slosh the ocean floor... and it's as if you're rocking water in the bathtub and that wave can travel basically throughout the ocean," USGS geophysicist Bruce Presgrave told the BBC.

In Sri Lanka, thousands fled the worst tsunami in living memory, scrambling to higher ground for fear of another wave.
"The Army and the Navy have sent rescue teams; we have deployed over four choppers and half the Navy's eastern fleet to look for survivors," said military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake.

The worst-hit area appeared to be the tourist region of the south and east where beach hotels were inundated or swept away.

"Our naval base in Trincomalee is underwater and right now we are trying to manage the situation there while rescuing people," said Navy spokesman Jayantha Perera.

At least 1,800 people have been killed in Indonesia after the powerful earthquake and tidal waves hit the island of Sumatra.
A spokesman for the ministry's Centre for Emergency Preparedness said most of the casualties were in Sumatra's northern Aceh province, with about 1,400 dead around the main city of Banda Aceh.

Medics and police around Aceh said they expect tolls to keep rising with the full extent of the devastation caused by the quake not yet known.

Communications with the remote province have been hampered by downed power and telephone lines.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declared the area a national disaster.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire where plate boundaries intersect and volcanoes regularly erupt.

To the north in Thailand, officials reported one wave 5 to 10 metres high hit hotel-lined beaches on Phuket.

At least 257 people had been killed and more than 1,000 injured, officials said.

"It happened in cycles. There would be a surge and then it would retreat and then there would be a next surge which was
more violent and it went on like that," Paul Ramsbottom, a Briton on holiday in a Phuket beach bungalow, told BBC World TV.

"Then there was this one almighty surge. I mean literally this was the one which was picking up pickup trucks and motorcycles and throwing them around in front of us," he added.

One foreigner was known to be among the dead in Krabi.

Thai television showed scenes of devastation on one Phuket beach.

Store fronts were damaged and cars and motorcycles were strewn around after being tossed about by the powerful waves.

A Thai man carried one elderly Western man in swimming trunks to safety on his back, ITV showed.

Officials said more than 600 tourists and locals were being evacuated by air and sea from Ko Phi Phi, the tiny island made famous by the 2000 film The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Thai government ordered the evacuation of stricken coastal areas, which included popular beach resorts on the islands of Phuket and Krabi.

There are now reports of around 2,000 people being killed along the southern Indian coast and rescuers were searching for hundreds of fishermen missing, government officials said.

In the state of Tamil Nadu, a government official said at least 1,600 had been killed.

About 100 people had died in Madras, the city's police commissioner, K Natarajan, told reporters.

"The bodies in the hospital are mostly young women and children."

Fifteen people, including a British man, have been reported dead in the Maldives.

President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was to declare a national disaster in the archipelago whose coral atolls are a magnet for tourists from around the world, said chief government spokesman Ahmed Shaheed.

"The damage is considerable," Mr Shaheed said. "The island is only about three feet (one metre) above sea level and a wave of water four feet (1.3 metres) high swept over us."

The international airport was unusable, he said.

"It is a very bad situation. It is terrible," Mr Shaheed said.

"As you know it is the peak tourist season. We are trying to get reports from those areas. The whole of the Maldives is a tourist area so we are just hoping and praying."

The world's worst tsunami in recent history struck on July 17, 1998, when three waves ripped through Papua New Guinea's northwest coast, killing 2,500.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has set up a special hotline for people with relatives in South-East Asia and south Asia.

The number is 1 800 00 22 14.

Earthquake, tsunamis kill thousands in Asia

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5. The Indian Ocean tsunami was a terrible tragedy. The press gave the tsunami proximity in two ways. The first way was to indicate the tourist factor of the areas effected, most notably in Indonesia which was highly popular around this time of year. "The worst-hit area appeared to be the tourist region of the south and east where beach hotels were inundated or swept away", This gives huge proximity to the tsunami, and articles definitely reflected the, "cultural bias within the media and the community" (Conely & Lamble, p. 91).

The second way the tsunami was given proximity was to focus on Australian's that had been killed or badly injured. Examples of these are above with "Ninth Australian Confirmed Dead In Tsunami" and "Melbourne Tsunami Victim's Parents Arrive Home". These articles are very confronting, and the tsunami becomes highly relevant to us.

These articles, spanning their focus from Australia to China and Indonesia, show just how huge the impact was, as it effected so many countries and people. This video clip shows some of the devastation caused by the natural disaster.