WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?

On last week's program we discussed media reporting of a report stating that the numbers of female CEO's in Australia is dropping. Dropping? How can that be? The study stated that only 2% of the CEO's in ASX200 companies were women. And that percentage is less than in the past. Our guests Andie Noonan (Editor Southern Star Observer) and Hayley Conway (VGLRL) were as mystified as most. So is the question... 1) Why don't women want the top jobs or 2) Why won't men let women reach the top job?

JOY is not a representative organisation when it comes to the average gender spread. But we have some curious gender skews as well. In both membership and representation on air we are highly skewed towards men. On air we have almost exactly half the number of women as men presenting programs. Is that fair? Well, given the membership of JOY it's totally fair because we have a higher percentage of male members of the organisation - not twice as many but heading in that direction.

Taking the issue back another step..... are there more lesbians than gay men? Or are there more 'out' gay men than 'out' gay women? The numbers of titles in the gay press tell us the same story. A lot more gay rags out there for gay men.

Finally, getting articulate lesbians (even women) with a sense of humour and a desire to share strong opinions with a wider audience is bloody hard!!! On The Spin we try, constantly, to find new female participants for the program. And I reckon the 2% participation rate reported in the report is about the same as the success rate we have for finding new female presenters on the program. If you are up to it please get in contact with us!

So what is it with females and lesbians, generally, when it comes to either taking the top jobs in companies in Australia or talking on community radio?

Your responses would be welcomed.

NASTY WORDS ABOUT CRICKET

Jerry Lewis has landed himself in hot water on the eve of his latest Australian tour. Asked in a Channel 10 interview about Australian's obsession with Cricket he said. "Oh cricket, it's a fags game".

So who is he slagging? Cricket or the gay community?

The 82 year old has got priors in this area with comments about an "...illegitimate fag..." on the annual muscular dystrophy telethon in the US last year. He has since apologised for these comments.

Do we give him a break because he's 82? Do his words really hurt? Are we taking ourselves a bit seriously? What do cricketers think about the slur?

Join Tim Newton, Hayley Conway from the VGLRL and Andie Noonan from Southern Star Observer on The Spin as we wade through the murky waters of hate-speech in 2008.

And Jerry Lewis would be acutely aware that his comments will be widely reported and will help publicise his tour of Australia. Will this publicity sell tickets or will gay groups picket his shows? As they say... "any publicity is good publicity, as long as they spell your name right!"

Come and join in the discussion on The Spin. JOY 94.9, Tuesdays @ 7pm

TIM WILSON TAKES A REST

Semi-regular panelist, Tim Wilson, is having a break whilst he seeks election as Melbourne's new Deputy Lord Mayor. Apart from being very busy over the next month, his role on The Spin could compromise the JOY guidelines for presenters.

Program host and producer, Tim Newton, believes his shos will be hard to fill.

"Tim (Wilson) has been a fabulous participant on the program. His views are sometimes completely off the traditional GLBTI graph. We loved it. We would like to think that we air all views, whether popular or not, that don't traditionally fit into the GLBTI mold. The program's been in trouble with station management in the past and I'm sure we'll piss listeners and management off in the future as well."

Tim Newton was suspended for a week and the program was forced to air an apology after an editorial relating to Jonaton Welch's departure from the Melbourne Gay and Lesbian chorus. He has also drawn a great deal of community criticism with other editorials on JOY and in the local gay and lesbian press.

"Our community is robust with a wide church of views. I embrace our differences and love the fact that some people get so upset when they are presented with a fresh or varied view. We will continue to air the broadest range of views from our community and hope to keep people thinking about the many issues we present on the program. Of course, we always do it with a smile and welcome people's responses to the program."

The SPin returns, without Tim Wilson, this Tuesday at 7pm with guest panelist Andie Noonan from the Southern Star Observer.

BRITT LAPTHORNE MEDIA COVERAGE

Every year about 35,000 people go missing here in Australia. Around 1,800 remain missing for period longer than 6 months. Overseas, there are over a million Australians overseas at any one time. We will make around 4 million trips OS in 2008 and around 25,000 will seek some sort of Consular assistance with another 350,000 calling Australian consulates around the world with all sorts of enquiries. Most of these travellers come back in one piece but 200 - 300 will also end up in an overseas hospital each year and another hundred or so never return for one reason or another. They decide to vanish without telling anyone or they go missing in mysterious circumstances. Some of them very mysterious, mostly never making into the news. Unless you are Britt Lapthorne.

Starting with some questions raised on a Facebook page, this case was quickly wound up by the media until it became one of the top media stories over the past month on all Australian media. The early botched investigation, the anguish of the parents, the concerned police and politicians, the warnings to other young backpackers, the finding of a body, the denials, the suspects, the eventual confirmation of the body's identity, the acute emotions of a family coping with a death, the return of the body to Australia. The whole sorry saga was played out at the head story in our nightly news, the lead story on the radio and the front page of the dailies.

Whilst I can't even start to comprehend the extraordinary loss of the Lapthorne family I think that this story deserves a critical look on the way it was reported and it's position on one of the most reported stories of 2008. In some ways it reminds me of the Madeline McCann story... the young British girl who went missing whilst the family was holidaying in Portugal. At the same time a similar scenario was taking place with another British family. Another young girl who went missing in mysterious circumstances, a family in pain desperately trying to do anything to find their daughter. What was the difference between the McCanns and this other family. You guessed it... one was a good looking, media-friendly family who spoke well and cried in front of the camera. The other was a camera shy black family from an unfashionable suburb north of England. Barely a mention in the media.

Let's face it, Britt Lapthorne is young, blond with a media-savvy family and a good looking brother. Again, I don't want to denigrate this family's attempts to do absolutely everything they possibly could to get their daughter back but I wonder about all the other hundreds of missing Australians overseas who we never hear about. Sure, it seems the police cocked up and botched the early investigations, the politicians did every thing they could from their offices 10,000 km away. But all this would be the same if someone went missing anywhere. So what was the story? Where was the value to the wider public? Where was the need to know? Where was the public interest.... I'll tell you.... the media created it all by itself. And they followed each other around like sheep.

Britt Lapthorne died somehow, tragically and mysteriously. But so do hundreds of thousands of people, overseas and here every year. Sure it's tragic. But how this story has made it onto the list of the top national stories for over a month is a very bad reflection on a lazy commercial media who couldn't get their fat butts out of their air-conditioned offices to report something else. Britt Lapthorne is dead and so, it seems, is our media's good judgement.

MEDIA LANDSCAPE CHANGING

The media landscape in Australia is about to enter a new era of change and consolidation. And it's coming from so many angles there are few who can confidently predict where it is all going to end.

The days of the three pillars of print, radio and television are clearly crumbling and a new, exciting phase of media democratisation is unfurling. It involves more people sharing more views across more and more diverse media. Whilst we are witnessing a flourishing new-age media the challenges remain for the new media to gain a collective attention and the consumers to find a way of sifting through the dross.

You can sit in a hotel room anywhere in the US and click through literally hundreds of TV channels of rubbish. Whilst opening up the airwaves over the years has provided more opportunities for the wider public to have a voice, the quality has certainly dropped. You click a hundred times and there's still nothing of quality you would want to watch. And this growth of diversity also splits the advertising dollar so that the larger content producers can no longer afford to produce decent, well-researched and scripted programming.

'But it's our right to have our say on the airwaves'. That cry has encouraged governments in the west to de-regulate the broadcast spectrums around the world to find space for (what we call in Australia) Community Broadcasting. This sector has certainly seen a growth in truly dynamic broadasting through the proliferation of community broadcasting. This has also seen smaller geographic and social communities better represented on the Australian airwaves.

And now we have a flourishing internet with even more diverse media content. But any wade through a site like You Tube will prove the point that opening up the media for everyone doesn't necessarily promise quality as well. Indeed most of the original content is just mindless ravings or crap from a keen but unskilled populus.

Ditto with blogs and social websites. A proliferation of content, but little that actually adds to our media tank. The tank is an awful lot larger than it used to be but it could be argued that the good stuff at the bottom is much the same depth today as it was 20 years ago.

"Be assured that a walk through the ocean of today's media would scarcely get your feet wet'. (A variation of Desiderata)

So, that's the challenge. Freeing up and opening the media to a vibrant new wave of technical platforms and diverse views. Whilst at the same time maintaining a semblance of quality.

Exciting times ahead.

The Spin continues to look at the New Media every Tuesday from 7 - 8pm on JOY 94.9

DID WE LEARN ANYTHING?

The Spin Special Edition - The New Media

Following an intense hour of discussions, experts, lots of facts and figures I am not really much-the-wiser about the new media. It still seems an enormously confusing breadth of technology to take in.

The way we are going to interface with the media in the future will be more dynamic, instantaneous and diverse than we can possibly imagine. The choices will be truly breathtaking,,, albeit totally confusing.

How we choose what to consume and how the content providers choose to ensure that they have our attention is part of the challenge for the future.

The Spin will follow up last night's program with some more specific issues in coming weeks as we plough through the New Media.

Your comments are welcome and we will do our best to address all comments and questions during the show.

The SPin. Tuesdays, 7 - 8pm. JOY 94.9 FM

NEW MEDIA

Welcome to the revolution

What is the new media? In the context of The Spin Special program about New Media, we would define it as the new ways we are consuming and relating to the media on a day-to-day basis.

There has been a clearly defined line between the big three - radio, TV and print - up to now. But the lines defining the borders between the traditional media are not only blurring. They are being vitamised! We are not watching a media evolution. It is clearly a revolution. And it's happening really quickly.

Here are some buzz words - convergence, blogging, downloading, digital radio and TV, blogosphere, podcast - there are plenty of them. And words that didn't exist 10 or 20 years ago.

The way you an I consume media, from this day forward, is changing forever.

How will you decide what you want to watch or listen to? How will content providers attract you as audience? Who will pay the advertising bills in the future? Or will be prepared to pay for a more flexible media? And will all this spell the end of traditional media outlets? Will there be a rise of smaller media opportunities?

It's all so exciting and slightly scary.

Listen to tonight's The Spin as we bring in the experts to wade through these exciting new developments that will affect us all... yes you too!

EXCELLENT GUESTS FOR SPECIAL SPIN

The Spin Special - the New Media

So far we have lined up an excellent list of commentators for our Spin Special looking at the new media as we wade through the exciting media options on our horizon.

Peter Blasina, the Gadget Guy (gadgetguy.com.au) will discuss the impact of digital radio that hits Australia's radio market next May. 

Kath Lett from 3RRR has been intimately involved with digital radio and will share the problems in getting digital radio ready in Australia. She will also discuss the opportunities for providers and consumers once digital radio turns on next year. 

Dan Vo, JOY Marketing and Development Manager, will discuss the exciting new future for interactivity with radio audiences as well as the opportunities ahead for greater choice and democratisation for the listener.

Apart from our panel grilling our special guest YOU will also have the opportunity to make comments and ask questions during the program.

The Spin tackles the New Media. Tuesday, October 14 from 7-8pm. Only on JOY 94.9 (or log onto joy.org.au)

SPECIAL EDITION - The New Media

For Tuesday, October 14 @ 7pm

The Tuesday, October 14 edition of The Spin will host a special program dedicated to investigating the new media pervading our lives. Where is the next media revolution? It's already happening right under your nose. The Spin will investigate the role of new media and what it means for traditional media... radio, print, television. Who will be winners and who will end up on the media scrap heap wondering what just happened?

The Spin has a commitment to using all forms of the new media to provide an interactive platform for all to involve themselves in the program's issues.

You will also notice an increased commitment to daily blog entries as we share our thoughts about the media. Whilst our focus is on Australian media, generally, we also try and keep on top of other trends as they emerge from around the world.

We look forward to you joining the Spin team next Tuesday from 7 on JOY 94.9 as we ponder where the new media will take us next.

LETTER FROM FAIRFAX JOURNOS - Spin Gurus

Dear Spin Crew

I represent a team of a few disgruntled journos... 500 to be precise. Please don't mention the name of our paper on air but to give you a hint we are the only printed daily broadsheet in Melbourne with a banner saying 'The Age' across the top. We need to be discreet about our problem with management so we have decided to go on strike. We're having to come out and tell everyone because no one really noticed that we were missing. The paper has still been coming out but put together by management cutting and pasting stuff from the net and overseas news sources. Same big paper you can't read on the train, can't fit on the breakfast table and can't carry on Saturdays without a forklift. So, if they seem to be able to do without us we better make a noise about it and hope it gets reported in the other metropolitan daily. To top it off they decided to sack the Editor as well. We thought this was a smart move as he has been able to turn the paper around in the last few years by increasing advertising and daily readership. So, Spin Crew, we need to know what we can do to get the public's sympathy and get them behind our cause? We know our paper uses more trees than any other daily newspaper in Australia. We know that less people are reading newspapers these days. We know that the diversification of the media is making our job less relevant. We know that people think we're a pinko, union-loving, left wing rag. But we think it's reasonable for the directors of Fairfax (sorry, don't mention that name!!) that the directors and shareholders of the company should lose money hand over fist and go down kicking and screaming with the rest of us. What do you think?

THE MATTHEW MITCHAM PHENOMENON - Editorial

Let's look at the Matthew Mitcham phenomenon. To me, this is less of a GLBTI story and more of a general media story. I can't help imagining the way this story would have been treated by the general media 20 years ago, maybe even ten years ago. I am thinking that the 'G' word simply wouldn't have been mentioned but he would just be another golden boy done good in the four-yearly sportsfest. The photos of him and his partner wouldn't have appeared and the news reports would have carefully edited out any footage including embraces and kisses. That was the way back then.

The pink rags of the time would have gone hell-for-leather screaming that the media had ignored the fact that the guy was gay and complained about discrimination in the media.

Seems the tables have turned a bit. This time, in Australia anyway, the media has mentioned, simply in passing, the fact that Matthew is openly gay and that his partner was there to cheer him on. No fanfare... just basic reporting. On the TV, same thing. Footage of Matthew thanking his partner and mum... no editing, just matter-of-fact reporting. On the other hand the gay press have been singing his praises in front page splurges beating up the fact that here was an openly gay athlete performing at the very peak of his sport. MCV screams 'Australia's Golden Boy'. BNews followed with 'Mitcham wins Gold'. In their case, they failed to mention the other 45 Australian gold medalists at all.

In the same way that the Americans seem ready to elect an African-American to their highest post, it seems that much of the Australian media has matured to a situation where being gay is just not an issue any more. SMH journalist, Jessica Halloran, wrote a column last week headlined 'Out and Out Champion Celebrates' and did a behind-the-scenes look at the people behind Matthew Mitcham's success. Just like any other look behind any other athlete... it was all so normal. Another article by Ryan Heath titled 'A win for Australia - and gay athletes everywhere' took a media naval gaze at it's treatment of this sort of story in the past. All good stuff.

Seems that, at last, being gay has become boring and that's just the way we want it, surely. Even Joanna Griggs, in a face-to-face interview the following day with Matthew casually brought his partner into the conversation. It was just so perfectly normal.

But in the US it wasn't quite the same in the big media. Outsports.com expressed concern that NBC ignored Mitcham’s sexuality. The diver, who bounced back from a lackluster performance earlier in the week to win a gold medal for the 10-meter, is the only openly gay male athlete at this year’s Olympics.

“If he had had cancer, or if his parents had been killed in a car crash when he was 2, or if he had just proposed to his girlfriend, they would have mentioned it,” an article on the sports website read. “But they never showed him hugging his boyfriend, never mentioned it.”

Seems that the Australian media are leaving the US behind in the issue of a maturing media and the reporting of GLBTI issues.

NEW GG - Editorial

I can imagine the front pages of the National Dailies 50 years ago would have led with this next story with great fanfare and blazing headlines. They might have read... 'Australia's next Governor General sworn in'... or....'Queen annoints new representative'. Of course it would have been a man. But in 2008 things are very different. These days a lot of the press refer to this archaic office as the 'GG' and for the first time we now have a women living rent-free at our cost in houses in Canberra and Admiralty House in Sydney. Quentin Bryces swearing in to Australia's top office.... well, not quite, the Qwanger back in Buck House in London is still the big boss... could only make page three in the dailies and the story was mainly about her grandchildren playing during the ceremony and the colour of the dress she was wearing. A case of the Brian McFaddens when the writer in the Murdoch press suggested that 'she wore purple, often a colour associated with royalty.' I wonder if the new GG had been a man whether the writer would have made any comment on the selected wardrobe.

Ex Governor General, Michael Jeffrey.... Mr. Invisible.... packs up the Royal Doulton and heads off to enjoy free flights and a half-a-million dollar a year pension, indexed to inflation, for the rest of his life. Of course, we're paying that already to all the other ex-living Governors General. Even Bill Hayden, the ex-labour party leader who was rewarded by then Prime Minister Bob Hawke for stepping down and letting him become PM, used to scoff at having the job. Yep, we're paying him 500,000 a year as well.

So, the press pretty much ignored the occassion. Most Australians couldn't even remember the name of the last Governor General, let alone any of the other vice-regals. And we're still can't have an Aussie in the top office in the land. As an institution, it should be treated as no more than an excuse to open Pre Schools or plant trees... and the press seems to be following the public mood by largely ignoring the news bringing it down to an interesting social gathering or comment about an elderly women's fashion sense. What do you think?

LETTER FROM ALAN - Spin Gurus

Hi. My name's Alan. Just taken over an airline and need a bit of help with some recent bad publicity. We have been flying people around Australia and the world since 1921. Seems some of our earlier planes were more reliable than our current fleet. We've had some parts falling off our jets recently and a few holes opening up at 40,000 feet. If it's not a hole in the plane it's complaints about not enough fresh air!!! It's hard to keep people happy. And then there's the delays. OK, we've had a bad run recently and dropped the ball in the area of punctuality. But it's not a bloody taxi service you know. These are complicated pieces of machinery that need highly skilled maintenance and care. That's why we've moved most of the maintenance offshore to third world countries. We've had one of the best safety records for an airline in the world... we've never lost a life on any of our flights. So we're coming from a very high base. We can't stay at the top for ever you know.... What do these whinging, whining, annoying passengers expect from us? We spin off a cheap-arsed budget airline with appalling service to give them budget flights. We give them a stale muffin and a cold cup of tea for FREE on the major airline. Really, what more do people want from us? So, Spin Gurus, what would you suggest? How can we fight this beseige from an arrogant media? How can we get back in the public's goodbooks again?

Lots of Love. Alan

LARGE HEDRON COLLIDER - Editorial

Well, sadly, this will be the last edition of The Spin. Actually tonight's programs will be the last you'll ever hear on JOY. Probably the last programs you'll hear on any radio station. In fact, it's the last day of your life... cause apparently the world is going to end tomorrow.

Hidden away under the Swiss mountains near Geneva is a 27 kilometre tunnel called the Large Hedron Collider. According to the world scientific media, the Large Hedron Collider is a place.....

'Buried 100m underground, studded with gigantic, cathedral-sized, ring-shaped detectors where collisions between packets of "heavy" subatomic particles, "hadrons", reveal workings of matter and energy'.

Probably, like most of you, that means absolutely NOTHING to me. But a rough translation would read something like this....

'a bunch of geeks in white coats soaking up public money to prove something that will mean nothing and do nothing for 99.999% of people on the planet'.

Apparently this 8.6 Billion dollar machine is the largest, most expensive ever built by mankind...ever.

But this tinkering around with sub-atomic particles is getting other geeks in white coats wringing their hands and predicting a few side-effects. That's if you call the end of the entire Cosmos a 'side effect'. Here is a description of what might happen when they push the START button on this machine according to some alarmist scientists....

'Earth would start to crack up; molten lava would wash over the land and the seas would start to boil; mega-hurricanes and cyclones would level buildings and forests; eventually, mountains would crumble as Earth's crust continued to disintegrate.
The fabric of the planet would start to disappear, trillions of tonnes of rock, water, air and life sucked into a whirlpool of unimaginable force.'

From space, our blue-and-white home would appear to vanish down a plughole in a flash. This is far more exciting than the seven horses of the Apocalypse.... even the Bible doesn't paint such a vivid picture like this doomesday prediction published in media around the world.

If you hadn't read this already I am sorry to bring this news to you less than 24 hours before they turn on the machine. The good news is you probably won't have to pay off your credit card or worry about Malcolm Turnbull becoming Prime Minister.

But, in the world of media beat ups (and I suppose it doesn't get much more beaten up than this.....) ....there is another side of the doomseday reports. Of course, it's hidden away in the final paragraph of the various reportage. Almost like an afterthought the paragraph reads....

'Scientists have commissioned safety reviews, such as those that have taken place before other big particle accelerators have been turned on. All have concluded there is no measurable risk.'

So, apart from a few maverick scientific musings, we're not about to vanish down earth's fundamental orafice. We WILL have to pay off the credit card and we may still have to face the prospect of Malcolm Turnbull becoming PM. If we truly have something to fear, I would pit Malcolm Turnbull against the Large Hedron Collider anyday.

RADIO RATINGS - Editorial

Last week's radio ratings survey was one to remember and certainly will continue to have repercussions through the industry for months and years to come. For the first time in 6 years 3AW, the talk juggernaut owned by Fairfax Media, has slumped to second position. Not only dropped its crown but in the middle of the footy season, one of it's safest ratings periods.

FM station FOX not only won the survey but outscored it's nearest FM rival by almost double the points.

The notable winners and losers on the survey were....

The rise and rise of the FOX drive duo 'Hamish and Andy', peaking at a totally dominant 22.1 percent of the available radio audience. In a market of 36 odd choices, that's a result that is very likely to ever be repeated again. Ironically, the next rival in the Drivetime slot, 3AW's human headline, Derryn Hinch was half the FOX figures. Derryn held the previous record for a survey win when he hit the twenties during his heyday as the morning talk host at AW. But that was back in the 80's when the radio market was a lot smaller.

Big losers include 3AW's Ernie Sigley and his afternoon giggle-fest and the eternally whinging Neil Mitchell who both dropped nearly 20% of their audience.... something the commercial talk station would be wringing their hands about.

The other big loser was any station covering the Olympics. The ABC and SEN carried the official coverage of the Beijing Olympics but proved that covering most sports on radio is about as interesting as listening to paint dry. Given the enormous fees paid for Olympic broadcasting rights it will be interesting if any radio network puts up their hands in another 4 years to bring us all the action from London.

But all these ups and downs are about to enter a period of seismic change when we usher in the revolution of digital radio and the 'new media'. And it WILL be a revolution when listeners suddenly have, not 36 listening options, but more like 36,000 radio choices. Radioland, as we once knew it, is about to enter an exciting new phase... watch this space.

AMERICA'S CUP - Editorial

Three days from today it will be 25 years since the radical wing-keeled Australia II won the Americas Cup. It was a unique event based around the fact that no other country had won it in 132 years, that the yacht was shrouded in mystery with its truly ingenious wing keel and that the 13 crew had fought back from a 3 - 1 race situation to win the cup 4 races to 3. I recall the day well. I was there. A pimply little reporter for the then Macquarie network working out of 2GB as fill in host for the Australia Overnight program. I convinced the bosses to send me over to Newport, Rhode Island to follow the races... probably another loss as the Americans had won every series in 32 events since 1867. To our surprise we fought back against impossible odds. There we were, a new flag with a boxing kangaroo, the sound system on the support boat belting out the anthem ' Men from the Land Downunder', the bad boy Dennis Conner steering the American yacht Liberty and 132 years of sporting history about to topple. As our anchorman John Raedlar said at the time..... 'the old fogies in the red jackets from the New York Yacht Club will be choking on their cigars today.' And so it was, a race, the final out of a seven race series that truly captured the imagination and aspirations of Australia in 1983. The headlines of the time said it all. From the Sydney Morning Herald....

The Biggest Thing Since Peace in 1945”: Triumph Unique

From the local papers....

'We've done it' and 'Australia brings home the Cup'.

Sadly I have been unable to locate any of the original broadcast.... would love to find out if anyone has any of the amazing commentary from John Raedlar at the time but it was the best radio commentary that has ever gone to air in this country for any sporting event. It was rivetting, it was electric, colorful, intense and so, so dramatic. I was standing right next to him on the bows of the New Englander II only 150 m from the yachts as they crossed the finish line and had no idea how big the whole thing was back home. From the Sydney dailies....

'Sydney, and the rest of Australia, went on a patriotic frenzy yesterday. The Australia II victory at Newport brought smiles to the weary faces of a nation who had stayed up all night to watch the historic event in bars, clubs and lounge rooms. In Sydney, one of the lunchtime revellers at the Hilton’s America’s Cup Bar said he had not seen anything like it since victory was declared over Japan in World War Two.'

Some of John Raedlar's famous words were 'stand up Australia, stand up and cheer. Stand up Australia. This is the proudest moment in your history. Stand up for this brave crew that have come to a foriegn country, climbed the sporting equivalent of Mount Everest and can now deservedly enjoy the view beyond.'

The rhetoric kept flowing when then PM Bob Hawke got all caught up in the moment on national TV when he exclaimed...'Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum'. Sadly, we just don't stuff like that from our PM's anymore.

LETTER FROM BELINDA - Spin Gurus

SPIN GURUS

Dear Spin Gurus

I am a politican seeking some love from the Australian People. No one seems to like me at the moment. So in need of love, that I have really scraped the bottom of the barrel and convinced the ABC's Australian Story to do a snow job on me. I hope it works. I mean, what does a girl have to do? You gotta remember, it's a man's world up there in Parliament. You've gotta turn on language that would make a shearer cringe otherwise there's no f***ing respect. And speaking of no f***ing respect, I'm sick of playing the victim in all that crap at the Iguana Restaurant. I told them I wanted a f***ing table. Then I asked if they knew who I was? Then I asked if they knew who my f***ing husband was? All I wanted was a f**** feed. And suddenly I'm painted as this hard-faced f***ing bitch. Well, I ask you Spin Gurus, how can I get the f***ing aussie voters to give me a f***ing chance.

Lots of love. Belinda.

OSAKA - Editorial

Fresh off the plane from Osaka in Japan. And, if you didn't already know, Osaka is the sister city to Melbourne although if they are sisters they must have one parent who ran into the milkman at some stage cause there's absolutely nothing even vaguely similar between them. Osaka is huge, grey and uninteresting... almost completely devoid of any greenery. But the shopping and food is bewildering and, unlike Melbourne these days, you feel safe walking the streets at any time of the day or night.

As my first trip to Japan, except for the odd stay over at the smoke-filled Narita airport in Tokyo, I was glad to blow away some of the clichés and misconceptions about the most urbanised country in the world. It's not expensive... hey, it's certainly not Thailand but you won't have any awful surprises when it comes to stretching your fun tickets. Generally English is not spoken. And seeing I can only speak 4 Japanese words.... and they include Mitsubishi, Toyota, Mazda and Yamaha... I was happy to wing it with a smile and a lot of hand gestures.

The highlight was a visit to Hiroshima, only 1 1/2 hours by Bullet Train from Osaka. The journey is a technological wonder in itself. Another reminder how completely bereft our public transport is here in the land of Oz. Smooth, efficient, very, very fast... up to 250km per hour. The destination, the 'everyone-must-visit' Peace Museum that reminds us... graphically... the consequences of war and nuclear weapons. I had to sit down for an hour after walking through this place to grasp what I had just witnessed.

Two final comments about Japan.

Firstly, it has a sort of free press but the journalists that toe the line and do the biggest suck job get their foot in the door with both business and politics. It's a closed system of favourites, brown-nosing and brown paper bags. Like the Singaporeans version of freedom of speech and the press, it's a matter of 'everyone is equal but some are more equal than others'.

And finally, if you're heading to Japan take some ear muffs cause it's the noisiest place I have ever been to. Every door you enter, every escalator you step onto, every mode of transportation you undertake... you get bells, whistles, chimes, dings, dongs and a lot of Japanese recorded announcements. Everywhere, it's relentless. The chimes warning us that the train was about to arrive at the next station were the first couple of bars from God Save the Queen. All a bit rude I thought cause they've got their own Emperor without needing to suck up to QEII as well.

Just one other thing... take it from me... don't worry about trying the local Osakan delicacy, Octopus Balls. The Octopus would probably rather have them and they tasted like....well, octopus balls.

HEALTH SURVEY - Editorial

According to the 23 year old Australian Temprement Project... and here's the scary bit, FINANCED FEDERALLY...... One in 5 of aussies in their mid 20's has a major mental or physical problem. Two in five of the same age group suffer depression, anxiety, take illegal drugs or engage in risky social behaviour.. That's a whopping 40% of all Australians in their mid-20's.

Let's assume, for a moment, that this survey is correct. It's saying that 40% of this younger generation are somehow limited in their life by depression, anxiety, illegal drugs, major physical problems or risky social behaviour?? If this remarkable figure WERE true the next generation of business, community and political leaders would a sad lot indeed. Australia's future would be devastated by a bunch of lethargic, depressed, drug-addled misfits.

Let's get a grip on this for a moment. This younger generation - the subject of this long-term survey of 2400 young people from birth to their mid-twenties - have lived in the most prosperous couple of decades in Australia's history. They haven't had to go to war, they haven't had their Vietnam or WWII. They haven't lived through a depression or even a recession. They are better educated, have a longer projected life-span of any generation, they have less unemployment, greater access to health services, a better understanding of diet and they never had to endure Ernie Sigley on TV. So, what in earth have 40% of our younger Australians got to be depressed and anxious about? And when it comes to drug use... no one asked them to stick a needle in their arm, snort some white powder or pop a pill. But then again, some of these drug issues may explain the study's other perplexing claim... the anti-social behaviour.

Dianne Smart, the researcher quoted in the media reporting on this survey says....

"In the 1960s and '70s, most young people had settled into stable careers, married, and become parents by their mid-20s. Nowadays, this is the exception rather than the norm." OK, happy to accept that but it doesn't go even a part of the way into explaining all the angst and depression. And what are they terming anxiety and depression? Is their iPod battery flat? Or did Mum and Dad buy the 32" LCD panel TV rather than the 52" one? Of course, many of them are still at home in their mid-20's these days with the realities of life still ahead of them. Things like paying rent, a mortgage, insurance and doing their own laundry are still years away for many of them.

Now, I know I'm falling into the generation gap here but, really.... how could our society operate if, indeed, 4 out of 10 of every young Australian was a dysfunctional, depressive, anxious, anti-social cot case. It wouldn't and the claims of this study make a mockery of the funding provided and the obvious social cohesion we see around us everyday. If this study were right we would all be locked inside trying to avoid these social lepers soaking up our tax-paying dollars with their alleged issues.

I should explain that I have a lot of sympathy for those suffering depression... I have had 2 partners with chronic depression and it is an awful issue to cope with. But I can assure you that people suffering depression, real depression, are the exception and not the rule. In this case the media was simply reporting the results of the study. Thankfully a lot of the commentators on radio got stuck into this report and brought a bit of balance to this statistical drivel.

Finally, just bringing this back to home for a sec... a young person who may be fighting issues with their sexuality, today, in their early 20's is a thousand times better off than they would have been 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago. Of course there are still issues but places like JOY, a more tolerant media and maturing social values are making it a MUCH easier ride for younger people than in the past.

It's hard to dispute a well-funded, well-resourced survey like this. But I suspect that the young people's perception of what anxiety and depression are, are completely misjudged and that the truth is that most of us have simply never had it so good.

DEMISE OF BNews

Interview with Richard Watts, Evolution Media

Whilst the world is witnessing the US financial juggernaut going down the toilet there has been a quiet revolution going on in the background in our local pink media. Without a lot of fanfare, or even a lot of notification, we have seen B-News vanish from circulation. It won't ben seen again and the company that ran it into the ground is currently under scrutiny from a number of legal and tax points of view... we'll leave that for the suits to sort out. Even late last week there were phone calls going back and forth between the BNews camp and the pink publishing juggernaut, Evolution Press, about a potential buy out. At one stage, I understand, it was pretty much signed and sealed before the preverbial shit hit the fan and a few of the debtors got involved. At this stage it all fell in a heap and the mess is a long way from being sorted out.

In the meantime, Evolution Publishing, either with impeccable timing or a an A-grade crystal ball is announcing a new mag to hit the streets. To try and sort out the fact from fiction in a busy week in the pink press we welcome back to the Spin studio the Editor of MCV, Richard Watts.

The Spin: October 7 - BackSpin

BILL HENSON NUDE PHOTOS ISSUE
This is a stupid witchhunt by pollies et al. How pathetic and sad that art is being used this way. Go to the Westin Hotel in the city. Henson's work is everywhere. Sam

Hi Tim. Heard that interview on 3aw. Following that, the station advertised 'alzheimers the musical' hypocrary! Cheers Ken

NEW MUSICAL AT THE FRINGE FESTIVAL
Beaconsfield - A musical in A flat minor. Not funny at all. Detracts from what might be a good show.

FINANCIAL CRISIS
Exxon executives and C.E.O in the past were caught in strip clubs and one C.E.O left wife and married a stripper! No wonder they are in deep shit! Some should go and jump off their wall street buildings! Pamela.

Hi guys we are loving ur show. Learn something new every week. Tristan

Special Edition of The Spin

The Tuesday, October 14 edition of The Spin will host a special program dedicated to investigating the new media pervading our lives. Where is the next media revolution? It's already happening right under your nose. The Spin will investigate the role of new media and what it means for traditional media... radio, print, television. Who will be winners and who will end up on the media scrap heap wondering what just happened?

The Spin has a commitment to using all forms of the new media to provide an interactive platform for all to involve themselves in the program's issues.

You will also notice an increased commitment to daily blog entries as we share our thoughts about the media. Whilst our focus is on Australian media, generally, we also try and keep on top of other trends as they emerge from around the world.

We look forward to you joining the Spin team next Tuesday from 7 on JOY 94.9 as we ponder where the new media will take us next.