CHARMAINE'S WEIGHTY ISSUE

Photo by Paul Tresize, Herald Sun

So what should the caption from this photo be?

1) Police arrest shopper after trying to smuggle watermelons into Oaks Day

or

2) Police arrest a young girl because the photographer thought it would look good on the front of the Herald Sun the next day.

The answer might have been No. 2. But the real answer is that this young lady was actually only 17 and should have been at school and not at the Cup at all! Sprung bigtime!! But assuming that the photo was a lucky snapshot for photographer Paul Tresize it was a platinum plated, rolled gold certainty to be on the front page on Friday.... and so it was. Young 'Charmaine' claimed she was defending an elderly person whilst waiting for trains after Oaks Day - the trains that didn't arrive for nearly 3 hours.

So, what started as a photographer with en eye for the ladies ended up as a much more interesting story. Why was 17 yo 'Charmaine' at the races? What was going on whilst racegoers were waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the trains? Why WAS she really escorted away by the local constabulary? All the questions, and maybe a few answers on this week's Spin. Tuesday at 7pm on JOY 94.9

KILL THE BASTARDS

Some of the headlines and editorial following the execution of the three convicted Bali Bombers has assured us that the issue of capital punishment continues to polarise public opinion. The Herald Sun website screamed 'It's Done'. The Age was a little more matter of fact, 'Bali Bombers Executed'. In London, The Times completely ignored the story. CNN had the story in their top 3 headlines.

Talkback radio, including the Sunday morning slang-fest with John Michael Howson McCallum on Fairfax Radio's 3AW, was a snapshot of right wing vitreol. Terms like 'closure' and 'hope they died in pain' were liberally used as the contempt poured out over the executions. Of course we will be revisiting this issue in 2009 when members of the Bali 9 - in this case young Australians - will also be facing the firing squad in Indonesia. Will the attitude be any different by the conservative press and the older talkback callers who vented their hate at the Bali Bombers?

Will the executions of the Bali Bombes make Indonesia, particularly Bali, a safer place to visit? Does executing the terrorists turn them into martyrs? Does execution ever solve a problem?

We would love to hear what you have to say and look forward to airing your thoughts on the program.

Join The Spin this Tuesday when we discuss the coverage of the executions. Thanh Bui, from Australian Idol, also joins the program to discuss Australia's music industry and perceived racism. The Spin, the Tuesday from 7pm on JOY 94.9.

RACISM IN OZ MUSIC INDUSTRY

Thanh Bui, Australian Idol

Photo courtesy of www.australianidol.com.au

What we see with Australian Idol and what really happens behind the scenes are two different things. On Nov. 11 we speak to Idol contestant Thanh Bui about perceived racism in the Australian music industry. And the media perpetuates many of these myths so listen in and tell us what you think.

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.