There was some media today concerning Win News' decision to cut back on local news staff in the Qld Regions. This decision isn't a huge problem (the real disaster occurred years ago when we lost local production) but it coincidentially ties in with another "major news" story that I think highlights the problem.
Like Katrina before it, Hurricane Ike (like all major systems that hit populated areas) MUST have immense learnings for communities all along the northern Queensland coastline. Yet, where is all the analysis in our local press? What lessons can WE learn? What mistakes are being made there that we MUSTN'T repeat here? Yes, there is coverage in the national media, but as these events are never likely to hit anywhere south of Rocky, there's no detailed analysis.
You can be sure that, if this was something that Sydney could endure, we'd have media all over the place running comparisons, etc. But not for us. And there's very little coverage (other than what they take off the news wires) about how these events might affect us.
Would local news production make any difference? Possibly not - the Townsville Bulletin IS locally produced yet still has feable coverage - but surely it would create enough content for a local production to at least be viable.
It also staggers me that in a city of over 180K people and in a region of over 600K people - that somehow we do not qualify for "local content"! Oh, the joys of capitalism eh?
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