damn that radio song

One thing that’s annoying here = all forms of media. The radio is often on at work, and the music programming initially drove me crazy: there’s a bit of local stuff, but on high rotation is anything by Beyonce and that girl group; Gwen Stefani; Britany – girl pop is big here. Let alone that stupid mike and the mechanics song about father dying not saying goodbye…ugh. Again and again! i now see how jjj is revolutionary; the changes such a station would bring here...

But I've learned to tune out. Papers I usually enjoy, though once in a while you do get sick of tabloid craziness, pics of freaks, dead bodies, and people in traditional dress; what gets covered – and what doesn’t – and how, all involve huge conflicts of interest, but they’re so normal that you don’t blink (I think a malaysian mining company owns one of the dailys, and Murdoch the other.)

But tv is bugging me today. where i live has a satellite dish, so we get emtv (png), 7 (nt/rural qld) and sbs. I have mates who take 60 minutes and a current affair very seriously. I told them about john safran’s attack on martin (they were shocked; "but i thought ray was such a nice man..."), and for a while things calmed down, but I have noticed “on 60 minutes last night…” is creeping back into conversation.

It’s not the shows themselves that bother me, it’s that my friends have grown up with a different kind of media (“not independent” at best) and are not media savvy, plus have never been to Australia – suffice to say that they don’t critically evaluate what the shows peddle, nor how they work, that they ARE peddling. (one has a degree in journalism but it makes no dfference. though the uni attended was "divine word"...that's a bit unfair; tho i poke fun it has a good rep in png.)

The number of 4wds in Australia is approaching epidemic proportions, I was told today; so many accidents! People are driving over kids simply because they can’t see them. I try and explain the situation that the show’s exaggerating, and that it’s not actually that dangerous – but no one believes me. (In contrast, “PNG 7th most dangerous country in the world” said a headline here last week; “that’s SURELY not right! Those papers!” someone laughed.)(“Only 7th?” I laughed.)

ah, we're battling out those cultural differences. (you're worse. no, you are.)