My first facebook rant - the next one will probably be posted in 5 years or so :) This is what I sent to the ABCs complaint section this morning: As an avid and loyal follower of the ABC (Online, RN, Local Radio, Classic FM & Triple J) I am very disappointed to have to lodge my first ever complaint. One of the first news stories I saw this morning was the above headline about police being assaulted in Ipswich. On reading the article I found the incident occurred at Redbank Plains, 12 kilometres away from Ipswich itself with many suburbs in between. It is certainly accurate that Redbank Plains is a suburb of Ipswich City Council however articles with broad headlines such as this contribute to a negative perception of the region as a whole. This is not the first occurrence of such headline reporting I have noted on the ABC. It seems particularly rife when any incidents occur in the Ipswich or Logan City Council areas. Yet on searching other articles on the ABC this standard is not consistently followed, for example with Ormiston being referred to as Bayside Brisbane as opposed to being called Redland Bay, which is the Council that area is part of. As a disclaimer I live in North Ipswich and find this blanket geographical reporting to be unfair. It further adds to the historical stigma attached to areas of lower-socio communities. I also wonder if this same inconsistent location reporting occurs in other part of Australia. There is no way I can tell without being familiar with specific regions. Could the ABC please consider more accurately reporting the relevant suburb in each news article? Why not online provide a map if it is deemed so important, or for radio or television reports provide the direction and/or distance from the CBD rather than increasingly stigmatising whole council regions. Thank you.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:59:49 +0000
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