I don't have a problem with McKinnon or Smith. I do have a problem with 60 Minutes.

I can't remember the last time I watched 60 minutes. A few years ago probably. I remember watching a story that was so one sided that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It used to be the kind of show that featured stories told professionally. It was true journalism. Now it is little more than a TV version of a tabloid.

I broke my 60 minutes drought as I wanted to watch the story on Alex McKinnon, the rugby league player who became a quadriplegic after a horrifying illegal tackle in a game last year. The story started off well. Stories from Alex's youth, funny anecdotes from his family and documentation of what seems to be a great love between him and his fiancé.

Where they starts to lose it was at the point where they obviously wanted to cause dissent, to get people talking, to make something pointed in order to shock viewers...keep them watching. Never mind it was only part of the truth.

Now I think McKinnon is a brave man who deserves the outpouring of sympathy he is receiving. It is a huge tragedy that a man so young has been so injured. When his mother spoke about how she felt when he said he wanted to die it truly touched me. I hope too he gets a bigger settlement from the NRL so he has the money he needs to live the rest of his life.

However today Cameron Smith, The Australian and Melbourne Storm Captain has been left shocked after being labelled the bad guy by 60 minutes, this program that should be led by guidelines of responsible journalism.

During the program they showed McKinnon sitting with Liz Hayes watching the footage of that terrible tackle. McKinnon found it hard, obviously and was trying to describe why he moved his head the way he did. The big surprise... The pointy part of the story that Liz Hayes & team seemed so keen to deliver was that McKinnon had no malice for the Melbourne Storm player who lifted him in the tackle, the player who was suspended for 7 weeks but rather was angry at Cameron Smith for his on field comments at the time.

It is fair to say that looking at isolation at what Smith says it does give the viewer a bit of a jolt, just as it does Hayes and McKinnon who are viewing it together. 60 minutes put the footage together just perfectly for best effect. McKinnon on the ground, his face stricken, unable to breathe and unable to move. Then carried off on a stretcher... The mood sombre. Then Smith is arguing with the referee about the penalty that went against his team. The referee tells him the penalty stands, the player is on report, it is an illegal tackle. But Smith does what many a captain has done before and will do again, he argues the point. 60 minutes make sure you see and clearly hear him say ' if he doesn't duck his head, that doesn't happen' Then go to McKinnon's reaction as he watches with Hayes. He is upset. He suggests that arguing over a penalty when someone comes off on a stretcher is fucking ridiculous. 

Now reading this you may think he has a point. I did at first. People are saying how did Smith not know how serious it was? How could he blame McKinnon for his own injury? Well I imagine if Smith were to see the footage he would agree it was not his best moment. Arguing over a penalty that injures a player to the extent they have to be carried off on a stretcher seems petty and unsympathetic.

But 60 minutes leave it there. A brief positive mention from coach Wayne Bennet about Smith's character and that is it. No talking to Smith or the Storm. Nothing. Just an seriously injured man watching footage of the moment his life changed forever reacting to that pain in front of a camera.

That's not responsible. They didn't need to show him watching the footage. They didn't need to focus on Smith but they chose to in order to spice things up. All the family shots and loving moments overshadowed by introducing a villain simply because they could.

Smith when he was on the field didn't get to watch the replay over and over. Perhaps he truly didn't know the extent of the injuries. He did what a captain would do... Try and argue against a penalty. Was it bad form to argue so long? Yes. In hindsight might he realise that those comments can be construed as blaming McKinnon for his own injury? Absolutely but that does not excuse the one sided reporting. If 60 Minute had done its job and reported all the facts it would have reported that despite McKinnon's suggestion that Smith never got in touch, Smith and other Storm players tried to visit him in hospital several times but were denied. They should have mentioned that Smith was instrumental in the Rise For Alex fundraising campaign and that Smith wore McKinnon's number as a sign of respect. They didn't.

If you want to call out Smith for his comments then do so but 60 minutes showed little integrity by the way they handled the story. When you leave out relevant facts to make your version more poignant then that is not journalism. So little wonder I stopped watching the program. Somehow I don't think I will be going back.  

Daytime TV... A lesson...

For reasons I won't go into today I spent the day watching regular ordinary daytime TV. This was not pleasant. In fact at times it was perplexing. Nonetheless I try to see everything as a learning experience so here is is..... Things I've learned about daytime TV.

Firstly there is a lot of news. They seem to have news on several times a day. I'm not talking about the dedicated 24 hours a day news channel. I mean all the other channels. Mostly it seems to involve simply retelling the same stories over and over. Occasionally there is something new to add, when there isn't they seem to exaggerate the stories they do have so that by the end of the day each story has become something completely different. 

There is also a lot of channels solely selling crap things that presumably won't sell anywhere else. Why they put them on during the day is beyond me unless they think that people who watch TV during the day must be home from work on very heavy medication. Some of these things defy believe. ‘Dr Ho's physio belt’ anyone? Then there are those hideously ugly bras that somehow all women must have because apparently we all don't know how to get measured and buy proper bras in our actual size.

Or a product called ‘True back?’ I don’t even know what that is... I just flicked on to the channel in time to witness people answering the questions, "Truly? You are not just saying this because you are on camera?" To which they all enthusiastically replied no of course they are not just saying that because they are on camera, the product really works! It's changed their lives!" I for one totally believe them... I'm picking up the phone to order my free trial of something or other because I mean why would these people lie? 

Then there are the ads selling insurance. Every channel and every single ad break. Sometimes even as a segment on a show....Income protection, life insurance or funeral insurance. Seemingly we are all sitting at home contemplating our mortality so that these ads seem perfectly timed. We are all easily convinced to sign up for yet another kind of insurance that we (don't) need. These ads declaring that it's cheaper than a cup of coffee and that no medical exam is required. Which does two things for me... Firstly it makes me really want a cup of coffee and secondly it makes me want to shout at the screen ( assuming that everyone watching the ad on TV will somehow hear me...)  that what they really mean is that if you don't tell them about any health condition chances are they won't pay out...so beware! 

Want to watch old episodes of Charlies's Angels? Then daytime TV is for you! Or movies so old they actually look grainy on the screen? Some TV show you have never heard of? Probably because they were so bad they never made it to prime time? How about an old episode of Taggart? No I mean old... Really old... Taggart is still alive! I like a good crime show but I'm sure I've seen these... Twenty years ago. 

I am currently being saved from complete mental breakdown by The Antiques Roadshow. Yep that's the pick at the moment. I'm dreading it finishing as I will have to channel surf again. I can't seem to avoid noticing the gaudy jewellery on TVSN that they are asking a ridiculous amount of money for... Or a few seconds of someone smiling inanely because they have supposedly been saved by some odd appliance or from taking out insurance. Then again I could be lucky enough to find a cooking show.... Thanks goodness for Justine and Poh!

So the day is not done but I daresay I'm not in for much different. Of course I can't wait for The Chase to come on. The one daytime show that I love... That it is from the UK says a lot about Australian TV  in general... But that's a blog for another day.

My night on Twitter

I spent last night on Twitter. By that of course I mean I spent the night watching tv with my phone beside me occasionally checking the words of wisdom coming from some amazing people.

Because Twitter and the people on it can be amazing. A night on Twitter can be a life changing experience. It truly can . Last night is a case in question. I managed to go through a wide range of emotions last night all due to the information imparted to me via my phone screen.

It started off when my beloved Wests Tigers won. There were quite a few fans tweeting congratulations and talking about player performances. Curtis Sironen made his first grade debut. People my age remember his dad, Paul as one of the best Tigers players to ever play the game. Tweets about the nostalgia felt by some fans nearly made me well up with tears. It is a just a game perhaps but capable of giving us some lovely heartfelt moments.

Then it would appear Eurovision was on tv. On SBS here in Australia to be precise and just about everyone I follow on Twitter was watching, and tweeting and making me laugh hysterically. I was not even watching, had never intended to and probably never will but these tweets were clever, funny and basically left out any need for me to watch the program myself. It was all unfolding on Twitter. It has happened to me before. I never have to watch the program qanda as my Twitter stream reliably informs me what is happening.

In any case back to Eurovision. Of course there was the odd tweet about the human rights record of the host country but that didn't seem to bother anyone. They kept the jokes up regardless.

Everything from urging the Azerbaijani entrants to make a run for it to questioning what would happen to next years Eurovision if Greece won. Not to mention that the outfits, including one very big pair of trousers were discussed (for 'discussed' read 'had the piss taken out of.') as did the hair and props etc. Surprisingly most remained quiet about the actual singing. If you don't believe such musings can be entertaining then type #sbseurovision into the search in Twitter and see for yourselves.


So Sweden won. I think it was rather an anti climax as the tweets stopped pretty much when it was clear who would be winning. Did the best team win? I have no idea. It seems irrelevant.

Then it was race time! Yes the Monaco F1 Grand Prix was on tv and Twitter last night. Having been laid low with a nasty bug and coughing so much it was hard to sleep I was staying up to watch it. I was ensconced in my warm bed with my toddler asleep beside me (don't ask...) about to watch the race. I found a few F1 twitter fans to follow to help me enjoy the race.

One in particular stood out. At one low point during the race he announces he is off to put fish cakes in the oven and then proceeded throughout the race to inform us of the status of his meal including his observation that the Red Bull pit team can change four tyres quicker then he can move from the couch to the kitchen and turn two fish cakes. He timed it. His Twitter name is sniffpetrol. Go and find his tweets. Even now after the race is over you will still laugh.

As much as I have enjoyed watching the racing this year after an hiatus from viewing the sport I cant remember laughing so much during a sports broadcast and it had nothing to do with the commentary.

So Mark Webber won. So what an day! A great Tigers win, Sweden wins Eurovision and an Aussie wins in Monaco! All is right with the world!

Except of course it was not and is not. I could not, as much as at times I would have liked to, avoid the more serious stuff on my Twitter stream. A retweet from someone I follow made me aware of an horrific situation going on in Syria. Yes while the jokes flew around Eurovision, children were being beaten to death in Syria. There was an amazing person,I don't know their gender, for some reason I imagined they were female, sitting in her home in Syria whilst chaos rained around her and she was tweeting about it.

Her updates were terrifying and devastating. She spoke of the sounds of the soldiers, the constant gunshot and rumblings. She tweeted pictures of a photographer who was killed filming the carnage, pictures of happy children before the violence broke out. I learned that children were being slaughtered and the claim was 'self defense.' No help was forthcoming. There were no UN monitors in sight. There was no medical assistance. Field hospitals were being targeted by the shelling. At one point she causally describes a weapon she can see and asks whether anyone on Twitter can tell her what it is.

It broke my heart and made me weep. All this while I was also laughing about fish cakes of all things.

So here I was. Sick certainly but warm and comfortable watching very privileged young men ( ok and Michael Schumacher, a privileged not so young man...) sitting in very expensive cars driving around a picturesque peaceful principality that just reeks of wealth and prestige. Every now and then the cars would pass under the massive signs for the Monte Carlo Casino or whizz past the opulent building with a bright blue swimming pool atop it. At times you would not have been surprised if the crowd had been holding up signs saying 'We are all very wealthy.' with a smiley face drawn underneath. They cross to the pits and show the worried faces of the crew as rain threatened. Could be disastrous. Completely. The stress must be awful.

First world problems huh? You betcha. How many of this pit crew had witnessed a baby being beaten to death? How could I even imagine checking my Twitter feed whilst typing furiously wondering if each tweet might be my last as I was in the middle of a war zone?

So as much as I enjoyed the race and the Eurovision jokes I wonder how many people knew what else was going on in the world? Whilst Swedish people celebrated and champagne was flowing in Monaco, citizens in a place that is geographically not all that far away were being slaughtered.

So as I turned the TV off and put my phone away I found I could not sleep. Many things going through my head. How great that the Tigers are winning again, our national anthem being played in Monaco. Not to mention my fears for myself. Will I manage this week? What with my chronic fatigue symptoms and this flu I have been struggling. But my thoughts kept going back to a person in Syria. Sitting like I was, perhaps even with a child beside them. One they would protect with their lives. How much easier it was for me.

I try and imagine. What if I could not venture outside for fear of being killed? I envisage hearing the artillery, gunshots, stampeding soldiers who may or may not stop outside my front door. The cries of the wounded, the screams of the grieving mothers, the silence of the dying. In my head is that dead baby and children. How can this happen in the world?

So my night on Twitter was a mixed bag to say the least. It perhaps changed me just a little. Those of you who do not use Twitter perhaps do not know the power it can have. It is an eye into the world; all the good, the hilarious and the bad, often the very very bad.

So last night Twitter made me think, reminisce, laugh, guffaw, cry and feel outrage. For that I thank it.