NSW State Election



Did you like the video? Well if so you can download the ringtone from the NSW Liberal Party website! Personally I would be a little embarrassed to answer my phone in public with this particular ringtone, plus I would likely be soon driven insane if it was stuck in my head all day. Surely with the recent state election we are all aware of the repetitive backstabbing advertisements and campaigns that tell us not what they are planning to do to improve our state but what the opposition is doing wrong. Are these advertisements even effective and should we be concerned about the money and time spent towards criticising the oppositions policies through advertisements played every single add break. Why can’t they actually do something more productive and beneficial, which logically you’d assume would then increase their votes, proving they are fit to run the state and perhaps actually care about its’ operating rather than their own status and reputation. However the media does specifically manage to show us footage of our party leaders in schools and hospitals, talking with the elderly or visiting sick children, evidently giving the public what they want. Its clear it’s a pretty fierce fight to the finish but surely they can go without the, lets just say it, lame and unnecessary add campaigns and do I need to even mention the ringtone again? I mean really.

However there is also positive use of the media used by the political parties. With a whole new and rapidly evolving generation of technology, many companies and organizations have branched out into social media for promoting and advertising of absolutely anything and everything. Even politicians are getting involved, on the Labour Parties website it lists which of their members have facebook, twitter or are on youtube. Evidently these efforts are aimed at reaching today’s generation of social media fanatics’ but as the social media community increases it is becoming an essential source for obtaining immediate information and also allowing us to comment and have our say. Whether it’s considered or even read, who knows, but it still provides a feeling of involvement accessible to anyone and of which I think is highly valued by most individuals.

NSW Liberal Campaign Head Quarters (2011) Liberal Party of Australia, New South Wales http://www.nsw.liberal.org.au/

NSW Labor Party (2011)

http://www.nswalp.com/

Victims of.. media?

It is evident that the public’s perception of crime is largely based upon how it is portrayed in the media. I admit that I, like many others, fall victim to the media’s often exaggerated crime stories which tend to blur the lines between reality and fiction.

My own consumption of media news is very mainstream; I watch the 6 o’clock news most nights which I sometimes regretfully follow up with Today Tonight (often promoting the latest diets and styling tips!), and regularly browse through the Sunday Telegraph of a weekend. Being a criminology student I realised I definitely need to pick my act up and so I have started off the semester by broadening my sources of crime and media news.

I’m particularly drawn to fictional crime shows a favourite being criminal minds, purely due to the entertainment derived from the constant twists and mind games. But I’m also fortunate enough to have the crime channel on foxtel which provides me with an array of programmes ranging from quite boring police procedures, to horrific murders told by America’s worst criminals themselves. A particular documentary on the crime channel which I watched only recently documented a group of teenage boys from America who made a series of movies called ‘Bumfights’ which exploited the homeless by getting them to fight each other or commit humiliating acts in exchange for a small amount of money or alcohol. I couldn’t understand how these teenagers found this even remotely funny and how they managed to think anyone would actually watch or even buy these movies. But since 2001 when these videos began, 6.8 million similar videos have been sold.

It’s clear that the media has great influence over not only the publics’ perception of criminal behaviour but also offenders and victims too. With that said, the media is able to form stereotypes of these people, whom society marginalises, whom we are wary of. Has the media contributed to this discrimination of the homeless, making it ok for them to be treated like dogs when they are at their lowest and genuinely need help not a supply of alcohol to support a possible addiction?

Though I have gone on quite a tangent, I thought it was interesting to address these videos as it questions two different perceptions on crime, its seen as humorous entertainment and fun to the makers of ‘Bumfights’ and possibly to many who bought the movies, but then another side sees it as immoral, as a criminal offence, almost a hate crime. What creates this difference? Is it personal opinion or media influence?


S. Walshe (2010) Hate Crimes Against the Homeless, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/20/homeless-bum-fight-hate-crime