The News of the World hacking scandal exposes the worst of contemporary journalism. But Britain still has first class newspapers to give some sort of balance. It was, after all, the dogged journalism of the Guardian that finally brought to light the extent of the problems of the Murdoch tabloid. Returning to Australia I have been once again reminded of how our lack of media diversity and a public appetite for national discussion of issues as if they were football matches have combined to drag journalism down to less scandalous, but just as disappointing, depths. And the fact that the owner of News of the World controls 70 per cent of the metropolitan newspaper market in Australia, while its only major competitor Fairfax is struggling to survive, is no source of comfort. To put this British affair into an Australian context readers will find this site illuminating The Failed Estate
Update: There is a very interesting article in Crikey today by Margaret Simons
The CSIRO last week released their report on the Home Insulation Program begun in 2009.
As many would know, the reality of the Home Insulation Program (HIP) was always very different from that suggested by easy, sensational media headlines. Using the CSIRO data, Possum Comitatus here provides a model for how the MSM could have reported this important public policy in a numerate and objective way. He has found that :
the Home Insulation Program reduced the short term fire rate by approximately 70% compared to what was happening before it. It was over 3 times safer than the industry it replaced in terms of the numbers of fire experienced within 12 months of getting insulation installed.
the long term rate for the post-12 month period is already starting to average around the 0.66 fires per 100,000 houses installed mark, compared to the 2.06 fires per 100,000 houses installed seen from the pre-HIP industry installations.
In short, the HIP was safer over both the short term (the fire rates over the 12 month period from installation) as well as the longer term (the residual long term fire rates that occur from 12 months after the insulation was installed).
Another enlightening Possum blog.
Update: See also here (Grog's gamut--Shouting fire from a pre-Budget theatre.)
