DOMESTIC
Baby whale – A humpback calf that was separated from its mother in Pittwater in Northern Sydney received a huge amount of coverage this week, the media even giving the calf the name Colin before vets decided the animal should be put down as it had no hope of survival.
Interest rates – Wayne Swan got the pay off from all his tough talk when the NAB announced that if the RBA dropped the official rate by 0.25%, as expected, it would be passing on the full cut. None of the other banks were willing to immediately commit to the cut, while the Treasurer called on them all to do so.
Murray Darling crisis – There were further calls this week for the Murray Darling system to be completely taken out of state control, following claims 50% of available water is being taken out of the top of the system in Queensland before the rivers even reach the NSW border. Queensland officials denied the claim.
WA Election – While the Labor party is still a clear favourite to win the WA Election, the media has focused on expectations of loses of a number of seats by the Government and the narrowing of the polls since Colin Barnett returned to the Opposition leadership.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Ossetia – International pressure is being kept up on Russia as it withdraws some troops from Georgia but reinforces others in the disputed South Ossetia region, while the Russian Govenment will officially recognize South Ossetia and another breakaway region Abkhazia as independent states.
Musharraf resigns – Just two weeks after the outbreak of hostilities over Ossetia, another shock to global stability came with the resignation of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, after holding the job officially for only six months following his long reign as military dictator. Benazir Bhutto’s widower is the front runner for the job.
In other international news - A Spanair flight headed for the Canary Islands crashed just after take-off from Madrid airport on Wednesday killing 153 of the 172 people on board; and leaders at the Pacific Forum have condemned Fijian military leader Frank Bainimarama for failing to hold elections and not turning up at the forum.
BUSINESS NEWS
BHP Profit – Reporting season has seen yet another record profit for the Big Australian, heading over the $15bn mark; while Qantas also recorded a solid full year profit despite difficult conditions in 2008, Virgin Blue not performing so well and suffering a big drop in their share price.
OLYMPICS
Swimming – Even though the swimming events (apart from the open water race) finished on the weekend, there was still enough coverage to get the sport to the top of the pile for the second week, plenty of focus on Michael Phelps’s record breaking 8 gold medal haul.
Other leading sports – Anna Meares silver medal was the highlight of an overall disappointing event for the Australian cycling team; the Boomers came a cropper against the US although the Opals look primed for a gold medal showdown in the basketball; Sally McLennan’s silver in the 110m hurdles had herself and everyone else shocked and delighted, while Usain Bolt was head and shoulders the star of the athletics events; in the hockey the Hockeyroos missed out on a medal while the Kookaburras dipped out at the semi-final stage and will play for bronze
TALKBACK
It was all sport again on talkback this week, a lot of the Olympics coverage discussing Channel Seven’s coverage of the events although plenty of discussion about the Australian performances; and Colin the baby whale was also widely discussed.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"My name is Lightning Bolt"The weekly media index will be on holidays in Southern France in September. To keep track of the week's top stories, visit our parent site here. Au revior!
Usain Bolt tells us what we already knew
Tracking the media, monitoring the message
No comments:
Post a Comment