Thread: Climate Change and our Land of Fire, Flood and Drought.

Originally Posted by AK83

Re the Murdoch empire's anti climate change stance ... personally I couldn't give a rats what they do, say or write(or spread). Never read them, never thought too, never will. So for me their anti climate change 'policy' is of no meaning.

But one thing that irked me massively over the past few years, is ABC(mainly radio) .. and their stance on climate change.
The role of any news service is not to, especially the ABC .. is to provide news/info/content/etc .. not to shape public opinion in any way, and allow the information itself stand up to scrutiny which allows each individual to form their own opinions.

But what's been happening(at least here in Melb, on radio) over the last few years is that they have not provided news as such, and are themselves forcing the public into an opinion. What they do, is that whenever someone comes on to the talkback series with an anti climate change opinion, basically the caller is talked down(ie. argued against), shouted down and usually cut off. They finish full conversations with anyone calling in that only held the most popular opinion on climate change, and the reality is average joe/jane knows nothing of it other that what's been said by these scientists. So any opinions questioning the validity of the science is simply shut off on the ABC.

I respect the presenters right to believe what they like on whatever topic they hold opinions on, but as a news reporter they have no right to shut people off just because those types have an opposing opinion.
This is not news(in the traditional sense) .. where news = straight up, unbiased information.
For this reason I've stopped listening to ABC news radio, which is sad(for me) as I used to love listening to the spectrum of conversation on the shows. Traffic now is just plain annoying as a consequence.

From my perspective, what Murdoch's empire does and believes is their right too, as do the opposing sides of the news spectrum. Their only motive is numbers/financial gain.
ABC on the other hand .. their role in news is simply information! Unbiased, factual based, unemotional and to the point. The fact that they regularly shut down the opinions of the people, who they're supposed to 'represent' is reprehensible .. more so that the biases of Murdoch.
So get off the Murdoch case .. they are what they are, and those of us that see them for that ..we avoid the garbage.
But the ABC has no right to force people to their way of thinking .. irrespective if they are right or wrong.

Haven't tuned in for over a year now, which is maddening for me as I paid good money for a digital radio in my D1 for better sound quality!(what a waste of money that appears to have been now).

There, LR talk thrown in for good measure!

The other issue I've been pondering recently, I think due to a link posted in this thread. But climate change is supposedly making cyclones worse too. The link was to the BoM where they stated some facts and figures, and they say that some rain and cooler weather will reduce the remainder of the fire season .. etc, blah blah .. and that a major reason for the 'intensity' of this years fire season was due to a very delayed cyclone season .. something to do with the IOD measurements.

Has it not occurred to anyone else too, if climate change is making cyclones and cyclone seasons worse ... where the hell are they!?
Or is this climate change thing making them worse .. only when they are worse!
As I've said before .. it's out of sight, so out of mind .. come next year summer, when there are no fires of any consequence and a couple of cyclones hit some major town/city .. the climate change talk will change to cyclones and how much worse THEY are now.

And the masses will just accept it because some numpty scientist, following on in the footsteps of other numpty scientist, said it.

The Indian Ocean Dipolar was way off normal, causing drought here and floods in Africa. Now the IOD is back to normal, so you'll soon get some cyclones.

The debate about climate change is over among the climate experts who actually know what they are talking about - they are unanimous that climate change is real and humans are making it worse.
The ABC, like most media, have decided the evidence for climate change is overwhelming, so why should they waste airtime on denialist rubbish?
Why don't you ring and say you want to argue the earth is flat and see if they give you a hearing?

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

...

and that's the difference and why we must not allow anybody of any status in this country to do any more downgrading or budget cutting to such a hugely beneficial public broadcaster.

.....

I have no issue with the ABC per se, other than, there should be a directive from their top brass .. no bias in their programming. The issue tho is that they(the programmers/content creators) can't see their biases so are oblivious to it.
I'm definitely a pro ABC slash supporter type. Just hated the way that particular content was going.
Also, I'm not against them censoring some specific types of feedback/content .. eg. beeping out offensive language, or even hate speech type stuff .. or whatever else would deemed unfit as respectful commentary from the general public.
But, just an average bloke making (usually humorously silly) factless comments isn't offensive like (say) hate speech and so forth, so no need to cut them short the way they had been doing at that time.

Earlier this year I almost made the effort to locate the contact details of one specific presenter to make him aware of what one general public type noticed about that specific slot. Couldn't be stuffed tho.

The only reason the ABC keeps fire advice up to date is one of national importance.

The ABC network is our equivalent of the Emergency network. As such it is required to broadcast such.

Commercial stations are just that - for profit businesses.

Haven’t listened to any broadcast crap for nearly a decade. Aunty is agenda based and commercial is even worse.

Thank goodness for Podcasts, Audio Books and Playlists.

Originally Posted by vnx205

That really made me appreciate the importance of regional ABC radio. I'm sure people more seriously affected than I was had even more reason to value their local ABC.

We were staying with friends in stanthorpe last year during its fire......we had the ABC radio on listening to the updates in the hope it would assist with decision making (no phone reception area, well Telstra anyways)

We helped pack valuables in their car......based on the radio

When my mate rolled in at 6am from fighting fires all night he gave a totally different account and update on the status.

We agreed it’s a resource that needs to be continued as its more reliable than the internet. , it would be difficult getting the info from the fire front to a presenter

I have to be honest.
I am thankful for global warming climate change and the recent unseasonably cool weather around here.
Jumper on for 3 days now.

Yes, definitely welcome the cooler weather for the last three days - back to around average (last two days one above, one below) after nearly three months of almost continuous temperatures well above average for the time of year. Before yesterday there have been only two days this month with maxima as low as the January average. Today is forecast just below, but next three days above.

In January I expect temperatures in the mid thirties, but since September there have been far too many days in the mid forties.

Originally Posted by W&KO

We were staying with friends in stanthorpe last year during its fire......we had the ABC radio on listening to the updates in the hope it would assist with decision making (no phone reception area, well Telstra anyways)

We helped pack valuables in their car......based on the radio

When my mate rolled in at 6am from fighting fires all night he gave a totally different account and update on the status.

We agreed it’s a resource that needs to be continued as its more reliable than the internet. , it would be difficult getting the info from the fire front to a presenter

NBN failures and mobile towers which stopped working made ABC radio the only source of information for many people during the fires.

'Not worth a pinch of s***': NBN, phones were destined to 'crap out' in fire crisis, resident says
Telco, NBN failures during bushfire crisis reveals cracks in regional, rural crisis coverage - ABC Rural - ABC News

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

NBN failures and mobile towers which stopped working made ABC radio the only source of information for many people during the fires.

'Not worth a pinch of s***': NBN, phones were destined to 'crap out' in fire crisis, resident says
Telco, NBN failures during bushfire crisis reveals cracks in regional, rural crisis coverage - ABC Rural - ABC News

NBN/mobile towere wwere not designed for this.
if you want it, be prepared to double your bill for the upgrades.