no idea, I donât watch Sunrise.
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NSW never barred its residents from returning to the state at any stage, there were 14 day isolation requirements for returnees during the 4 month border closure but not a ban on them returning full stop, like we see at the moment in QLD/VIC/WA, which is the key difference.
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They should have. But lets not forget Sunrise favours NSW, QLD, VIC, NT & ACT then having any stories on W.Aâs insane borders. Which to me is insane. If you are going to be convistant in your bias, at least start critizing W.A for their fortress. Be consistant. Be like Sky News. Who report the hard earning facts. (Sorry i couldnât say that with a straight face)
BBC, ITV News are very bias towards the awesome Johnson Government who have immensely lead us out of COVID-19 but they keep reporting or manipulating facts like Seven and Nine to fit their agenda.
Thereâs still two weeks - WA absolutely should mandate at least 1 dose for grand final attendance.
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Leigh raised some interesting points in regards to discussions on COVID-19:
In the Australian corner of Twitter, the space is dominated by views that are militantly pro-lockdown, pro-COVID zero and pro-Labor premiers, and even the tamest of questions in those directions prompts an onslaught. Topics currently guaranteed to trigger a pile-on include data from official sources that highlights the minimal risks to children from COVID; reporting about the unintended costs of lockdowns including Australians stranded overseas and harm to mental health; information about how safe the AstraZeneca vaccine is; and any analysis of whether policies such as hard border closures and the denial of return for residents stuck interstate are proportionate to the risk.
One would imagine that in a democracy, restrictions on citizensâ movements and freedoms should be subject to the most rigorous scrutiny. One might also assume all citizens would welcome journalistsâ questioning of such policies and indeed, view it as not merely desirable but essential. Such extreme measures may well be needed during a pandemic. There could be solid answers to every query about every policy, but the idea that such restrictions should be accepted unquestioningly, even during a crisis, is chilling.
For example: should journalists raise the fact that a fully vaccinated Victorian resident with a negative COVID test who agrees to two weeks in quarantine is currently barred indefinitely from returning to their home if they are in New South Wales, unless they are granted a rare exemption? I asked that question last week and was attacked non-stop. According to the mob mentality on Twitter, questioning that decree is unacceptable.
Is she right?
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Sheâs 100% right. Brilliantly written piece.
Iâd swap out âTwitterâ for media spy.
Thatâs definitely what it increasingly feels like around here .
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I donât think itâs just Twitter. Didnât some opinion polls 2-3 months ago overwhelmingly echo the same sentiments of the general public? That view may have swayed a bit now that weâve had more lockdowns but it shouldnât be surprising that more of the general public in Australia fall on taking the side of caution and health advice.
Plus a lot of these topics probably go this way on Twitter because the type of people who a raising them (or fuelling them in the comments) are often very inconsistent, donât have the greatest track record or have a specific agenda (antivaxxers, COVID deniers, far right wing groups, even the Vic Liberals etc). Not saying all are like this but thereâs a lot out there.
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IMO, those people should have been allowed to return home a long time ago. However there are some other people who are saying âoh, bad luck, you should not have been in NSW in the first place, and now you must stay in NSW until the lockdown is liftedâ. Which is still some months away.
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QLD Update: 1 new local case overnight - another student who is in isolation.
More than 9000 children aged 12-15 were vaccinated on the first day of the Pfizer vaccine being made available to them.
Coverage of media conference shown on 7, 9 and 10. Zero coverage on ABC - promos for ABC shows shown instead.
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Sorry, but this site is like 1% compared to social media. It is very tame in comparison.
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The question is, has the flip-side been questioned as equally or vigorously i.e Gladys, the Coalition?
The answer to that is a firm no, and as such her argument has no weight.
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Social Media has allowed people to post what they think, in the past, they may have kept those thoughts to themselves or maybe told one or two people, whereas things like Facebook and Twitter have given them a platform to share them with a much wider audience (and often directly to people they may be about). At the same time, weâve become an incredibly binary society and nearly everything has to align to one of two options (and are often political)
Someone sharing the same or a similar opinion to a Political group is not necessarily aligned or supportive of that Political group - it seems to be easier to claim some kind of alignment rather than accept that people have a range of opinions that overlap with others who they may not like, support or agree with.
Itâs all well and good to blame the platforms, but itâs not the platforms that are the issue and targetting them is aiming at the wrong place.
Our mediaâs coverage of the pandemic has on the main not been good (and possibly a reason why people are so willing to call it out online) - questioning has been driven around trying to get âgotchaâ moments from politicians (especially at press conferences) rather than trying to dig deeper into the issues at hand.
Some of our leaders have made some really stupid decisions, then doubled down on them and doubled down on them again (and again and again in some cases), these decisions have had significant consequences, many of which have been swept under the rug because our media are more interested in asking why Bunnings is still open.
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I could handle Leigh Sales anti-lockdown opinions if she was consistent. During Melbournes 4th lockdown Leigh was against financial assistance, against extra AZ going to Vic and blaming the whole situation on Victorian contact tracers without any evidence.
Then NSW goes into lockdown and she is silent as the cash and vaccine pours in and still waving the gold standards gladys flag. She drops her anti-lockdown stance once the virus is on her own doorstep.
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Herald Sun reports that the first 500 beds at the Mickelham quarantine facility will be ready for early January. A further 500 beds will be ready for the following month.
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I agreed with almost all you wrote, but on this point, itâs not all the platforms fault, but they do benefit from and so encourage âengagementâ, actively promoting threads which have lots of activity, including negative activity such as where someone posts something outrageous, conspiracy nonsense, extremely partisan rubbish, etc. because those get more reactions/replies.
Facebook, Google (YouTube) and Twitter all do this (in different ways), trying to keep people on their sites/apps, ignoring the harm to both the individuals and society.
While we all need to remember that echo chambers develop on social media and other forums like here, letâs not excuse the damage the platform companies enable/amplify.
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The social media platforms are far from blameless and could certainly do a whole lot better, but for my mind we should be targetting the people to drive change rather then the technology.
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