It's Friday. Here at SBS News, Friday is the day where we examine the stats from the previous week and see just what it is that has been clicking away; the stories that you, esteemed readers of this fine public broadcaster's internet offering, have deemed worthy of your attention.
Friday is also the day where we remember that serious news alone - even for viewers of one of the more serious news shows on Australian TV - just won't cut the mustard.
There's a media ethics adage which proclaims that what interests the public, is not always in the public interest. But we all know what lurks in the browsing history of the person who came up with this admittedly well-meaning statement. I'll bet there's the occasional killer melon, rat-cyborg eating giant snake, gay-maligning app story.
Lisa Zilberpriver doesn't have a gay son. But she - and plenty of you, too - found an Android phone application's promise of weeding out homosexual offspring particularly, well, striking. We thank Boy George for the tweet love. Well, love might be the wrong word. But a click's a click.
Interestingly, Mr George is prone to advocating violent crackdowns judging by his response to the London 'shopping riots' which shook the British capital, but there's no word on where the 80s icon stands on the brutality meted out to protesters in New York last weeked, which came in a close second in our top ten.
There's been a lot of anger at those chaps on Wall Street trading your future away, and the protests were widely and soundly ignored by some parts of the media. We got an early
article or two in and can thus claim to have covered our backs, but the news got bigger this week when the police started pepper-spraying captive girls in the face. Judge for yourself - it proved a mighty popular yarn this week.
Now, there was a promise of a rat-cyborg. Here it is. Pretty awesome headline right? Thanks to our friends at the New Scientist for that one. Just don't call them boffins.
From rat-cyborgs to media personalities. Freedom of expression took a blow this week - whether you're an expression-absolutist or not. News Ltd pitbull Andrew Bolt said some fairly reprehensible things about fair-skinned aboriginal people, and has been called on it in court, judged as he was to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act. Overheard in the newsroom (that would be this one) were comments ranging from the typical 'bad for a free media' to 'it couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.' Let's just agree that both of those things might be true.
Pilots flipping passenger planes? What the?! If that doesn't wake you from the red wine-addled, Adam Sandler-induced coma you've fallen into on your flight, I dont know what will. That one touched down smoothly in fifth spot.
Did someone say serious news? What, you don't like it so far? Well, the Palestinian Authority is seeking a state for Palestinians to call their own. Some think it's high time, and some, the shock, the horror, say no! This is the raison d'etre of our Your Say. Go on, have your say, but please keep it nice, or quite frankly, noone gets peace.
Killer melons. They sound nasty. Indeed, they are, and although some humour was induced in the twitterverse after we sent this one out, I doubt the relatives of those people in the US who have died are laughing very hard after a listeria outbreak.
And from melons to lemons. Well, that's what the Liberals called Rudd, wasn't it? But maybe they've got an agenda. He's the foreign minister now, but when he's been on long flights, he slips up and says he's happy as the prime minister on vegemite or something. Too much red wine perhaps. Poor Kev. Have a Bex and a lie down.
Many journalists know a little bit about a lot of things, but not a lot about anything. One of those things is, unfortantely for the wider community, physics. Einstein knew a lot but, bloody hell, he might have been wrong on E=MC2. I literally have no concept of how important this is except for the reference point of it being drummed into our school-age heads like basic grammar and the untouchable status of Anzac Day, so it's no wonder you found it important as well.
But let the debate over Einstein's continuing relevance not detract us from giant snakes, or where would we be? Look at the size of that serpent! When I was in Java, I had a snake for dinner. It came with chips. I was a little angry as I was then unsure whether it was a traditional dish or not, even though I like chips a lot. But I was not as angry as this newsreader swearing his little head off like there's no tomorrow. We're working on getting our very own South African talent to belt out a few four-letter bangers in the coming days. Stay posted.
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