Mobile Media Community Drive

G'day folks

As you know, I'm across many community minded projects and such.

I just returned from a meeting with "George" from The Salvation Army. Many readers will be well aware of the fantastic work that The Salvation Army does.

Mobile telephones can play an important role in people's lives, be it keeping them in touch with their support systems and structures (family, close friends etc) and / or getting people back to work. In some cases, mobiles have saved people's lives, albeit in emergency situation. Despite what Telstra's company line says, I would suggest that mobile telephones are an Essential Service. This is more so the case when someone may not have access to a land line (home telephone line, public telephone and such).

Bottom line - mobile telephones are important , can save lives, and are no longer a luxury.

On the subject of mobile phones, a big thank you to our friends at SlimTel. Their support and goodwill is very much appriciated.

George tells me that The Salvation Army is looking for both old (and newer) mobile telephones. They recycle mobile telephones, get them working, give them to folks who need them, use them for parts and more. If you have a mobile telphone that is not needed, please send it to me and I will hand deliver it to The Salvation Army, Randwick office, or you can look them up and drop it to them yourself. Randwick Salvation Army office phone number is (02) 9326 7802.

As always, thank you to all the community minded folks out there.

Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
m: 0424 223 674
e: greg_tingle@hotmail.com
a: PO Box L55 Maroubra South NSW 2035

Community Events

There are countless amout of community type events in Sydney.

One may pose the question, what is a community? There are various types of communities including, but not limited to: grass roots community, media community, charity community, motor sport community, fashion community, MLM community, fund raising community and so it goes on.

Here's a few of my favorite community related websites

Maroubra Chamber of Commerce

The Domain

EventsLeader.com

Meetup.com

Go Bondi

LiveGuide

Autobabes

Here's the Media Man Australia community related profile

See you at the events!

Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
e: greg_tingle@hotmail.com
w: www.mediaman.com.au

Australians destroying Australia

Why are some Australians intent on destroying their native Australia?

Australia's natural habitat is world class, yet some Australians appear intent to destroy, or at least significantly jepodise our natural resources and beauty.

In recent weeks much has been said about the planned water purification plant for Kurnel, in Sydney's South. Granted, that region is already industrial, and is somewhat hidden from the rest of Sydney.

It's my belief that extra damage occurs to the natural flora and fauna because the projects are dollar driven, and in many cases private contractors are brought in, and they are looking to save money anywhere possible, sometimes at the detrement of the environment andlocal communities.

Here's a list of some projects to keep a very close eye on...

Kingsford, Sydney - Anzac Parade RTA project - traffic flows in the area

Airle Beach, Queensland - 'Save Our Foreshore' is against over development of the region

Malany Voice - against proposed Woolworths shopping centre to be built near Obi Obi Creek

There are hundreds of cases in Australia, however the above are just a few cases that I am across.

Thanks for reading and go the underdog.

Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia incorporating
Community Media Blog
e: greg_tingle@hotmail.com
w: www.mediaman.com.au

Media and Community Thankyou's

G'day Community Media readers.

Please find a summary list of the folks I wanted to send out thankyous. Anyone not on the list, that should be, you know who you are. See previous posts for more detailed information.

Media Man Australia: Sponsors, Clients & Associates

Thanks for reading.

Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia

Media Man Australia Prefered Charities, Community Groups and Sponsors

Folks, it's a fact of life that we all have our favorites.

I'm just taking this opportunity to publish a list of some of my favorite charities, community groups and sponsors. Some favorites may be more obvious than others, to guess why, and some...those who need to know, already know.

I urge all of your to take a good look at all other those in this list

The Salvation Army

St Vincent De Paul

WorkVentures

Maroubra Chamber of Commerce

Community Initiatives

World Distaster Help

Unity '05

Entrepreneurs - The Reality Show

EventsLeader.com

Hottest On TV

SlimTel

Oz Snow Adventures

Oz Dirt Track

Queensland Yacht Charters

Save Our Foreshore

Abner Zurd

ABC

2UE

4BC

6PR

Cultural and Recreation Portal

McCafferty's Greyhound

Markson Sparks!

The Big Issue

Google

other

Media Man Australia: Sponsors, Clients & Associates

Thanks for reading.

Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia

Why you will never see a front page like this - Sydney Morning Herald - 1st July 2005

Why you will never see a front page like this - Sydney Morning Herald - 1st July 2005

Folks, this article comes direct from the Sydney Morning Herald, but I think they will forgive me, for it is for a worthy cause - additional exposure for world poverty and such.

This article touched me, and summed up what I've thought for many years....real news and serious issues need more media attention, but for various reasons they can't get too much attention.

The writer of the piece, Mark Scott, and his editor, need applauding.

As many of your know, I'm involved in a number of charities and community groups, and it is a pleasure and privilage to be involved with them. Now, here's the article...

Compassion overload not only affects the public but also the media that keep it informed, writes Mark Scott.

It is the kind of line to prick a newspaper editor's conscience. Early in his new book, The End of Poverty, Professor Jeffrey Sachs comments that every day our newspapers could report "more than 20,000 people perished yesterday of extreme poverty". But it doesn't work that way. The story is too big for the news.

The death of more than 20,000 people on a single day would be one of the most momentous stories of the year - full of heartbreak and horror, particularly as so many of the victims were children.

The headlines would be massive, the news coverage extensive, the analysis compelling and in the days ahead, the letters page would be full of reader feedback.

But because this event happens every day of the year, for complex reasons that are hard to solve, it makes little news.

The problem with worldwide poverty and the unimaginable death toll, is that it is happening everywhere, all the time.

There is no sudden trigger or cause. It is a disaster without a single cataclysmic event. No single site of the tragedy. A mundane horror.

A serious newspaper like the Herald tries not to shy away from presenting difficult but newsworthy stories that may confront and challenge. And we attempt to reveal the issues behind the horrifying statistics of world poverty and disease. But inevitably, a paper is created to engage its readership. Part of that engagement comes from a news agenda that identifies stories readers will find relevant, different and surprising.

A crisis repeating itself daily slowly erodes in terms of news value. There is nothing new to report, just the same horror again. We feel like we have seen the photographs of starving children with distended stomachs so often.

As a result, wonderful stories of lives saved and changed - through malaria nets, micro-credit programs and low-cost drugs - often find it hard to register the impact they should make on the news pages.

In human terms, the millions and millions of lives lost in preventable deaths is the biggest story of any year. In media terms, the challenge is to tell that story in a way that arrests the attention of individuals and governments, and in a way that demands response.

Sachs's book contends that the crisis triggered by poverty and disease can be solved by 2025, and that all is not hopeless. And as a savvy political operator, he has enlisted and educated people such as Bono from U2 to help cut through the media indifference.

In a celebrity-driven world, Bono knows he can get headlines and manipulate them. Two years ago he addressed a world gathering of newspaper editors, urging them to pay more attention to the African crisis, stating he was deliberately using his profile to draw attention to the issue. "Celebrity is a kind of currency. I want to spend mine well," he told them.

Now we are seeing what star power can do. This weekend's series of concerts linked to the "Make Poverty History" campaign is expected to draw a TV audience of 1.5 billion.

In the first Live Aid concert 20 years ago, Bob Geldof colourfully urged the worldwide audience to send their money for Africa. This time, he says the concerts are about raising awareness, with a particular focus on putting pressure on the leaders of the world's biggest economies in the lead-up to next week's G8 meeting.

And the initial move of G8 leaders to forgive some of the Third World debt has triggered a storm of debate on whether that is the right policy - and whether the solutions proposed by Sachs will actually work. Debt forgiveness and G8 handouts will simply provide more "Mercs for jerks" - making corrupt African leaders more wealthy as their citizens continue to die - an article in The Spectator reported last week.

But the debate is healthy, as it is all about finally finding solutions that work to problems that should grip the globe and are the most pressing that the world faces.

There can be little doubt that an unlikely coalition of Bono, Geldof and Sachs, working on an agenda supported by G8 host Tony Blair, has pushed poverty back into the headlines. Thanks to them, editors will find it easier to put a big story about world poverty in their papers that people will read.

For a day, at least, the news of the world's greatest tragedy will be on page one.

Mark Scott is editor-in-chief, Metropolitan, Regional, Community Newspapers for John Fairfax.

Event Websites

Live 8 official website

Events Leader.com

EventsLeader.com blog

The Domain