14 May 2009

Dozspot taking up cudgels against the wrong foe?

| johnboy
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The Shadow Minister for pointless whinges, Steve Doszpot, has once again excelled himself.

    “I have received details from a concerned parent that the Education Minister, Andrew Barr, used school students in his own cynical publicity machine by inviting cameras into a Canberra School without the approval of parents for the children to be filmed,” Shadow Minister for Education and Training Steve Doszpot said today.

    “Some people could be confused for thinking that Andrew Barr is the Minister of photo opportunities stopping at nothing to get his head on the television,” Mr Doszpot said.

    “A concerned parent contacted the Canberra Liberals indicating their child was filmed by TV cameras despite being on a ‘do not film’ list. The children were made to do a ‘mock test’ for the camera with all the extra stimulus apparently causing some of the students to become distracted and even agitated.

Perhaps the problem is simple jealousy over air time?

So let’s think about this. As I see it one of two things could have happened:

    1.) The school stuffed up and the parents should be directing their complaint to the principal for failing to comply with their wishes on filming.

    2.) Andrew Barr deliberately set out to offend parents by demanding that children be selected for the photo opp who were on a “do not film list”.

I don’t know about you but I’m betting on the former.

Moving on… As I vaguely recall my youth pretty much nothing was as exciting as getting on TV. Given the kids absolutely love it where else should a Minister for Education conduct photo ops to get messages out?

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Woody Mann-Caruso said :

*gasp*

JB, such bias! You’ve never, ever said anything bad about the ALP or the Greens.

To clarify, WMC, I wasn’t accusing JB of bias, I know he’s hard on everybody:) Other journo’s I’m aware of do seem to let their bias colour their work though. I’ve spoken to many MLA’s in the recent past on a particular issue very close to my heart and I certainly would argue that maintaining a coherent thought or taking a strong and positive stance on key issues within his portfolio are certainly not Steve’s shortcomings. Perhaps, and I don’t know but please humour me, the issue is that press releases coming from Steve’s office are not as clear as they could be, thereby giving JB his perception, after all if you haven’t met the man the press releases are all you have to go on. If this is the case, I can understand it, particularly noting all the demands that are placed on an MLA’s time (yes, you may scoff if you doubt this, but try getting a meeting with one at a time that suits you).

As for the lib’s, my family are dyed in the wool labour (my dad was a Trade Union organiser FFS) but I have to say, I have doubts I’ll vote for the party this time around the way they’re going.

Woody Mann-Caruso7:59 pm 14 May 09

*gasp*

JB, such bias! You’ve never, ever said anything bad about the ALP or the Greens.

I’m sorry Berraboy. I get upset by MLA’s apparently incapable of coherent thought.

The Liberals seem to be breeding them. They’re not the party of smart people any more.

Mmmmm… you certainly seem to have issues with Steve Doszpot, JB. I prefer to beleive that Mr Doszpot is just doing his job and is actually trying to hold the Gov’t accountable for its actions. As for jealousy over air time, I don’t think this would be the case as you certainly give his press releases good air time here. Even so, it wouldn’t even be a potential problem if a few other ‘journo’s’ in this town didn’t purposely leave certain politicians names out of good stories just to make themselves feel powerful in acting on their own political biases. To me, that’s just poor journalism.

As for the kids, having their faces appear in publicity pics these days is a nightmare. Someone close to me that works at one of Canberra’s public pools had to deal with a very irate mother a couple of years back when an advert was shot at this particular pool. While the advert was for the learn to swim classes one mother took exception to ‘little Mary’s’ face being just inside the shot of one scene. And in theory, you’re supposed to ask permission from every parent at the pool if you want to take your own kids pic, just in case.

Maybe…just maybe, Mr Dozspot issued a press release after only speaking to a parent and not the school, education department or TV network.

Maybe…just maybe, all the kids had media clearance and the TV network was given permission by the Department, school and teacher.

And quite possibly the parent could have then changed their mind later and demanded the kid be blurred.

And quite possibly Mr Barr was in another suburb and had nothing to do with the incident.

That’s just a hypothetical perspective. Probably more factual than Mr Doszpots’ rubbish.

Clown Killer4:06 pm 14 May 09

Any concerns they have are valid. All your statement shows is that even with tin hat you fail to appreciate your way is not the only reasonable way to think about the world.

So you’re either saying that my concerns have to align with others to be valid, or that I should be in a position to determine whether or not other people’s concerns are valid, both of which are nonsense.

Here’s another take on this. Parental permission aside, as far as I’m concerned if you send your kids to a school that peoples taxes help to support then the government should be allowed unrestrained access to that school for it’s own legitimate purposes – which would obviously mean policy announcements and the like.

“marketing assistant”???

Earth calling planet peter…

Media go into schools all the time. They get permission first and then it’s the school’s job to keep the wrong people from fronting getting on camera.

That’s the well established procedure. It’s the school’s fault, and theirs alone.

Pommy bastard said :

So Barr should have personally vetted each kid to make sure they were not on the “do not film” list or wasn’t that the schools responsibility?

barr shouldn’t, the school and the marketing assistant from his team should have. making sure that the children who appeared in photos were allowed to be filmed should have been item one. an alternative would have been to blur the photos of the kids, as some other pr exercises have done over the years. they must have photoshop, so it wouldn’t be hard to hide their identities.

Clown Killer said :

But witness protection programs aside, yes there are likely to be some families with concerns that they believe are valid.

Any concerns they have are valid. All your statement shows is that even with tin hat you fail to appreciate your way is not the only reasonable way to think about the world. People send the child to school to be educated, not to become part of the promotional activities of the school, departments, government or political parties. This also applies to commercial companies who are increasingly providing sponsorship which they use for promotional purposes.

Pommy bastard2:42 pm 14 May 09

So Barr should have personally vetted each kid to make sure they were not on the “do not film” list or wasn’t that the schools responsibility?

colourful sydney racing identity2:32 pm 14 May 09

Mike Crowther said :

I agree with VG. Strongly. When I worked in Prisons one of the regular duties was to ramp (search) paedophile’s cells and confiscate the Target/K mart ‘Children’s underwear sale’ ads from the Sunday papers they stashed away. Aside from that there are kids on protection orders who are entitled to be protected.

When I was campaigning against school closures I saw the mainstream media literally screamed at by Education Dept apparatchiks for standing on school property whilst conducting interviews with consenting parents. So how come…(etc)

perhaps they did not have permission to be there?

Clown Killer2:05 pm 14 May 09

So paedo’s are going to collect Big W/Target/Pumpkin Patch catalogs, troll the internet to download otherwise innocuous pictures of children. Sorry buddy but you can live in a prison of fear if you want. I’ll take my families chances in the real world.

Mike Crowther1:52 pm 14 May 09

I agree with VG. Strongly. When I worked in Prisons one of the regular duties was to ramp (search) paedophile’s cells and confiscate the Target/K mart ‘Children’s underwear sale’ ads from the Sunday papers they stashed away. Aside from that there are kids on protection orders who are entitled to be protected.

When I was campaigning against school closures I saw the mainstream media literally screamed at by Education Dept apparatchiks for standing on school property whilst conducting interviews with consenting parents. So how come…(etc)

Clown Killer1:47 pm 14 May 09

And your point is?

Sure we can all wander about thinking up ways to be scared of paedophiles – if we put our tin-foil hats on we can think up all sorts of possibilities. Lets worry about those when the real danger becomes strangers lurking in the bushes instead of fathers, uncles, brothers, close family friends and people in positions of trust.

Clown Killer said :

I concede you’re point Peter, but I’m disturbed by the thought that the last line of protection that we could offer that child was to hide them from the cameras.

Whilst admittedly flippant, that comment was made in the context of my own family. We are asked by our school every year to decide whether we give permission for our children to appear in news letters, on the schools web-site and in school advertising and other promotional material as well as in the broader media – we can’t think of a reason why we wouldn’t (we even tried to think of a reason while wearing our tin-foil hats and still couldn’t come up with anything). But witness protection programs aside, yes there are likely to be some families with concerns that they believe are valid.

Get a look inside a paedophile’s house. That will soon change your mind

Clown Killer11:42 am 14 May 09

I concede you’re point Peter, but I’m disturbed by the thought that the last line of protection that we could offer that child was to hide them from the cameras.

Whilst admittedly flippant, that comment was made in the context of my own family. We are asked by our school every year to decide whether we give permission for our children to appear in news letters, on the schools web-site and in school advertising and other promotional material as well as in the broader media – we can’t think of a reason why we wouldn’t (we even tried to think of a reason while wearing our tin-foil hats and still couldn’t come up with anything). But witness protection programs aside, yes there are likely to be some families with concerns that they believe are valid.

Clown Killer said :

I can’t see what the issue with filming kids is – unless you’re family is in witness protection.

what about a child who is warded to a sole guardian, who has placed them in a school without the knowledge of the estranged partner? Bingo – here is the school the child is at…

colourful sydney racing identity said :

That is the most pressing issue in Dozspots portfolio? *sigh*

But he is acting in the best interests of…….

My objection to making kids sit down in a pretend exam, that everyone has to do when the real thing comes around, just to promote NAPLAN testing says anything about my value or otherwise of literacy and numeracy per se.

It’s amazing how kids can be literate and numerate without acting for the TV cameras.

Simplistic and just wrong housebound.

Whoever the minister is they have legitimate public messages to get out there.

Unless you don’t think literacy and numeracy are important?

PR is free advertising – the stuff you can’t get by paying for it. That’s the point of it.

colourful sydney racing identity10:32 am 14 May 09

hmmmn, what are the odds that the ‘concerned parent’ was a member of the Caberra Liberals? If I was a ‘concerned parent’ my first point of call would be the school. If I was unsatisfied with their response it would be the Department then the Minister then the media or the shadow minister.

PR is not advertising.

#4 +1

Aside from that, for parents who have their children on a do not film list, this is actually quite disturbing. They sometimes have very good reasons (maybe they are hiding from an abusive spouse, maybe the parents are in high security work, maybe the parents work in PR and want to protect their children, maybe the parents don’t vote labor and don’t want their children appearing in free labor ads).

The school should be in trouble, no doubt.

I personally would have thought that education was the idea of high school, unless it was a drama class.

This last point is the real issue – why is Andrew Barr using unpaid child labour for his own advertising ends?

colourful sydney racing identity9:48 am 14 May 09

That is the most pressing issue in Dozspots portfolio? *sigh*

Clown Killer9:46 am 14 May 09

I can’t see what the issue with filming kids is – unless you’re family is in witness protection.

I’m sure young Tristan/Tristiana will eventually recover from this whole shockingly terrible experience.

We really are becoming a nation of gerbils!

Nothing’s as exciting for the kids as the TV cameras coming to the school, and nothing’s as hated by the cameramen as having to go do a school shoot 😛

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