Something died in the NSW Northern Rivers region today

The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 June 2016:

APN News & Media has sold its regional newspaper business to its own shareholder, News Corp, for $36.6 million.

APN's shares reached $4.90 on the news after opening at $4.61, after jumping 11 per cent on Monday following media speculation about the sale.  

The regional assets include 12 daily newspaper, 60 community newspapers and dozens of news websites. 

News Corp already owns a 14.9 per cent stake in APN, which is currently shedding its traditional media assets but keeping its radio and AdShel divisions.  

The deal still requires shareholder and regulatory approval. Regional mastheads include the Daily Mercury in Mackay, Bundaberg's NewsMail, The Gympie Times and the Sunshine Coast Daily. 

The Australian Regional Media division would be handed over in August provided all the hurdles were cleared.…..

Echo Net Daily, 21 June 2016:

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has signed a $36.6 million deal to buy APN News & Media’s Australian regional newspaper business, which includes The Northern Star and Tweed Daily News.

The deal – which is subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, also covers the weekly publications, Byron Shire News, Ballina Advocate, the Lismore Echo and the Richmond River Examiner.

News Corp, already holds a stake of almost 15 per cent in APN, which means shareholder approval would also be required for what would be deemed a related-party transaction.

APN Australian Regional Media has a portfolio of 12 daily and more than 60 non-daily Australian regional newspapers.

Staff at the Northern Star and the other publications received an email just before 11am today confirming that the deal had been struck…..

The Australian, 20 June 2016:

News Corp, publisher of The Australian, has long been seen as the natural owner of ARM due to potential synergies with its regional business and the fact that few people know the assets better than News Corp executive chairman, and APN’s former boss, Michael Miller.

The Queensland focused portfolio includes 12 daily newspapers such as The ­Sunshine Coast Daily and The Gympie Times, and includes more than 60 non-daily and community publications.

The sale was outlined by APN in February as part of efforts to make a more aggressive move into the radio and outdoor advertising ­sectors. The price of the portfolio is understood to have fallen short of the $50m APN had been chasing.

News Corp, advised by Aquasia, already holds a stake of almost 15 per cent in APN which means shareholder approval would also be required for what would be deemed a related-party transaction…..

VALE MEDIA DIVERSITY

APN Australian Regional Media to remain with APN News & Media if demerger goes ahead but Murdoch circling regional mastheads

At the moment it appears that Australian east coast regional newspapers owned by APN News & Media will remain with APN if the proposed NZME demerger goes ahead.

The same applies if talks between Fairfax Media and APN result in a merger between NZME and Fairfax Media New Zealand.

However, these 100 regional newspapers and websites in Queensland and NSW  are still up for sale and the possibility that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp will be the eventual owner of some or all of that stable remains.

The Australian, 9 March 2016:

News Corp, publisher of The Australian, is believed to be circling the regional community newspapers owned by APN News and Media, which called on Credit Suisse to ­divest the portfolio.

News Corp already owns a network of 111 local mastheads, some of which are believed to be highly lucrative, and sources said the company was taking “a good look” at the APN offering.

The company declined to comment yesterday.

News already holds a stake of almost 15 per cent in the company and counts APN’s former boss ­Michael Miller as its executive chairman. It is understood News had been approached by APN to look at the portfolio. Ciaran Davis was recently named as APN’s new chief executive…..

Sources have suggested that some of the publications would be closed if a buyer could not be found. However, deal-makers yesterday said the newspapers were a good acquisition prospect for an acquirer at the right price that could capitalise on synergies and cash flow.

The news comes with the expectation of increasing deal activity in the media sector, with companies already lining up advisers in anticipation of new laws being passed that will relax restrictions on how many viewers any one television broadcaster can access nationally.

Don't know what to get him for Xmas? Here's just the thing to get him.

When reading today's Northern Star I had to check that it wasn't April 1.

Today's Star reports: 

Now you can "let it rip" in public without reproach thanks to a North Coast TAFE student who has introduced new underwear to Australia designed to mask the smell of farts.

Proving you are never too old for a fart joke, Wayne Hooper, 62, has just launched his Cheeky Wearables website selling underwear made with high-tech fabric claimed to absorb the odour of flatulence.

"This material, Zorflex, is a carbon-absorbent cloth that can absorb the toxicity of 200 times the average fart," Mr Hooper, of Tweed Shire, said.

"Farts are tame compared to the chemical warfare this material was designed to cope with."

The former film editor discovered the UK-made fart-proof pants while researching wearable technology as part of a Certificate IV course in IT Technology he has been studying at Kingscliff TAFE.

"Instead of doing the project as an experiment, when I came across these pants I decided I would start up a business and I am now the Australian distributor," he said.

The "flatulence filtering" underwear have the activated carbon cloth sandwiched between layers of regular fabric, and this specialty layer absorbs and traps fart odour.

"The average person will fart 14 times a day," he said.

"The pants won't mask the sound, but they will absorb the smell."

While farting is a perfectly natural body action, the smell is considered anti-social and the pants could help in those awkward situations like being caught in a lift, out on a date or while working out at the gym, Mr Hooper said.

The fart-proof pants are available in gift boxes, cost no more than Calvin Klein's designer underwear and could make the ideal Christmas gift to ward off fruit cake-induced flatulence.

Mr Hooper's website design will be among the projects by Kingscliff and Murwillumbah TAFE Creative Arts, Multimedia and Web Design students to be exhibited on Friday at the Synectic Exhibitions at the Kingscliff campus. 

And just in case you think I'm pulling your leg about today's date, read the real thing in the Star here.

Credits: The Northern Star, 25/11/2014

The Northern Star today

The scoreboard at the Star today reads:

Advertising Department 1, Newsroom nil

It seems "juxtaposition" isn't in the dictionary at the Star. Shame, shame, shame!

 

Images  from today's digital edition of The Northern Star

APN Newspapers: spot the fast disappearing news content

The Northern Star newspaper must have a death wish, because wall-to-wall advertorials replacing news content on "Local News" pages in its issues is not a good look and won't encourage readers to handover their money for a copy of this 138 year-old paper.

It's 155 year-old stablemate, The Daily Examiner appears to have a similar urge to alienate readers by filling pages with thinly disguised advertising. However, at least this newspaper placed this particular example in the business section.

* Thanks to Clarrie Rivers for supplying these e-paper snaphots

Today's APN reading competition

A court report appearing in an APN newspaper today makes one wonder what was deleted from the report. Readers who work out the answer might forward it to the editor of The Northern Star The Daily Examiner.

NCV suspects the editor probably has some prizes for readers who provide the correct answer. (Hint: find ****)

NCV apologises to The Northern Star for having previously stated that it carried the blooper. Having seen its print edition NCV acknowledges that the Star doesn't carry the blooper; however, the piece which was written by a Star journalist appears in the Examiner (see below) with the colourful language.

Image credit: APN

Today's Spot the Difference ... another in a series

If someone at APN doesn't soon lift their game and have the publisher subscribe to the non-budget version of Ginger Meggs "Spot the Difference" at NCV will provide contact details at The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star where readers can forward entries in the competition.
Today's hint: see yesterday's hint.

Today's Examiner and Northern Star

go.comics.com

  

Credits: Thanks APN and gocomics

Yet another Spot the Difference

Thanks to APN, or at least its two dailies in northern NSW that Clarrie reads, here's another Spot the Difference.
Why are The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star providing their readers with budget versions of Ginger Meggs?
Today's hint: punctuation (perhaps a devious APN staffer was a bit mischievous with the white correction fluid)

Today's Examiner and Northern Star

gocomics.com

Credits: Thanks APN and gocomics.com

Another Spot the Difference

Clarrie Rivers is a mighty big fan of Ginger Meggs so it's with a very heavy heart that another Spot the Difference is presented.

APN newspapers, including The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star, carried this version of Ginger in their Saturday editions.

This version appears at GoComics.com

 

Why is APN running budget versions of Ginger? Is it really that cash-strapped?

Credits: Images from APN publications (7/9/2013) and GoComics.com

Phantom writers on the loose again?

Snapshot from a letter to the editor in The Northern Star 19 July 2013:

Lismore then; Lismore now

In 2010 Lismore City Council installed water bubblers in the Lismore CBD to provide free filtered water. It was (and still is) a terrific example of how local government can play its part in reducing the demand for purchased water and help get rid of plastic bottles.

Then: 2010

 
Pic source:  The Northern Star

 Now: 2013

It's more than time other local councils did likewise. However, let's hope other councils don't use the same signwriter. (Hint: check out the bottom line)

Cansdellgate continues

Northern NSW newspapers, including The Northern Star and The Daily Examiner, are carrying reports about the latest 'happening' associated with disgraced former Member for Clarence Steve Cansdell.

Smith won't pressure DPP to charge MP Steve Cansdell 

Attorney-General Greg Smith has told NSW Parliament he will not call on the Director of Public Prosecutions to pursue criminal charges against disgraced Clarence MP Steve Cansdell until "otherwise advised".

Despite lying about not being behind the wheel of his car when it was snapped by a speed camera in 2005, the former police secretary escaped criminal punishment when the staffer he claimed was driving refused to make a statement.

The Government's handling of the investigation has been subject to debate since retired QC Bruce James suggested in February that Mr Cansdell could still have been prosecuted for lying under oath.

He questioned whether the DPP had properly investigated the charges that could have been laid.

Earlier this month Mr Smith told parliament Mr James's concerns were a matter for the DPP.

But in a letter sent to shadow Attorney-General Paul Lynch last week, the DPP advised that Mr James's recommendations must be referred by Mr Smith's office.

Yesterday, Mr Lynch again asked Mr Smith if he would use his power to ask the DPP to consider the senior barrister's advice.

Mr Smith said while he had "great respect" for Mr James, he was willing to "stand by" other well-respected lawyers who did not agree with the advice until "otherwise advised".

Mr Lynch he would not give up, the questions raised must be pursued and instead of "sitting on his hands", Mr Smith needed to ensure the DPP "has another look".

Mr Cansdell quit shortly after the 2011 election following revelations he had told police his staffer Kath Palmer was driving at the time of the offence to avoid being stripped of his licence.

Source: The Northern Star and The Daily Examiner.

Cansdellgate - an update

It's unbelievable. He's still yet to face charges!

The Northern Star reports:

Almost 12 months after disgraced former Clarence MP Steve Cansdell walked into Grafton police station with documents proving he falsified a statutory declaration, he is yet to be charged.

On the morning of September 16, Mr Cansdell walked into the station with documentary evidence former staffer Kath Palmer signed a statutory declaration claiming she was driving his car when he was caught speeding by the Woodburn speed camera. As a result, Mr Cansdell would have lost his licence through accumulated demerit points in the lead up to the 2006 state election.

The electorate of Clarence that Mr Cansdell formerly represented stretches from Grafton, north to Casino and east to Evans Head.

On September 16, the former Parliamentary Secretary to Police Minister Michael Gallacher admitted his mistake, claiming at the time he hadn't understood the gravity of the situation.

"I made a dumb choice six years ago and just didn't realise the consequences," he said.

After months of investigation the NSW Police prosecution referred Mr Cansdell's matter to the Commonwealth DPP on March 8.

At the time NSW Attorney General Greg Smith said as Mr Cansdell had signed a Commonwealth statutory declaration on the back of the speeding fine, he could not be prosecuted by the state.

Investigations by the Northern Star revealed fines issued by the NSW State Debt Recovery Office had always been printed with NSW statutory declarations on the back. Mr Cansdell lost his licence in 2009 after he was caught doing 100kmh in an 80kmh zone at Clarenza.

A Commonwealth DPP representative said "the CDPP has no comment".

Acting NSW Opposition leader Linda Burney said it was unbelievable Mr Cansdell was yet to be charged.

"Nearly one year after Steve Cansdell admitted to the criminal offence of signing a false statutory declaration, it defies belief that he is still yet to face charges," she said.

Source: The Northern Star

Northern Star reporter told, "Report the news, don't make the news"

A Northern Star reader, David Robinson of Alstonville, has provided the Star's journo Rodney Stevens with some cautionary advice.

In an sms to the Star, Robinson wrote: Re murder suspect had been Australian soldier: Seriously Rodney, calling the accused's mobile phone? What did you leave on the voicemail? Offer of an exclusive interview? Let's leave this to the police. We don't want another News of the World paper.

Previously, Stevens wrote, "The Northern Star obtained Stenberg's mobile phone number yesterday but the call went to voicemail." Read it in the Star here.

When it comes to the crime of murder, don't believe everything you read in NSW North Coast newspapers

On 2 June 2012  The Northern Star  and The Daily Examiner online trumpeted that:

WHEN they think of the North Coast, most people think of the relaxed lifestyle, idyllic beaches and lush hinterland - not Australia's regional murder capital.
But statistics obtained from the state homicide squad have revealed the strip between Newcastle and the Queensland border had the second highest number of murders in the state last year, even as NSW topped the nation for the number of people murdered.
The Northern Star spoke to police in every state and confirmed that the NSW northern region was the regional murder capital of Australia.
Of the 84 murders across NSW in 2011, 20 were in the Northern Region police command, which runs from north of Newcastle to the border....
The state had 15 more murders than in 2010....

The Northern Region takes in Police Local Areas Commands in Brisbane Water, Central Hunter, Coffs-Clarence, Hunter Valley, Lake Macquarie, Manning-Great Lakes, Mid North Coast, Newcastle City, Port Stephens, Richmond, Tuggerah Lakes, and Tweed-Byron.

A rather wide net to cast when trying to include the Northern Rivers into a tag of regional murder capital of Australia.

The Northern Rivers where these two APN daily newspapers circulate is traditionally thought to include Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Clarence Valley, Richmond Valley, Lismore, Ballina, Kyogle, Byron and Tweed local government areas only.

These are the actual murder victim numbers officially recorded by NSW BOSCAR for the Northern Rivers region in 2011:

Ballina 2

Byron 1

Lismore 2

Richmond Valley 2

Total: 7

Sounds a lot less alarming and probably sells less newspapers, but it was the truth about recorded murder statistics in Northern Rivers communities last year.

The discrepancies don’t end there however. These are BOSCAR official statistics for NSW murder victims: 75 in 2010 and 77 in 2011. Even if one added manslaughter victim numbers and missing persons unofficially presumed murdered to these totals, one doesn’t come up with fifteen more violent deaths in 2011 when compared with the previous year. In fact when combining all categories, the annual totals remain constant.

Later on in the article the NSW body count inexplicably rises to ninety-four for which, again, there is no logical explanation. One has to suspect that somewhere along the line these two newspapers have possibly confused the numbers of persons charged with the crime of murder* in New South Wales with the number of murder victims – which are not necessarily identical totals.

One interesting fact remains unreported entirely. Since 1990 the number of NSW murder victims has been steadily falling, so that in 2011 there were 42 fewer recorded victims compared with 1990.

* Murder is defined in s 18(1)(a) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) in the following terms:

“Murder shall be taken to have been committed where the act of the accused, or thing by him or her omitted to be done, causing the death charged, was done or omitted with reckless indifference to human life, or with intent to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm upon some person, or done in an attempt to commit, or during or immediately after the commission, by the accused, or some accomplice with him or her, of a crime punishable by imprisonment for life or for 25 years.”

For murder and manslaughter only, the counting units used are victims. Under the definition of a criminal incident (same parties, same time, same place, same offence and same incident type) one murder or manslaughter incident could involve two or more persons being killed. Because of the seriousness of these offences and their relatively small numbers, it is considered to be more appropriate to count the number of victims, rather than the number of criminal incidents. Hence, where one murder incident involves a person killing six people, six murder victims are counted.

Editor has a lend of his readers

Northern Star editor David Kirkpatrick is prone to s-t-r-e-t-c-h things a bit, but today's piece is going way too far.

Under the heading 'Striving for balance and accuracy' Fitzpatrick wrote: "If I had a dollar for every time this newspaper was accused of bias I'd be a millionaire by now."

Now, come on David, how long have you been at the Star?

One million times! That's 1,000,000.

Kirkpatrick went on with the male bovine excrement when he added, "... we journalists live by a code of ethics. We have ours printed large on a poster in our tea room. I'd also be a millionaire for the number of times a journo has come to me for advice and I have referred them to that poster for the answer."

Seriously, how does the bloke get anything done at all!? If he's not reading and/or hearing comments about bias he has journos queueing up to seek his valuable advice.

Kirkpatrick has, according to his own count of things, known of or been involved with two million (yes, that's 2,000,000) events associated with either perceptions of bias or providing advice to other journos.

The best part in Kirkpatrick's piece was at the end where he wrote: "It's all about telling a story in the most interesting way we can find. Like song writers and their fans, I'll leave our readers to draw their own conclusions about our stories." Oh, how true!!!

Here's a bit of advice for Kirkpatrick - take your hand off it.

Read the AJA's Code of Ethics here.

After reading the code of ethics, take the next step and read 'How to be a journalist in one easy lesson'.

Breaking news

It's official! According to The Northern Star's website yesterday beer drinking (along with horse racing and surfing) is a sport.

Warning: All sports activities, including beer consumption, should be undertaken in moderation. If in doubt, consult your friendly medical practitioner. Perhaps a second opinion should also be sought

Letter writer with thousands of names strikes again!

AKA, the Clarence Valley's serial writer of letters to editors, has struck again.

As reported on this site on Monday, in an item titled 'A word of caution for newspaper letters editors' there's a correspondent who regularly uses aliases when corresponding with newspapers.

AKA (also known as) has had a letter published in today's Daily Examiner. Sadly, the paper didn't take the advice provided on Monday and check the writer's bona fides.

To make matters worse, today's letter is the same one published by the Northern Star on Monday, give or take a few commas, apostrophes and altered paragraphing.

Today's letter is a little bit longer than Monday's, suggesting a number of possible scenarios.

Did the Star cut the letter's tale/tail?

Or did AKA, who has a penchant for using the old cc and bcc tactic when emailing, actually submit two letters that were virtually the same but the one to the Examiner was a few paragraphs longer?

Here's today's letter in the Examiner.

A word of caution for newspaper letters editors

The letters column of today's Northern Star features a letter that appears over the name Todd Lasance.

Has the Star unearthed the current location of the Aussie actor who appeared in the soapie Home and Away series or has the Star failed to do its homework and suss out the bona fides of the 'contributor'.

The letter (copy below) was supposedly written by Todd Lasance of Maclean. However, there's an individual from that area who has more aliases than most people have had hot dinners. Although the individual has a bit of a hankering for colourful surnames, especially those extracted from cemeteries and obituaries, he/she often resorts to colours (black and white are favourites). Military and law enforcement are other areas of interest for the 'contributor', so surnames associated with those activities deserve closer scrutiny.

If the Star has been conned it can take comfort from the fact that it's in good company. Newspapers known to have fallen for the 'contributor' include The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Age, The Courier Mail, The Newcastle Herald, The Coffs Coast Advocate, The Daily Examiner, ...

No oil resource

NO help, of course, for the slowly starving millions in Dafur being slaughtered, attacked and raped by their own national government for a decade, plus.

The problem is these peasants have no oil resources. No Arab League action for the people of Bahrain/Manama. Just violent incursions across national borders with rapid gunfire.

Not so Libya, floating on a lake of 42 years' worth of oil, and this fact brought out the naked blood lust in USA via Hillary Clinton, the UK Prime Minister and the oh so trustworthy French President.

Their mouths dripped with bloody malice as they spoke of "the need to protect a UN Resolution". Yeah, only when it suits them and a big natural source of energy is involved.

No wonder Germany had the good sense to abstain from the vote in the UN Security Council.

This one action killed off any slim chance that President Obama had of a second term. Even Australia could not resist this wanton blood lust. As my son, 17, said to his mother: "It's all about oil, nothing to do with peoples' lives".

TODD LASANCE, Maclean.