A Short Whale Tale

Most of the articles discussed to date have been rather emotive and often debatable, where the authors stance on the situation has been made relatively clear. To demonstrate that such emotive reporting upon the environment (animals in particular as that appears a recurring theme. My sympathies are certainly quite obvious) is not necessarily the standard I shall endeavour to include an article in which there appears no underlaying passion and no attempt at grandeur.

The ABC Online‘s article DEC to Investigate Sickly Humpbacks certainly fails to exhibit both of these, with the story presented in a factual and concise manner.

The article mentions that migrating whales are arriving in Western Australian waters in what appears to be a poor condition, with a quote from Peter Collins of the Department of Environment and Conservation stating that “many of this year’s whales appear sickly and thin.”

The facts are set out (that this observation has been made), there is no speculation or blame, and an authority on the matter has been questioned. Though there is not much to draw a reader in by way of emotive language it is certainly an informative piece for the little information it had to convey.

Humpback Whale. Photo: Reuters

Tiger Numbers Increase

Photo: Reuters (SMH Website)

Jason Burke’s article “Reversing the Demise of Wild Tigers” published in the Sydney Morning Herald has quite a concise introductory paragraph which draws attention to what appears to be an exciting new development;

“The number of tigers in India has risen for the first time in a decade, according to a new official census.”

The following paragraph then goes on to mention that though tiger numbers have decreased 97% in the last century (a shocking fact that adds to the dramatic nature of the story), the news of an increase in population numbers insinuates the population is salvageable.

I say appears to be an exciting new development for though this, and the following paragraph (mentioned above) give hope to the optimists,the means by which such numbers were deduced are deemed precarious. This is mentioned briefly before the problems faced by wild tigers is listed.

NSW shot in the Foot

There are two Robert Brown’s in Australian Parliament. One is a NSW MP for the Shooters Party. The other is the leader of the Australian Greens.

It is the former Robert Brown, of the NSW Shooters Party, that is spoken of in Sean Nicholls’ Sydney Morning Herald article “O’Farrell Over a Barrel as the Shooters Take Aim’. 

Though the article does not use particularly emotive language or appear to contain (on the surface at least) bias for or against the Shooters Party, it uses subtle cues in the way it is set out to paint a picture of the party as trophy hunters holding the NSW parliament hostage.

It is images, rather than words, which play the most important role in this portrait.

The initial photograph is of a smiling Shooters Party MP Robert Borsak holding what is (presumably) an elephant tusk:

The caption reads “Deadly Serious”, while in reality the MP does not look serious at all but rather happy to have possession of such a brutally obtained trophy. The Link posted directly beneath the photograph reads “The Thrill Killer”.

Further down in the article is an image of the very same Robert Borsak smiling next to the carcass of a Bull Elephant he had the apparent pleasure of killing. A bleeding bullet wound on the elephants forehead is evident in the photo.

Both of these images portray Borsak in a controversial way. Firstly, Ivory in Western culture is often used to symbolise the useless and brutal killing of animals for mere aesthetics, much like fur. Though the Shooters Party proclaim to be advocating the culling of “feral animals” out of necessity, the evident pleasure of the kill hints that the Shooters Party are attempting to disguise recreational hunting as conservation.

The third image most highlights the idea that the NSW parliament is being held hostage. Similar to the hand written ransom notes popularised in movies, the Shooters and Fishers party demands have been listed as follows;