It mentions The Independent in England, the Daily Mirror and regional UK publisher Archant.

“Newspaper photographers are in retreat. Staff jobs are vanishing as publishers look for new ways to cut costs. National papers have gradually been reducing numbers in recent years. Many titles have only a handful.”

The same applies in regional Australia, although I’m not sure about metropolitan newspapers. In fact, The Advertiser in Adelaide seems to have a healthy complement of staff photographers, but I wonder how long that will be the case.

When I started with country newspapers in 1986, most had staff photographers.

I worked with the talented Eric Yeates at the Bairnsdale Advertiser. He taught me how to use a camera and even let me into the dark room to learn the mystery of how pictures were developed. The unique smell remains a clear memory.

Eric had a great eye for detail. He taught this to me, along with the eternal message: “fill the frame”. He also advised some parameters for manual photography using flash, which I never forgot.

The first significant threat to the photographic craft was one-hour processing. It became possible to get film developed offsite, and easier to use contributed pictures.

Then came digital photography and finally the insatiable internet.

When I worked at the Gippsland Times in 1988 there were two staff photographers. As far as I know, there are none today.

The daily Kalgoorlie Miner had two full-time staff photographers and a couple of casuals when I was there. I hope that’s still the case.

In regional South Australia however, the only regional newspaper with a staff photographer that I’m aware of, is the Mount Barker Courier. And that knowledge is several years old.

I can understand that publishers want to save money. Most journalists can take adequate pictures, some better than others. Readers can and do contribute pictures, especially of junior sport and social events.

But a good photographer is priceless. They know how to compose a front page picture, how to engage subjects and how to create. Excellent photos sell newspapers.

I always valued good photographers and I think the newspaper industry is poorer without them.

The photographers themselves are now taking wedding pictures.

As one commenter on The Guardian post remarked:

“Anyone can snap a photo of a burning bus. Not everyone can consistently make something boring look visually compelling. That’s the job of a professional photojournalist. They have the ability to make storytelling images all the time no matter the situation, especially when the image isn’t staring you in the face.”

While the loss in quality may not be immediately noticeable, it will be over time and readers will feel that newspapers offer them less value.

• For some light relief, visit this site for Angry people in local newspapers.

“Charles Sturt Council has asked media representatives to sit on opposite sides of the chamber’s gallery in each meeting in order to get a different perspective of the debate.

“The council’s staff approached a Weekly Times Messenger Reporter last week and asked her to stop sitting on the same side of the chamber each meeting.

“Charles Sturt CEO Mark Withers said: ‘An inquiry was made whether sitting on both sides of the chamber from time to time they might see a different perspective of the debate’.

“Reporters have been asked to keep a record of which side they sit on and alternate at each meeting.”

Well, it’s hard to know where to start in commenting on this.

I think back to the various council meetings I used to report and most had a designated press desk. A couple of smaller ones actually asked me to sit at the main council table.

Of those that required me to sit in the public gallery, none ever directed me where to sit, nor can I imagine them ever doing so.

I probably would have told them where to go, if they had directed me without good cause, unless the shock overcame me.

What a lame excuse to say the vantage point may offer a “different perspective”.

More likely, one particular councillor doesn’t have line of sight to the reporter and wants to establish that contact.

I thought the paper was very restrained, but correct, in reporting the story matter-of-fact. The headline was excellent (Reporter asked to cross floor).

Two of the teammates I know are Greg Ritchie and Jeff Thomson, while the third might possibly be Ray Phillips.

I’ve posted some other 70s and 80s ads on my rarely used Tumblr blog at: http://gorey.tumblr.com/.

These include Kentucky Fried Chicken, Golden Fleece petrol, Razza Mattazz pantyhose and the old airline TAA.

One concerned the rugby league salary cap scandal; the other involved Western Australia’s (former) Treasurer Troy Buswell and his affair with Greens MP Adele Carles.

I don’t need to comment on the Buswell affair. The facts are clear and the public interest issue (as opposed to public interest=curiosity) has been defused now that Premier Colin Barnett forced Mr Buswell’s resignation.

Mr Buswell’s checkered career includes other incidents such as:

• Sniffing the chair of one of his staffers, writhing around in mock sexual ecstasy, when serving as opposition leader;
• Snapping the bra of a Labor Party staffer;
• Grabbing at the genitals of a male colleague in parliament while appearing to be intoxicated;
• False travel claims.

It’s not true that he “beat the bejesus out of a quokka”, as fellow blogger Matt Hayden conceded.

Mr Buswell is 10 months older than me. Most of the media has reported his age as 43, but according to Wikipedia his birthday is March 19, 1966, which makes him 44 according to my calculations.

The only specific comment I will make on Mr Buswell (left) is that he looks much older than me (right), even if I do say so myself.

My other general comment is to applaud blogger Andrew Landeryou for breaking the story of the Carles affair on March 24.

Ms Carles originally denied it when the rumors were put to her. It took the Perth media four weeks to flush out the facts and most were less than generous in acknowledging Landeryou.

The affair itself is not a crime, of course.

Mr Barnett said yesterday Mr Buswell would not have been sacked for the affair alone, which he described as “very poor judgment”. But the misuse of taxpayer funds for a hotel room and ministerial cars was “the final straw” after the previous indiscretions.

Two such stories have gripped Australia in the past week.

The Melbourne Storm rugby league salary cap rort is said to be the biggest scandal ever in Australian sport.

For the benefit of overseas readers, Melbourne Storm was stripped of its last two premierships, fined $500,000 and forced to return $1.1 million in prize money. The club has also been banned from accruing any premiership points this season.

Its crime was to spend $1.7 million above the salary cap over five years.

I don’t like rugby league and the controversy confirms my prejudice against the sport as being mobile wrestling played by thugs and managed by shonks.

They are subjective views, but these facts are relevant when putting the Storm controversy into context:

• The amount involved is only $340,000 per year;
• Melbourne Storm is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited.

It’s incredible to think that senior people in News Ltd were unaware of the rort.

It’s less incredible to observe that very little analysis of this fact has been reported in News Ltd newspapers.

The Fairfax press is taking a closer interest, as this report in The Age reveals.

Discredited Storm chief executive Brian Waldron, who News chief John Hartigan described as “the architect” of the scam and a “rat” has promised to disclose everything under oath at a properly constituted public inquiry.

That must make a few people nervous, especially Waldron’s comment:

“I am … prepared to give the entire background to Rupert Murdoch so that he has a full understanding of how his company has managed a $66 million investment in the Melbourne Storm since its inception.”

It’s a murky world when a media company has commercial interests outside of publishing.

I’m not suggesting that News executives knew about the salary cap breach, but they should have known earlier if they were properly overseeing their investment.

The other larger-than-life news story concerns West Australian Treasurer Troy Buswell, which I will comment on separately.

In 1965, she married William “Billy” McMahon, an aspiring politician in Sir Robert Menzies’ government. She was 32, he 57.

Since the slow and ambiguous denial of imperial honors in Australia, the media has largely struggled to cope.

Hence we see articles like:

But of course she is not “Lady Sonia” but “Lady McMahon”.

It’s embarrassing that modern editors and sub-editors don’t understand imperial honors.

The fact is I find website video ads extremely annoying, especially the ones that start automatically.

I am being dissuaded from visiting my favorite news website (The Age) by this practice.

It has become even more insidious, with the option to stop the video from playing either unavailable or concealed.

Until today, if I clicked on a story and went to the article page, and a video began loading, I was able to prevent it from playing once the spinning thing stopped.

Today, it was not possible to stop the video until after an advertisement had run through.

I was viewing a story about the hostile reaction to a new road safety advertisement, which disparages redheads and emos.

In relation to the ad itself, I think it’s incredibly stupid. It’s offensive to redheads and the “dickhead” reference is in bad taste. I don’t get it either.

I actually find myself agreeing with Senator Steve Fielding, which is a little disturbing, when he says: “What happened to the State Government’s Respect Agenda portfolio? Surely using this kind of language doesn’t do much for respect in our society. There is no doubt this latest campaign is a low-class act at best and is only one step away from using even more coarse language.”

Redheads are up in arms, feeling they are a persecuted minority, and commenters have targeted the advertising agency as being full of dickheads.

Not to mention the government being caned for contradicting its own anti-bullying policies.

However, back to the website video …

I suspect a cunning ploy to force the viewing of an advertisement before the reader has a chance to turn off the video. Upon further study I noticed the following:

When you click on the home page link to the article, the link includes ?autostart=1 at the tail. Deleting ?autostart=1 or changing the 1 to 0 stops the video from playing.

Also, while the spinning thing twhirls around you have a small window of opportunity to select Don’t play before it automatically starts.

Even with a fast broadband connection, the loading process is very slow and you will probably have scrolled halfway down the story before the advertisement starts playing, if you are caught unawares.

I don’t think anyone objects to content providers carrying ads on their websites. I’ve got used to Flash ads and find them effective in getting my attention, whereas popups and automatic videos turn me off.

Increasingly, there will be browser-based solutions to block this type of advertising, indeed they may already exist.

Finally, to explain the text-link ads on this site: I am using Infolinks for pay-per-click advertising. The green links on this site are for advertising, the blue links are normal. Visit here for more information about Infolinks and how to avoid seeing ads, if you wish.

But I’ll be grateful if you sometimes click on a green link to support me in offsetting costs.

It’s been confirmed the pair shared a brief relationship three years ago when Bingle was 19 and while Fevola was already married.

According to Wikipedia, Bingle was born on June 5, 1987 in the delightfully named Yowie Bay and is “best known for appearing on Fingal Spit in the controversial 2006 Tourism Australia advertising campaign So where the bloody hell are you?”

Bingle is no stranger to legal action.

In May 2006, she sued EMAP Australia, who allegedly published photographs of the model without her permission in Zoo Weekly.

Lara Bingle and Michael Clarke

I can understand her being unhappy with Fevola, but I don’t support the grounds of her argument.

Her manager Max Markson says Bingle is taking legal action for breach of privacy, defamation and misuse of her image.

I heard a media lawyer remind everyone tonight there is no right to privacy under Australian law. It will be hard to argue the photo was defamatory and as for “misuse”, I’m not aware of any law against that.

If the argument hinges on damage to reputation, I think Bingle will struggle to win.

It was widely reported she had a “meltdown” after the 20/20 cricket match in Sydney last week.

Witnesses at the Members Stand in the Sydney Cricket Ground claim the glamor couple got into a verbal altercation after the 22-year-old, nicknamed ‘Posh Bingle’, told Clarke she found the sport ‘boring’. It’s understood Bingle’s emotions were running so high that fiance Clarke was forced to make himself into a ‘human wall’ to shield her dummy spit from enthralled spectators.

The media lawyer thought the matter should be settled out of court.

Fevola may have been a cad, but consider that Bingle had an affair with a high-profile man for five weeks and supposedly didn’t know her partner was married.

Invading someone’s privacy by taking and distributing a compromising photo of them is wrong, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.

Wrong yes, but illegal? I don’t think so.

Ms Gillard was also right to say that anyone who behaves this way should apologise and make good the damage they had done.

Good idea, but settle the matter out of court.

• Cartoon by Broelman
• Other post: Clarke abandons teammates and fans.

I check out the online job ads every couple of weeks. A mentor once recommended the practice “so you can find out if your job has been advertised”.

In the dog-eat-dog newspaper world it seemed like good advice. Plus you get to know the industry gossip of who’s been given the flick, who’s moved on, etc.

The advert on Seek says:

“Zoo Weekly, Australia’s biggest selling men’s magazine is looking for a talented Features Editor.

A working knowledge of pop culture would be an advantage, as would experience on a magazine. Apply with full CV and five ideas you think would make Zoo even better.”

Search for “Zoo magazine” on Google and it comes up as the first result. The description listed under the title reads: “Weird, magazine, sick, entertainment, girls, football, lists, zoo, weekly, jokes, snapshots, banter, quizzes, games.”

Those descriptions are normally chosen by the webmaster through meta tags. In this case it gives an interesting summary of how the Zoo people see themselves.

I can “turn around sparkling copy at breathless speed” and I think I know what makes young blokes tick.

I can write with humor when suitably inspired, and it’s easier when you can make things up. I possibly fall down though on “a working knowledge of pop culture”.

I haven’t watched commercial television this year, except for the AFL grand final, and my only cinema visit in 12 months was to see the travelling St Kilda Film Festival. I have no idea what my kids are listening to, but it sounds terrible.

I like the job ad’s call to “apply with full CV and five ideas you think would make Zoo even better”.

The publishers might pick up some good ideas, even from the unsuccessful applicants.

The Zoo formula looks pretty simple to me though. The biggest decision each week seems to be “boobs or bums” on the front, “blond or brunette”?

Pressure comes to bear on journalists and editors to not report suicides at all, presumably out of a copycat fear.

The hostility from health agencies toward media reporting of suicides has gone too far in my opinion, beyond even the guidelines recommended by the Mindframe project.

These guidelines, which are apparently given to university students, suggest being non-specific about method, which is fair enough.

The Geelong Advertiser came in for some stick recently when it reported the fourth suicide within a year by students at the same local high school. I believe the paper was justified in highlighting the problem.

In 1998 the Australian Press Council released guidelines for discussion:

1. Suicide should be reported when such reports are in the public interest. Media professionals avoid the distribution of material that is likely to incite or encourage self harm or suicidal behavior.

2. Media professional exercise care to not trivialise, romanticise, nor glorify suicide, particularly in media which targets, or is likely to be available to, young people.

3. Media professionals adhere to existing Australian media industry codes of practice for reporting suicide.

4. Media professionals consult, when appropriate, reputable associations, research centres, counselling services and Departments of Health when seeking comment on suicide and mental health issues.

5. Media professionals show sensitivity to persons bereaved by suicide in a way that is respectful of the deceased and the family since people bereaved by suicide are themselves at increased risk for suicidal behavior.

I’m comfortable with these suggestions, which are similar to the mindframe recommendations, although “public interest” is often subjective. The difficulty with point (4) is most health workers tell us not to report the story at all.

It’s a far cry from a century ago when newspapers reported life and death in full detail. Are there fewer suicides today?

I wonder if in the intervening years we’ve become too precious about some things, whether a do-gooder misinterprets some data or jumps on a questionable study to change the way we write and talk about important social issues.

The Australian media doesn’t talk much about suicide because some people might copy it. Should we also stop writing about domestic violence, rape, murder, etc?

The prompt for this post was a story from The Border Watch 100 years ago, which surfaced in our historical column that appears tomorrow:

Attempted suicide

Harrison was 27 years of age and single.

Update: The Press Council released new suicide reporting standards in August 2011, which lifted most of the restrictions.