"The Times they aren't a-Changin"

Bob Dylan wrote: "The Times They Are a-Changin". Sadly, that doesn't appear to be the case in the Whitsundays.

It has been exactly one month since Leanne Abernethy was appointed as the Managing Editor of the Whitsunday Times - her promotion came about due to the resignation of General Manager, Jim Sherrington.

I (and I suppose a fair few other people) were hoping that a change in management at one of our local newspapers may have introduced a new era in presenting a fair, unbiased and accurate view of the events from and about our region; including all stories, good or bad, without compromise.

Alas, this does not appear to be the case.

Over the past five years, I have noticed that reporting (and the 'lack of') of news, events and disclosure in stories about Tourism Whitsundays seemed to be generously favourable (especially crowd numbers at events, and the 'reporting' of directors businesses).

In the last month, I have seen several examples of the Whitsunday Times reporting good news stories from Tourism Whitsundays, and not including stories that could be seen as critical of the organization.

Here are a few major stories in the last month relating to Tourism Whitsundays:

15 March 2010 - Whitsunday defy visitor decline: ABC News
'1 per cent increase in international visitors'
Item reported by Whitsunday Times.

19 March 2010 - Whitsunday visitor numbers slump: ABC News
'The survey found 100,000 (26%) fewer people visited the region in 2009 compared to 2008.'
Item not reported by Whitsunday Times.

25 March 2010 - $75,000 for Tourism: Whitsunday Times
'Chief Executive Officer Peter O’Reilly said a short term targeted campaign was exactly what the region needed to get back on track.'
Item reported by Whitsunday Times.

26 March 2010 - Tourism slogan 'demeans' Cyclone Ului victims: Courier Mail
'Tourism Whitsundays chief Peter O'Reilly said he did not think the headline of the slogan mattered.'
Item not reported by Whitsunday Times.

5 April 2010 - Funding snub sinks dive wreck plan: ABC News WIN TV Yahoo7
'A proposal to create the first artificial dive wreck in the Whitsundays, off north Queensland, has failed to secure Federal Government funding.'
Item not reported by Whitsunday Times.

Ben Southall, winner of the 'Best Job in the World', asked me last year why it appeared all my articles were negative. As I told Ben, some stories do not seem to be included in our local papers but need to be told.

It would be nice to write a good news story for a change.


Sources
ABC News
Whitsunday Times
Courier Mail
WIN TV
Yahoo7