Today, the SA media accused of neglecting its role in keeping the government to account, a tried and true media distraction technique, and much more.

Vickie Chapman: is she right about the media?

Liberal deputy leader Vickie Chapman had a crack at Adelaide’s “mainstream media” in a long speech to Parliament yesterday.

Her frustration was about coverage of this week’s estimates committees – the annual ritual in which Opposition members get to quiz ministers and bureaucrats about the detail of the Budget.

Chapman offered some vague praise for the media’s coverage of the Budget proper, but then claimed the fourth estate dropped the ball this week.

“… during the estimates committee, I would have to say that (the media) appeared to be more interested in the performance or lack thereof in respect of the committee process, rather than in the substance of the information that was either elicited or refused to be provided,” she said.

“That is disappointing in itself as well because if, as members of the public, we are to continue to rely on the scrutiny of us in the parliament and the publication of that by our mainstream media outlets, and they are to continue to have respect for that, I would ask them to look carefully at what level of publication they are giving to matters raised in estimates.”

Chapman was particularly annoyed about the non-treatment of a story about the Urban Renewal Authority – the mystery of a $11.6 million dividend to the Government from the authority that was published in the Budget, but which was never paid.

And on this, she appears to have a point, although the fact that it took her thousands of words to explain the convoluted tale in parliament might explain the reasons why.

Is the local media ignoring some of the more complex stories that relate to government transparency? She may have hit on something (read on).

Look over here!

Staying on the theme, one of the traditional hallmarks of the estimates process is attempts by the government of the day to divert attention elsewhere, to provide some cover for any embarrassing details that escape under committee questioning.

Corrections Minister Tony Piccolo rolled out a classic example this week.

He was no doubt aware that his estimates committee hearing would focus on the dire state of our corrections system, with jails  over-capacity and the Treasury bereft of coin to build a new prison.

So early on the morning of his appearance, he called a media conference to reveal footage of a GoPro camera strapped to a dog.

The footage showed the drug detection dog sniffing its way through cells at Mt Gambier prison, where it found absolutely no drugs. The pooch had more success with visitors, sniffing the presence of drugs on 18 people and leading authorities to arrest one person for attempting to bring drugs inside.

Piccolo was successful in getting wide coverage of the exercise.

This ABC report shows – in stark fashion – how the fancy footage trumped the bad news.

You call that a waste of money?

In support of Chapman’s criticism reported above, the estimates process did uncover evidence of the extraordinary wastage of taxpayers’ funds, which received little coverage.

Now, the travel spending by Tourism Minister Leon Bignell is certainly a legitimate story (see ‘Naughty Corner’ below), but his $150,000 in expenses over the past year is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the millions the Government has burnt on one troubled project.

Biggles’ spending has received blanket coverage, in contrast to the story behind the Government’s $10 million concessions disaster.

This project has been the subject of several years of investigations by InDaily. No other media has touched it – which made it a red letter day when the local ABC this week reported the story after the responsible minister, Zoe Bettison, appeared before an estimates committee.

And it’s not too complicated.

In short, the Government decided six years ago to try to make administration easier by combining seniors’ card and other concessions in a single client record.

It then spent more than $7 million trying to develop the IT system – a process consistently criticised by the Auditor-General.

These millions were thrown into the furnace this year when the IT company involved pulled out. But it’s not going to end there – Bettison revealed this week that another $2.2 million will be spent to develop a new system.

Showing that the Government has little concept of how ridiculous it looks over this bungle, bureaucrats have dubbed the new system COLIN.

Which reminds us only of this….

Former Sunday Mail editor joins academia

Crikey‘s excellent media reporter Myriam Robin this week broke the news that former Sunday Mail editor Phil Gardner is making an unusual career move.

Gardner, an uncompromising newsman, took redundancy from News Corp in 2013 after a long career which included a stint as editor-in-chief of giant Melbourne tabloid the Herald Sun.

Robin reports that Gardner has taken a role with the communications team at the University of Melbourne, including helping to edit the literary journal Meanjin.

The academic publication is a long stylistic leap from the Mail under his leadership, when the paper’s  now dissipated team of hard-nosed reporters gave South Australians a racy read each Sunday.

Naughty corner

It’s been a big couple of weeks for media spin by Tourism Minister Leon Bignell.

Last week, under pressure over his overseas travel expenses, he made the snigger-worthy claim that he was undertaking “research” when he downed a $100 bottle of Argentinian Malbec with an adviser during a late-night restaurant visit in Scotland.

This week, tourism statistics were released which appeared to show that Biggles’ trips around the world hadn’t had the desired result. In fact, despite every other state enjoying an increase in visitor spend for the year ending in March, South Australia’s numbers were headed south.

International visitor numbers for all of South Australia (Adelaide plus the regions) were down around 1 per cent compared with the previous year, while international visitor nights fell 8 per cent and spending dropped 7 per cent.

But, never fear, our optimistic Tourism Minister found the silver lining. This was the glass-half-full first paragraph of Biggles’ media release: “The number of international visitors from India to South Australia has reached an all-time high, latest figures show.”

Top of the class

The ABC’s Australian Story has had lots of hits – and a few misses – with its unique formula which has interesting Australians tell their stories in their own words.

With the reporter completely out of the picture, the method is open to subjects reshaping history to suit themselves.

But when it works, it can be remarkable television.

This week’s edition was riveting, with Don Bradman’s Adelaide family – his son and grandchildren – telling their story with brave candour.

Don’s son, John, told a poignant anecdote. Don, in his 80s, suffered a stroke and was hospitalised. Despite Bradman losing the use of his right hand, he was still bothered for autographs in his hospital bed, including by medical staff – such was the burden of his enormous fame which, as the program shows, has had some painful repercussions through the generations.

Watch part one of Being Bradman here. Part two is broadcast on Monday.

Media Week is published on Fridays.