CURRENT AFFAIR (AUSTRALIA) MAY 2, a story about a PSYCHIC

[VeronicaX]

Hi!

Did any of you guys (in OZ) watch the current affair tonight?

When the reporter said that she was willing to take a test, I immediately stopped doing the dishes and turned the volume up.

To my disappointment, the so-called test consisted of her facing a few people and the majority of her readings involve seeing the future.

She apparently predicted a tsunami 2 months before the disaster in Asia and also the death of a leader (the pope).

It's quite sad how much they were promoting this woman and using the word 'test' in the report when the test was clearly flawed and wasn't proper at all.

I know a lot of people who watch the current affair and really believe what they see there. I'm so disappointed, now i'mdoing damage control trying to convince my mum not to believe it. :(

[Zep]

I have long given up watching A Current Affair. It's manufactured reporting of the most trivial, banal and ambulance-chasing type. Tomorrow they will probably once again do one on shonky car-dealers or house-repairers or credit-card frauds. A bit of foot-in-the-door reporting and car-chasing to follow...the typical low-class trash we have come to expect from them.

I'd be willing to bet they are trying to concoct another story about a conflict with a psychic and the skeptics - trying to bait the skeptics into responding, I guess.

FYI, the Australian Skeptics had a run-in with ACA over a psychic healer a few years ago, where ACA edited the skeptics interviews completely out of context, and then grossly distorted and misrepresented the skeptics standpoint on the affair. ACA even tried to run a botched-up "Skeptics Challenge" for the Skeptics prize (AUS$100,000) but excluding the Skeptics from the process entirely. The Skeptics, like Randi, did not want to be involved because the claimant refused to agree to any scientific protocol. But that didn't stop ACA from running their own laughable testing (luckily, even flawed, it showed the claimant was quite delusional). It was biased and manufactured reporting at its blatant worst, and as I recall ACA were close to being sued as a result.

[Kiless]

I enjoy watching ABC's Media Watch, who regularly tear shreds off these current affairs programmes. And I continue to teach the TV show 'Frontline', which for you overseas people is a often bitingly black satirical comedy about current affairs programmes, even though it is about ten years old now.

[tim]

Sounds like you lot get some interesting programmes .........

[VeronicaX]

Hi zep, thanks for the info... I didn't see any of the stories u mentioned, I can only imagine.

These types of stories only shows how absurd the media is.

The hard part is that for most of the people I talk to, the mentality is that "if it's in the news, it must be true". Even if I point out to them the obvious mistakes, especially when testing psychics and most specially on tv... *sigh*

[Kiless]

Originally posted by tim
Sounds like you lot get some interesting programmes .........

Oh, we get some good ones - Media Watch (http://abc.net.au/mediawatch/)

and Frontline (http://www.workingdog.com/frontline/index.html) - in regards to Frontline, Tim, remember the UK show 'Drop The Dead Donkey'? Imagine that with an even bleaker outlook on current affairs. (P.S - loved DTDD. Classic stuff.)

[Zep]

Originally posted by VeronicaX
Hi zep, thanks for the info... I didn't see any of the stories u mentioned, I can only imagine.

These types of stories only shows how absurd the media is.

The hard part is that for most of the people I talk to, the mentality is that "if it's in the news, it must be true". Even if I point out to them the obvious mistakes, especially when testing psychics and most specially on tv... *sigh* Yep, that's all too often the case.

Although as Kiless pointed out, shows like Frontline went a long way to pointing out how absurd news programs like ACA really are. My daughter had to study Frontline for her HSC English last year, and she is now as cynical as we are about the real current affairs programs. And boy how she laughed too!

Ah, here we are - The Things that You're Liable to See on the Box that Ain't Necessarily So - The plain facts about Australian Skeptics' testing of Dennis Puffet on A Current Affair (http://www.skeptics.com.au/features/press/aca.htm)

[pyewhackett]

ACA and TT have been crappy, tabloidy shows for as long as I can remember.

The Aust. Skeptics have nearly been burned a number of times by their dreadful 'journalism' and editing hack-jobs. Thanks for posting that press-release Zep! That shows the events as they happened.

Kiless - what happened to your sexy avatar? Bring it back!!


Karen.

[Kiless]

Originally posted by pyewhackett

Kiless - what happened to your sexy avatar? Bring it back!!


LOL! I have the rest of the week to go. :) Trust me, I want to see her as well, I'm having an identity crisis at this rate... maybe I should blame that for my poor limerick composition skills.

[badnews]

Was that Sharina (http://www.2ue.com.au/presenters.php?presenter_id=17) from2UE (http://www.2ue.com.au) on that program, because I tune in to her program sometimes and they mentioned something about current affairs last time.
And btw I don't believe her, It's kind of entertaining how all those people think that she tells them something usefull. Whenever someone calls who wants to sell a house her advice is always " take a picture of a house and write 'sold' on it", apparently it helped millions of people. :)
I always wanted to call her and ask why she wouldn't take the $1,000,000 chellange, but I think they wouldn't even put me on air.

[pyewhackett]

Originally posted by badnews
Was that Sharina (http://www.2ue.com.au/presenters.php?presenter_id=17) from2UE (http://www.2ue.com.au) on that program, because I tune in to her program sometimes and they mentioned something about current affairs last time.

Hey badnews,

Yes, that's the one.

There's a concurrent thread about this: http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56426

There's a link to the segment too.


Karen.

[VeronicaX]

I also noticed that towards the end of the report on Sharina in ACA, she was sitting on the lap of the man who told her that the prediction she gave him was totally wrong. She then started telling him some crap like how she sees his thinking/attitde change and she could see it starting right then. What the hell was that.

[pyewhackett]

Originally posted by VeronicaX
I also noticed that towards the end of the report on Sharina in ACA, she was sitting on the lap of the man who told her that the prediction she gave him was totally wrong. She then started telling him some crap like how she sees his thinking/attitde change and she could see it starting right then. What the hell was that.

The token 'skeptic'! He was being unreceptive, so she was trying to be flirty to get him to soften up for the camera. They carved the filming up so much it was hard to follow it.

They said they're going to follow up her predications over the next few weeks. Bet she even gets the sex of the baby wrong!

Who can take anything seriously that involved Jeannie Little?

Karen.

[VeronicaX]

Originally posted by pyewhackett
Who can take anything seriously that involved Jeannie Little?

Karen.

lol...