Unspun

Reader Reuben wrote in, accusing Unspun of having a taste for bizzare press shenanigans and pointed us to the following story moved by UPI:

SYDNEY, Sept. 14 (UPI) — TV networks’
attempts to stage a rescue of 6-year-old Indonesian orphan boy
reportedly marked for a ritual killing by cannibals have fallen to
bureaucracy.

The
boy, named Wawa, was said to be considered a focus of black magic by
village cannibals after his parents died suddenly. Reports indicate no
steps have been taken toward carrying out the ritual.

But that
hasn’t stopped the rite from turning into a battle between Australia’s
Seven and Nine television networks to cover the story amid conjecture
as to whether there really was a cannibal tribe in Indonesia, the
Sydney Daily Telegraph said.

Naomi Robson of Seven’s “Today
Tonight” show had planned to rescue the boy, named Wawa, on camera
Wednesday but she was barred by Indonesian authorities from entering
the country.

Nine had planned a rescue mission also but decided it would put the boy in more danger.

Reuben is right about Unspun‘s taste and this item is as delicious (oops!) as they come.

Now let me get this right. Grown men and women who are hardened journalists from the Antipodes believe that there is a psychotic cult of cannibals running around in indonesia eating up 6-year olds?

Perhaps they would do better filming the tribe in Papua whose men have tails, or the strange village in the Australian interior where the residents are half-human and half kangaroo, a result of some serious inter recaial hanky panky?

Is it a wonder then that Indonesia every so often gets incensed at Australia? Often this aggravation is misdirected at the ver unloved OZ government but really it should be directd at the gullible but self-deluding media. Having graduated from journalism school in OZ, lived there and seen much of its journalistic products, Unspun can only marvel at the disparity between the self-image of some of its journalists compared with their image as perceived by others.