What Today Tonight should be taken off air

-The old host of "Today Tonight", Naomi Robson(lizard girl and savior of cannibals). The new host is Anna Coren who looks to be heading in the same direction as her predecessor.


In case you don’t live in Australia and therefore don’t have the misfortune of having to put up with the nauseating excuse for journalism that is Today Tonight, let me explain the program to you. Today Tonight falls into the categories of either “consumer current affairs” or “tabloid television”. It is one of those current affairs shows that will recycle old stories under new guises (for example: How to lose weight in 10 days or the Water Diet…does it work?) or will simply bring out their chequebook to get the story. It saddens me that programs like this can be placed in prominent timeslots to appeal to the average joe. I once did work experience for WIN television and one of the things I remember the journalist telling me was “Average joe is stupid…the public is stupid”. I guess it’s true…but the public is not so much stupid as it is ignorant. Which is why we can’t afford to have idiotic airhead “news” passing itself off as fact on tv at all. Thankfully, most people know what a smelly heap of rubbish Today Tonight is….as shown in these examples:

“THE lead story on Today Tonight on Tuesday featured an elderly woman chained to a cupboard in her nursing home by a long chunky chain. "Shirley Frey would have to be the oldest person in Australia to be kicked out of a nursing home," said reporter Nicholas Boot. "But this feisty 84-year-old is refusing to budge, chaining herself to her room."
Yesterday, officials visited the Sydney nursing home to check whether her rights were being infringed. But they soon discovered the chains were a stunt, set up by the TV crew….Host Anna Coren told viewers: "We reported that Shirley was living chained to her room. In fact this is not the case. Today Tonight reporter Nicholas Boot took a chain with him at Shirley's request to be filmed in her room…”

-The Diary by Amanda Meade


THE sister of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has angrily denied a former friend's claims she tried to entice her to Bali to smuggle drugs, describing the allegation as "completely outrageous". Mercedes Corby last night said that Queensland woman Jodi Power's claims had been motivated by spite - and potentially jeopardised her sister's last chance at freedom.
She is planning legal action against Channel 7 and Today Tonight, which ran the claims in a paid interview…Ms Power agreed to prove her claims by allowing Today Tonight to film her submitting to a polygraph test. The report said she failed her first attempt but passed two subsequent tests.

NOTE: Not only was Ms Power paid for the interview, but she also failed her first lie detector test. When your reporting about a lady who almost was sentenced to death in a foreign court wouldn’t you be more sensitive and willing to get to the truth rather than be itching for the story?

-The Daily Telegraph



“THE host of Today Tonight, Naomi Robson, and a Channel Seven crew have been arrested by Indonesian authorities in Papua after entering the province under the guise of tourists….Today Tonight was following up on a Nine Network report about an orphaned boy, Wah-Wah, who was going to be killed and eaten at some stage in the next 10 years. When Nine refused to go in and rescue the boy, Today Tonight stepped in, leading to the crew being detained, the program claimed.”

NOTE: The cultural insensitivity of this astounds me. What was Naomi Robson doing by stealing the boy away from his culture and his home and the only place he has ever known…just for a story? She went into a place which is suffering human rights abuses on a daily basis and wants to continue to undermine the rights of a people she has absolutely no understanding about? I doubt Today Tonight would have ever bothered to touch the fight for West Papuan independence because their area of expertise seems set in reporting on fashion, weight loss and general airheadness.

-The Sydney Morning Herald


I’m sure that there are shows like this all over the world but why are they necessary? I’d rather watch a corny soap opera or another American crime drama because at least I know it’s not actually doing any harm. Journalism was supposed to be society’s watchdog - The Fourth Estate. It’s supposed to be built on ethics and truth…not rubbish packaged to a consumer audience. It must reflect society in a way – we are becoming so inundated with mind numbing idiotic ness that we forget what the most important things are.

So my message to the world is this: Sack all shows that even slightly resemble Today Tonight. Humanity will certainly prosper because of it!

Luv Amy