Jamie Neale captured by the NewsHooker, Gearins Hotel, Katoomba. Credit: Damian Baker.
By The NewsHooker
Well back in the media world, back on the horse and back on the strip.
There are many comparisons to be made between photojournalism and with what is widely claimed as the oldest profession in the world. It takes a lot of imagination and and self belief to believe in yourself when you are taking it up the ass. The biggest link is when making a living in this game without the big name, you regularly sell out to the fluff/pap to pay the bills. You very quickly find that it’s much easier to get a story/photo published if it contains celebrity, sharks or crocodiles than any issue or image with meaning or depth.
Speed is everything in this type of game, first in is often better than quality and cheaper is often better than both.
In the cutthroat world of freelance journalism I run the gauntlet of traffic, police and other journos in the effort to earn a living with something I love and even believe in sometimes; the news.
I’m self aware enough to admit that half the pleasure is in the pursuit, the chase and the adrenalin. To get an exclusive or the front page in the big dailies is something every journo dreams of, once I had a taste of the headlines, it became an addictive pastime and a sometimes-dangerous one.
If while chasing these highs you gain a reputation from the big outlets, expense accounts, funding for helicopters, encouragement and adulation are all fringe benefits.
Jamie Neale’s Survival Story, the Media and My Take
The story was perhaps bland, maybe even shallow, yet being in home territory it was irresistible, even If I was to enter the fray late.
Jamie Neale, a British backpacker, had found his way out of the Blue Mountains bush near my hometown in freezing conditions after 12 days. Some said “miracle,” some said “bullshit” but those in the media game said one thing; “story.”
By the time I entered the fray he was in the Katoomba hospital after finding his own way out of the bush, four major TV stations satellite trucks and up to 15 stills photographers had camped out overnight to be first to get the next image/story to their employees.
Jamie’s dad, Richard Cass, was the first to oblige with a photo-op, he had flown out from Britain, done a few interviews, made a little shrine to his presumed lost son and was at the airport on the way home when Jamie emerged. Thanking everybody for not giving up on his son, even though the search had been called off, he was smooth and charming as the answered the fluff that was thrown at him by size 10’s, C cups and blonde bob cuts.
Richard Cass, Katoomba hospital. Credit: Damian Baker.
How do you feel? What was his first meal? How is his mother? Did you ever give up? How is Jamie and can we get a photo? they cried as one.
It was obvious from the outset (as I was shouted down trying to ask frivolities such as “what he was wearing?” and “did he use fire?”) that happy stories were where we were going and plays on emotion were going to sell this one. No hard questions were asked by four TV crews and 15 major news papers in a 20 minute interview with police and the father.
Words like “miracle,” “amazing,” “joy,” “emotional,” “wonderful,” and “survival” were splashed across the headlines as security guards and the media’s wheelers and dealers watched the hospital doors with the unmistakable sounds in the background of chequebooks being drawn. Up until now it was each for his own and good luck buddy as the imprint of boots were left on the backs of the slow ones, but I quickly began to realise, even as we tried to gather the sometimes contrary pieces of the story, that the whole picture was changing.
Next week in part two of the “Blonde Bob Cuts and the Survival Story,” The NewsHooker takes us inside the story as the 60 Minutes team becomes involved.
The NewsHooker gears up for an assignment. Credit: Damian Baker.
Every week theangle.org’s very own Newshooker takes a witty or jaundiced look (depending on the assignment) behind the scenes of the sausage factory that is Australian news reporting.The Newshooker lifts the lid of what it takes to be a successful photojournalist.
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