# 60 Minutes - Pathetic



## mrmikk (Oct 19, 2008)

Anyone just see that pathetic excuse for journalism '60 Minutes' just aired on the Great White Shark - entitled 'The Ultimate Assassin'?

Did a whole lot a harm to the conservation of the species, 'assassin', 'cunning' etc....

Just a whole lot of old footage, nothing new or ground breaking and everything to just reinforce media perpetuations of these magnificents creatures being mindless killers.

No mention was made of their key role in the marine ecosystem, recent ground breaking studies on migration, feeding patterns etc...

Just more sensational, commercial TV trash.

Makes me sick.


----------



## Stewydead (Oct 19, 2008)

hahahahaha i saw it, and i agree


----------



## Helikaon (Oct 19, 2008)

that does sound like 60 minutes


----------



## grimbeny (Oct 19, 2008)

What do you expect, its 60 minutes. It has gone down the road of becoming the slightly more classy A Current Affair.


----------



## cris (Oct 19, 2008)

:lol: i saw the add and thought it would be as you described, for some strange reason i watched a it for a minute to make sure.


----------



## funcouple (Oct 19, 2008)

have you spent alot of time watching white sharks?? having fished for many years and seen the way white will stalk and follow a bait id say they are both smart and cunning. ive also seen them refuse a bait with a hook ( yes before their capture was banned ) so there another smart thing about them not putting themself at risk for a feed. there will allways be greens against the rest, wether its 60 minutes or anyone else reporting on an animal. i didnt see of hear anything that was negetive about this shark


----------



## dunno103 (Oct 19, 2008)

60 minutes, 40 minutes of crappy old news and 20 minutes of commercials.


----------



## Minke (Oct 19, 2008)

Utter crap (although i expect no less from 60 minutes). Have recently watched Sharkwater - tossing up whether to go to the chatroom and point out that that sort of story is exactly not the type of thing that needs to be shown atm. Yeah, lets get people to fear them more - idiots :evil:


----------



## Dipcdame (Oct 19, 2008)

Just an easy, cheap way of filling up space they had nothing for, so they've dusted off a few archived film-reels and put a new dialogue to it, typical!!!!!!! It's much easier to work on emotion than fact!!!!!


----------



## mrmikk (Oct 19, 2008)

funcouple said:


> have you spent alot of time watching white sharks?? having fished for many years and seen the way white will stalk and follow a bait id say they are both smart and cunning. ive also seen them refuse a bait with a hook ( yes before their capture was banned ) so there another smart thing about them not putting themself at risk for a feed. there will allways be greens against the rest, wether its 60 minutes or anyone else reporting on an animal. i didnt see of hear anything that was negetive about this shark


 
No, I have not had the privelege of watching White Sharks for real, but I have read and viewed just about everything on these great animals, including a doco about a South African guy who free dives with GWS and tried to put them into a catotonic state, absolutely superb footage, I won't say how it ends, but if you are a nature lover, youwill be astounded.

Of course they don't come out and say, 'let's kill all GWS, they are maneaters' that sort of confrontedness is not accepted, so you need to be a little more 'cunning' which commercial tv is. Just have a look at the segment's title...'The ulitimate assassin', that in itself conjures negative conotations in most people and the whoel story simply followed that line with no new our ground breaking information.


----------



## shane14 (Oct 19, 2008)

I just watched it then Love the first article LOL but the shark one was atrocious


----------



## mrmikk (Oct 19, 2008)

shane13 said:


> I just watched it then Love the first article LOL but the shark one was atrocious


 
lol, yeah the first story was ok hey???


----------



## pepper (Oct 19, 2008)

I've seen a doco on the south african who guy . It's is amazing how he just pats the sharks noses and they are sort of hypnotized . Wouldn't mind trying this myself one day.. Even Rodney Fox the guy that was attacted in the 1960's by one , after he went after every great white grew to have respect for them eventually..

I didn't see tonights show I don't watch comercial TV . Would rather fill my time doing something way more constructive.....


----------



## funcouple (Oct 19, 2008)

it could of been a story about snakes and it would get the same hype. 99% of the public just dont know and believe all of what is reported wether its fact or not. and some people will find a negetive side to every story


----------



## Minke (Oct 19, 2008)

mrmikk said:


> No, I have not had the privelege of watching White Sharks for real, but I have read and viewed just about everything on these great animals, including a doco about a South African guy who free dives with GWS and tried to put them into a catotonic state, absolutely superb footage, I won't say how it ends, but if you are a nature lover, youwill be astounded.
> 
> Of course they don't come out and say, 'let's kill all GWS, they are maneaters' that sort of confrontedness is not accepted, so you need to be a little more 'cunning' which commercial tv is. Just have a look at the segment's title...'The ulitimate assassin', that in itself conjures negative conotations in most people and the whoel story simply followed that line with no new our ground breaking information.


 
Completely agree - is it really that amazing that something that has been around for 400 million years is pretty good at what is meant for - being a predator? Why not report on the fact that they have lived through how many die-offs (dinosaurs etc), and have never been threatened until now?

And going beyond the title 
http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=648165 
"Here's some chilling news. Just what you want to hear as you head back to the beach this summer. Sharks are not only deadly, they're smart, too. And the one we fear most, The Great White, is the smartest of them all."

Creating fear - the ultimate tabloid journalism :evil:

mrmikk - have you watched Sharkwater? I recommend it to all.


----------



## shane14 (Oct 19, 2008)

mrmikk said:


> lol, yeah the first story was ok hey???



yep it was the best one might go look now LOL


----------



## MoreliaMatt (Oct 20, 2008)

i think everyone is over reacting here....

i didnt see anything wrong with it.... they ARE the ultimate assassin.... 

thats what they were built for! and have been so for how many years?


----------



## froglet (Oct 20, 2008)

As much as i love sharks i decided not to watch this one-there was a doco on the abc about the galapogas islands-much better


----------



## Riley (Oct 20, 2008)

shane13 said:


> yep it was the best one might go look now LOL


what was it on?


----------



## Lewy (Oct 20, 2008)

MMMMM the first article was good mmmmmm kiki lol


----------



## cockney red (Oct 20, 2008)

Ultimate Assasin.
1. Orca
2.Great White
Orcas eat Whites.


----------



## redbellybite (Oct 20, 2008)

well, I didnt know Orcas eat whites....i missed the 60 min thing as i was watching the doco on abc too .....


----------



## inthegrass (Oct 20, 2008)

45 minutes of B/S and 15 minutes of commercials.
cheers.


----------



## saratoga (Oct 20, 2008)

Sharkwater looks like a great film...I have just checked out some of the footage on youtube


----------



## Wild~Touch (Oct 20, 2008)

Oh well at least they are leaving the crocs alone for a while


----------



## whiteyluvsrum (Oct 20, 2008)

yep,
I agree with cockney red, orcas are the ultimate predators of the ocean. I would rate the saltwater croc higher than the great white aswell.


----------



## Minke (Oct 20, 2008)

Taken from 60 minutes webchat -

"Ian Gordon: I fear for sharks in all of the oceans of the world. With the increased fishing activities of man, coupled with pollution and global warming many species of sharks' days are numbered. Interestingly, there have been many challenges for sharks over the last 400 million years and I would like to think that as a specie they will be adaptable enough to deal with the threat of man. Only time will tell."

So why the negative connotations in the story (the intro - "Here's some chilling news. Just what you want to hear as you head back to the beach this summer. Sharks are not only deadly, they're smart, too. And the one we fear most, The Great White, is the smartest of them all")? Why not instead do a show on their and every other shark in the world's plight? The fact that we are wiping out such an awesome (and intelligent) predator? 

The problem with stories like this is it doesn't make anyone WANT to save them... They should be doing what they did for the whales...


----------



## scorps (Oct 20, 2008)

cockney red said:


> Ultimate Assasin.
> 1. Orca
> 2.Great White
> Orcas eat Whites.


 
Was just about to type that, killer wales smash everything lol including great whites and baby wales, they seperate the mothers and calfs then eat the babys.


----------



## jessb (Oct 20, 2008)

grimbeny said:


> What do you expect, its 60 minutes. It has gone down the road of becoming the slightly more classy A Current Affair.


 
So true! 60 Minutes just jumps on populist issues ("oooh, sharks are scary") and turns them into sensationalised rubbish. Far from being quality investigative journalism, it is tabloid junk which I refuse to watch. 

I watched Galapagos instead and tried to explain the theory of evolution to my 3yo daughter! :lol:

Scorps and cockney red, I though Great Whites were apex predators, ie nothing preyed on them?


----------



## whiteyluvsrum (Oct 20, 2008)

scorps said:


> Was just about to type that, killer wales smash everything lol including great whites and baby wales, they seperate the mothers and calfs then eat the babys.



you have seen that doco too. it was only the baby's lower jaw and tongue that was eaten.


----------



## whiteyluvsrum (Oct 20, 2008)

jessb said:


> Scorps and cockney red, I though Great Whites were apex predators, ie nothing preyed on them?



well, i would say an apex predator would be up the top, but i cant think of an apex predator that dosen't get prayed on by another apexy. like us humans. :shock:


----------



## whiteyluvsrum (Oct 20, 2008)

pulled from wikipedia-

Apex predators (also alpha predators, superpredators, or top-level predators) are predators that, as adults, are not normally preyed upon in the wild in significant parts of their range. Apex predator species are often at the end of long food chains, where they have a crucial role in maintaining the health of ecosystems.


----------



## natrix (Oct 20, 2008)

dunno103 said:


> 60 minutes, 40 minutes of crappy old news and 20 minutes of commercials.


 
IE:....60 minutes of crap !
MrMikk .....I guess that particular story is close to your heart , but don't you find all the other
stories on that program equally idiotic & just plain bad 'journalism' ?.


----------



## shane14 (Oct 20, 2008)

Riley said:


> what was it on?



Pornography soz about saying it people


----------



## mattyandnat (Oct 20, 2008)

I used to work with a guy from south africa he was a very keen surfer he told me he believes that alot of shark attacks are caused from all the feeding and cage diving makes them think there is a link between food and people makes sense to me but i do not know much at all about sharks.


----------



## Kathryn_ (Oct 20, 2008)

Interesting that this comes out a few months after the first shark-finning liscences were issued for the GBR. Just saying, is all...


----------

