When brave Captain Cook sailed along the Australian coast an island caused his primitive compass to gyrate, so he called it Magnetical Isle , now known as Magnetic Island , off Townsville . In the case of Townsville's modern media, with all its electronic devices and networks , Magnetic Island seems to be off or under its radar .
What media coverage there is of Magnetic Island leaves a lot to be desired . In the case of the Murdoch owned Townsville Bulletin it does give occasional space to typical real estate articles at holiday periods and gave front page treatment to a yarn about Tiger Sharks caught off the island ; not much can be said about the Townsville TV stations . Channel 7 ends its daily broadcast with a round up of fuel prices in the viewer area which never includes the much higher prices on Magnetic Island, a subject which needs investigation , as does the fuel price impact on the cost of living and building materials on Palm Island .
What media coverage there is of Magnetic Island leaves a lot to be desired . In the case of the Murdoch owned Townsville Bulletin it does give occasional space to typical real estate articles at holiday periods and gave front page treatment to a yarn about Tiger Sharks caught off the island ; not much can be said about the Townsville TV stations . Channel 7 ends its daily broadcast with a round up of fuel prices in the viewer area which never includes the much higher prices on Magnetic Island, a subject which needs investigation , as does the fuel price impact on the cost of living and building materials on Palm Island .
There is a weekly publication, Community News , which claims to be Magnetic Island's local newspaper since 1989 that contains a regular column headed POLICE REPORT in which crime reports give the impression of being highly sanitised . You have to wonder who compiles the column as it is obviously not written by an inquiring reporter. Apart from regularly opening with a statement saying it has been a busy week for police , it usually then runs extremely brief paragraphs about incidents, hence the feeling that it has been compiled from a New York police charge sheet of yesteryear . Some examples :
* Over the recent festive season the community sheet dutifully recorded that police had on December 29 "attended a sudden death in Nelly Bay " and a report was being prepared for the coroner . No name , no age , no gender - a local ? a holidaying southerner ? No follow up. Not picked up by Townsville media .
However, while the death on the island may have been sudden , the word is it was not detected for some time . Holidaymakers complained about a terrible smell and were told it was a problem with the sewerage system . From time to time in national media there are reports about how shocking it is that somebody died alone and nobody knew for ages , this could have been a similar situation .
* Numerous people assaulted on the roadway near old helipad between 1am-1.30am January 22 , another small island item . Surprisingly , no follow up, no further details. Not picked up by Townsville media . Imagine if " numerous people " were assaulted somewhere in Townsville, Cairns , Sydney, Brisbane , Washington , Bourke there would be extensive media coverage , follow ups . What is the story here ??????
* At a time when domestic violence is receiving much attention throughout the nation , there are not infrequent , brief mentions of such events on the island in the police reports . Not published anywhere was the recent episode where a woman , carrying a six weeks old baby , another young child alongside her , ran screaming down a street calling for somebody to call the police . Another hearsay report of a man regularly seen "punching the shit out of a woman"in a residence. A former editor of the Townsville Bulletin was made a member of a Queensland domestic violence advisory panel so you would think that the paper would have an interest in the island situation , the facilities and services , if any , for women the victims of violence on the island .
* Not covered in any way was an episode in which an area was rocked by shouting , screaming , and a person emerged from a house armed with a star picket and was seen running down a street shouting at a man that he only came round for a bong . Nearby residents were told by police following day to lock their houses like fortresses because of thefts , people roaming about .
*Island talk is about ice dealers , concerns that children are being exposed to drugs , trespassing on properties , shoplifting , gas bottles being stolen , CCTV being installed in houses and business premises , a vehicle fire bombed, a couple leaving the island in fear over an alleged drug involvement , a house widely regarded as containing a large number of " druggies ."
* While police carry out what are described as "drug raids " in the Townsville area and elsewhere, sometimes with TV coverage and full details , an event such as this is likely to be described in the brief island publication style as police executed a search warrant on a house and people were charged with being in possession of dangerous drugs .
* During a break and enter , a snake was stolen from an enclosure. Not picked up by mainland media . Imagine what the Northern Territory News in Darwin , another Murdoch publication , would have done with this story...SNAKENAPPER ON ISLAND !
What is abundantly clear is that the Townsville media does not read the Magnetic Island Community News otherwise it would find a constant stream of interesting and important community stories to flesh out .
