grodscorp@grods.comShark-concocted waters
 | Posted by Bridgit Gread on Monday 26 May 2008, 5:19 pm Categories: Media Tags: AlisonDalton, divers, RichardNeely, sharks, Whitsundays |
Sharks. They’re everywhere, just waiting to eat us. Even when they’re, umm, not actually there:
As sharks prowled, forgotten divers waited … and waited
A British holidaymaker and his American girlfriend who survived for 19 hours in shark-infested waters off the Great Barrier Reef, have told how a rescue helicopter failed to spot them waving frantically for help. ‘I truly thought we were going to die. Sharks were on our mind the entire time - but neither of us mentioned the “S” word,’ said Neely, from Norfolk. ‘We just had to stay positive and calm to help each other through the ordeal and not think about being eaten alive.” (Source)
But did they actually see any sharks? Nope. Neither were they quoted as seeing any in the following news reports, even though they all mention or imply the presence of sharks:
Divers saved after night in sea of sharks (Times Online)
19-hour hell in shark-infested seas (Express, check out the pic!)
As sharks prowled, forgotten divers waited (Guardian)
Norfolk diver rescued from sharks (Norwich Evening News)
19 hours of sharks, stingers and sea snakes (News.com)
The Herald Sun even goes so far as to include a pointer box that includes this statement:
Sharks were circling the pair
Remember - they’ve given only one official interview thus far (to the UK’s Sunday Mirror) and didn’t admit to seeing any sharks. Not one single shark. But they were there… they were there!
Monday 26 May 2008, 6:45 pm #Krypto
wouldn’t be sharks in the media would it? or maybe some sharks making a killing by peddling their stories.
Don’t you just love the term “shark infested” to describe waterways that are the shark’s natural habitat?
It implies that they are somehow a verminous nuisance in what is actually their own natural environment.
Delightful, no wonder the poor buggers are looking down the barrel of extinction.
Flake and minimum chips anyone?
Monday 26 May 2008, 9:00 pm #The Editor
I once walked through the allegedly journalist-infested HWT building on Southbank in Melbourne and didn’t see any actual journalists.
Monday 26 May 2008, 9:15 pm #Wah
How is it when the dive boat was in the vicinity they were enjoying an enjoyable activity - why did all this changes just because they found themsevles alone. If it’s so dangerous out there why have dive tours in the first place?
Monday 26 May 2008, 9:19 pm #Krypto
but Ed, did you see any SHARKS?
Tuesday 27 May 2008, 11:48 am #Wah
The Scotsman did some proactive journalism with this story, with a story that Qld premier Anna Bligh wants the two rescued divers to help pay for their rescue with the money they received from a media deal.
While it’s easy to push this angle, The Scotsman decided to ask several search and rescue organisations if they charge to save lives - only one did. It’s good to see when newspapers go beyind the press releases to ask some questions from left field.
http://news.scotsman.com/world/39You-sold-story-of-rescue.4121110.jp
Tuesday 27 May 2008, 2:01 pm #Dam Buster of Preston
maybe flake was on the menu for lunch?
pay them $100,000 for each shark they saw. Oh yeah didnt the guy have a camera with him that he could have used to take photos of said sharks??
I am suprised “media agents” like Harry M Miller were not out there in the chopper rescuing them they signed so quickly. I can see him now yelling out the side of the chopper “Just sign on the back page and initial all the other pages and i will lower the rope”
Tuesday 27 May 2008, 2:11 pm #Dam Buster of Preston
to add further fuel to the fire.. I actually had my agent wrong. It is Max Markson!
see:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23763559-5001021,00.html
They did a whole lot of wrong / dodgy things for divers who were apparently so experienced. Including:
wearing thick wetsuits in warm water
taking water bottles
not inflating a rescue sausage if they got lost.
not standing on a the reef to wave for help
not clinging to a bouy they floated past
etc
Tuesday 27 May 2008, 5:29 pm #John Surname
I once went to a GrodsThink but didn’t see any political foresight.
Tuesday 27 May 2008, 8:42 pm #Bridgit Gread
Breaking shark news … there’s been two fatal shark attacks and a maiming at the Mexican seaside resort of Zihuatanejo. That’s where Andy Dufresne escaped to in The Shawshank Redemption so I sure hope he’s OK.
Wednesday 28 May 2008, 5:17 pm #Krypto
didn’t he marinate himself in poo Bridg? I’m not sure sharks go for poo flavoured humans.