Today Tonight 'hoon' Story

[The Baron]

Anyone catch it last night ??

Standard TT crap about people and their unsafe modified cars in Sydney (with blatantly racist overtones by including references to the 'Middle Eastern Operations' Squad - i.e. Hoons = Muslim )

But that wasn't the really annoying thing.

Rather at the start they showed a maroon R-32 GT-R doing some circle work with the clear implication that this was an example of unsafe 'hoon' behaviour. Yet from the background I am fairly certain that this footage was taken on a race track or skid pan during a track day/motorkhana etc. consequently it was not illegal, nor unsafe !!

This therefore misrepresents us and our cars and our behaviour quite dramatically and I have a good mind to write to Channel 7 and or Mediawatch to ask them where they sourced their footage.

It's just not right to imply that the behaviour shown in that sequence was in any form illegal or 'hoon' like but rather the exact opposite , namely car enthusiasts doing the right thing by taking their vehicles off the road into a controlled environment in order to undertake this bahaviour safely.

Thoughts / Comments ??

[silva33]

totally agree....

I saw the special and your right some of the footage looked like it was on a track.

I cant believe they can call it the 'middle eastern operations'... in my opinion thats terrible and only making things worse..

[adznight]

Another one? They must be low on stories. I saw some video footage of local drags the other week and surprise surprise 99% of the cars were 5.0 ltr Holdens and Fords..... Need I say more

[Kozeyekan]

Anyone catch it last night ??

Standard TT crap about people and their unsafe modified cars in Sydney (with blatantly racist overtones by including references to the 'Middle Eastern Operations' Squad - i.e. Hoons = Muslim )

But that wasn't the really annoying thing.

Rather at the start they showed a maroon R-32 GT-R doing some circle work with the clear implication that this was an example of unsafe 'hoon' behaviour. Yet from the background I am fairly certain that this footage was taken on a race track or skid pan during a track day/motorkhana etc. consequently it was not illegal, nor unsafe !!

This therefore misrepresents us and our cars and our behaviour quite dramatically and I have a good mind to write to Channel 7 and or Mediawatch to ask them where they sourced their footage.

It's just not right to imply that the behaviour shown in that sequence was in any form illegal or 'hoon' like but rather the exact opposite , namely car enthusiasts doing the right thing by taking their vehicles off the road into a controlled environment in order to undertake this bahaviour safely.

Thoughts / Comments ??

definately write in.

include your name and contact details, definately mention that you found the story racially offensive and also blatantly misleading, If everyone on here did exactly this, they'd have to take notice. Also, send the same letter to A Current Affair, If there is one thing either program hates, it's to be proven wrong by the other.

Yes, both programs will lie cheat and steal to make a story, but hey, that's the way it works, and if you need to play them off against each other to get the truth out, well, so be it. ACA gets one up on TT, we get a bit of a more accurate picture about the modified car scene, and TT gets a small kick in the figs

[dezz]

anyone got a link to download it from anywhere?

[lebostyles]

definately write in.

include your name and contact details, definately mention that you found the story racially offensive and also blatantly misleading, If everyone on here did exactly this, they'd have to take notice. Also, send the same letter to A Current Affair, If there is one thing either program hates, it's to be proven wrong by the other.

Yes, both programs will lie cheat and steal to make a story, but hey, that's the way it works, and if you need to play them off against each other to get the truth out, well, so be it. ACA gets one up on TT, we get a bit of a more accurate picture about the modified car scene, and TT gets a small kick in the figs

i allready wrote into today tonight explaing that police do have the rights to defect people with illegal mods with there cars and that there was no need for the police to come up with the name "Middle Eastern Opereation". told them that it is very racial and was no needed.

[adznight]

They didn't mean Middle Eastern Syd did they?

[lebostyles]

They didn't mean Middle Eastern Syd did they?

i didn't think so, they only showed middle eastern people being picked on

[The Baron]

They didn't mean Middle Eastern Syd did they?

Definitely a 'racial' police squad - quite detailed description given....

[GunMetalR33]

I agree with others mate, you should write in IMO. I hate those one sided reporting programs!

[madbung]

yeah sounds like a beat up!!!

Maybe try media watch on the abc, they love reaming TT for sensationalist and inaccurate reporting.

[MissJuz]

I was on one of those stories last year, it was for the Hoon Hotline.

I wasn't doing burnouts, just got interviewed and then had to drive off in my car.

Because I worked there they used me for the story, saved them driving around town finding someone in a modified cars to interview.

I got represented as an business exec who is also a car enthusiest so I didn't look that bad, but the story overall was bad and similar to the one last night.

[Bec]

LOL - I remember that story Juz

[MissJuz]

I'm always suprised at how many people saw it, friends, friends parents, cousins, aunties & uncles, people in my apartment buiding.

I never did another story after that, I was too embarressed from the first.

I did get asked to take my car to illigal street drags with a hidden camera in it but I refused. Thought I might end up dead if I did that.

[d00dz]

Yep I saw this last nite.

The task for codename the police used is "Middle Eastern Operations". Which yes it is unfair.

Usual TT bash up on the report. Yep the begining was showing a totally unrelated clip.

The nite shots were done at Auburn and it also switched to the Rocks in Sydney. These places you would usually find people with done up "bodykitted" cars going up and down the main streets, What takes 5mins to get from point A to B normally takes 30mins on Friday/Saturday nites.

100% of the males were middle easterns, which is totally biased further showing how modified cars are for "middle easterns" which is totally untrue.

And in contrast they showed a blonde girl driving a car and getting defected. (She was not bad looking too lol).

Once again showing how modified cars are owned by "crims etc.. etc.."

Get YOUR FACTS right Today Tonite!

[DivHunter]

Definitely a 'racial' police squad - quite detailed description given....

Have a cry, there are other specialist race specific task forces too, those of 'Middle Eastern appearance', to use a popular term, are not special. They are not the only ones with a community specific police element. What does this mean? It means they are NOT racists, shock, horror. They're just assigned to deal with different parts of the community and crime realating to their area of expertise. Why is everything racism? There are different races that yes can have different needs, get over it. When someone addresses those aspects that are race/community specific they are not racist just not stupid enough to think every community is the same.

Consider what you are talking about here too, Today Tonight is falsely reporting on one thing but not another?

[**JaR**]

typical today tonight one sided bullshit as per usual. that is all.

[The Baron]

Have a cry, there are other specialist race specific task forces too, those of 'Middle Eastern appearance', to use a popular term, are not special. They are not the only ones with a community specific police element. What does this mean? It means they are NOT racists, shock, horror. They're just assigned to deal with different parts of the community and crime realating to their area of expertise. Why is everything racism? There are different races that yes can have different needs, get over it. When someone addresses those aspects that are race/community specific they are not racist just not stupid enough to think every community is the same.

Consider what you are talking about here too, Today Tonight is falsely reporting on one thing but not another?

ahem - I used the term 'racial' quite deliberately as opposed to 'racist' (BTW I am neither of Middle Eastern Origin nor from Sydney ;-) however the 'slant' of the TT story was very clearly that it was people of Middle Eastern Origin who were 'Hoons' and the use of the MEO squad was incorporated into the story to support this argument.

Personally I have no issues with dedicated police units for dedicated tasks. In terms of achieving a good level of understanding, particularly with respect to different cultures and their attitudes to policing, as well as to facilitate in simple things like language, I think it is very important to have units like an 'Asian' squad (as we've had here in Victoria) and I firmly believe that the police by and by do an excellent job and are generally tolerant and fair people a view supported by my observations of several of my friends who are in the force.

I guess my argument is, that if you are doing a story in illegally modified cars, the 'Traffic Operations Group' would have been a more suitable Police Squad to incorporate into the story. So I am not having a go at the Police - my aim is squarely on the editing / reporting policies of TT

[Kaz200]

they're just prepping the community so they're more than ready to back the anti hoon legislation that comes into effect in July, legislation that will undoubtedly end up being abused...

[AlexCim]

f**k though, honestly, cant they just get off our backs.

SO WHAT. THERE ARE HOONS.. WOOPIE!

Its nothing to do with the cars, its to do with the drivers. Man, if i had a charade id drive it like a sports car. If i had a push bike, id drive it like a sports car. (I can do 100m long fishtails on my push bike on gravel). At least in a sports car, ive got the support that i need to be safer. It actually turns, it actually brakes, its actually safer.

There will always be a portion of the population that speeds, does burnouts, does drugs, cheats on people, rapes childrens, f**king eats horse shit. Its call individuality you pricks!

You know whats really f**ked up. 2683 people commited suicide in 1998 in Australia. Lets just assume its about the same now, guess how many people died on the roads last year. Guess how many people died on the Aussie roads in 2004....1596

WHERE ARE ALL THE STORIES ON SUICIDE

f**k YOU TODAY TONIGHT. f**k YOU

References: Road toll http://www.transport.sa.gov.au/rss/content...toll_review.htm

Suicide http://www.wesleymission.org.au/publications/r&d/suicide.htm

ps. should i write in