Major Rides Shut at Coast Theme Park (WBMW article)

[westical]

Here's my attempt at a more reasonable re-write of that article:

Thankfully though, other rides are still open and there are a wide range of shows and character appearances throughout each day ensuring patrons are still able to enjoy a fun-filled day out!

​Wide range and enough to fill a day is currently a stretch.

[MaxxTheMonster]

We got there at 10:30 saw one show, the parade and did all rides except superman and left at 4:50 only sitting around for 30 mins for lunch...  I would say it was a full day.

[rappa]

What I like is we have a bunch of articles coming out of the UK basically saying "how dare they not permanently close any ride that has a malfunction at all during the day"

And at the same time local press reporting "how dare the parks have any attractions not operating"

You teally can't win as a park operator. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^Precisely.

Obviously, that photo - with 3 major attractions pretty well filling the board, it's a hard ask - but clearly they're doing their best to bring things online - judging by the comments that Scooby was opened later and ran for the second half of the day...

Arkham is scheduled, Green Lantern is unavoidable - so scooby is the only issue here, and clearly they worked hard on bringing it back online as soon as they could.

These sorts of unplanned outages occur from time to time - something just decides one day it's not going to work - it fails it's morning inspection, so the park doesn't open it. Clearly what the general public wants is for us to ignore the morning inspection results, and open everything.

Perhaps those people complaining on the news article would like to be the first people to test ride Green Lantern tomorrow in a special premiere test live on Sunrise?

[Levithian]

There on saturday, Sylvester and Tweety cages look to have completely refurbed, it's all painted and looking pretty behind the security barrier. I suggest it was closed due to an overhaul and looks like it will be back up and running soon.

Nothing more you can do about green lantern.

Arkham looks like it's closed for major maintenance. They had some guys looking at pieces of the track the other day.

Scooby doo coaster was open on saturday morning, something happened early afternoon and it was closed. Looks like it has caused extended delays? but it certainly didn't look like it was planned as it was open in the morning.

If two of those are down due to annual maintenance and refurb, it's hardly a case of negligence/poor maintenance. If you take green lantern out because of the obvious, only leaves them with being knocked around by scooby doo coaster having an issue of some sort for it to be closed. If that's the case, could expect it to be repaired and running as quick as possible (if it hasn't already).

[razza1987]

People rather they run all of the rides and possibly get injured on them instead 

[Zanstabar]

Not sure if this is correct, but I beleive 7 News is having a story on Movie World tonight. I'm out and a TV is currently playing an advert for the news tonight, which contains nothing on footage of the rides at the park, along with a shot of GL overlayed with some report papers.

[razza1987]

I just checked out channel seven Brisbane facebook page and it is indeed on their page. The story is apparently about all of the rides out of action on the gold coast and "what is going wrong" makes me wish I lived in Queensland so I could see the report lol

[razza1987]

 

 

 

[pushbutton]

Meanwhile, I'm living in the best place in the world, and loving it!

[Gary86]

Watch tonight's news story here. See if you can spot a major mistake....

https://au.news.yahoo.com/qld/video/watch/28473994/first-on-7-theme-park-problems/#page1

[Zanstabar]

Not as bad I was originally thinking, but nether the less still an annoying news piece. Let me just break it down...

1. Ride Names
   • Is it really that hard to go to the Sea World website and see what the name of the Storm Coaster is? I'm not even a journalist and I can still do it. I can even do it on my phone during the middle of a lecture. For hell's sake, even my 6 year old niece can do it. 
2. Everyday Breakdowns
   • I don't mind them reporting on Buzzsaw or Green Lantern, the Octopus or even the Skyway, as they are all relatively serious issues. What does annoy me, however, is how they report on an average emergency evacuation. The Storm Coaster breaking down and being evacuated is actually ADVERTISED IN THE QUEUE! This isn't something that only enthusiasts now about, it's on the bloody warning signs!
3. Reaching for Comment
   • Throughout the report, I was thinking that this was going to be quite biased, but unlike the other points I'm actually quite happy that they reached each park for comment. This actually shows that they've tried to get in contact, and haven't just broadcast a piece of anti-theme park propaganda. 
4. Front-Page News
   • Honestly, how is this major news? While I was out with friends this afternoon, every time I saw an ad for the 6 o'clock news they were just advertising this one piece. They weren't advertising about the bus and train collision the other day, or how the victims of the Ravenshoe fire are coping, or even how our local hospitals are doing. Any of that news would be much better than this piece. Obviously it's been a slow Tuesday for the channel 7 crew... 

[iwerks]

I remember the Wild Mouse's seat belts were pretty dodgy back when it was in Perth.  Bit of a beat up to include the Storm Coaster.

Edited June 16, 2015 by iwerks

[Slick]

I liked how they used B-Roll of Sea Viper. They should've just used footage of Thunderbolt and called it a day.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Slick

[Richard]

While the inclusion of Sea Viper footage was likely unintentional, there is a fairly reasonable argument their in-depth reporting left out: that Sea World is just as short a ride since its removal as Movie World. Of course not much they can do about this right now other than cross KumbaK off the preferred suppliers list for future reference and move forward with replacement plans.

We all know that the Storm Chaser (probably a better name than what they ended up with to be honest) incidents are basically nothing, but off the back of the high profile Green Lantern closure it does increase public awareness and as such media scrutiny. If they choose to install a ride system that's well known for its less-than-perfect reliability then I think it's fair enough to say that yes, it's a complete non-story but at the same time they brought the attention upon themselves.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Richard

[iwerks]

Those Movie World theme parks should lift their game.

[AllegroCrab]

If they choose to install a ride system that's well known for its less-than-perfect reliability then I think it's fair enough to say that yes, it's a complete non-story but at the same time they brought the attention upon themselves.

What is the system that keeps failing?

[iwerks]

Is it my imagination or did they use TPR's footage of The Wild Mouse?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Reaching for Comment -Throughout the report, I was thinking that this was going to be quite biased, but unlike the other points I'm actually quite happy that they reached each park for comment. This actually shows that they've tried to get in contact, and haven't just broadcast a piece of anti-theme park propaganda. 

I couldn't cite you the specifics, but media outlets are required to contact the 'other party' involved in pieces like this. It's why you'll always see at the end of a news.com article where it says "News.com.au contacted XXXX for comment, but no calls were returned this afternoon" or something like that. Essentially they have to give the target of the story the right of reply. Some organisations just keep their mouth shut and weather the storm as media bluster, and others will come out all guns blazing.

Unfortunately any comment given to the media can be then used out of context - which is why many won't comment without a prepared statement.

What is the system that keeps failing?

 

Storm is in the gold coast bulletin every few days because the ride system stalls - probably just a dicky sensor that keeps getting wet or something, but apparently this is 'dangerous' because people have to get evacuated.

[webslave]

I couldn't cite you the specifics, but media outlets are required to contact the 'other party' involved in pieces like this. It's why you'll always see at the end of a news.com article where it says "News.com.au contacted XXXX for comment, but no calls were returned this afternoon" or something like that. Essentially they have to give the target of the story the right of reply. Some organisations just keep their mouth shut and weather the storm as media bluster, and others will come out all guns blazing.

It's not a legal requirement, but merely an ethical thing.  For the most part it merely serves to further bolster the assertions being made by the reporter by giving the impression they are providing balance.

The best part is you can do this in current affairs reporting really well; all you need say is "x was contacted for comment but did not respond before we went to air".  The fact that you called them for comment while you were running your opening titles is irrelevant...

That said, minor factual inaccuracies aside (which you find in reporting on absolutely anything that attracts a special interest group) the item wasn't too far off the mark all told.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I didn't suggest it was a legal thing as I couldn't be sure without doing any research where the particular requirement lay, however since you mention it - it's number one on the code of ethics held by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance... "Do your utmost to give a fair opportunity for reply"; of which most media outlets and journalists belong.

That said, the ACMA administers the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice, and handles complaints in line with the Broadcasting Services Act of 1992. Section 4 in particular of the CoP refers to news and current affairs, and ensures news and current affair programs are presented accurately, fairly, and impartially. It would not be a difficult argument to make that the program was not fair or impartial if they make no effort to allow the 'other party' the right of reply...

The CoP also requires that the network 'broadcast factual material accurately and represent viewpoints fairly"

Although not law, the CoP are developed under the direction of Sec123 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. Sec128 gives parliament the power to amend the codes of practice developed under Sec123.

It may not be law... but I doubt many broadcasters would flout the codes of practice as it would seem there is a lot of regulatory and government backing behind those codes that it wouldn't end prettily.

[webslave]

Flout?  Who said flout?  No, we would never do that...

That said you need to be travelling pretty poorly if you have ACMA down your throat.  They are pretty toothless.