Welcome Back James

James Valentine is back on ABC 702 afternoons, and having a thorougly rational and necessary discussion about whether the media beat up the Schapelle Corby trial, or whether public interest in the issue necessitated the intense focus on Corby.

Barrie Cassidy aptly described the time immediately before and after the Corby verdict as `the week Australia lost its mind'. The widespread apathy about the topic today strongly suggests that media grandstanding played a major part in this hysteria. Yes, massive passions were demonstrated over this time. People went just short of pledging their lives for Schapelle. Where are they now?

A political scientist (despite my expensive degree, I can't recall his name), divided public expression into three categories: opinions (highly changeable, transitory positions on current events); beliefs (more deep seated positions on wider issues); and values (fundamental positions that are harder to change).

As Valetine has said just now, `Talkback is an indicator of nothing'. I think I'll have that printed on a t-shirt.