Our ABC - reporting allegations as fact

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is suffering a crisis of credibility - their reporting of news is seen to be partisan. For me, this isn't a problem as a news service must have freedom of reporting and editorial independence. What concerns me is shoddy and slipshod reporting practices, the failure to properly research and investigate a story is concerning at best and incompetent at worst. My question is, does ABC management place excessive pressure on reporters to conform to editorial direction or does a lack of journalistic integrity and work ethic exist?

The recent report by George Roberts is a case in point, unsubstantiated claims by asylum seekers claiming abuse by Australian navy personnel. Not only can their claims not be corroborated, but the original claimants are now changing their story - yet this was reported as fact by the ABC. I don't agree with Prime Minister Tony Abbott's view where he felt the ABC ''instinctively takes everyone's side but Australia's'' as the ABC is accountable to the board of directors, not politicians.

Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull summed it up pretty well ''What's the alternative, the editor-in-chief becomes the prime minister? Politicians, whether prime ministers or communications ministers, will often be unhappy with the ABC, but you can't tell them what to write.'' The ABC lacks professionalism and integrity - they had better change the organisational culture or face the consequences.

Diving within your limitations

I had promised to take my teenage nephew for a skin dive, his first time. He slept over and we headed down the beach in mid-morning. The day before, the wind battled to hit three knots in the morning, I know this because I was trying to get a yacht race started, a two and a half delay so I was expected a similar day, this was not the case. My first mistake, not checking the weather report.

Even on calm days, tiny waves still break - when the wind is up, the entry can get exciting for novices, this picture was about five knots, when we hit the water, we were looking at a wind strength over eighteen knots.

We drove down to Marmion Marine Park where a shallow reef was just offshore, unlike the day before, an onshore wind had already set in, so we were pretty much wiped out. Nevertheless, despite his lack of experience and reservations about the waves, we geared up and headed into the surf zone. As waves crashed around us in the surf zone, I hurried to exit the surf zone between sets only to trip over a series of rocks hidden by the turpid water caused by the churned water only to trip and bust a little toe and gash my leg open - damn.      

My nephew had difficulty getting his fins on in the surf, even though I was holding onto him, he was nervous and kept taking his snorkel out of his mouth. Taking water in before we decided to call the dive and head back, the second mistake was diving beyond his limitations. There were other people skin diving, they were however older and more experienced than him.

The lessons - I checked the conditions from shore, they were a bit advanced for him, we were there and I decided to go anyway despite his reservations, he didn't say so but I should have been more conservative. I rushed into the water after spotting an eagle ray from shore and I was hoping to give him an exceptional marine life interaction that will instill a love of the ocean based on inquisitive exploration.

So, I limped from the water with a busted little toe and blood running down my leg. Later that afternoon, I nodded off for a quick nap and my punk nephew took great delight in spraying this antiseptic on my open wound that I am sure was derived from Mexican chilli that opened my eyes so quickly, it bruised my eyelids. However, I fear he might remember his first skin dive for all the wrong reasons. 

Social media splintering

Social media is staring to splinter, the younger cohort is leaving Facebook as their parents and grandparents are now in common usage. I work with young people in the college system, while I see Facebook is still popular, they view this as too mainstream and seek the coolness of new social media mediums.

I now have a Google+ account and enjoy using it more because the smaller utilisation tends to not attract trolls, this will change if the expected exodus from Facebook continues. Facebook is full of food photographs, sports and bias commentary. From my Google+ account, I am able to follow my interests of high quality photography, business education and travel photography in a much more orderly fashion.

I am following a number of groups, I have an interest in business and management, MBA education and economics. So following the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, Wharton Executive Education, Kellogg School of Management, Financial Times Business Education, the London School of Business, Chicago Booth and the IE Business School give me access to great articles and research.

The publications from this diverse grouping of top end business and management schools is of excellent quality, these high end publishing faculties publish online in a regular manner that is both interesting and also helpful in my assignments.

Is a smartphone in the hands of an idiot still a smartphone?

As a college lecturer, I am frequently fighting the battle with students who can't leave their mobile phones alone. All day, every day we fight this battle where students play on their phone during class, sending messages to each other, downloading and sharing porn, racing out of class to take calls and generally distracting students doing the right thing. I am still yet to see them use these amazing devices for any intelligent activities and frequently ask myself "Is a smartphone in the hands of an idiot still a smartphone?"

Evidence indicates the most prolific users are generally the students that fail written and practical examinations. I have even had cases where students get up and leave during written examinations to take phone calls, the surprised looks on the faces when they come back to see a big fail written on their paper is astounding. They then make formal complaints about you - I actually encourage this as it all comes out and management have to act, its actually the best that can happen. 

A lack of leadership by college management has failed to address the issue, many of them truly believe they should be allowed to use their phones while taking a test. Inaction has caused a fairly simple issue to fester, the inability to address confrontation has left frontline staff addressing confrontation without any support.

Five missing Bali divers found

Great news, five of the seven Japanese dives missing on Bali's Nusa Penida have been found clinging to a coral reef in rough waters by local fishermen. While the joy is somewhat muted as two are still missing, this is a significant occasion.

Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan are small islands just east of Bali, divers generally head out from Sanur for daily dive trips, these sites are in ripping currents where the divers are dropped in the water and the bubble stream is followed by the boat. You can also stay on the islands, but I never have. The divers were eventually found more than 20 kilometres away from their entry point, these are great dives but can also be very treacherous. 

I first dived these sites about nineteen years ago, it was my first drift dive back then and it was super exciting being driven along by a 6 knot current. I fortunately made it back then and have engaged in numerous drift dives throughout South East Asia since then, while drift diving in strong currents is exhilarating, they need to be well planned and executed - I just hope the two divers still missing will be found shortly.

An online MBA

In the United States, Europe and Asia, typically the more education attained - the greater salary commanded. This is not necessarily the case in Australia though, unless you are trying to get a seat on the board of directors on a mid to large company - that has more to do with connections anyway.

Two questions remain; firstly, is an MBA worth the cost and effort and secondly, will the qualification get you that job or promotion?

A standard full-time MBA from a top university can cost up to $75,000 in Australia whereas an online MBA starts at $18,000 at the Central Queensland University, $24,000 at the University of New England and Southern Cross University, now renamed Federation University. 

Face-to-face delivery will set you back $30,000 for Curtin, Murdoch and Edith Cowan Universities, $46,000 at the University of Western Australia and Melbourne Business School topping the list at $75,000, slightly below the price at the Graduate School of Management.

The option of full time or part time courses creates a quandary, one year full-time versus two years part-time indicates a loss of income during that period - it takes a pretty good pay rise to make back $75k in a respectable time period.

Of course, MBAs are equipped with the tools to calculate their return of investment - although they should be able to crunch the numbers before they commit to such an intense program.

Executive MBA programs on the other hand are designed to meet the needs of executives, upper managers and increasingly middle managers - the advantage of maintaining employment is the ability to implement learned principles in an actual environment.

Given the cost of a full-time MBA, one could assume the full-time face-to-face is of higher quality given the price differential. The online version of the MBA is significantly cheaper, one would presume the class sizes are somewhat larger but lack the vis-a-vis interaction between lecturer, class members, corporate practitioners and links to industry.

Reputation is paramount where prestige and brand dictate employability prospects, likewise, strong alumni ties builds relationships. The ability to work from textbooks, communicate via a learning platform such as Moodle, C6 or Blackboard suits adult learning styles.

Online MBAs are suitable for those who are motivated and well prepared to manage their own learning outcomes - facilitation methodology for humanistic learners according to Rogers is student-centered and highly personalised.

The job market for recent graduates is tight, online delivery is significantly cheaper with a major advantage of maintaining full-time employment (needed to pay for the course) and viewed equally with face-to-face delivery. A ROI of $25k is much easier to reconcile as compared to $75k with further advantage of gaining and maintaining actual work based experience.

That being said, gaining a $25k pay rise could see educational debt paid off in 5 years after tax, that's tacked onto the two years required to complete the qualification - a 7 year commitment. The disadvantage of online study is the lack of personal relationships combined with no tutorials and the ability to practice presentation skills.   

Why not bailing out SPC is the correct decision

The Shepparton Preserving Company (SPC) is in tragic decline requesting funding by the Australian federal government, this is serious but we need to look further into their request for funding.

The role of a federal government is to create the conditions for business to prosper, this does not include bailing out private enterprise with tax payer funds due to poor management decisions, industrial relations policy or competition. There are laws to prevent dumping, anti-competitive practices, price collusion and cartel activity - all to protect the consumer and the organisation. In my view, the federal government looks after the macro economy, of course, micro economic reforms are required too.

The federal government certainly doesn't have to bail out multi-national companies requiring restructuring when the parent company is Coca Cola Amatil. They are, after all, the largest producers of non-alcoholic beverages in the Asia Pacific region; they have some pretty good alcoholic brands as well.

We are in a precarious position, the manufacturing base of this country is in serious decline, yet when I download and read the 2012 Coca Cola Amatil annual report, I see a net profit after tax of $558.4 million. I also see that Coca Cola Holdings owns 29.27% of the company with other significant shareholders including HSBC, JP Morgan, National Nominees, Citicorp, AMP and UBS. What is wrong with going to the market to secure more capital? Or, what is wrong with using internal revenue to restructure?

This is a commercial enterprise and should not be seeking government life support payments. Shareholder dividends are important to any business, the 6.7% full year dividend increase in 2012 took the total dividend increase to 13.3% That is, $243.9 million spent on dividends at 32 cents per share franked to 75% - ok, that's fair. But what is with the special unfranked dividend of 3.5 cents per share totaling $26.7 million?

There it is, the funding SPC requires that can be funded internally. We don't even need to head to the directors and chief executive's remuneration report to seek further savings. As Australians, we could support the company by purchasing their products, the company can maintain dividends at current rates and reinvest the special dividend - not the taxpayer footing the bill.