Doomed Planet

“Today’s debate about global warming is essentially a debate about freedom. The environmentalists would like to mastermind each and every possible (and impossible) aspect of our lives.”

Vaclav Klaus
Blue Planet in Green Shackles

Bob Brown, please explain

by Michael Connor

September 30, 2011

The Hobart Mercury (September 24) published an advertisement for a public lecture, “The truth about Ta Ann”, by Clare Rewcastle. Below a headline “Tasmania’s loggers from Sarawak” were photos of a logging operation in Sarawak and an orangutan. The advertisement, which did not appear to have anything to do with a political party, was authorised by Senator Bob Brown.

Dr H.S. Sii, a representative of Ta Ann, responded several days later. He claimed that the photos and texts were “misleading”. A pdf of the original advertisement and the Ta Ann response is here… They do not seem to be on the newspaper’s website.

The main photo was taken from a Greenpeace site and the image was reversed.
The Greenpeace caption clearly indicates that this is a “Shin Yang Timber truck” – it was not a Ta Ann site and it was not one of their vehicles. The source is here…

The image of the orangutan had nothing to do with the company or its activities in Sarawak. The image came from a tourist’s online album of photos and was clearly identified by him as “Sarawak, Orangutan Feeding time at Semonggoh Orangutan Nature Reserve”. The original photo is here… 

The orangutan photographer gave permission for his image to be used provided attribution was given and that it was for non-commercial usage only.These restrictions would have been clear to anyone attempting to copy the image from its original site. In the Bob Brown authorised advertisement there was no attribution and it was clearly used for commercial reasons. Was permission obtained before publication in the Mercury? 

Dr Sii summed up the matter: “It appears to be a case of the wrong words, wrong photos, wrong location, wrong time, wrong company.”

The “misleading” advertisement was authorised by Senator Bob Brown from his cosy, air-conditioned, Hobart waterfront office. Original (non Greenpeace) photos of Bob’s rooms with water views here…

 

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