Topic: Horrible article from Australia - Action needs to be taken.

[ZacharyCohn]

http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,,22094426-5006009,00.html

text of the article:

Web daredevils risk lives

YOUNG daredevils are flirting with disaster for the entire world to see in an alarming new wave of "Free Running" footage that is making its way onto YouTube. Based on the French sport parkour, free running is the latest extreme

sport to hit Australian shores, and has been described as the "art" of defying gravity by leaping off or between concrete buildings at great heights.

There are no safety harnesses, no nets and certainly no emergency services on standby; with teens as young as 15 and 16 competing to see who is brave enough to leap from the greatest height.

The footage of young people leaping off school roofs, out of trees, and off the second level of two-storey car parks at locations in Sydney, the Central Coast, and Newcastle has sparked fear among health professionals, who say the dangerous hobby could cause permanent damage.

"There's no doubt that falls are the leading cause of head injuries here, and I assess kids who get brain injuries all the time, but we don't always find out what led to the fall," head of psychology at Sydney Children's Hospital and Randwick Dr James Donnelly said yesterday.

"I think the allure is that is free running - it's unrestricted fun and it doesn't necessarily follow any rules."

He said youth were participating to either show "physical mastery", to engage in risk taking or to show their individuality.

Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Association of NSW CEO Max Bosotti said an adrenalin rush of a few seconds could easily result in a lifetime in a wheelchair.

"It is clearly an understatement to say that somersaulting off the second storey of shopping centres is a dangerous activity and the risks of permanent injury are extremely high. The spinal cord has the consistency of toothpaste it's so fragile that even bruising can cause an irreversible spinal cord injury," he said.

More concerning, Mr Bosotti said, was the fact the youths appeared to be competing in terms of who could push the boundaries the most.

The YouTube footage has been met with hundreds of online responses from young people, who urge one another to "try better".

Parkour Association of Australia member Kenny Yuegn said the rise in free running videos could be attributed to recent films and ads.

They include Casino Royale, which shows the world's foremost free running expert, Sebastien Foucan, escaping 007 by launching himself through a complex construction site; and a MacDonald's ad which depicts Parkour Association of Australia president Matthew Campbell jumping off buildings to get breakfast.

While Mr Yuegn said there was an element of danger, he said the association promoted proper training and often hosted training sessions.

I posted this comment in reply:

As a traceur (a practitioner of Parkour) I urge you to uphold the journalistic standard and do some serious research next time you write an article on something you clearly know nothing about. Parkour and Freerunning emphasis safety over all else: we understand that if we break our knees, we can't train anymore.

Every single traceur and freerunner fights every day to keep news articles about Parkour and Freerunning fair and balanced. We try to get reporters to TALK to people who train, TALK to leaders of communities, and READ articles written by members of the community.

I implore you to revise this article, write and print a retraction, or another article that is more fair, balanced, and informed than this journalistic abortion. It is your duty to inform, so please do not jump to conclusions based on your research (which should go further than youtube videos, by the way.)

Thank you.

I'm also trying to get her email address so I can talk to her, and try to convince her to update the article with real information that wasn't gleaned off the all-knowing YouTube, or print a retraction of sorts, or SOMETHING.

I urge everyone to comment on the article, the least we can do is let other people know that this article isn't really about Parkour and Freerunning.

[Blarg]

"He said youth were participating to either show "physical mastery", to engage in risk taking or to show their individuality."

Is it just me, or did they just try to make Parkour/Freerunning the new emo?

[chipset]

Well, parkour does include a little bit of cutting yourself 

Posted

Clearly this is not parkour/freerunning. Parkour is a physical discipline that rates safety above all. For obvious reasons, we (traceurs) are not killing our bodies with jumps from great heights on a daily basis and smacking our heads into walls (which are similar things).
Parkour is about practice, conditioning, flexibility and strength. Traceur's main goal is not to jump off from high buildings.

I suggest taking reality into context and writing a retraction with real facts and information from real traceurs.

[Muhammad]

The author of this article has used the elements of shock and fear to create a strong impression on her target audience. She has chosen a topic that is currently popular with the youth, and has written it in a manner to catch the attention of an older audience. Notice how she has craftily constructed a false sense of extreme danger surrounding these legitimate athletic endeavors. This was either done intentionally, with full knowledge and a total disregard for the consequences, or unintentionally, with true ignorance concerning the reality of Parkour and Freerunning. Either way, from these two points I would deduct her reasoning and motivation were purely selfish. It appears she is simply seeking affirmation from her peers! LOL.

[aggreenvln]

Three words:

...OMG Rita Skeeter

[Jordan "Sirlig" Nelson]

I would encourage everyone to write an email to the newspaper regarding this article.

Contact:
The Daily Telegraph
Attn: Brooke Newstead
news@dailytelegraph.com.au

Remember, though, even though this was EXTREMELY poorly written, ALWAYS be polite when dealing with the media.  Remember, if we want to be viewed by the public with respect and dignity, with admiration for our discipline, we must conduct ourselves professionally at all times.

A good piece of advice when dealing with media is START positive and END positive, no matter what you'd really like to say to them  .  News coverage is news coverage so thank them for it, even though it may not be the best.

Example:  "Thank you for the story about parkour.  As a traceur (practicioner of parkour), I am always happy to see when people recognize the growing popularity of this discipline..........However, I was disappointed with............Again, thanks for the coverage, and I hope you will publish a fair, accurate article about parkour in the future! If you would like any help with research regarding the sport or anything else, you can contact me......etc etc."

For a sample letter that I sent to my local news station, you can check out the "News line 9" thread in the Oklahoma forum:

http://www.americanparkour.com/smf/index.php?topic=3047.msg61961#new

[Jason Todrick]

Three words:

...OMG Rita Skeeter

LOL, no doubt

[Sat Santokh]

I call upon the magical powers of Travis to write a good email.

[Travis Graves]

I call upon the magical powers of Travis to write a good email.

I'm on it.



You have two more wishes, Sat... and no wishing for more wishes.

[Yixin (pronounced ee-shin)]

I wish to be allowed to wish for more wishes.
I wish for more wishes.

[Matthew Menze]

^ Pwnage.

Maybe we should link her a few threads of us chastising various kids who do the things described in her articles. Then she might see just how safety orientated we are. hehe.

Not that I haven't been one of those kids before or anything, but the chastising I received for it worked quite well. That and bruised feet...At least I learned.

Matt

[Conan]

What's really annoying, is that a few months previously, they'd done a very good and informative article.  *sigh*

here's the first article:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21653559-5006048,00.html

[ddr_hero]

the way i see it, if old media whores like this don't like it, that means it has to be cool. Not everyone Knows what a Sileighty or Eurobeat is, therefore, it's cool. Look at anime. it was pretty cool in 94. Now it's a bunch of fat weeaboos with pocky stains on their jowels who haven't even heard of Ranma 1/2, bitching about naruto yaoi.

Plus, what do we care if some old bag wants to write a shock story? only old people who leave their house once a week to buy fruit with a coupon, return it, and complain to customer service will ever even read this crap.

[ZacharyCohn]

That's exactly the kind of apathetic attitude we cannot afford to have. For every bad article out there, people will read it and they might be discovering parkour for the first time. If they read articles like this, they will have an unfairly biased and untrue vision of what parkour is.

For every bad article like this, the head of campus security for YOUR school might read it, and form a first impression of parkour. Then when you come to them, asking permission to train on that campus, he'll throw you out.

We can't afford to be apathetic.

[Muhammad]

You never know who is reading this stuff, really. I learned that today, when I was contacted by a news reporter who traced a bulletin I posted on some other website for the purpose of advertising AmericanParkour to aspiring traceurs who don't know where to begin. This reporter followed the trail, came to americanparkour.com, ran through our forum, located my posts, found my email address and my training partner's email address, and contacted both of us today asking for an interview for the Columbus Dispatch concerning parkour. It's a great opportunity for us to present parkour to our entire city in a positive light, and you better believe, we will be right on top of it too, to make sure it gets done in the most professional manner we can. So the point is folks, try to keep a positive attitude. It may pay off for you later!