The Pulse of Perth

[stephbg]

If we find ourselves watching the news at 6pm it's usually Channel 7 rather than Channel 9. There's a subtle but important difference between the two which is difficult to describe and it's not really worth my time to analyse. Nine seems a bit more strident perhaps, a bit more tabloid. No biggie really, except one of the newsreaders sounds like she's a terminally ill 90-year-old dedicated smoker, which I find a little distracting. I've been exposed to her more in recent months because I watch Bargain Hunt and Antiques Roadshow which are frequently interrupted by news breaks leading up to the main bulletin, and this encourages me not at all to change channels.

*side note: it's after midnight on a Friday night in Greenwood and somewhere not too far away donuts are being born on the streets*

What does grab my attention during the 7 Nightly News is the "Pulse of Perth" image they display at some point during the bulletin before an ad break. I've often wondered if they're trying to establish that Perth doesn't have one. They've shown any number of sad windswept streetscapes with a thin scattering of people or vehicles, but it wasn't until they proudly announced one night that the Pulse of Perth was "A Goat - Caversham" that I seriously began to wonder about the editorial choices being made.

Since then there have been a series of these taken at Lake Monger, an otherwise quite pleasant place at certain angles, showing one or two people, maybe a duck or a swan. Party on.

I like Perth. I was born and bred here, as were significant numbers of my ancestors, and I acknowledge that it's a big small town. But while I agree that it's not exactly a pumping place and could use a lot of changes, surely The Pulse of Perth is more than a semi-deserted street in the suburbs? Is it *that* bad?

Do Ch7 affiliates in other states do the same thing? Is there a nightly Temperature of Tasmania? A Blood Pressure of Brisbane? A Cholesterol Check of Canberra? Is the joke being played on them as well?