July 28, 2008 by xanadu
Do you support ratepayer funding of the Loft teen magazine?
http://theherald.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/outrage-over-l...
Please see article above for the full story. What do people think?
I think it’s clearly a satirical way of dealing with really painful issues. This issue was labelled ‘Negativity’ while the next is ‘Positivity’. I think given the Issues’ darkness the Negativity and Positivity versions should have been combined – one side negativity – then flip the magazine over to ‘positivity’. I feel this would have been a more balanced approach. But the outrage over this magazine seems a little misplaced in my opinion.
Posted in
Ratepayer funds are needed for these valuable magazines
Although the content may have offended some readers, it's a shame that the fact it is council funded has entered the argument. Organisations such as Loft (and dare I say, CultureHunter!) provide valuable services that without government funding simply would not exist.
I think it would be interesting to look at how many young people were affected positively by the release of this magazine, however I know this is very hard to determine. Young people are a difficult group to target as they don't fall for the traditional forms of advertising... e.g. an ad for Kids Helpline is probably missed because the young person has put the TV on mute during the commercial break and it texting their friend.
Thanks for bringing this up Xanadu, it'll be interesting to hear other people's responses.