Below you will find what could be seen as a fairly run-of-the-mill news report. The text is worth analysing, however, for the following reasons. The report is written according to the conventions of `objectivity' which operate in the broadsheet press. That is to say, the writers are relatively consistent in not offering their own opinions, value judgements and arguments, or at least they ensure that the value judgements they do offer are not very salient. Nevertheless, despite this `objectivity', the text clearly presents a point-of-view or argument - a criticism of the government for its poor performance in transport planning and management. In this exercise we'll explore this apparent paradox. I invite you to have a look through the text and,
(The Government referred to in the text is the State Labor Government of New South Wales. Thus the Labor sources mentioned are from within the Government itself.)
Gridlock, eight hours a day By ROBERT WAINWRIGHT and DAMIEN MURPHY (Sydney Morning Herald - 23/3/1998) Peak hours in Sydney have expanded from six to eight hours a day, forcing motorists on freeways and highways to crawl at 10 km/h - slower than the average jogger - a new study of the city's transport crisis has revealed. The congestion now eats up one-third of every weekday, and even extends into weekends. An Australian Bureau of Statistics study published this month shows that commuter use of public transport across Sydney has fallen by more than 13 per cent since 1991 while car use has jumped by 10 per cent. Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) forecasts conclude that on present trends, travel times on city roads will become six times slower by 2016. This bleak picture has emerged from a special two-part Herald investigation - which continues tomorrow - just weeks after the State Minister for Transport, Mr Scully, confirmed that the Government's long-awaited integrated public transport strategy had once again been delayed, this time to the end of the year. The latest plan will become the 13th published blueprint of how to fix the city's transport woes. None has been fully implemented. The Government now faces the prospect of an election fought on urban environmental issues, including traffic chaos and air quality. Labor Party sources acknowledge that in marginal western Sydney seats such as Badgerys Creek, Penrith and the Blue Mountains, the Government's response to public transport problems might hold the key to its re-election strategy. "It is three years now and there is simply no excuse," a senior ALP figure conceded. "We need a transport strategy that goes beyond just roads and some pretty big and brave decisions are needed, and now." Transport engineers, strategists and planners say Sydney's transport crisis can be blamed directly on decades of ad hoc traffic planning and the focus of consecutive governments on the funding of new roads over public transport systems. NRMA studies show that peak hours on main thoroughfares such as Military and Parramatta roads have increased by 30 per cent over the past decade. ... Although the Government has set targets to reduce car use, groups such as the Total Environment Centre (TEC) and western Sydney councils say they are yet to be convinced that there are serious plans behind the political rhetoric. The Government has pledged answers by November but a recent Department of Transport (DoT) advertisement for interest in mass-transit studies concedes that "in-principle availability" of resources for "large and complex studies" will happen only over the next year.... But community lobby groups, councils and transport experts say there is already enough information to justify full-scale plans, and they continue to appeal for money to be spent on rail and bus services in new suburbs. Mr Les Macdonald, who recently resigned as chairman of the Public Transport Advisory Council, said he was cynical about the Government's intentions. "The Government's goals are a breakthrough but there is a distinct danger that this will be yet another very expensive public relations exercise. "Until you pool all the government funding for transport and put it under an independent body that makes sound decisions about public transport and roads then these goals will just be used as pork barrel exercise for election time." Professor John Black, of the University of NSW School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, agreed: "At present there are too many fingers in the pie. The lack of co-ordination that has existed historically continues, and if government is serious about transport reform, control of transportation modes, roads, planning and urban affairs should be vested in one single entity."
