Underbelly feature story
April 21, 2010Here’s the lead and plan for the feature story version of Dick’s article ‘Underbellyis disgraceful, says former judge.’
Who said popping a pill or two wasn’t fun? From the swallow of a “dance candy” to a snort of some “power powder”, all of this is a side dish for what really goes on at nightclub hotspots, or so channel nines new series of underbelly would have you believe about Sydney’s infamous Kings Cross.
The third series of the Australian drama went to air this week with a whopping 2, 327,000 viewers, all bent on watching the inner workings and power plays of Sydney’s drug trafficking trade.
The rest of the plan i will go on to write about the corruption of the police even in contemporary times. Not much has changed in terms of the nightclub scene- drug use is still rampant even in the local Melbourne scene where owners turn a blind eye to what is happening inside their establishment. If drugs are what is keeping the patrons coming in, then the club owners are not likely to stop that any time soon.
In relaion to this as well, I will expand on the corruption that the show establishes about the police force and how again, this still happens in present day nightclubs. The drug dealers are kept out of jail while the cops are left with a significantly heavier wallet.
The point in the article where it speaks about impressionable youth watching will be the next point that i will elaborate on in my feature story. The article mentions Underbelly as giving crime a sexy and powerful image and this link between young people and the show is seen via one of the main characters Johnny ‘the boy’ Ibrahim as a 17year old high school drop out who takes over the Cross. Kids can relate to him because the very first episode he attends his formal, creating a common ground for teens, but also has high hopes for his future. With this, I’ll use the quote from the original article: “ theres nothing honorable or admirable in relation to the people who are depicted in these programs. For the impressionable kids out there watching these programs, they think it’s a lot of fun.” Former supreme court judge James Wood.
This is a good effort, but remember that a more broad feature lead still has to be directly related to the news theme. I’m not sure if you get tot he point of the Judge’s descritpiton of Underbelly as a glamorisation of drug taking. Also, your lead seems unintentioanlly flippant about drug taking.