Compiled by Trent Thomas
Adam Shand continues to delve into the Black Bone case
In June 2020, a human jawbone was found at a beach on the NSW Central Coast, possibly carried there by the storms and shifting sands. The bone was in excellent condition but almost black. Real Crime investigative reporter Adam Shand and NSW police explored the case in the joint podcast NSW Police State Crime Command – Investigations, Lost at Sea: The Black Bone. Through DNA analysis, police and forensic experts were able to pull more information from the jaw bone that could help identify who this forgotten person was and their fate. In the third part of the series, Shand returned to Umina Beach to investigate how the floods affect the waterways and how they would carry debris from distant locations.
This investigation now needs a breakthrough, so the team is currently reaching out across Australia for fresh thinking and assistance with the teeth the best clue in the absence of other DNA to match it to.
Podcast Week’s Trent Thomas caught up with Shand to talk about the case, and where the show goes from here.
“In the media, both in journalism and in TV dramas, we get used to things getting solved,” said Shand. “The police do a little bit of work, and they throw it to the CSI and bang! Science gives you the answer. What this case tells me is that science is great, until it’s not. This fits this case exactly, because the DNA, while enough to determine the gender of the individual is not enough to determine the phenotype and characteristics. We got to the point where the best clue we have is the jawbone. And we know that two teeth have been extracted, if we probably had the whole head you would probably see four extracted. We now get into a situation where if we can find the person who did the operation, then we will find the individual.
“We decided to reach out to Victoria who had been through the whole black Saturday experience where they had matched all but one of 173 sets of human remains, some of which were just ash and teeth. The interesting thing is we’ve now had people reach out from the Melbourne dental school, who’s got a whole archaeological section, and they are going through the angle of the cusps on the teeth, and all this incredibly detailed stuff, trying to give us another way to approach the question of identity without DNA. ”
Adam Shand
Shand said that he is generally a very impatient person, one reason why he is good at being a journalist over a short period, but one thing that he has learnt from covering real crime, is that it is a long process.
“This is why we pitch this whole thing as real crime, not true crime. There is a difference, and it requires us to be patient and to understand the limitations. If we could use the Ancestry DNA database tomorrow I believe we would solve this, because we don’t have the access to all those commercial databases for privacy reasons.
“There are negotiations between police forces and Australia and Ancestry to allow that to happen and hopefully is the year there will be no more secrets because there are 400 sets of human remains out there across New South Wales and more in other states which are waiting for a DNA match.”
With the third episode being released, Shand said that it won’t be the last with a fourth planned for new information and to explore the process of a major case review.
“I’m going to try to do a fourth episode because there is work going on as we speak with the Melbourne dental school. We’re hoping to get some more descriptors to come back to our databases.
“Every great police investigation, which is not common to journalism, tests their assumptions. Someone might walk in a future prosecution because of mistakes and assumptions made now. What we’re going to do next in episode four is a major case review. We’re going to show how they do that and test every assumption. This has been a real insight into the difference between real and true crime. The listeners want this detail, they want credible information, and they get razzle dazzled by spooky music and great sounding broadcast voices in true crime, which ultimately don’t actually produce anything of great worth.”
Another success of the show that Shand pointed out was the work that he has done with the Missing Persons Registry, which has seen it written into the standard operating procedures of the group.
“The Missing Persons Registry has given this project tremendous support and now after two years, the podcast is written into the standard operating procedures of the Missing Persons Registry in New South Wales. I am very proud of that because it shows the intersection between journalism and law enforcement, too often we are in opposition to each other. What we’re finding here is that there are a lot of similarities to what we do. This is a moment where the police can use their own messaging to strategic value in cases and I’m really proud of that.”
[Listen to NSW Police State Crime Command – Investigations here]
Ben Lee makes a musical challenge to The Chasers
Ben Lee has challenged The Chaser’s Andrew Hansen to play the team’s notorious anti-Ben Lee song at his concert during his tour in Melbourne in June.
The challenge came in the middle of an inexplicable appearance by the music star on the Chaser’s election podcast.
When pushed about his entry into politics Lee admitted “I just missed the cut-off for the official ballot. I’m passionate about it but I’m also sceptical and innately cynical.”
Lee linked his new single “Like This Or Like That” to the election process, inspiring the team that their vote may seem arbitrary but actually reflects one’s key values. “If we are going to destroy this planet and destroy our species, which there is a chance we are going to do, I want it written in the cosmic records that I disagreed.” Says Lee, “We have to make progressive choices….what roll [will I] play as the bus rolls over the cliff?” With his characteristic positive demeanour, challenging the status quo Lee reflected, “Toppling an empire has to be done with a smile on your face.”
The interview covers the hot topics of ukuleles, Andrew Hansen’s The Ben Lee Song, climate change, voter responsibility, the subversiveness of fun, mentoring the next generation and challenging dualistic mindsets. (Bloody hell, that sounds quite serious for a bunch of comedians and a rock musician.)
[Listen to The Chaser’s podcasts here]
Experiment over: Facebook gives up on podcasting after just one year
Facebook is moving on from podcasting just one year after getting into it.
This means the platform will stop letting users add podcasts and will erase all podcasts starting June 3, Bloomberg reported, citing a note sent by Facebook to its partners. In the note Facebook told its partners it wouldn’t alert users to the fact it was shutting its podcast service, leaving partners to decide whether and how to inform their listeners.
Facebook launched its live audio and podcast service in June 2021. To start, the initial slate of podcasts included rapper-turned-YouTube broadcaster Joe Budden of The Joe Budden Podcast; comedian “Jess Hilarious” of Carefully Reckless from The Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio; Keltie Knight, Becca Tobin, and Jac Vanek of The LadyGang podcast; and Nicaila Matthews Okome of the Side Hustle Pro podcast.
People could listen to podcasts while browsing Facebook, via a miniplayer or full-screen player experience with playback options, including with their phone display turned off. People could listen to select podcast creators on their Facebook Pages, as well as on their News Feed.
Facebook also promised additional features, like captions and the ability to create and share short clips of a podcast.
Youth news outlet The Daily Aus partners with iHeartPodcast Network
ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia has announced it has partnered with one of the fastest-growing news outlets for millennials, The Daily Aus. The partnership will help The Daily Aus grow their audience base and enable a broader suite of brands to connect with young Australians seeking out easily digestible and accessible news.
The Daily Aus is Australia’s leading social-first news service, debuting in Australian Podcast Ranker last month. Founded by Zara Seidler and Sam Koslowski, two twenty-somethings who decided to make a business out of explaining the news to their friends, the outlet tackles relevant news stories, empowering young Australians to be part of important conversations.
ARN’s head of digital audio, Corey Layton, said, “ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network is proud to partner with The Daily Aus to deliver news to an even broader audience. Sam and Zara have created an incredible brand that explains the stories that matter to young Aussies, deserving of their ever growing list of accolades and online dominance. The Daily Aus joins an array of diverse podcasts in the network, across multiple genres, that specifically speak to millennials, which further benefits our advertising partners.”
In the lead up to the federal election, the social news platform has also launched the topical series No Silly Questions, featuring in-depth interviews with key politicians, experts, and advocates, arming young Australians with all the information they need in the leadup to the election.
[Listen to The Daily Aus here]
Hamish and Andy’s Remembering Project returns for third season
Hamish and Andy’s Remembering Project returned for its third season on LiSTNR on April 28, 2022.
Hamish and Andy’s Remembering Project sees the pair delve back through more than 2,500 shows and 26,000 segments across their 20+ year radio career to take listeners back through some of the funniest moments in their careers, including when Kevin Rudd lost the election the day after taking his shoes off on The Happy Hour, the day they uncovered Australia’s Best Bloke, as well as their chats with some of the biggest names from around the globe including Rhianna who they exposed for stealing Hamish’s song.
Hamish and Andy said: “The disadvantage of having half your lives recorded is that your reminiscing can be fact checked. Unfortunately, our recollection tends to be completely wrong and probably a bit more glowing than the real thing. That’s always fun to find out.”
[Listen to Hamish and Andy’s Remembering Project here]
