Ok, so this one is no surprise, but after reflecting on recent events in Australian free-to-air media and their outcomes, my dander is well and truly on end.
Matty Johns, former Australian rugby league assistant coach to Melbourne Storm and co-host of Channel Nine's The Footy Show, removed from both positions following reports of involvement in a non-consensual 'group sex' with 11 other teammates/colleagues and a 19-year old New Zealand girl in 2002.
Recently hired by competing network Channel Seven to host his own, "family-friendly" The Matty Johns Show. Additionally, hosts Matty Johns' Controversy Corner on Sunday mornings. How appropriate.
Radio/TV personality Kyle Sandilands sacked from Channel Ten's Australian Idol following an incident (just one among a broad repertoire of well-publicised controversy) in which the 2Day FM morning radio show which he co-hosts with Jackie O, strapped a 14-year old girl to a lie detector, in the presence of her mother, and proceded to question her on a number of things, including drugs and sex. The girl revealed she had been raped at the age of 12. Sandilands was suspended from the radio show. Idol commendably sacked Sandilands, stating that "His radio persona has taken on a more controversial position ... which is not in the interest of the [family-focused] show."
A few weeks later, Sandilands resumed hosting the 2Day FM radio show, but was suspended again within less than a month, over remarks made Australian personality, and face of the Jenny Craig weightloss company, Magda Szubanski, concerning how much more effectively she would lose weight if she was simply put in a concentration camp. Szubanski's father, incidentally, was a Polish resistance fighter in World War II.
Sandilands is still currently hosting his radio show, and has taken up a similar judging role on Channel Seven's (again family-focused) The X Factor.
To quote Scott Adams' well-known comic strip character, Dilbert,
"Are you saying I'm more employable as a famous screw-up than as a competent nobody?"
What are the media (particularly Channel Seven in both of these cases) communicating in regards to the idea that 'actions have consequences'? In a society already deafened by cries over the inadequate sentencing of criminal behaviour, we get to endure two controversial public figures doing whatever the hell they like, and even though they are reprimanded (in a sense), they continue to be upheld in the public eye by competing commercial enterprises, simply because they are well-known in their industry, because of the controversy that surrounds them.
When will Channel Seven, and the media in general, acknowledge the social responsibility they have to their viewers?
May God be merciful on our society, as we all keep riding the roller-coaster to anarchy.
9 comments:
lovin the blog.
Agree witht the Sandilands comments, may wanna do more research on Matty tho, always more to those stories than we'll ever know, & the only people shud be judging is his wife and the big fella upstairs. side note: he still has a wife.
Unfortunalty media will do whateva sells, we the silly peeps for buying into it.
FLick :)
To be honest, it really ticked me off when Sandilands got sacked after the lie detector incident. I am no fan of Sandilands and I don't even like him on Idol (not that I watched it much), but the incident with the lie detector was not his fault. I listened to it and it really sounded like he was a deer caught in the headlights and just responded with the first thing that popped into his head - which admittedly was inappropriate, but just a mistake. They had parental permission to put that girl on the lie detector, and it was the mother's questions that she was answering, and the mother KNEW about the rape incident. All blame should fall on that drop kick of a mother and not Sandilands.
As a country newspaper journalist I think that while it is desirable to want the media to act socially responsibly at the end of the day they answer to advertisers and audiences. If advertisers stopped supporting these shows they wouldn't be on air and if the audiences stopped watching them the advertisers wouldn't want to support them.
The audience as a whole doesn't realise their power. For example if everyone who disliked what Kyle Sandilands did never listened or watched anything with him again I'm sure he would be off the air pretty quickly.
Mate, I was unaware you were blogging again. This has made my day, and will possibly have enough momentum for tomorrow's day making as well.
Hmm. Thanks for your comments, guys. Perhaps I am more vague on the details of the incidents than I thought. I suppose my remarks are more geared toward the nature of the media, rather than judging the individuals themselves.
Regarding Johns, his remorse should certainly be noted and if he is sorry for his actions, then good on him. I felt the bigger issue in this instance was where one station took disciplinary action, another just picked him up.
It's not that much different from Sandilands. Even if he was a victim a scenario which gets out of hand, his repertoire of controversial forays extends beyond that one incident. And again, for him to be removed from one station (perhaps less out of disciplinary action but rather 'common image and values') and then picked up by another station for the same role, demonstrates an inconsistency which communicates an unhelpful message. Namely, that you can be disrespectful, controversial, stuff up, yet still find a job elsewhere.
Chris, I agree with your remarks. I guess it's my naivete still hoping for someone, somewhere to do something that's in the best interests of people, rather than ratings and profits.
Joel, glad you enjoyed it. Started about a week ago (check the September ones - I have done a few since I started).
As for momentum, I'll hopefully be able to keep it up!
Addit: Love getting feedback and other people's points of view. Comment away!
Scoot,
I too am thrilled that you're back on the blogging horse. Keep that momentum going...
Ahh Dilbert, apt as ever...
I agree with your comments Scoot. It's times like these that I'm glad we don't own a TV.
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