Social media is a powerful tool, capable of capturing photos and videos that can be uploaded to Twitter, Facebook or YouTube instantly making someone a celebrity or in the case of Sydney woman Karen Bailey, a villain. Ms Bailey who was recently recorded on a train racially abusing passengers, has suffered vicious backlash from the public and media, proof that the media can be more effective and powerful at playing judge, jury and executioner than the courts.
Ms Bailey was given a 12-month good behaviour bond (arguably a light sentence), instead of the maximum $500 fine for her on-camera rant, which only strengthens the case of trial by media. I believe that the magistrate was aware of the public humiliation from the viral publication of the video, and decided that she had suffered enough. In the aftermath of the incident, her father has spoken publicly about her struggle to move on with her life. Her Linkedin profile (which was published by the media as a means of identifying her real name), which boasted of her previous occupations working as a secretary for some of the top law firms in the country has been deleted and she has disappeared from public sight. She was unemployed at the time of her tirade and unfortunately her outburst (which can still be found on YouTube) is unlikely to endear her to many potential employers.
So why does the media report and publish these videos? I argue that they are aware that the courts will give them the equivalent of a slap on the wrist and chooses to give out its own brand of justice, with the reasoning of civic responsibility (or the equivalent of teaching them a lesson). The original video on YouTube has over one million views and over 7,000 comments. What is interesting though, is that while the media will publicly shame racist offenders, there is very little emphasis on what can be done to eliminate it. One journalist even commented that reporting on this incident can have the opposite effect.
The media and the legal system have a turbulent relationship. If the courts make a wrong decision, the press will hold them accountable. Although the courts are effective at punishing offenders, they will continually be outdone by the media, who are more accessible to the public, have a greater audience and will continue to name and shame racist behaviour. This is of some concern to someone like Karen Bailey who would probably prefer to be forgotten.
Kristie Sullivan 
I think you raised a really interesting point here on whether the media report on these videos because they believe offenders will only receive light punishment. In the case of Karen Bailey this certainly seems to make sense in hindsight but I also feel she received as much exposure as she did due to social media sharing and shock value. It will be interesting to see what she is up to a year or two from now and see the long term effects this case has had on her. Hopefully incidents such as this this will continue to spark debates on how openly racist behavior can be eliminated and make people who may have hateful words in them think twice before saying something, as the fear of being publicly shamed remains present.
As a person of mixed race, there are no words to describe just how angry it makes me feel everytime I hear about this incident. I definitely agree with Charlie about you making interesting points about the issue. And all I can is, thank God for the person who uploaded that video on social media. I don’t care what platform of media you use but people like her needs to be exposed. Rant over. Sorry. xxx