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Other things the poor (and the media) shouldn’t do: listen to Joe Hockey

kristiesulliv17 1 Comment

Another week and another embarrassing blunder for the Federal Government. This time from Treasurer Joe Hockey who put his foot firmly in his mouth when trying to justify an increase in the fuel levy with “the poorest people either don’t have cars or actually don’t drive very far in many cases”. As expected, the outrage in the public and the media was huge and he was forced to backflip on his comments.

Was the media justified in their attacks on Mr Hockey? Absolutely. The Treasurer is in the public eye and if he can dish it out, he should be able to take it being thrown back at him. Fairfax in particular were scathing of how he handled the debacle, possibly because Mr Hockey is suing them for defamation over an article they published about him in May. Other media organisations, such as the ABC did a “Fact Check” on his comment, contradicting his remarks and embarrassing him even further.

Twitter exploded with the hashtag #OtherThingsThePoorDontDo with many unhappy voters composing amusing tweets and photos ridiculing the Treasurer’s poor choice of words. Many also found his words hard to swallow given he has a taxpayer-funded government car.

Other politicians also tore into the Treasurer and when you have the Prime Minister refusing to support your comments, it’s time to sack your media advisers. And when Peter Reith (a former Howard government minister who was entangled in the ‘children overboard’ scandal) is critical of how he has handled the backlash, it’s time to issue an apology.

However taking 48 hours to publicly apologise was not looked upon favourably, with the media taking a “too little, too late” approach and questioning how genuine his apology was. Fairfax in particular ran a poll asking readers if they accepted his apology, with 86% voting “No”.

Either way, Mr Hockey is in desperate need of overhauling his image as he is regularly portrayed in the media as being “smug”, “arrogant” and his public persona has been likened to Ebenezer Scrooge. In a time when his approval rating is low, maybe he should speak to his colleague Julie Bishop about how to successfully reinvent yourself in the eyes of the media. The best place to start would be to spend some time with these so-called “poor” people, or otherwise face life in the political wilderness after the next federal election.

Trial by media: Judge, jury and executioner

kristiesulliv17 2 Comments

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.