The tabloid TV pursuit of the grieving family of 13-year-old Molly Lord is despicable to most. But it’s not unusual.
Plenty will choke on the comments in Crikey today from a former TV current affairs reporter. Writing about the latest example of intrusion by Channel Seven — and the social media fightback from Molly’s mother Linda Goldspink-Lord — the ex-hack remarks:
“I couldn’t help thinking it looked like standard operating procedure on the part of any of the networks. The journalist was on the property looking for someone to who might want to give comment. This is completely normal.”
Completely normal. If it wasn’t Seven, you can bet it would have been one of the other crews camped outside.
This is the business of what passes for “current affairs” on commercial television. It’s grubby stuff.
But you asked for it. From Today Tonight and A Current Affair (which between them bring in close to 3 million people each night) to the newspapers, magazines and websites that trample on privacy (and each other in a race to breach it), intrusion sells.
Regulation won’t stop them; it certainly hasn’t so far. Only consumers can.
Commercial television journalists are notorious sophists.
The fact is they have both a choice as individuals and an ethical responsibility under their code not to exploit people’s personal grief. It doesn’t matter if there is “a market” for this stuff.
I quote from the journalist’s code of ethics:
“11. Respect private grief and personal privacy. Journalists have the right to resist compulsion to intrude. ”
They might want to pin it to the wall in their newsrooms in between patting each other on the back about “great yarns”
Regulation could stop intrusions on privacy. One could start by legislating a right of privacy.
“Regulation won’t stop them; it certainly hasn’t so far. Only consumers can.”
Oh please.
They need to get some unfortunate to sheds tears for the camera.
Throw into the mix The Parrot and some of the rubbish he dishes up. I see Crikey leaves him alone these days but Media watch have a dig sometimes.
This sort of abuse of “freedom of the press” “appeals” to 3 million of “us”?