A couple of weeks ago TV station Channel 10 commenced broadcasting for the first time since sometime in March (a break of about 5 months.)
... or so it would seem to anyone frequenting the Wayside Tavern!
In March Channel 10 was tuned out of every television set at the Wayside Tavern (all 110 of 'em) This isn't difficult, just one tweak at the master control.
For in March the host & hostess of a mid-morning TV show on Channel 10 made belittling & nasty comments about a Victoria Cross recipient.
These comments were made on air.
Channel 10 is free to air what they wish.
Mine Host is free to boycott any channel he wishes. And so he did.
A couple of weeks ago the airhead themed morning TV show was cancelled.
Thus Channel 10 is now back on the air at the Wayside Tavern!
In public circumstances (such as a TV appearance) a VC recipient is representative of all who have served, and of all who fell.
To publicly denigrate, belittle, and show disdain to a VC recipient, (going about quiet enjoyment of his life) is extremely offensive.
One of the two philistines, George Negus, is an experienced foreign correspondent & television journalist, with decades of reporting behind him.
He knew better. He has no excuse. He deserves to be shunned from polite society. That is, whenever he appears in public, or private, all should turn their backs to him. (Similar to when military cadets "shun" one of their own for a breach of honour).
The hostess, lacking Negus' worldly experience & perhaps not as capable of meeting the challenge of understanding the discretions & norms of wider society, still should have known better.
Confronted with community & viewer ire (on a grand scale) and with sponsors withdrawing cash from the programme, they each gave a Claytons apology.
They then went on to make some incredibly stupid statements. All of which indicated a total & complete tin ear for the sentiments of decent society. Example: They claimed to be "anti-war", as if that implies a free pass to insult & sneer at the memory of war dead.
Columnist Andrew Bolt (a Channel 10 presenter, whose own show hasn't been seen at the Wayside Tavern during Channel 10's blackout) made possibly the stupidist excuse for them Mine Host has ever read:
Mr. Bolt, who is himself apt to make contentious comments at times, but always conducts himself as a gentleman, does himself no credit by saying that morning TV is a difficult gig, and saying nasty stuff is okay, as it can be "very difficult to think of things to say to fill the hour".
Bunkum! When faced with air time to fill, one is not compelled to say horribly nasty things about people.
The remarks in question were not said in isolation. The hostess, whose media career has rightly disappeared *poof*, did not just suddenly decide out of the blue to say nasty stuff about a national hero.
This sort of comment is built up over time. It was something she was comfortable saying.
In all the months (before spontaneously airing it) the remark was germinating in her psyche, at all the gatherings it (or similar) was aired, to all the people in her social & work circles who conversed with her, not one of them had seen fit to pull her up or correct her.
This speaks volumes.
3 comments:
Keep fighting the good fight, Mine Host.
Onya Mine Host.
For decades, I have been avoiding anything with Negus in it.
Hope you kept Channel 10 fully informed about your ban.
Sounds like another cheap "controversial" have-a-go stunt that backfired. But for every one that gets shot down in flames, another moves up a step. How long has it been since journalism was about fact?
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