By Sandi Tighello
Enough. I’ve had enough. And I’m sure, if you think and breathe, you’ve had enough too. Of what? Of the rubbish, of the media coverage, of the non-event that is Gordon Ramsey vs. Tracey Grimshaw.
This week so far has proved that my decision to start my own magazine was the best one I could have made. Because, safe to say, if I worked for any of the publications, or television stations, that created a story out of three comments that tumbled out of the mouth of a man who is well-known for being a wanker, I’d be embarrassed.
Australia, we have a real problem on our hands. We have a problem with the quality and integrity of Australian media. We have a massive problem when a non-event is created and hyped into a news story, and then run as a story in all manner of publications and on all manner of networks. Australia, we’ve got a problem when that story, five days later, is still making front page news. When the publishers of information, and the keepers of secrets, participate in a ‘he said, she said’ bickering match. We’ve got a problem when the Prime Minister of Australia engages in a debate that has been largely fabricated.
The problem in Australia is that each state only has up to two major newspapers. That each state watches the same program at 6.30pm every night. And these newspapers, and programs, hold the majority, and therefore, hold the power. Worse off, each night families, friends and retired couples gather around their television to be hypnotised by what is essentially rubbish.
In this article, Onya writer Jonathan Howcroft perfectly described programs like Today Tonight and A Current Affair as disproportionate sway tawdry condescending bile. And that would be an understatement.
We will all unfortunately remember Chk Chk Boom girl Claire Werbeloff and the fifteen minutes of fame she received a few weeks ago, simply for lying about an eyewitness account during the Kings Cross shooting. Naturally, it was the Nine Network’s A Current Affair that explained how a 3am prank turned her into what they described as a ‘global media star’. A star with t-shirts and beer mugs made in her honour. A star with a bikini shoot for a lads mag lined up. Puh-lease.
A mini star was born, all from spurting racist comments into a TV camera. Well, some people thought it was racist. Some people thought it was funny. She claims to have said the whole thing in jest. Just as Gordon Ramsey has claimed his comments were said in jest. Just as some people thought they were funny. Just as some people thought they were offensive.
I won’t enter a debate on Gordon Ramsey being wrong, or Tracey Grimshaw being right. As far as I’m concerned she can gouge his eyes out. Or he can pour spaghetti bolognaise over her head. I just don’t care. What I will comment on, though, is that for a country that prides itself on being full of larrikins, it seems to me that we very rarely know how to take a joke.
Claire Werbeloff made a joke. It wasn’t very funny. But our media created a star out of her. Gordon Ramsey made a joke. It wasn’t very funny. But rather than letting it slide, rather than leaving it to rest, to die where it should have, our media created an issue out it. Would the situation have been different if he directed his comments at someone else? Someone not so widely adored? How come Gordon Ramsey hasn’t had t-shirts printed in his honour, or wasn’t offered a shoot in a women’s mag for being a dick?
My point is that the world is full of awful comments and nasty people. But we don’t have to publish all of them. We don’t have to create an issue out of everything. Because here’s what, if you let something die, there and then, it won’t continue to exist. But, if you poke and prod and push and exhaust something, it will live on.
After Claire Werbeloff was ‘discovered’, Facebook pages and groups were created in disgust, with people sharing their thoughts and opinions. One such opinion was, “don’t give her the attention she’s after…she is on ACA tonight, I suggest everyone boycott it and watch CH7.”
Ah, but that’s the problem. One such program is no better than the other. There is a lack of choice. A lack of competition. A lack of class or intelligence in the Australian media.
When I stumbled upon another comment in the Claire Werbeloff Is A Liar And Moron Group, by a woman named Louise, I couldn’t help but cheer that someone else thought the same as I did:
“Why the f*** does my country worship idiots like this? It makes me really sad.”
Me too Louise, me too.
Totally agree, I couldn’t believe it when the whole Gordon Ramsey thing was the FIRST story on Channel 9’s 6pm news last night. Unbelievable. Considering how much information we now have available to us (thanks to the Internet) from around the world, is it not possible to source a more interesting and more important story? We joke about certain other Western countries being ‘stupid nations’ as a whole but we’re close on their heels if not leading the way.
Absolutely! With all the things that are going on in the world the only thing that can be focused on is what Gordon Ramsay said. Have we become so little that we are unable to look at the bigger picture and at the things that matter rather than the things that really should not take anymore than the time a sitcom runs of an evening. Is the media so starved in their creativity that this is the best that they can do?
What you just said….perfect.
Thanks Sandi
The sad thing is, children who are easily influenced will see all of this as acceptable!
Loved your article and totally agree..
We seemingly worship idiots because the idiots in charge of the ship KNOW we worship idiots and it sells. ‘popular culture’ has been created simply to perpetuate the myths that we suck and should blindly follow the cult of the ‘star’ (for some people, sub ‘idiot’ for ‘star’ 😉
Thje best comment from this blog that really hits the message home is “My point is that the world is full of awful comments and nasty people. But we don’t have to publish all of them. We don’t have to create an issue out of everything”
Right on.
Andrew
Nailed it.
I got a slightly different take on this. You are familiar with the phrase ‘no news is good news’?Consider the fact that certain time slots NEED to be filled with things considered newsworthy. What do we do when there is nothing deemed important enough to fill these slots? Im sure countries like Sri Lanka would much prefer the Chk Chk Boom girl over the destruction (or genocide??) of the LTTE.
When was the last time we had a car bombing next to a hospital in Oz? The fact is that we live in a relatively safe country. Anybody that cares about world news hears about it from Lee Lin Chin. Those that dont want their happy lives to lose their ignorance is bliss mindset WANT to hear the ‘he said, she said’ shite. These are the same people that buy Women’s Day. For the rest of us, we got Onya magazine.
Good on ya sandy 🙂
I personally think that our community is slowly but surely being worn and dumbed down so that we accept any old pap that is printed. Seriously – who gives a rats about something that GR says. Like him of not – the guy is a media machine and the publicity that he has generated from this ‘incident’, whether its positive or negative, has been totally free because of the silly hounding by the press on a non event. In my opinion – if you took out the splashy tabloid rubbish that pervades our media you would have newspapers that are 2-4 pages, magazines would be flyers or leaflets and the ‘news’ bulletin would take about 5 minutes.
Thanks for at least yelling out that enough is enough 🙂
You know what show I love? Media Watch. They would have a field day with this one! Hehe.
Yes, I do agree, the Gordon Ramsay/Tracey Grimshaw thing was not very newsworthy… it should have been saved for the “entertainment” part of the news, like when that man got his willy stuck in the park bench… definitely not newsworthy enough for the first story!
Chk Chk Boom girl was funny, gotta admit… but again, not newsworthy. Should have been saved for the facebook-ers and you-tubers of the internet world, not sprayed all over the news.
Oh well… the commercial channels will jump on any entertainment band-wagon if it means high ratings.
good onya sandi!!. Fantastic article! Why cant the australian media just let sleeping dogs lie? Everything is always blown out of proportion, and, we as the audience have to put up with the bull that’s fed to us. Aca and today tonight is trash tv, it’s meant to be trash, and that’s why people love to watch. Lets all turn off our televisions off for half an hour and read a book, or talk to each other.
Standing ovation, Sandi. You said what needs to be said.
I haven’t even read your article yet but I just couldn’t wait to comment. Which is ironic because I don’t think I have ever commented on anything media/internet related.
But here goes…..I totally fucking agree. Can I swear?
Didn’t people always used to relate the lowest form of journalism to what they do over in London? Well I now see very little difference between us and them.
If anyone is aware of the “Zeitgeist” documentary, the one thing I took from it was the “dumbing down of our society through the media in order to suppress our thinking” and in turn “rule the world”. Well it is becoming more and more apparent that this is completely true.
What to do?
Hey Sandi!! Hope you’re well and not too disgruntled at the world.
Spot on, great article. Whilst the media should hold people/politicians/issues to account, they must also be held to account themselves. Some of the recent ‘news’ being pushed by your ACA/TT/Herald Sun types is just outrageous.
I think the trend is being driven by new media impacting on traditional media and the news cycle becoming shorter and shorter.
Thanks for turning your microscope onto them (and it’s why programs like MediaWatch are so important).
Clearly Ramsay payed Grimshaw a load of cash for the publicity while he’s on tour. Either that or his marketing company.
Well said. Is it Australia or just Channel Nine’s desperate measures? ACA vs Ramsey is like two brothers fighting – nothing of substance to fight about, they just want some attention. And Chk Chk Boom hung out to dry after squeezing the last out of her (and the cameraman). In situations like this, I ask… “What would Kerry do?”
As long as people tune in and visit related websites or articles, these sorts of incidents and personalities will get publicity. The idiots are the majority. These sorts of stories make more money than stories about bombings in Sri Lanka, and I can’t see that changing in the foreseeable future.
Come on, Brett. You make it sound like was deliberately performing some clever media sting operation.
Yes it did show up Ch.9 for being slack, but the bystander interview is something that everyone’s been doing, possibly with as little verification as this one. It’s just that most of the time, people have probably been more truthful with their stories!
Wow. Thank you all so much for your comments.
You have all raised excellent points and I’m not surprised that so many of you agree – we all can’t be wrong can we?
I’m inspired by the passion and intelligence shown through your comments – I’m inspired to make Onya the antithesis of everything that ACA and Today Tonight are about.
Over the coming months you will see Onya evolve – evolve even more into an intelligent, informative, inspiring magazine – a magazine that showcases REAL talent and REAL issues.
One of the things I detest most is the fact that Australia gets laughed at on a world stage far too often – if we continue to allow trite and tosh to be an indication of our country, of the intellect and character within it, then we will continue to be laughed at. And that simply must stop. Because I, and all of you it seems, know that Australia is much smarter than that.
So thank you. Thank you for your comments so far and for proving what I was afraid we may have been losing – spirit and class.
the problem (?) is that nothing really happens in Australia so the media doesn’t have much to report on. changes happen slowly here from a social pov. compared to other countries where there’s coups & attacks and a lot more people to manage & bad weather so people are stuck inside & other such things. also, most of these reports, if not all, are pure cross promotional items for the TV station / networks ‘masked’ as news – edicts from management. the items go out on the wires and other media use the same copy. I think these techniques have been very successful as PR/promotional ploys – as this is what people talk about and other media reports on. that’s not to say I think they should be happening – I’m just surprised readers/viewers seem to fall for it.. if people stopped buying the media or products on the commercials, things would change. also people should be calling the stations with complaints (bad quality reporting/editing?) as they have to log these and take notice of them. if you scare the stations with potential loss of viewers/readers this hits their pockets directly as advertisers leave, and will cause changes in policy.
I agree with you Kath – except on one thing: your entire opening sentence. There’s a lot that happens in Australia. We can only be thankful that we live in a country that doesn’t have to deal with coups and political unrest and all sorts of other terrible problems, but nothing happens here? Please. There is a lot going on in this country every single day. And when there isn’t anything terribly negative or awful to report on, then reports should be on the positive. Stories should not be exaggerated. We do experience less drama than other nations – but then why aren’t we hearing about what’s happening in them? Why aren’t we hearing about the coups and the problems in other countries, rather than Gordon Ramsey’s whining?
This reminds me of that wanker Corey from Melbourne who was celebrated and rewarded with a guest position on Big Brother!! Yet another classic example of media beat up.
Amen to that. All of it. Good story, well told. You have expressed my thoughts precisely. Ok, I’ll stop now but clearly I agree that Australian media has stooped to new lows and quality of reporting making news out of irrelevant people with no news to tell.
Very true. Shows such as ACA have chronically underestimated the intelligence of their audience ever since they began. The pander to a dying or dead generation of beer swilling redknecks who tuned out years ago sleeping on the couch.
When their “stuff” hits the print media, we know that the poor trees have been cut down to satisfy this generation that has awaken with a hang over after missing all the gossip.
Well done Sandi…well done!
Just as bad as the rest feeding into the Claire Werbeloff thing…..she was 19…..a kid and spoke as people do at that age…..get over it!!!