Midweek Mediawatch: compassionate coverage vs crass cartoon

Mediawatch's weekly catch-up with Lately. Colin Peacock talks to Karyn Hay about BoJo's no-shows in the UK; Air NZ's 'expert trolling,' casual racism forgiven - and how compassionate coverage of Samoa's crisis contrasted with one crass cartoon.

Compassionate coverage - and one crass cartoon

The reporting of Samoa’s deadly measles crisis this past week has been impressive, informative and at times moving.  

RNZ Pacific has covered all the developments on air and its reports topped the charts for its web traffic. RNZ’s Logan Church and Alex Perrottet have traveled round the country and thanks to the copysharing agreements their written accounts, audio and video have been widely published elsewhere.

Newshub’s Pacific Affairs reporter Michael Morrah - who’s been in Samoa since last week - had a run-in with a ‘faith healer’ offering ‘alternative treaments’ who was later shut down.  

RNZ's Alex Perrottet also confronted the same guy - but along with Logan Church visited another another traditional healer who's been operating for 40 years - but this one did refer patients to hospital. Fascinating and informative reporting.

Last month TVNZs Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver reported from Samoa about anti-vaxx meetings back in June that may have contributed to a decline in vaccination rates.

Barbara is returning to Samoa today - but in her absence yesterday TVNZ Breakfast turned to Sapeer Mayron, who’s a recent graduate from journalism school and a former intern here at RNZ.  

She now works at Samoa Observer paper and one of many reports of her’s was republished by the Guardian. 

Stuff has Florence Kerr (from the Waikato Times) and visual journalist Chris McKeen on the ground, producing great work like this feature in the Sunday Star Times last weekend. Likewise Oscar Kightley in this heartfelt column about Samoa’s kids for Stuff’s Sunday News 

A less honourable newspaper contribution came from the ODT’s veteran cartoonist Garrick Tremain, who seemed more concerned with nailing a pun than 55 deaths: 

ODT editor Barry Stewart today fronted a street protest to announce he won't run Tremain cartoons until a review of the situation is complete.

It made the lead story on the South Tonight, the local news bulletin on Dunedin's Channel 39 TV, owned by ODT owner Allied Press. Host Daryl Baser introduced it in Samoan:

The backlash to the cartoon on Monday prompted an online apology the same day signed by editor Barry Stewart. 

“The content and the timing of the cartoon were insensitive, and we apologise without reservation for publishing it.

We have published many stories about the human suffering caused by the outbreak. They are stories not about a virus, they are stories of real people, real hurt, and real tragedy.

This should have been our starting point when considering publishing the cartoon. That it was not was a deeply regrettable error in judgement.

We will review our selection process. It must be robust. Our community expects no less.”

You have to wonder if there’s any selection process at all at the paper.

Given his track record for stereotypes and causing offence, a single adjustment of the selection process for cartoonists - rather than individual cartoons - might solve the problem. 

The papers' own staff have been hurt by the criticism and some have used private social accounts to say publicly they don't stand by the cartoon or the decision to publish.

In the meantime the apology for the unpopular cartoons became - ironically  - the paper’s most popular online item. And cartoonist Tremain was trending on Twitter ahead of ‘Samoa’.

ODT editor Barry Stewart has not fronted for interviews - but Tremain himself has twice with RNZ.

Both reveal his lack of self-awareness - and that the human essence of the story that is absent from his cartoons is not front of mind.

On his website today Mr Tremain acknowledged the lack of judgement on his part and apologised to those he offended.

The website's blurb says:

Garrick Tremain is highly regarded as  . . . New Zealand's funniest and most perceptive political cartoonist.

Hmmm.

‘Expert trolling’? 

24 hours before social media was scandalised by the Tremain cartoon, Air New Zealand was earning plaudits for pushing back at a punter on Facebook over perceived racism. 

Air New Zealand’s reply to an online complaint about a Koru Club closure was prefaced with “Kia Ora.”

“I’m not Maori,” the punter replied, prompting the airline to put more Te Reo words and phrases in its next reply - and when the disgruntled punter demanded a translation she was referred to an online Maori dictionary. 

Other Air New Zealand Facebook applauded the pushback but some weren't just praising them for standing up for the language. 

Many people condemned the corresponding customer as “racist”. (As it turns out, her public Facebook had several posts with fairly fringe things to say about race).

On RNZ’s Panel PR man Bill Ralston said it was ‘casual’ racism

Even after the exchange was taken down, it prompted something of a social media pile on  - and then coverage in the media and international online travel news services.

The news stories adopted the social media terms for their stories: 
Air New Zealand's clap back heard around Aotearoa, was Stuff’s headline, while the Herald went with Air New Zealand staff hilariously troll 'racist' customer on social media. 

On Mediawatch listener got in touch after reading a Newshub story about her online history and quoting social media comment labeling her a racist.

“It made me feel uneasy. There was a sense of a bunch of elitists or privileged people beating up on a person who may have a racist edge to her. It just smacked of helping a crowd beat up on someone who is not a position or role of influence. This is just a non-elite getting on their life as best they can with what they know. I’m not condoning her actions or her other views but again, I’m struggling to understand how this is anything of any value.

What impact does this attention have on the lady concerned? I don’t understand the public interest here?  

I think he has a point. 

It does seem weird someone would express irritation at being addressed fleetingly in te reo in 2019 - but not important. 

Mainstream news media exploiting a social media pile-on seems unfair and unnecessary.

Casual racism?

Meanwhile a complaint about some real casual racism was not upheld by the BSA this week:

Sky Sport show Kick Off was the subject of a complaint after an episode on June 13, 2019, saw Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall label All Blacks centre Jack Goodhue "a Jew" because he didn't pay for his wedding..

The BSA did not uphold the complaint on the grounds that "the comment did not contain the level of nastiness or malice to find a breach of the the discrimination and denigration standard."
But The BSA "cautioned broadcasters to avoid language in sports broadcasting that amounts to casual racism."

Sky submitted that the complaint did not breach the discrimination and denigration standard for the following reasons:

    "The Authority has previously found that the term ‘Jew’ does not breach the standard in a decision where it found:

•         'the remark was intended as a light-hearted dig as opposed to an attack against Jewish people, that listeners were likely to have interpreted the comment as a silly joke and would not have taken it as a serious endorsement of hatred or abuse against that group.’
•         ‘the comment was ignorant and perpetuated stereotypes but did not reach the high threshold necessary for encouraging the denigration of, or discrimination against, Jewish people as a section of the community.’ "

In my view Sky should have upheld the complaint itself.

BoJo's no-shows in the UK

This week Boris Johnson refused to be interviewed - as other party leaders were - by veteran host and journalist Andrew Neil on BBC TV. 

But he did agree to be interviewed by another BBC political interviewer Andrew Marr, who then asked him why he was running scared of the other Andrew. 

This is a great summary of what the public learned. 

the room next door - Boris Johnson and Andrew Marr pic.twitter.com/yl2XWTe759

— Michael Spicer (@MrMichaelSpicer) December 2, 2019

Johnson’s answers and attempts to flatter Marr were embarrassing - especially for a former journalist who ought to be able to hold his own. 

And he used the same tactic over and over in encounters with other reporters on campaign trail like this:  

But it’s also the BBC under fire for allowing Johnson to call the shots. 

BBC news said it was necessary to provide a slot for the prime minister in the wake of the terror attack on London Bridge: 

“As the national public service broadcaster, the BBC’s first priority must be its audience. In the wake of a major terrorist incident, we believe it is now in the public interest that the prime minister should be interviewed on our flagship Sunday political programme."

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw said: “This is a shameful and abject surrender by the BBC management, which will leave professional BBC journalists absolutely horrified.

He was a BBC radio reporter himself before going into Parliament in 1997. 

Soon after another Boris no-show has also been spun by his party - with the help of yet another journalist-turned-politician. 

The UK’s Channel 4 invited all the party leaders to a special televised debate about climate change. Boris declined and was replaced by a melting ice sculpture alongside the leaders who did turn up.

Then the Conservatives’ Michael Gove (another former journalist in the 1990s, incidentally) turned up at the last minute in a wretchedly-fake attempt to take Johnson’s place. 

When he was rebuffed cameras broadcast his claim he had been excluded at the behest of rival parties’ leaders. 

He put the video out straight away on social media, making himself appear the victim of censorship.

Tonight I went to Channel 4 to talk about climate change but Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon refused to debate a Conservative #climatedebate pic.twitter.com/NY1dQOzCgN

— Michael Gove (@michaelgove) November 28, 2019

I hope we don't have too much of this sort of stuff here in 2020.

In other news . . .

The RNZ / NPA-led Local Democracy Reporting Service has been up and running for a bit now with eight reporters in the regions posting stories for RNZ. Here's a great example from Kakoura.

BusinessDesk's odd exclusino by Google, as told by the agency's founder Pattrick Smellie and by Nine to Noon's media man Gavin Ellis here.

The Spinoff’s Duncan Greive is launching a new monthly media podcast called The Fold.