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Seriously if another journalist wastes column inches writing fucking putrid op-ed about ‘the angels of our better nature’ and expecting more compassion and understanding from politicians I’ll go (even more) spare
The very nature of politics, and politicians, in this time, is that it’s geared to absolutely fuck you over. Forget about hoping for a morsel of pity from Trump, for a sliver of humanity from whichever drone the Democrats have lumbered themselves with.
Don’t think for second that anyone in the current Australian parliament wouldn’t step over the wheezing body of a worker to get to their latest grift. The system is increasingly entrenched and there are very few journalists working to really take up the cudgels against privilege
The reason? We allowed ourselves to be marginalised, all of us. In Australia, the two main parties became extensions of their benefactors. Now we’re reaping the emaciated harvest of what we sowed. My job, the job of every journalist, is to hold the powerful to account
And we’re failing. Miserably. It’s one thing to fear the obscene stacking of defamation laws in this country to the favour of the establishment. It’s another entirely to fail to pursue legitimate stories because they might upset someone or god forbid put you on the outer
I see it daily. I’m just a lowly regional journalist, and I’m trying to make a difference where I am, to stand up for people who have no voice: homeless people, the unemployed, workers being absolutely screwed by their employers for standing up to corruption
And there are now systems, set up by the political parties, to stop any scrutiny. Media units who block any questions. The routine lies about FOI applications. The sacking of any staff who even mention how collusion takes place between mates
I see all kinds of great journalists on here fighting against this system, struggling to expose it. And I see as many who don’t, who just write pap, and hope for a seat on a breakfast show so they can spout opinion and get a lifestyle piece in a magazine
I understand why truly great journalists like Joanne McCarthy burn out. It really is ‘us and them’ now. There is no place inside our institutions for people who want real change. There’s too much privilege at stake. Staff must sign NDAs and codes of conduct which perpetuate and
incubate sealed systems of corruption. People are terrified to speak out. I’ve seen it in the prison system, in local council and hospitals, in government departments. And what can I offer them for their story? The likelihood their life will be ruined.
So. What is to be done? Simply this. If you are a journalist who doesn’t care about holding power to account, get the fuck out. Go be a media hack. For me, I genuinely don’t care if they come for me, by attrition or physical attack, by legal means or simply ignoring me
Because if we don’t fight, the privileged win, the players in the system win, the mates win. We need to fight that.
Just to finish: one of the reasons I& #39;m in this business is the late Evan Whitton, who watched my father fight for justice in NSW, a fight that led to the establishing of the Street Royal Commission and an abject lesson in how the system of mates can triumph. This is for him.
