Stay classy

Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, July 7th, 2012 - 16 comments
Categories: newspapers, scoundrels - Tags:

Rumour has it that one of the Sunday papers is going to run a homophobic piece on a gay political figure. There’s no suggestion of impropriety, just: ‘hey this openly homosexual person’s gay, in case you didn’t know’. One paper a week. Limited space for politics. And they fill it with this. No wonder the print media is dying.

16 comments on “Stay classy ”

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  1. Dr Terry 1
    7 July 2012 at 12:48 pm

    The only politics worth reading come from Matt McCarten, and he gets a small space at the bottom of a page. On finances, there is Bernard Hickey. These two columns are all that is worth a look in this paper.

  2. Populuxe1 2
    7 July 2012 at 6:54 pm

    Is gossiping about gossip some kind of meta-gossip?

  3. North 3
    7 July 2012 at 7:11 pm

    Well there’s a good answer to that……..if there’s homophobia, even antipathy, or a clear political motive. Boycott of the newspaper and a campaign directed at a selection of its advertisers. See how “gay” they feel about that.

    Those who hold power in this country are just screaming out for a new activism……..across numerous fronts. Bring it on !

    • Populuxe1 3.1
      7 July 2012 at 8:51 pm

      Isn’t it just possible that it’s an affirming profile that will highlight a role model for young gay people and help reinforce the important roles gay people have in the community?

      • North 3.1.1
        8 July 2012 at 8:09 am

        Yes, that’s possible. We’ll have to wait and see. Note I said “…..if there’s homophobia, even antipathy, or a clear political motive.”

      • Uturn 3.1.2
        8 July 2012 at 9:25 am

        The other side of that argument is why a person’s sexuality has anything to do with anything; or how a person’s sexuality could be the core point of a story in a Sunday paper. Sunday papers aren’t incisive presenters of truth and definitely blinded by a certain perspective on life and incapable of acknowledgement of a wider view.

        Would it not be better for papers to stick to the news and public address type articles, rather than decide and imagine, from a café culture perspective, exactly who and what a young gay person might or should be “when they grow up” or “reinforce the important roles gay people have in the community”? Would it not be better for all people to follow those things they wish to follow, without being tagged and restricted by their sexuality, skin colour, country of origin, socio-economic status, religion or informally graded one way or the other, by the opinions of the Sunday papers?

        If a person’s activities are newsworthy, at what point does a journalist decide that the mention of the gender of the subject’s lover becomes relevant? Can they prove that gay people are great enginneers, simply because they are gay? Or that refugees always build corporate empires, because they started out with nothing? Or that Italians are always extroverted pizza-makers? Would they then set out to prove that certain races are superior to others? Or perhaps stop halfway, and just casually present the idea that beneficiaries should be stopped from having children – in an unbiased fashion, of course.

        Despite their best efforts, printed media still hold a priveleged position in society. They are the party with far more power than those they interview. Anything they do that does not respect the privacy of the subject is an act of oppression, however subtle, with wide ranging consequences. They can say it is just them reinforcing roles, but they choose the role, the tone of the story, any subtext, where to look for information and what to include – effectively distorting their “reinforced role” into a stereotype.

        • Macro 3.1.2.1
          8 July 2012 at 6:12 pm

          Totally agree.

        • Populuxe1 3.1.2.2
          8 July 2012 at 6:36 pm

          As a gay person I disagree because while it might be better “for all people to follow those things they wish to follow, without being tagged and restricted by their sexuality, skin colour, country of origin, socio-economic status, religion or informally graded one way or the other, by the opinions of the Sunday papers”, we don’t live in that magical land over the rainbow. Gay youth need to see that they are not freaks and that they can have perfectly normal lives and responsible roles in society. As long as society makes sexuality an issue we need to reinforce that. The statistics are a horror story.

  4. Vicky32 4
    8 July 2012 at 5:33 pm

    Does anyone actually read Sunday papers? A few months ago, I broke the habit of a decade, and bought one (I don’t remember which) and had the bad luck to read a Michael Laws rant about the ‘feral’ who are ‘mostly Maori’ and need to be dealt with.
    After that, I decided to boycott all Sunday papers to be on the safe side.

  5. captain hook 5
    8 July 2012 at 5:43 pm

    Journalism in NZ is the pits.
    Either they all scrABBLING TO SEE WHO CAN GET TO LICK AN ALLBLACKS ARSE or its about tom cruise or more to the point, scientology.
    They have just caved in completely.
    What a pity they have stopped putting the pm’s fizzog in “EVERY” issue.
    I dont get the pleasure any more of wiping my bum all over his face.
    Now someone from National will ring up and I’ll get bannned for a week.

  6. Populuxe1 6
    9 July 2012 at 7:19 am

    I didn’t see it. Who was it? Or was this all a load of crap?

  7. Ben Tent 7
    10 July 2012 at 4:20 pm

    Sounds like a 100% guarantee it will be a series about labour parliamentarians.