trial by media or trial by jury

In any story there are going to be two sides.  Reputable media will try their best to cover both sides.  Sometimes they fail as one side wont talk.  No-one likes being sued so the major papers tend to be pretty sure of their facts before putting something all over the front page.  A newspaper needs to make money though and there are only so many “saved cat” stories they can publish.  They need to hunt out the good, the bad and the simply odd in the world. 

The newspapers need to find some aspect to the story with which the reader can identify.  When that story is a private one, a relationship gone bad, potentially silly actions carried out on both sides as a result how do you make it something the country wants to read about?  Well obviously it helps if you throw in a celebrity.  Better still if you can manage to attach it to a social ill.

So now Veitch has been charged and suddenly his former colleagues are referring to him as “Mr Veitch”, no more matey matey Veitchy any more.  I still don’t understand why he said anything when the story broke and I wonder if the story would have had less fuel without his words.  The other party has remained silent.  All we see of her is the same smiling photo.   Veitch is in a no win situation, whatever he did or didn’t do and whatever the circumstances his story has attracted the social ill of domestic violence.  So now he has to fight the charges and the public preconception.  An the media – how much effort are they putting into the other side of the story?

awww, poor little broken veitchy

Okay, so I have no personal knowledge of any part of the Veitch fracas and “lashing out” and am just another blogger adding to the noise but I just can’t help myself on this one. Honestly, having your friend come out and complain that Veitch is being trialled by the media is just ridiculous. Does he actually think that’s going to garner any sympathy?

The man works in the media and made statements to the media.  Now I know the big mean Dominion broke the story but if even half of what’s been said is true he has some questions to answer.  And for someone who worked in the industry, to think he could deliver a statement of euphemisms, crying privacy and think he could leave it at that – it wasn’t very bright really.

Maybe he’ll think twice about “lashing out” in the future.

tony, derek and trevor

A couple of stories have surfaced in the media this week and it reminded me of another from a while ago.

Tony Veitch’s alleged attack on his partner which according to the media was so severe his partner needed to use a wheelchair afterwards.

Derek Fox’s violence towards his partners 30 or 40 years ago and 15 years ago.

And there’s Trevor Mallard’s shameful violence last year.

Veitch has gone from having a sparkling career to appearing to lose it all. He’s suspended from his media jobs, isn’t getting to cover the Olympics and is no longer offered as a celebrity speaker. The only person still seemingly stading by him is is fairly new wife. Veitch came out very publicly, forced by the media really but still said more than he had to. He admitted he did it but not the details. He admitted he paid compensation to his former partner. He said he’s been getting help for his violence. He said he’s not excusing his actions. So with such a public admission the police may now investigate. The country seems shocked and apalled but not as angry as I’d expect.

I then compare that to Fox. He’s keeping fairly quiet on his past. Again he’s been outed by the media. From reports it seems the police have been aware of incidents in the past but Fox was not prosecuted. The Maori Party are so desperate to win the seat from Parekura Horomia they have rallied around Fox.  They do police checks on potential candidates but of course if you’re not prosecuted nothing’s going to surface – till the media start digging.

Lastly there’s Mallard. He punched another politician, Henrare, after he made comments about his personal live.  Mallard was not made to resign. He was barely punished – he was demoted from 7 to 10 in cabinet and lost his favoured porfolios of sports and rugby world cup.  A private citizen took him to court.  Bloggers fumed with indignation at the apparent leniency with which Mallard was treated.

Based solely on media reports I can see the levels of violence were different in each circumstance but violence is violence. One thing disturbs me most of all. If the violence has some political implication, the person doesn’t entirely get away with it but it is treated solely as a political issue and for point scoring.  And then there’s Veitch who I think is in that other category this nation always wants to forgive – the sportsman. Okay, so he’s not a sportsman but he reports on it and it is the same key audience he shares with those who participate in sports.  The country is shocked by Veitch but just like the behaviour of so called sporting role models who drink to excess and behave badly, the country seems too quick to forgive.