Media coverage of Sydney siege shameful

John Birmingham  Columnist

Remember the news flash?

A news flash was what happened when something large and terrible occurred in the world. Large enough and terrible enough that it couldn't wait until the next scheduled bulletin. A producer, an editor, somebody somewhere decided that whatever was happening was way more important than Humphrey B. Bear or Days of Our Lives, and they interrupted whatever you were listening to or watching to bring you the news.

And then you went back to Humphrey, because two or three minutes was always enough time to let you know the facts and maybe layer on a reaction comment from the relevant authorities.

We need the news flash back.

What we don't need next time some unhinged loon like Man Haron Monis takes hostages is the never ending shit show of rolling coverage across every available electronic channel. A maddy and grub like that, what do you think they most want in the world?

They want the world to pay attention. And that's exactly what Monis got yesterday. The attention of tens of millions of people focussed almost solely on him until the moment it all came apart in gunfire.

Two poor innocent people, who just wanted a damn piece of chocolate, are dead, their last day a horror. Dozens of others will carry the psychological injuries through the rest of their lives, some of them with serious physical wounds. The wounding will continue over the days and weeks as the worst of us get our hate on and more innocents are targeted; this time by bigots and fools, some of them simply racist trolls toiling away in the sewers of the internet, some of them running newspapers and talkback radio programs.

The special edition of yesterday's Daily Telegraph was probably the low point in the full spectrum media coverage of Monis's crime. It was wrong on every count.

But if that was the definitive low point, there were many contenders. Some driven by malice. Most caused by the need to fill up dead air space or to beat the competition in the race for clicks and eyeballs. We at Fairfax were not immune. The ABC allowed one idiot talking-head after another to sprout dangerous garbage all over their 24 hour news service while many media outlets updated police tactical movements around the site of the siege. It took pleas by the police, the establishment of the exclusion zone and some determined social media shaming to cut off that information flow to Monis. 

And all that was needed was a news flash. Even a two minute update every hour would have exhausted the news content of this slow moving story. Admittedly this would have given Monis some of the exposure he craved, but much less than he actually received. It might also have taken the heat out of the worst of the social media reaction, which at times seemed like a megaphone specifically designed for morons.

The rolling coverage made it all worse. If Monis had actually been a trained jihadi, and not just a murderous arse clown with mental health issues and a gun, the media coverage could easily have contributed to the death of more hostages as part of an ISIS media plan. Some protocols to avoid this in future events – because they will happen – would be prudent. But unlikely.

On the upside, the authorities, all of them, federal, state and city, elected and public service, all seemed to carry out their duties with exemplary care and competence. Their performance and the better angels of our nature evident in the hashtag #Illridewithyou are the only positives to take away from this.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/blunt-instrument/media-coverage-of-sydney-siege-shameful-20141216-127wa6.html