The
media had gathered outside waiting the arrival of Pauline Hanson.
Commentary by Scott Balson, Global Web Builders
About 250 One Nation supporters filled the Gatton Senior Citizens Hall in the small country town of Gatton, in the heart of Pauline Hanson's seat of Blair earlier today (12.45pm).
The
media had gathered outside waiting the arrival of Pauline Hanson.
It was a beautiful Queensland day, warm and sunny and the mood within the
hall was one of
expectation.
Outside, awaiting the arrival of Pauline Hanson, a small four man brass band
played on their instruments.
I saw Margo Kingston, the reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald and we exchanged pleasantries remarking on how nice it was to be in the seat of Blair where the country style atmosphere reflected a marked difference from that of the city.
At about 1.15pm Pauline arrived and amid a flurry of cameras and journalists she squeezed her way into the large hall that awaited.
When
she entered the large room with the media in tow the assembled One Nation
audience broke into spontaneous applause.
Unlike
the campaign launches of the major parties there were no fancy scrolling
screens, multimedia presentations or performing monkeys, just a portable
screen behind those seated on the stage - a screen plastered with One Nation
posters.
Pauline was joined on the stage by Queensland number one senator candidate Heather Hill, New South Wales number one senate candidate David Oldfield and Sue Gordon (number three candidate for the Queensland Senate).
After
a short speech by an inventor who spoke warmly of One Nation, Heather Hill
talked about the need for One Nation to get the country back on track.
Heather was followed by Pauline Hanson who gave an impassioned and powerful speech which was punctuated by applause all the way through.
She talked about unemployment being the main issue in this election. How Beazley had admitted the lies about the real level of unemployment when he spoke about creating over million jobs in the next six years to bring unemployment down to 5%. She talked about the failings of Labor and Liberal and how they represented big business.
Here are some extracts from Pauline's launch speech. Full text at this link:
"This Saturday Australians will decide if it is the elite of the media, of academia and those others who see themselves above ordinary Australians who dictate our future, or whether it will be the people themselves who decide our fate.
"This election, we either make a difference or we will be made to be different, as our Australian identity is taken from us and we are left as just another corner of the world whose standards of living and security has been lowered.
"I say jobs, jobs, jobs not just government handouts and the short-term action of simply creating government funded positions."
After her speech Pauline was presented with a portrait and a bunch of flowers and a portrait by an amateur artist..
The launch was, despite the powerful presentations and strong support, to be just the warm up for an amazing series of events which will forever stand as a blight on the reputation of the mainstream Australian media.
The media were, following Pauline's speech, asked by David Oldfield to leave so that the One Nation faithful could discuss the manning of booths and other issues related to supporting Pauline Hanson this Saturday on election day.
On their way out the media would be able to pick up further One Nation policy documents.
For
about ten minutes the journalists, cameramen and photographers complied,
leaving the hall, while the assembled One Nation supporters prepared for
the private post-launch meeting. I was filming Pauline Hanson signing the
back of someone's t-shirt when I heard a fracas at the rear of the room.
Turning, I saw the media returning like a flock of sheep following The Sydney Morning Herald's Margo Kingston and The Courier Mail's Christine Jackman back into the hall.
The pair now confronted David Oldfield making allegations that the policy documents had not been accompanied by promised costings. The basis of Kingston's attack was that the costings were promised today - for the record the costings were faxed, as promised, to the media at 5pm today.
While Margo Kingston cried foul about the costings Jackman took Heather Hill loudly to task calling her a liar over her comments on ABC Radio 4QR where she allegedly said that morning ' you pick up The Courier Mail and you have three pages of very detailed policy of the major political parties and only a few lines from One Nation'.
"Where are the costing you promised us Mr Oldfield," Margo Kingston shouted to the benefit of those gathered in the hall.
"Why did you lie about The Courier Mail on radio today Mrs Hill," Christine Jackman shouted in similar vein.
Here we had a most remarkable situation. A situation where the media, instead of reporting on issues, was actually creating the story that would appear on television that night and, most certainly, the Australian papers the next day.
A situation where the journalists and cameramen who came back were performing in a manner which could do their profession no good but under circumstances where they would be judge and jury on how the incident was reported.
Despite pleas and shouts from the One Nation faithful assembled for them to leave they refused - the Kingston/Jackman issues being shouted repeatedly at anyone who would listen - leaving me wondering if the journalists were there to cover the news or to make it.
The comedy turned into farce as the media started interviewing each other in a room full of One Nation supporters stunned and shocked by their behaviour.
In effect the media representatives shown in the images below were no better than a group of gate crashers moving in unwelcome to a private party. Interesting, like much of their reporting, they were like sheep - while Kingston and Jackman appeared to lead the "gate crash" the rest followed looking for a story. A story created by one of their own.
In the images below David Oldfield faces the fury of an antagonistic media pack who had returned to what was now a private, closed meeting for party members. They appeared, to all inside the hall, to be hell-bent on wrecking the positive moments of the One Nation launch.
These images were taken shortly after they gate-crashed the "private" One Nation meeting.
Oldfield
went to the stage and advised the assembly that the police had been called
to evict the media.
"I would ask you not to become involved in arguments with the media, they are not worth it," Oldfield said.
He went on to say, "Those members of the media who are not wanting to be involved in this particular situation and are decent enough to leave, please do so. Those of you who are not decent enough to leave, bear in mind we have just called the police and we will have you ejected."
In the image below on the left the main protagonists, journalists Christine Jackman (Courier Mail) left and Margo Kingston (The Sydney Morning Herald) right take seats in the hall where the private One Nation meeting was about to be held and prepare to be interviewed by their fellow journalists.
Remember that the journalists and photographers shown in the images above and below were all "gate-crashing" a private political meeting without any justification.
Such is the state of the Australian media today.
It was at this stage that David Oldfield called for the police to remove the unwanted presence of Australian journalists at the private meeting.
The journalist with the large mike in the picture on the left tried to interview me while I was taking the pictures above. He questioned me about my photographing then putting journalists on the Internet. I refused to answer his stupid line of questioning although, at this moment in time, I was sure he could not see how hypocritical his comments were.
Moments before this he had used his mobile to contact "home base" to get legal advice on whether he "should leave the hall if the police ordered him to".....
Margo Kingston seated opposite me smiled as the media game was played with my out of luck questioner .
He tried to question any One Nation supporter who came within range of his mike.
I really felt sorry for the police sent out to answer the call.
They know how to deal with protesters - but here you had an Australian first - How do you evict journalists "covering or making their news"? The police sent there to evict the media suddenly became the focus of media attention.
Just imagine how "balanced" the reporting will be in tomorrow's newspapers.
When you look at the journalists and cameramen in the image on the left below - remember that the media were now covering a quite clearly stated private meeting - to which they had not been invited.
Under
the presence of police intimidated by the media the journalists followed
by the cameramen and the photographers left. There were no arrests - but
the ethics of those who provide us the news day after day can only be questioned
after this disgraceful invasion of privacy by those who are supposed to know
better.
Peter James, right, became a new focus of their attention.
Like sheep they trailed out of the hall one after the other. One could get the feeling that they were excited - for once they had created news - rather than reporting on it.
Just like a country fair merry-go-round the media once again attacked David Oldfield on the costings for One Nation's policies at the entry to the Senior Citizen's Centre. By this time they had left the private meeting - over half an hour after they first "gate-crashed" it.
"The Sydney media are leading an assault on democracy," Oldfield said. "The Sydney media are saying they are going to dictate to this country and the Sydney media are trying to tell people what to do and that they're in charge."
Once outside the journalists gathered and talked - this was the melting point of where stories are formulated, twists are spun behind the stories that appear in your paper that you read while you have your breakfast or sit in your office.
You will see examples below this article.
In closing here are the costings that were not immediately available when the journalists demanded them - a document whose absence earlier that afternoon that The Sydney Morning Herald's Margo Kingston used to spearhead a journalistic gate crash of the private One Nation meeting that followed the launch.
They were, as stated by Peter James before the gate-crash, faxed to the media late this afternoon but let's not let that get in the way of a "balanced" story.
Later that afternoon Pauline Hanson was to say, "I have not had a fair go, there is only reporting if it negative and against me." She agreed with David Oldfield's comments about the Sydney media.
One Nation policies released yesterday:
The line spun by the television stations that night suggested that the media was thrown out of the launch by David oldfield and that there were no costings - justifying their actions.
Of course the truth is that they were not thrown out of the launch. They had left the launch at the request of One Nation so that party members could discuss private issues. When the costings were not provided with policy documents they decided to return and confront David Oldfield - the fact that over 200 One Nation supporters were preparing for a private media-free meeting played absolutely no part in their decision to gate crash.
See Media Watch Interactive's comments on television coverage below
The Queensland Times (Ipswich) carries the headline "Oldfield threatens media at launch" on the 30th September.
It states: "One Nation's Federal campaign launch yesterday fell into farce, with journalists threatened with arrest after trying to get costings for the party's policies"....
and "The media were asked to leave (after the launch), but re-entered the building, seeking information on costings. Police were then called. After debating with party members, journalists left as 150 supporters chanted "out, out". The doors were then locked."
Ballot 98 On-line extracts from article by Margo Kingston:
"But the Gatton gathering quickly went the way of the rest of One Nation's campaign - rapidly straying from conventional electioneering into confusion, efforts to intimidate journalists and - in the face of hard questioning - a decision to ban the media.
"Journalists returned to the hall but Mr Oldfield would not answer questions on the party's failure to honour its undertaking to cost its promises yesterday. Instead he yelled to about 200 One Nation members: "You can see quite clearly the way the media treats the people of Australia.
You can see that they have absolutely no truth whatsoever."
Now what happened to coverage of the fact that this was a private One Nation meeting that the journalists had gate crashed? One at which the media were not wanted? What happened to THE FACT that Margo was advised before the gate crashing that the costings were to be faxed to the media that afternoon?
"The police refused, and left the building. When One Nation supporters began pushing journalists, the media left the hall and the doors were locked behind them."
I dispute the statement above completely it is a gross distortion of the facts as I and over one hundred One Nation supporters viewed first hand. The police were called to ask the media to leave, and the police left after the media had left the hall. I did not see any journalists being pushed by supporters. I saw One Nation supporters leave after being intimidated by the media's return to the private meeting.
The Courier Mail on the 30th September carried a short article of the One Nation launch on page eleven. No coverage was given to Pauline Hanson's message in a paper chock full of Beazley-fanmail articles.
Christine Jackman's article headed "Launch slides into farce over costings row" fails to mention that the journalists had gate crashed a private meeting - and that is why the police were called. Ms Jackman reports, "Journalists then returned inside to confront Mr Oldfield, who called the police after refusing to answer repeated questions about how One Nation would pay for the policies."
She continues "Instead some One Nation supporters jostled and heckled the media..." For someone who was very close to the action I wish to advise that I failed to see this sort of action being taken by supporters who, under the circumstances, were extremely well-behaved.
The only incident I am aware of between supporters and the media is an incident where a photographer approached me during the sit-in and said, "You are going to hear from my lawyers...." Something to do, I believe, with my reporting on the media. Seems like what's good for the goose is not good for the gander.
For me there was a simple moral to the events that had taken place. There were one set of rules for "them" and a completely different set of rules for "us".
Welcome to the level playing field.
Courier Mail comments about the "gate crash"
on 1st October 1998:
For example, in today's Courier Mail, Dennis Atkins (with strong Labor affiliations) reports, in part, under the heading: "Attacks drive voters to Hanson's banner":
"The behaviour of the travelling media and the oppressive negative advertising of the Liberal party have fed One Nation and added to their voter support.
"For the past week the media has turned One Nation events into warfare, culminating in the us-and-them stand off at Gatton on Tuesday.
"If there is one thing One Nation's voter base distrusts and dislikes more than the political establishment, it's the media. Those journalists who have led the belligerent attack on One Nation at Gatton should consider their actions when the party picks up between six and eight seats."
and an extract from a Courier Mail Perspectives article by Terry Sweetman (a rabid anti-Hanson reporter):
"So One Nation goaded the "dogs" into an ill-judged sit-in with the grey brigade jeering from the sidelines. The spin doctor's potion was made more potent by the fact that the media is one of those institutions that One Nation fans neither understand nor trust and now love to hate.
You will note that, although damning the actions of their colleagues, the
reporters suggest that they are to be damned because they will assist One
Nation's vote on Saturday - not because they gate crashed a private meeting
being held by One Nation supporters.
Here is an independent assessment of the media
coverage of this event by MediaWatch Interactive's JG
Estiot:
The Australian media needs to be once again exposed for the pack of liars and cheat they are. As you know, yesterday Pauline Hanson was launching the One Nation campaign from Gatton. You also know that there was an incident involving the media getting thrown out by David Oldfield. Well, about time somebody kicked that pack of slimy peddlers of propaganda out of a civilised gathering of people.
Before I go any further, the ABC must be exempt of criticism because in my view, it reported fairly and accurately the event. With all its faults, the ABC is still the better of a putrid bunch.
So what happened up there? According to Ten’s news at 5pm, "following Pauline Hanson’s speech to supporters, senior party adviser and New South Wales candidate David Oldfield ordered the media out. Mr Oldfield was being questioned about policy costings." First, I note that Ten’s coverage of the speech extended to a whopping four seconds, and consisted of pictures of Pauline Hanson addressing the meeting with a voiceover telling the story of David Oldfield ejecting the media. So Ten did not air a single word about the speech itself. Welcome to third world media land.
Channel Nine did a relatively better job but the coverage was misleading because it did not mention that the costings were faxed by 5pm. So it basically made its audience believe that angry scenes erupted because One Nation officials had flatly refused to release costing details.
On Channel Seven, it was "Pauline Hanson refusing to release costing details despite promising to do so. When the media protested, adviser David Oldfield tried to throw them out. When that failed, police were called." So once again, no mention of the faxing of costings by 5 pm. Anyone with half a brain screwed on would agree that this is a relevant fact.
On SBS, well…. not a single word. I immediately phoned them and asked for an explanation. After some discussion, they finally accepted that the event was newsworthy and that it should have been in the news. They then started to find excuses about the fact that maybe the tape didn’t get to them…
Finally, the ABC did a fair job of it. Part of their report dealt with the contents of Pauline Hanson’s speech and properly conveyed the atmosphere of the launch. This is a departure from standard media coverage of Hanson which typically portrays her as embattled and besieged. In the 7:30 report, the ABC played footage that clearly showed the start of the incident. When picking up the documents released by One Nation, Margo Kingston asked about the costings. She was told that they were to be faxed to the media by 5pm. She then said: "Why not now?" This is how it all started. The media exploited the delay in the release of a document to turn the place upside down. The ABC report noted that "apparently, a 5pm release was not good enough." I have observed the relationship between One Nation and the media from the very beginning and I cannot help thinking that whatever One Nation does will never be good enough for some. The same journos who print unchallenged porkies from the major parties and kiss their ass on a daily basis are the same hacks who carve One Nation to pieces when a document is a couple of hours late.
Margo Kingston should be exposed as a troublemaker and somebody who has behaved with a great deal of bias. How can a journalist who works for a morning newspaper complain about getting a document by 5pm? How does this adversely affecting her deadline? There is a lot more to the story. Since the release of One Nation’s immigration policy, the media have been stalking for half a chance to cause trouble. They seized the first opportunity. It’s that simple. Margo Kingston has been engaged in a thinly veiled anti-Hanson campaign. The ballot 98 web site has more than enough evidence of that. The sound bytes section is almost exclusively dedicated on Margo’s ranting about ON’s facism and so on. The poor lady needs a break, it’s getting to her head.
A quick word about the power of the Internet. By the time the last story was broadcast on TV, I had received the account of somebody who was at Gatton. This is where the future is. Do not sponsor the liars by buying their newspapers and boosting their ratings. Get on the Net and draw your news from as many sources as you can. Take the time to consider all views. I have never really heard of a political party that had all good or all bad policies. In fact, simply look at the policies shared by parties who would want you to believe that they are opposite. More importantly, next Saturday elect as many non-labor and non-liberals candidates as possible. It is the first step to getting a fairer and more accountable Australian media. Replace multiculturalism with multipoliticalism and elect a diversity of candidates to Parliament.
JG Estiot
Editor
Update on Estiot's report above, here is an extract:
I am taking this matter to the Australian Broadcasting Authority which interestingly enough ruled today, on my request, that an e-mail complaint is considered to be "in writing" and that TV stations should reply to e-mail complaints as they would if it had arrived by postal mail.
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