Usually, at AussieRulesBlog, we confine ourselves to footy and footy-related issues. However the unsavoury rush to report news of Matthew Stokes’ criminal charges has us thinking in more societal terms.
Let us start by recalling that the AFL has a three-strike drugs policy for players caught using recreational or illicit drugs. Briefly, players’ identities are protected until a third offence, giving them a rare chance, in the AFL world at least, of reform without the glare of publicity.
Recently the news media and blogosphere became frantic on reporting that Essendon’s Nathan Lovett-Murray had been picked up by the police for questioning on a drug-related matter. Had officialdom taken any notice of the blogosphere in particular, Lovett-Murray would have been hung, drawn and quartered that very day.
Of course, police later reported they were satisfied that an ecstasy tablet found in Lovett-Murray’s home belonged to someone else.
More recently, the blogosphere rushed to report charges of trafficking against Matthew Stokes. It emerged that Stokes had purchased a small quantity of drugs for a friend and had been caught in a police phone-tapping operation.
Had Stokes used the drug and been caught by the AFL’s testing program, we would be none the wiser.
It is dangerous to engage in applying our everyday notions out of context, but with that caveat in place we should do so.
In our view, ‘trafficking’ represents commercial resale of the substance with the aim of securing an advantage, whether that be in cash or kind. Stokes, it seems to us, did a questionable favour for someone he knew. He didn’t use the substance, nor did he benefit from the transaction (that we know of).
With enough time for sober reflection and fuller details, most of the blogosphere would have moderated their comments on these specific incidents.
AussieRulesBlog consciously does not try to be some sort of unofficial news feed, and doesn’t carry a news feed widget, simply because the sensationalist nature of twenty-first century news often obscures the real story in hyperbole.
Sadly, for those caught up in the news circus, the old adage that if enough mud is thrown some will stick seems to hold true. Blog posts and comments are, to all intents and purposes, permanent and continue to vent their hyperbolic blood lust long after they’ve been forgotten by the writers.
As we noted at the start of this post, these are not uniquely footy-related issues, but symptomatic of a harsher, less caring, more judgemental society, fed on fear by big media desperate for ever more threatening ‘news’ to spark their ratings.
Monday, February 08, 2010
The rush to report
Labels:
footy blogosphere,
media
Usually, at AussieRulesBlog, we confine ourselves to footy and footy-related issues. However the unsavoury rush to report news of Matthew Stokes’ criminal charges has us thinking in more societal terms.Let us start by recalling that the AFL has a three-strike drugs policy for players caught using recreational or illicit drugs. Briefly, players’ identities are protected until a third offence, giving them a rare chance, in the AFL world at least, of reform without the glare of publicity.
Recently the news media and blogosphere became frantic on reporting that Essendon’s Nathan Lovett-Murray had been picked up by the police for questioning on a drug-related matter. Had officialdom taken any notice of the blogosphere in particular, Lovett-Murray would have been hung, drawn and quartered that very day.
Of course, police later reported they were satisfied that an ecstasy tablet found in Lovett-Murray’s home belonged to someone else.
More recently, the blogosphere rushed to report charges of trafficking against Matthew Stokes. It emerged that Stokes had purchased a small quantity of drugs for a friend and had been caught in a police phone-tapping operation.
Had Stokes used the drug and been caught by the AFL’s testing program, we would be none the wiser.
It is dangerous to engage in applying our everyday notions out of context, but with that caveat in place we should do so.
In our view, ‘trafficking’ represents commercial resale of the substance with the aim of securing an advantage, whether that be in cash or kind. Stokes, it seems to us, did a questionable favour for someone he knew. He didn’t use the substance, nor did he benefit from the transaction (that we know of).
With enough time for sober reflection and fuller details, most of the blogosphere would have moderated their comments on these specific incidents.
AussieRulesBlog consciously does not try to be some sort of unofficial news feed, and doesn’t carry a news feed widget, simply because the sensationalist nature of twenty-first century news often obscures the real story in hyperbole.
Sadly, for those caught up in the news circus, the old adage that if enough mud is thrown some will stick seems to hold true. Blog posts and comments are, to all intents and purposes, permanent and continue to vent their hyperbolic blood lust long after they’ve been forgotten by the writers.
As we noted at the start of this post, these are not uniquely footy-related issues, but symptomatic of a harsher, less caring, more judgemental society, fed on fear by big media desperate for ever more threatening ‘news’ to spark their ratings.
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