Australian privacy law, and a gay Olympic diver

Interesting changes afoot on the local media scene.
For background, you need to know that the Australian media is not as salacious as the UK or US media. Yes there are plenty of shots of stars without make-up, and a few years ago there was an appalling under-door shot of a local rugby league star shagging an athlete in a club loo published in the trashy Sydney tabloid, but I can tell you of at least one gay former PM and two who were having affairs through their Prime Ministerships, none of which has ever been really covered in the news.

That said, the press can be insane. I remember working on two separate mags around the time of the death of a major motoring star a few years back. The serious mag was doing a retrospective of his influence on the sport and his personal biography, the trashy mag was feverishly chasing an exclusive story of a woman who claimed she had borne his lovechild decades ago ("We only had the one night together, but I felt he was my soulmate!")

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My solution is simple. Stop buying trashy magazines and papers. Buy broadsheets, news mags and gardening magazines. Pay the salaries of smarter journalists. Make their frownlines profitable and keep their kids in good schools while the children of paparazzi become acquainted with the state system for a change.

And for the three people who are interested in this, you can watch and read about it at www.abc.net.au/mediawatch

In slightly related news, there is exactly one out male athlete at these Olympics. GO Australia's Matthew Mitcham! He's diving in the springboard preliminaries tonight and will be in the 10m on the 22nd. For all of you who are slashing the divers, focus, people. Focus.

Australian privacy law, and a gay Olympic diver

Interesting changes afoot on the local media scene.
For background, you need to know that the Australian media is not as salacious as the UK or US media. Yes there are plenty of shots of stars without make-up, and a few years ago there was an appalling under-door shot of a local rugby league star shagging an athlete in a club loo published in the trashy Sydney tabloid, but I can tell you of at least one gay former PM and two who were having affairs through their Prime Ministerships, none of which has ever been really covered in the news.

That said, the press can be insane. I remember working on two separate mags around the time of the death of a major motoring star a few years back. The serious mag was doing a retrospective of his influence on the sport and his personal biography, the trashy mag was feverishly chasing an exclusive story of a woman who claimed she had borne his lovechild decades ago ("We only had the one night together, but I felt he was my soulmate!")

( More details ... )

My solution is simple. Stop buying trashy magazines and papers. Buy broadsheets, news mags and gardening magazines. Pay the salaries of smarter journalists. Make their frownlines profitable and keep their kids in good schools while the children of paparazzi become acquainted with the state system for a change.

And for the three people who are interested in this, you can watch and read about it at www.abc.net.au/mediawatch

In slightly related news, there is exactly one out male athlete at these Olympics. GO Australia's Matthew Mitcham! He's diving in the springboard preliminaries tonight and will be in the 10m on the 22nd. For all of you who are slashing the divers, focus, people. Focus.