Although nothing new to those involved in men's health in this country , I am writing to highlight another example of contempt and disinterest by key mainstream journalists in writing about the distress and discrimination faced by fathers & men in this country.

As a case in point , I recently received an emailed Press Release from Tony Miller, Dads in Distress. It was entitled "Media release from Dads in Distress" but was about the recent abduction of a child out of Australia by the child's mother, done with the complicity of the Family Court of Australia.

In any case, I forwarded this Media Release to a number of journalists who have written many articles on similar matters before, but who have exclusively focussed on how the system has failed mother's and women only. (unfortunately, we have no other options).

One notable journalists in this regard is Adele Horin from the Sydney Morning Herald.

This is how Adele Horin addressed this Press Release, which is unquestionably (from its title) related to serious Men's issues.

"Your message was deleted without being read on Wednesday, September 02, 2009 11:16:08 AM (GMT+10:00) Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney."

Of course, this begs the question:

  • Since when has the unacceptable health conditions suffered by half of Australia's population not been news worthy? Evidently, since it involves men, and;
  • Since when has the abduction of a child from Australia not become news worthy? Evidently, since the child was only abducted away from his father.

This of course is not a one-off.

Almost as a general rule, any Press Release sent to the likes of Adele Horin from SMH or Caroline Overington from the Australian, that is anticipated to be even remotely sympathetic to Men or Fatherhood, gets deleted or binned almost immediately (although I acknowledge that Caroline Overington has taken a few small steps recently to address her un-balanced reporting) . In any case very little facts or material of substance ever make it into the newspapers, with an overwhelming reliance on issues and innuendo as reported from one side of the spectrum ONLY.

This is not free press, or in any case not what it should be.  

I have to stress that these 2 journalists have received over 100 complaints collectively to the Australian Press Council over the last 3 months, over their lack of balanced reporting and their mis-representation of key facts, yet this self-regulated authority has not only dragged its feet on this issue (apparently because too many complaints were received), but the APC has also, in its sarcastic and dismissive correspondence to the complainants, clearly emboldened these journalists to continue doing more of the same, which brings to question who the APC is supposed to be representing.

The clear question here is when will this partisan style of journalism, often involving a refusal to even read the correspondence from those with opposing views, end? Without genuinely balanced reporting, everyone suffers, and its about time that journalists who exploit a system designed to encourage free speech be required to comply with this ethos, or be asked to move on.

Ash Patil
fathers4equality - australia
http://www.fathers4equality-australia.org
email: president@fathers4equality-australia.org





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