Stan Grant steps away from Q+A, accuses ABC of 'institutional failure' over coronation coverage, page-538

cheers P.

I've watched Grant for over 20 yrs and admired his journalism, insights, courage and intelligence from Al Jaz to NITV. his opinions have been unchallenged during this time. I was delighted when he transferred to ABC as I think his views are important for the development of our nation. but all we get from watching people on TV is the persona they want to present.

Grant's traumas formed him just as my traumas did me and each develops in their own way. we all have our traumas, some bury their traumas and they come back as haunting dreams. my partner had severe trauma throughout her early life and she wakes with screams sometimes. I had my own, though nothing equivalent to my partner's. but each person's pain is the worst that anyone ever experienced and so the traumas we experience damages each of us in our different ways.

my posts above were directed to Grant's management of qanda and one extreme outburst and ejection of one person. Trauma breaks though and presents us all with aberrant reactions at times. but the experience of seeing him manage the qanda forum told me a great deal about my observations and it was this that gave me reason to express my opinion. He took a wonderful forum for questions to be asked of politicians and perverted it into his own editorial structure. this to me was unacceptable.

I've often been concerned about his editorial way of using questions to pursue his own meanings with little regard to questioners' intent. I've thought of this as useful to drill down into subject matter that most wanted to sweep away out of sight. equally though there was clear manipulation. due to my own traumas, manipulation and intolerance, or lack of understanding the needs of others, are intolerable for me. I've dealt with this sort of stuff all my career. now that I'm retired I don't need to maintain a professional acceptance and on HC we can be free to express our own perceptions and emotive responses.

having knowledge and experience of mental health doesn't makes anyone immune to deficiencies in our own mental health. I'm as mentally unstable as the next person, including my former colleagues in MH. none are truly 'sane'.

we are all just human. and PTSD never goes away.

and yes, Grant's traumas were, no doubt, severe. I've known many who've had similar traumas, some far worse than Grant's.....

we all have to deal with what we have as the building blocks of our history, as you allude to in your post. you might note that I was attacking Grant so much as his management of his professional task.

cheers P.

ps I look forward to qanda returning to its excellent format, but I equally anticipate that Grant will develop a new enterprise which will provide him the platform he can use for the better development of our community.