What we don't need next time some unhinged loon like Haron Monis takes hostages is the never ending shit show of rolling coverage across every available electronic channel. A maddy and grub like that, what do you think they most want in the world?
They want the world to pay attention. And that's exactly what Monis got yesterday. The attention of tens of millions of people focussed almost solely on him until the moment it all came apart in gunfire. Two poor innocent people are dead, their last day a horror. Dozens of others will carry the psychological injuries through the rest of their lives, some of them with serious physical wounds. The wounding will continue over the days and weeks as the worst of us get our hate on and more innocents are targeted; this time by bigots and fools, some of them simply racist trolls toiling away in the sewers of the internet, some of them running newspapers and talkback radio programs.
The special edition of yesterday's Daily Telegraph was probably the low point in the full spectrum media coverage of Monis's crime. It was wrong on every count. But if that was the definitive low point, there were many contenders. Some driven by malice. Most caused by the need to fill up dead air space or to beat the competition in the race for clicks and eyeballs. The ABC allowed one idiot talking-head after another to sprout dangerous garbage all over their 24 hour news service while many media outlets updated police tactical movements around the site of the siege. It took pleas by the police, the establishment of the exclusion zone and some determined social media shaming to cut off that information flow to Monis.
The rolling coverage made it all worse. If Monis had actually been a trained jihadi, and not just a murderous arse clown with mental health issues and a gun, the media coverage could easily have contributed to the death of more hostages as part of an ISIS media plan.
I feel for the hostages. I don't feel anything but contempt for everyone who made a goose of themselves.
Thank god for this article by John Birmingham @ Fairfax - It's concerning when one begins questioning if they may be living alone in Looney Tunes land.
