Is Alan Jones 'hate speech' legal finding as much an influence as 'social media' on sponsors?

By Ruth Skilbeck

Mainstream media have largely ignored what must be seen to be an important background factor in the mass exodus of Alan Jone's sponsors and supporters this week- and that is the decision this week to reject an appeal by Alan Jones against a High Court finding that he incited hatred in comments that he made on his talkback radio show before the Cronulla riots in Sydney in 2005.

The finding against Jones is  reported  in the last paragraph of  article on page 10 of  the weekend Sydney Morning Herald, titled "2GB back in court on defamation claims".

The main story is that the High Court partially upheld an appeal over comments made by another 2GB broadcaster in the aftermath of the Cronulla riots.

Macquarie Radio, owner of 2GB is publicly saying it is supporting Jones, whilst at the same time suspending all ads on his 2GB radio show.

Efforts are clearly being made to cast  the controversy in terms of "activism" versus "advertising" - perhaps disingenuously at the same time making accusations against social media campaigns.

Will we see the mainstream media addressing the critical -and unforgotten- history of local talkback radio "hate speech" that left a lasting impact on Sydney's residents, and that  reared its ugly head again last weekend in revelations of the "disrespectful" remarks directed against the grieving PM -that her recently deceased father had "died of shame"?

Surely the finding this week against Jones in his attempt to appeal his "hate speech" High Court finding, combined with the evidence of his remarks about the PM, had some influence in prestige  sponsors such as Mercedes-Benz driving away at top speed.

©Copyright Ruth Skilbeck

Alan Jones loses more than sponsored Merc, social media campaigns work

By Ruth Skilbeck

The power of visual communication in advertising and self promotion cannot be underestimated, so when Mercedes Benz announced yesterday that it was repossessing its $250,000 sponsored black 2012 S-Class Mercedes from controversial broadcaster Alan Jones, in the wake of social media campaigns following Jones remarks that the PM Julia Gillard's father "died of shame", Mercedes-Benz gesture of condemnation speaks louder than words.

“We want the car back, the deal is cancelled, it is over,” David McCarthy, the car company’s corporate communications manager, told New Limited in reports today.

“We were appalled and shocked at the lack of respect (Jones’s comments) expressed.”

In a hastily called press conference last weekend, Jones had brushed off his remarks about the PMs father and said that "it would be "business as usual". When he gave his next talkback radio breakfast show after the long weekend on Tuesday, images of Jones in the chauffuer-driven Mercedes were widely broadcast- on the internet and TV.

Sponsors provide their products to "celebrities" for endorsement and association with a brand, to reach maximum exposure.

This could have been designed to send a subliminal visual message to the world that Jones was safe in his position in his luxury prestige car and supported.

So in stating they are repossessing the car, and publicly withdrawing their support, Mercedes-Benz are making it quite clear that they do not want to be associated with the broadcaster and Jones' 'brand' of "disrespectful"  verbal messages.

Mercedes-Benz has said they will repossess the car if Jones does not return it by October 31, News Limited reported today.

© Copyright Ruth Skilbeck

Re-captioned image circulating on Facebook 7.10. 2012

PM Gillard's 'persecution' silence broken calls for change in political media culture -"civil language in political discourse"

Opinion (contains previously censored content)

By Ruth Skilbeck 




Women voters worldwide it’s time to give media misogynists the “boot” and say no way to their symbolic violence against women- a verbal culture of gendered personal abuse and disrespect that is part of a wider spectrum of violence against women.

The personal has entered the political in an ugly form of personal abuse directed against Australia’s first female PM by radio talkback host Alan Jones, 71, who has built a long career on controversial broadcast commentary in Australia.

This week in Australia, highly controversial remarks by the 2GB radio talkback host, Alan Jones, a Liberal supporter, that the Prime Minister Julia Gillard's father had “died of shame” caused by “his daughter's lies”, just weeks after the PM’s father's death and as the PM is grieving, has caused widespread public condemnation- and also brought to the fore of public debate the urgent need to counter increasing levels of sexist oppression, and persecution, of women in politics, and in the public sphere- through channels such as talkback radio and political organisations, in Australia.


The radio broadcaster, Jones, made the inflammatory statements at a speech he gave to a Young Liberals function at the Sydney University Liberal Club, reportedly not knowing a journalist was present and recording his words.

Jones has, notoriously, also made repeated suggestions to tie the PM in a "chaff-bag" (sack) and "dump her out to sea". Auctioned at the Young Liberals  $100-per-head function, was a jacket made of chaff bags and signed by Alan Jones, supplied by Woolworth's community and government relations manager, and Liberal member, Simon Berger. 

Only in September Jones was condemned for misogyny when he accused "women", not only the PM, of "destroying the joint". He targeted the Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore and former Victorian Police Commissioner, Christine Nixon in sweeping statements on a breakfast show at a time, when critics pointed out children and young people may be listening in cars driven to school with the radio on.

In a sign that equity is entering the political workplace, women are finally starting to break through a tightly guarded wall of sexist exclusion, in Australia. Gillard is the nation's first female PM and there is currently a female Governor General and Attorney General in Australia. These are signs that political representation is (rather belatedly) changing to more accurately reflect women’s very high participation in the workforce in Australia. Yet this is just the latest incident in a discursive political environment and culture that many are now acknowledging and condemning as increasingly toxic to women who are working in these roles: 

"We can also make the case that the Prime Minister has been subject to sexual harassment in her employment as set out by sections 28A and 28B of the Sex Discrimination Act," said author Anne Summers AO PhD in her 2012 Human Rights and Social Justice Lecture, on ‘Her Rights at Work: the Persecution of Australia’s First Prime Minister” at Newcastle University, in August (31/8/12), an abridged version of which was published by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Summers said: "It is well accepted under the act that the sending of sexually explicit material via email or text to a person constitutes sexual harassment. The definition also covers accessing sexually explicit internet sites. Therefore, creating sexually explicit internet sites or posting such sexual material to Facebook pages would easily fall within the definition of sexual harassment".

Summers reported that in the PM's press conference on Thursday, August 23, the PM said that ''for many, many months now I have been the subject of a very sexist smear campaign from people for whom I have no respect''. The PM identified cartoonist Larry Pickering as someone who publishes ''a vile and sexist website.''

Summers added: "For many months, Pickering has regularly bombarded not just Gillard but every member of Parliament with emails containing hate-filled commentary about the Prime Minister. Often these commentaries have been accompanied by cartoons, many of which depict Gillard naked and wearing a huge strap-on dildo."

There is a history in Australia of not talking about "embarrassing" behaviours of bullying and dominance (which is part of the colonial backdrop) and which allows perpetrators to get away with cruelty often with only a few people knowing or publicly recognising what is going on. Last weekend the Australian media and public woke up.

Whereas verbal abuse, and gender-based denigration of women in politics was one of those things that was not talked about (much) in the media, and was an embarrassing phenomenon, media research reports - as well as eye witness reports and incidents such as this speech at the Sydney University Liberal Club to Young Liberals by an influential media figure, shows that gender-based verbal attacks on high profile and political women, aimed to be demeaning and belittling of their authority, have become increasingly prolific, crude, and personally abusive- and commonplace.  

The next day, before the backlash, the Liberal Club tweeted "brilliant speech by Alan Jones last night. It's no wonder he's the nation's most influential broadcaster." After the recording became public the tweet was deleted and apology issued. 


The social media backlash was swift, with a campaign, and an online petition calling for Jones to be sacked, and for a boycott of 2GB, gathered instant momentum - and 5 days later, over 100,000 signatures and many advertisers and sponsors have withdrawn support from 2GB. Yet the controversy continues.

The many political and media figures from across the political spectrum who have publicly condemned the controversial radio presenter’s remarks include Malcolm Turnbill (shadow minister for communications and broadband) who tweeted: "Alan Jones' comments about the late John Gillard were offensive and cruel. He should apologise to the PM and her family." (29/9/12).

Kevin Rudd (Labor MP and former Labor party leader) tweeted "Alan Jones comments are lowest of the low. Abbott must dismiss Jones from Liberal Party now and ban him from future Liberal events." (30/9/12).

Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott's informal statement on Sunday was  "Alan’s remarks regarding the PM were …out of line” and welcoming Jones’ apology. Two days later, after the incident had erupted into a media storm, he said in a press conference they were “wrong, offensive, unacceptable”.

Sharpening the impact, the reports of Jones’ attack on the PM came in a weekend when Australian media and social media reverberated with the news of a horrific rape and murder of a 29 year old ABC radio employee, Irish-born, Jill Meagher, who was abducted into a laneway whilst walking home alone at night in busy well lit streets in inner Melbourne after having after-work drinks with friends and colleagues. After a week’s search and a massive social media campaign, last Saturday over 30,000 people turned out to march in solidarity against her murder, and violence against women, for safe cities. Suspect Adrian Ernest Bayley, 41 of Coburg, was caught by police and is being held in custody on a rape and murder charge.  

Throughout the weekend the two stories ran side by side and it is impossible not to view, on some level, these two examples of extremes of symbolic and of physical violence against women as connected in a spectrum of aggression and oppression of women who work in the political and media sphere.  

What is at issue here is the muddying of the personal and political in the workplace in ways that are deeply offensive, aggressive and should be illegal, deliberately targeting and attacking women in politics and the public sphere on gendered ground.

 This has gone too far and has to stop.

  © Copyright 2012 Ruth Skilbeck

http://annesummers.com.au/speeches/her-rights-at-work-r-rated/. 

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/conspiracy-of-silence-lets-persecution-of-pm-fester-20120831-255tt.html. 

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/jones-says-gillards-dad-died-of-shame/story-e6freuy9-1226484128451

This is a longer uncensored version of an article published yesterday on this blog  ' 'Shameful' Attacks by Alan Jones on Grieving PM Spark Public Backlash' by Ruth Skilbeck.