Who is really being raped? Mallard, the media and democracy (pn648. )

Accusing someone of rape is a serious thing, and difficult to withdraw. Parliament Speaker Trevor Mallard must be regretting that mistake, especially now when he's being bombarded by media articles demanding he resign.  

But that is not the point of my story. My focus is on the media and society, not Mallard.  I'm wondering why the media has gone so far overboard on Mallard's fumbled rape charge when there are so many more important issues facing the country. I doubt it was a moral or human rights concern, although it would be nice to think so.   It seems more likely a pursuit of a nice sexy honey-pot  story that attracts readers and pleases advertisers,  and for at least two of them, the NZ Herald and NewstalkZB, it provides another chance to attack our left-centre government.

Today's Bryce Edwards' NZ Politics Daily lists 15 news items on the "Mallard issue", far more than on other issue such as housing, wages, the economy, Covid-19, climate change, education, international relations, which Edwards also notes. And of the six media commenting,  several published more than one article on Mallard, led by the NZ Herald with 4 articles and NewstalkZB with 3. Ultra-conservative Heather du Plessis and husband Barry Soper wrote 3 of them.  Tomorrow their friend Mike Hosking is likely to keep the pot boiling.

While the media's immediate profit motives are reasonably clear, the consequences of this type of trivia reporting is perhaps less obvious. 

Famed American philosopher Noam Chomsky who died this week provides the wider picture and sums up what is  happening at a deeper level (see photo and quote above).  

The media swamps the public's attention with trivia and passes lightly over the important. The result is an uninformed, apathetic public, victims powerless to influence major events. 

The consequences for democracy are obvious.

-- ACW