Dignified silence no longer good enough

Once upon a time it was seen as admirable and dignified to leave a bad experience behind and move on. To not dwell on it and certainly not to profit (monetarily) from it. Today it seems that if you don’t give the press and the public EXACTLY what they want, they are baying for blood.

In the recent Schapelle Corby case, a middle class girl from Sydney was caught with, and denied prior knowledge of, several kilos of marijuana in her bogie board bag. Several months and a media circus later, the poor girl was sentenced to 20 years in a Bali prison.

20 YEARS?! For marijuana!!!?

I will admit it was a lot, but there seems to be some doubt about the case, even if the Federal Police seem to be down playing the connection.

Whatever the truth, the story captured Australia’s attention and kept the news media sales up for months. Likewise the recent case of Michelle Leslie has kept our attention in Bali.

The Australian model arrested in Bali and convicted for having two (count em folks) tablets of ecstasy in her handbag at a beach party. Ignore for a moment the question of WHAT were the police doing in her handbag, and the fact that just about every 24 year old westerner on the planet has had or will likely have some sort of less than completely legal, recreational inebriant on them at some point. In any case there has been an enormous hue and cry raised over this arrest.

After coming through what must have been a fairly hellish ordeal, the 24 year old girl pleaded guilt and was convicted by the court in Bali. Her sentence? 3 months, back dated to the time of her arrest. Result – she went home pretty much immediately.

WHA??!??

Rumors of bribes have been circulating and it appears that at least AU$250,000, raised by her family re-mortgaging their home, has been “spent” in Bali as part of the case. You would have to wonder if Schapelle would have done so well with a little more money to grease the Balinese wheels.

At long last however, Michelle is back in Australia but, to the horror of the media, she doesn’t seem to want to sell her story. All she seems interested in is getting back to her “normal” life as a model.

It seems like its no longer good enough for someone to maintain a dignified silence and in the case of Michelle Lees, the press is screaming for details that might just be none of their business. She has been so harassed by reporters that she has had to make her get away by prearranged water taxi, and on another occasion by running into a police station.

Its eight years since Princess Diana died in a tunnel in Paris and it seems like the media has forgotten how to LAY OFF. I heard a press conference where one journalist said to Michelle, in a very aggressive tone:

“It’s very simple. Were you planning on taking those ecstasy tablets?” 

I know journalists are supposed to be aggressive about pursuing a story but really, take NO for an answer. It seems the more polite and dignified Michelle is, the more she is attacked. Surely the press have better people to hound. Even the Prime Minister has weighted in to “warn” her not to sell her story.

For god sake, the poor girl has just been through a really dreadful experience. Whether its her own fault or not she has shown no sign of wanting to talk about it. All she seem to want to do is put it behind her and get on with her life. Personally, I can completely respect that.

The media today doesn’t really seem as much interested in truth as they are in sensation. They appear ready to cross any line to seek it out and they don’t much care who is trampled in the process. But the truth of the matter is even harsher, the media is really only doing what the public appears to want them to do.

If the Age or New Weekly didn’t pay a fortune for a candid, embarrassing shot, do you think there would be the drive to get them. I don’t think so! And the reason they pay the amounts they do is because those photos drive sales, because we all want to see them.

It seems that our voyeurism has been overfed and has in turn gotten hungrier, becoming unrelenting and trivia fixated. I mean lets stop for a second, so what if Michelle Leslie took ecstasy. What difference does it make to MY life if Victoria Beckham has cellulite? Who cares if Paris Hilton’s boyfriend scraped her Bentley?

I mean seriously folks, given the impact the governments current three big ticket items – Industrial Reform, Anti-Terrorism and Welfare to work – are going to have on EVERYONE’S day to day lives, you would think we have better things to worry about. No wait, we do have better things to worry about, we are just too busy focusing on Michelle Leslie to know it.