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Clearly frustrated propagandist Rachel Baxendale has come out swinging and telling us what she *really* thinks: “Dan fan idiots”, “dear leader”... (a thread) #auspol #springst
For the record (and an unpopular opinion), I did feel that Sumeyya was simply relaying facts given to her by the govt. Unfortunately, the info she got was incorrect and Brett clarified. Info breakdowns happen, particularly when things are moving quickly in an org of their size
The underlying issue and what elicited the surge of negative responses to her tweet is that the media and certain journalists have created an environment of distrust. People interpret articles, tweets, etc. in the context of what they’ve seen, read, or heard previously.
We Victorians have lived through the media bias, unbalanced reporting, disinformation, and the relentless attempts at ‘gotchas’ for many months. We may not be journalists, but we’re not stupid. There’s more transparency in the workings of the media than ever before
In recent times, there’s been a great deal of attention on the border closures. Many Victorians have been caught out and while some accountability rests with them, it’s overly simplistic to lay blame on them entirely. Regardless, real people are impacted and I for one sympathise
The media drawing attention to this is a good thing. It’s keeping the spotlight on the issue and driving the state govt to find solutions — not dissimilar to the Aussies stuck overseas. The border closures came about quickly, so it’s unsurprising that the processes aren’t perfect
However, I can’t help but feel that the some in media is more motivated by point scoring and driving political agendas than helping the people impacted. While I could be wrong and they may be genuine in their desire to help, I have a level of skepticism given their past behaviour
Take as an example Rachel putting a call out to share people’s border closure stories. Unsurprisingly, this was met with a raft of negative responses and accusations that she’s trying to create more negative anti-Dan stories. Given her history, could we really blame them?
Imagine if a journalist like @DaveMilbo had put the same call out — do we think he would’ve gotten the same response? I hardly think so because, based on his history, we would feel that he’s genuinely trying to help
In closing, some journalists have painted themselves into a corner where anything they do will be viewed with a level of skepticism. I think it’s important that they reflect that people don’t just interpret one article, tweet, etc. in isolation. Their personal brand matters.
