March 1, 2007
A complaint made by a gay rights
activist after broadcaster John Laws called a homosexual TV personality a
"pillow biter" has been dismissed in the NSW Administrative Decisions
Tribunal.
In 2004, Laws called Carson
Kressley, the star of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, a "pillow
biter" and "pompous little pansy prig".
Laws said his comments were
supposed to be funny and tongue-in-cheek.
However, gay rights activist Gary
Burns filed a complaint with the tribunal, saying Laws's comments promoted homosexual
men as dirty and perverted.
But in a decision in the tribunal
today, a panel of judges dismissed the complaint.
They are yet to rule on who
should pay costs.
Outside the tribunal, Mr Burns
said he was disappointed by the decision.
"I took this action because
I believe it's important to stand up and erase hate in society," he said.
"It's about standing up
against bullies.
"I didn't win on this
occasion, but I will continue in my mission to dissuade hate in society."
In a further shot at Laws, Mr Burns
said the broadcaster's "souffle went poof 10 years ago".
Laws was on air on Southern Cross
Broadcasting this morning, and was not present for the decision.
General counsel for Southern
Cross Broadcasting, Adam Olding, said the radio network was pleased with the
decision.
"The result is what we had
hoped for, and what we were confident we would get," he said.
"But we're still digesting
the judgement. There is nothing more we can say at this stage."
AAP
Richard Ackland
March 2, 2007
Right-thinking
people everywhere will be relieved that on the eve of Mardi Gras the radio
broadcaster John Laws has had an important free-speech victory. The case was
brought by a gay rights person, Gary Burns, over the great announcer's
description of Carson Kressley, the star of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,
as "a pillow-biter" and a "pompous little pansy prig".
Laws was unhappy that in 2004
Kressley was judging fashions at the Melbourne Cup. As he put it so wittily:
"He was on Channel Seven judging girls, now what the hell does a
pillow-biter know about judging girls? They should have had a few truckies down
there, or me …"
Needless to say, his talk-back
callers were thrilled. Laws defended himself on the basis of his well-known
qualities as a coruscating funny man and that he was being "tongue in
cheek".
The Administrative Decisions
Tribunal found the remarks did constitute vilification of homosexuals, but fell
within an exception in the act designed to protect freedom of expression.
We are indeed fortunate in this
great country to have this freedom exercised by people of Laws's intellect.
My feeling is that Laws's anxiety
about pillow-biters is a reflection of certain unresolved tensions in his
character. Sorry, John, just being tongue in cheek. Anyway, Burns was seeking
to have Laws punished so he would not speak like that again. He was the little
fellow taking on the might of the corporation that engages Laws at a vast fee
to impart his breezy utterances each weekday morning.
Dylan Welch
April 10, 2007
The Australian broadcasting
watchdog has found that 2GB and its prominent breakfast presenter Alan Jones
breached the radio code of practice during broadcasts just before the infamous
2005 Cronulla riots.
The Australian Communications and
Media Authority today found that the company and Jones broadcast material -
specifically comments made by Jones between December 5-9 - was "likely to
encourage violence or brutality and to vilify people of Lebanese and
Middle-Eastern backgrounds on the basis of ethnicity".
The investigation by ACMA began
after complaints were received after the broadcasts, some of which had Jones
calling the men responsible for an alleged attack on Cronulla beach
"Middle Eastern grubs".
On December 7 Jones read out a
listener's letter on air, saying: "My suggestion is to invite one of the
biker gangs to be present in numbers at Cronulla railway station when these
Lebanese thugs arrive, it would be worth the price of admission to watch these
cowards scurry back onto the train for the return trip to their lairs.
"Australians old and new
shouldn't have to put up with this scum."
ACMA found the listener's
comments breached section 1.3(a) of the code.
However, late last year Jones
defended himself from the accusations of incitement to violence, saying only
2.2 per cent of his audience was under 29 and the riots were caused by 18 to
29-year-olds.
In a statement, Macquarie Radio
Network chief executive Angela Clark dismissed ACMA's findings as
"seriously flawed and ill-founded''.
She said 2GB and Jones were opposed
to violence and had repeatedly said so on air at the time.
Talkback radio, by its very
nature, aired the sometimes controversial views held in the community, she
said.
"A broadcaster's use of
listener material does not always indicate agreement with that material,'' Ms
Clark said.
"In this case ... Alan Jones
repeatedly urged listeners to refrain from acting on the calls for violence.
"Instead (he) called on the
police and state government to ensure a full and appropriate police response to
community divisions and tensions and for lawbreakers to be dealt with swiftly
by police.''
Other complaints
dismissed
ACMA found that comments made by
Jones in his December 8 broadcast implied that people of Middle Eastern
background were responsible for raping women in western Sydney.
However, ACMA dismissed
complaints about other comments aired on December 5, 6 and 9.
ACMA will be writing to Harbour
Radio shortly about proposed action against the broadcaster.
As to what that measure would be,
ACMA was not yet wiling to comment, with spokesman for the watchdog, Donald
Robertson, telling smh.com.au a letter would be sent to Harbour Radio Pty Ltd,
the parent company of 2GB, and they would wait for a response from the company.
"We'll be seeking some kind
of heightened measure, what that turns out to be is really what comes out of
that dialogue between us and Harbour Radio," he said.
ACMA says Jones' broadcasts are
the third breach of the vilification provision of the code of practice by
Harbour Radio in the past two years, which means ACMA will "move to pursue
significantly heightened compliance measures" from the broadcaster,
according to release.
In a separate matter, Jones is
facing 12 months jail and/or a fine of up to $5500 for naming on air a child
witness in a murder trial.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Helen
Syme is due to consider penalties, which also apply to Harbour Radio and
Nationwide News, on April 20 at Downing Centre Local Court.
This is the second case against
2GB in regards to the Cronulla riots, the first in January this year when ACMA
found that comments by The Open-Line Show host Brian Wilshire had
breached broadcast rules against inciting ethnic hatred.
No action was taken as 2GB had
ordered on-air apologies and staff awareness training, ACMA said at the time.
-
with AAP
April 11, 2007
Prime Minister John Howard has
backed embattled Sydney radio identity Alan Jones a day after he was found to
have incited violence and vilified people of Middle Eastern descent in the days
before race riots in Sydney.
The Australian Communications and
Media Authority (ACMA) yesterday found Jones breached the Commercial Radio Code
of Practice during his breakfast program between December 5 and 9, 2005.
The authority said the comments
broke the code by being "likely to encourage violence or brutality"
and "likely to vilify people ... of Middle Eastern background".
However, Mr Howard today
called Jones an "outstanding broadcaster".
"I am not going to get
involved in comments on individual decisions, but let me say this; I think Alan
Jones is an outstanding broadcaster," Mr Howard said.
"I don't think he's a person
who encourages prejudice in the Australian community, not for one moment, but
he is a person who articulates what a lot of people think," he said.
In his morning radio
show, Jones today attacked the authority's ruling.
"Anyone who knows me knows
I've never encouraged violence or brutality in anything ... and I did the exact
opposite but our defences counted for nothing," Jones told his
listeners.
One excerpt Jones read from a
listener on December 7 recommended that bikie gangs confront "Lebanese
thugs" at the Cronulla railway station.
Jones today played another
excerpt from about the same time telling a listener not to promote the riot,
which eventually ensued on December 11.
"On countless occasions ...
I had as I have regularly on this program opposed violence and brutality and
urged people to allow the law to take its course," he said today.
He said the people who made the
original complaints heard only excerpts aired by an ABC broadcast, which also
provided information to its listeners on how to make a complaint to ACMA.
"The people who complained
to ACMA had not heard any of my program," Jones said.
"If people don't listen to
the program all the time, why then are 26 seconds of comment that I might have
made, chosen to hang me," he said.
"If that doesn't constitute
bias I don't know what does."
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd said
he would continue to be interviewed on air by Jones, despite ACMA's ruling.
"In terms of the future
appearances (on) Alan Jones' program, there's nothing I've read at this stage
that would cause me not to go on," he told ABC radio.
2GB's majority owner, advertising
guru John Singleton, said while he did not always agree with his star radio
presenter's comments, ACMA's ruling was wrong.
"The findings are based on
nothing," he told ABC radio.
"(The ACMA inquiry's) taken 18
months, it's cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars, probably the taxpayer
millions of dollars and is a finding that's totally inappropriate, totally
wrong, with no penalty."
Penalties being considered by
ACMA include a possible suspension or cancellation of 2GB's licence, fines and
training programs for the radio station's staff.
Communications Minister Helen
Coonan has ordered ACMA and commercial radio operators to immediately review
the industry's code of practice in the wake of the Jones case.
A review had been scheduled to
begin in September, but Senator Coonan said given recent complaints about
talkback radio programs it should be brought forward.
AAP
April 11, 2007
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd will
continue to appear on air with Sydney radio identity Alan Jones, despite the
embattled broadcaster being found guilty of inciting violence and vilification.
Jones was yesterday found to have
incited violence and vilified people of Middle Eastern descent in the days
before race riots in Sydney.
Mr Rudd today said nothing he had
read so far about the authority's report had caused him to reconsider appearing
on Jones' show.
"In terms of the future
appearances (on) Alan Jones' program, there's nothing I've read at this stage
that would cause me not to go on," he told ABC radio.
Mr Rudd's comments come after
Prime Minister John Howard also backed Jones, calling him an outstanding
broadcaster who articulated what many people thought.
"I am not going to get
involved in comments on individual decisions, but let me say this: I think Alan
Jones is an outstanding broadcaster,'' Mr Howard said.
"I don't think he's a person
who encourages prejudice in the Australian community, not for one moment, but
he is a person who articulates what a lot of people think,'' he said.
ACMA said Harbour Broadcasting
Pty Ltd, licensee of commercial Sydney radio station 2GB, had twice breached
Australia's broadcasting code in the days before the December 2005 Cronulla
race riot.
The regulator found the
Commercial Radio Code of Practice 2004 was breached by comments aired on Jones'
top-rating breakfast program during December 5 and 9, 2005.
Those comments contravened the
code by being "likely to encourage violence or brutality" and
"likely to vilify people of Lebanese background and of Middle Eastern
background on the basis of their ethnicity".
The authority said the comments
broke the code by being "likely to encourage violence or brutality"
and "likely to vilify people . . . of Middle Eastern background".
In his morning radio show, Jones
today attacked the authority's ruling.
"Anyone who knows me knows
I've never encouraged violence or brutality in anything . . . and I did the
exact opposite, but our defences counted for nothing," Mr Jones told his
listeners.
One excerpt Jones read from a
listener on December 7, 2005 recommended that bikie gangs confront ``Lebanese
thugs'' at the Cronulla railway station.
Jones today played another
excerpt from around the same time telling a listener not to promote the riot,
which eventually ensued on December 11.
"On countless occasions . .
. I had as I have regularly on this program opposed violence and brutality and
urged people to allow the law to take its course," he said today.
He said the people who made the
original complaints only heard excerpts aired by an ABC broadcast, which also
provided information to its listeners on how to make a complaint to ACMA.
AAP
I mean if he
feels he's got to keep Mr Jones on side because of the forthcoming election, I
think he's got a problem
Sue Javes
April 13, 2007
Talkback host John Laws has
criticised Prime Minister John Howard for his "unflagging support" of
rival Alan Jones, advising him to "read the book".
Laws, whose show's on 2UE, bought
into the dispute between Jones and the broadcasting authority on his national
program this morning, but his focus was the prime minister, not whether Jones
had breached racial vilification laws or incited violence.
Mr Howard called Jones "an
outstanding broadcaster" after the Australian Communication and Media
Authority ruled Jones had breached the broadcasting code on his 2GB breakfast
program in December 2005.
"It's not my place to say
whether comments made by Alan were racist or not but what it does show is a
prime minister who seems to be in trouble - big trouble," Laws told his
listeners today.
"I mean if he feels he's got
to keep Mr Jones on side because of the forthcoming election, I think he's got
a problem."
In a reminder to the Prime
Minister that Laws himself enjoys a national audience, he said: "Obviously
the Prime Minister feels that he needs Mr Jones at the moment because things
are looking shaky, and you do need a little support in Sydney but you'll get
plenty of support in Sydney and that's all because Alan Jones only broadcasts
in Sydney."
Laws also has a swipe at Janette
Howard.
"Do you really want to be
seen publicly supporting Alan Jones? I know you and your wife like him. That's
fine, but your wife allegedly liked Peter Hollingworth too."
Referring to Chris Master's
biography on Jones, Jonestown, Laws said: "Read the book Prime
Minister.
"Then you better ask
yourself if this is the sort of individual you want articulating what you seem
to think are the views of many Australians.
"It's very easy to pander to
prejudice. Many of the most dangerous people the world has ever known did just
that."
smh.com.au is awaiting comment
from the Prime Minister's Office and 2GB.
Mannie and Kendall Present: LESBIAN AND GAY SOLIDARITY ACTIVISMS
RED JOS: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISM
Mannie's blogs may be accessed by clicking on to the following links:
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Activist Kicks Backs - Blognow archive re-housed - 2005-2009
RED JOS BLOGSPOT (from January 2009 onwards)
This page updated 25 APRIL 2012 and again on 17 NOVEMBER 2016