Cr Ron and the case of the fax porn mistake
Some days it seems that the Gods just smile down on us - based on some rumblings we’ve heard around the traps, and via another post from our good friend BrokenLeftLeg (Click here - FCF Part 16 article), it would appear there’s been some action for Cr Humphrey regarding the collection of “evidence” that Pt Impossible is a “gay beat”.
In a fit of responsible journalism, someone at the Geelong Independent (and we have our suspicions who) faxed 10 pages of “offensive” gay website material to newly elected Surf Coast Shire Mayor Rose Hodge by mistake, when the intended recipient was Cr Ron!!
There are so many problems with this event we don’t even know where to start, so perhaps a few high level bullet points will suffice for now:
- How does Ron think that revoking the clothing optional status will result in the end of a “gay beat”? In case you missed it Ron, it’s not the nudists who are the issue here!!! How he managed to convince a journalist it would be a good idea to stick that kind of content on a fax destined for Ron personally is beyond us
- Journalists are meant to be independent and objective of the issues they report, so why was the Independent sending information directly to a person known to ignore fact and incite hysteria through illogical and unsupportable rhetoric?
- Why are journalists looking at gay websites when they could be spending their time verifying any of the “points” made by Cr Ron (or discovering anything he’s ever said fails any scrutiny at all)
- What were the editors of the Independent thinking, to allow this blatant attempt to maniuplate the situation by allowing sensationalism override good journalism?
- While we’re on the topic of editors, why are they allowing their journalists to use their “investigative skills” to gather information supporting the (rhetorical, sensationalist, hysterical) parties and not at least providing the same information to all interested stakeholders for their response? Did “independence” disappear from journalism and we weren’t told?
- According to the BrokenLeftLeg post, it is possible Mayor Hodge’s children saw the offensive fax. Surely the fact that Ron was smack in the centre of this situation and allowed it to happen is enough for appropriate repurcussions (such as a resignation request or termination)?
- In a response from the Geelong Indepentend Editorial department to representatives of the nudist community, the erroneous sending of the fax to a council official (the Mayor no less) was glossed over in favour of claiming that the clear identification of a gay beat promoter who was masquerading as a nudist will result in a story that’s an “example of fine investigative journalism”!!! And claiming that doing such a story would “expose the level of hipocracy [sic] in the public debate”… Sure, that sounds perfectly reasonable, as long as you’re wearing your naive/gullible hat…
There’s more (with Ron it’s hard to stop), but the summary is actually pretty straight forward and easily understood - the nudist community is considering its options concerning further investigation of the behaviour of the Geelong Independent and the individual journalists involved in this issue. Review of the Code of Ethics of the Australian Journalist Association (part of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Click here for the code of ethics) has already commenced, along with a review of the options available for registering complaints with the MEAA and the Australian Press Council.
This kind of behaviour is unacceptable, and the nudist community is seeking a public explanation - in this case it has been a useful discovery, as everyone now knows how much they can rely on what they read in the Geelong Independent. And the fact that Cr Ron got himself embroiled in the middle of “gay-porn-gate” is hardly a surprise - hello, people of Torquay, are you sure you want to keep this man on your council???
Monday, January 1st 2007 at 9:20 pm
The Journalist should be sacked for this and he and his newspaper should print a public apology to Mayor Rose Hodge and family. Cr Humphrey should resign for his part in this. How can this man posibly presume to take the moral ground after this fiasco?
If they have access to a porn site that gives information about illegal and inappropriate behaviour at Pt Impossible then they should give it to the police so the police can act upon this information and not send faxes and expose innocent children to such filth. The FBA and genuine nudists have nothing to do with this porn sight and condemn sexual activity in any public place (it is against the law).
Anita Grigg
President Free Beaches Australia Inc.
Wednesday, November 12th 2008 at 11:11 am
Good on you Anita. Here’s a run down of how it worked: a leading nudist campaigning to keep the beach open turns out to be a registered user of a website used to arrange gay sex rendevous in the dunes behind the said beach, The campaigner’s profile contained a photograph of John Bartlett, a description of his genitals and a list of perversions claiming to be his favourite sex acts. Journalist (me) faxes it on request to a councillor on request, accidentally faxes it to a horrendously unprofessional councillor who bizarrely runs off to a “journalist” who ignores the news value of John’s association with gay cruisers at Point Impossible and passes up an opportunity to expose the ulterior motive of someone central to the public debate. There was no photographs or language that you couldn’t hear on television contained in the fax. Most journalists would agree that the real story was John Bartlett’s association with a website promoting illegal sex at the nude beach and that the “fax porn mistake” is more of an amusing aside.
As a fan of internet research, I have done a little bit into yourself, Anita Grigg, and have unearthed allegations that, like the people observed indecently and illegally having sex at Point Impossible, you are fond of illegal acts at beaches yourself. Not only that, you manipulate polls to support your cause and have been found to lie blatantly to fellow nudists.
People might like to follow this link to find out more: http://www.tropicsnude.com/FBA.html
Happy reading Anita Grigg.