If you view Media Watch semi-regularly, you’ll know the media in Australia have run stories that are highly-inflamatory and extremely misleading for years. But the fact that these self-described investigative reports still run continues to take my breath away. A few weeks ago, Today Tonight made some pretty big claims about refugees living in 4-star resorts and getting paid large amounts of money, frustrating its hundreds of thousands of viewers. However, as Media Watch showed, the story was based on previous reporting, deliberate editing of figures and misleading those who they interviewed. In what is one of the most fascinating Media Watch critiques I have seen, Today Tonight got ripped a new one for this piece. And rightfully so. This highlights why the average Australian has such a warped view of the refugee issue in Australia, and it is because of pieces like this that voters place demands on the government that seriously breach our international legal obligations to refugees. A bit more clear and factual thinking, is it so much to ask of our media?
Now, if you are interested in what kind of conditions refugees/asylum seekers actually live in, check out this piece by Four Corners, which in my view takes a much more factual look at this situation. This report, aired just two weeks after the Today Tonight program mentioned above. What a strange world we live in sometimes.
