The indignity of gazumping
The word gazump is usually confined to the context of real estate. As NSW Fair Trading tells us, ‘Gazumping occurs when an agent or seller accepts an offer you make to buy a property at an agreed price but the property is sold to someone else.’ On Saturday June 11, however, the term appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald gossip column P.S., where Andrew Hornery wrote that Rebel Wilson had ‘opted to gazump the story’ of her new same-sex relationship.
The Herald’s reporting attracted international coverage and condemnation, including from BBC World. To recap: on Thursday, Hornery sent an email seeking comment from Wilson about her new same-sex relationship; on Friday, Wilson posted details of her new relationship to Instagram; and on Saturday, Hornery’s column was published (and subsequently taken down), expressing disappointment at being gazumped.
Gazumped? At issue was a person's first same-sex relationship. Highly personal, highly sensitive and highly private, sexuality gets to the core of who a person is as a human being. It is inextricably linked to a person’s dignity – even when we’re talking about a celebrity who has deliberately lived largely in public. Even for P.S., short for Private Sydney, surely there are some stories, and some approaches, that should be off-limits.
Actually, this was only one of several instances where journalistic ethics stepped into the spotlight this past fortnight: three Nine journalists received a dressing down for spruiking online betting and the ABC’s Lisa Millar apologised for comments she made on-air. And this week a trial was delayed following the public discussion generated by Lisa Wilkinson’s Logies acceptance speech.
Is there a new crisis in journalistic standards? Hardly. In 1890, the essay regarded as the very foundation of the modern right to privacy was sparked by the media’s intrusion into the private lives of the well-to-do. Sure, digital media is throwing up new challenges. And it’s certainly true that Australian news consumers are not impressed. As revealed by the just-published Digital News Report Australia 2022, Australians’ trust in news media remains alarmingly low.
So yes, Australian journalists need to do better. One solution is that Australia needs an overhaul of its news media oversight. We currently have 14 sets of standards to oversee journalists. As Derek Wilding and I argue in a new paper, this is a mess that needs tidying. A second solution is that our newsrooms need to start taking ethics seriously. Journalists and editors need to devote time to reflecting on ethics in practice, and on what constitutes good practice.
In its approach to Rebel Wilson’s new relationship, the SMH made several mistakes of editorial judgement. To their credit, Hornery and SMH editor Bevan Shields ultimately apologised, saying they would learn from their mistakes. Hopefully other journalists and news outlets will learn too, that they need to respect the dignity of the people they’re reporting on, rather than treating their most private details like property that can be bought and sold.
Sacha Molitorisz
Senior Lecturer, UTS Law
This article was featured in our newsletter of 24 June 2022 that looked at inconsistencies in media standards as reflected in the Rebel Wilson debacle, News Corp's algorithmic tool and its impact on journalistic autonomy, and a shifting tide at the JNI.
Click to read the full edition.
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