Bad stereotypes and spent convictions

Last week, 19-year-old Keegan Payne from the Northern Territory reeled in a tagged fish worth $1million, and TV host Peter Stefanovic thought he’d hooked a big catch too. During an interview for Sky News, Stefanovic congratulated Payne for his feat, then turned serious.

‘There is a claim online that you stole a Polaris Ranger and a Polaris quad that you and your friends stole and damaged from a business a few years back,’ Stefanovic said. ‘First of all, is that true?’

Payne paused, then replied, ‘Yes.’ The exchange that followed was awkward. Payne said that he and his friends hadn’t been thinking, and he apologised to the business owner on air.

Viewers responded to say they weren’t impressed with Stefanovic. To his credit, Stefanovic contacted Payne and his family to apologise. And soon the business owner, Payne’s former employer, had been contacted for a comment too. ‘There’s not too many of us go through life without stuffing up somewhere along the line,’ said Bob Cavanagh.

Too true.

Complicating the exchange is that Payne is Indigenous. News media generally have a responsibility to avoid perpetuating negative stereotypes based on race and culture. This is most clear at the ABC and SBS. At the ABC, a guidance note encourages, ‘all non-Indigenous content-makers to inform themselves on the culture and heritage of the communities they work with, to “resist the shortcut of stereotypes”, to reflect the many dimensions of Indigenous life, and to seek out the broadest range of perspectives and speakers.’ At SBS, Australia’s First Nations and multicultural broadcaster, journalists are guided by The Greater Perspective: Protocols and Guidelines for the Production of Film and Television on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities, which prescribes, ‘all Content Makers ... should avoid stereotypes.’ Meanwhile, all journalists should be guided by Media Diversity Australia’s handbook, Reporting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Issues, which says, ‘Journalists should steer clear of using stereotypes and should seek to challenge their own notions of race.’

Indigenous Australians continue to suffer from enduring negative stereotypes. In a country where our First Nations people are the most imprisoned people in the world, these stereotypes do real harm, and journalists need to do better at avoiding them.

And wrapped up in all this is the issue of past indiscretions, which is also a thorny one for journalists. In a front-page story, the Sydney Morning Herald dug up an incident from the past of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, who came to national notice after he was stabbed while preaching last month. In a front-page story this week, the Herald reported it had ‘been granted access to a court transcript detailing a previously unreported chapter of the bishop’s past.’

It turns out that this controversial preacher has a controversial past. More than a decade ago, he had been charged with committing an aggravated indecent assault. The charges were dismissed, but there were stern words from the magistrate.

At this point, the law of spent convictions comes to mind. In NSW, the law prescribes that convictions are 'spent’ after 10 years. After this period, offences are generally wiped from the record, with journalists not allowed to report them. However, more-serious offences, including sexual offences, aren’t included. What’s more, the bishop was never convicted, so what’s to stop a journalist reporting court transcripts from a decade ago? Not much. There’s no law of spent non-convictions.

It all calls to mind the notion of 'digital eternity', a phrase coined by UTS Professor David Lindsay to describe the tension between the human, which allows for people to grow and change, and the digital, which seemingly locks us into whatever we once uttered or posted or did. Still, the principles for journalists are clear. First, avoid perpetuating negative stereotypes, including of Indigenous Australians. Second, avoid unfair reporting of past indiscretions. Sure, applying those principles can be challenging, but, as Stefanovic realised, his question to Payne clearly crossed the line.

Sacha Molitorisz, Senior Lecturer - UTS Law