author: Chrisentiae
date: Saturday 11 August 2012
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne University media and communications undergraduate student Sasha Burden, completed an internship with the Herald Sun for two weeks. She wrote of her experiences in the university magazine, Farrago, page 27. (1)
The Age newspaper wrote about this in their article headed: Article pits Hun against student intern. (2)
The Herald Sun responded by complaining to Melbourne University and publicly going on the attack of the university student.
Key findings of the university student included (3):
* transphobia
* dupicity of behaviour
* anti LGBT community comments
* vilifying the Catholic Church
News Limited, The Australian, continued the attack on the university student, in their article titled: "Stick it up your undergrad" (4)
A little investigation shows that News Limited senior staff at The Herald Sun and The Australian have breach their own code of conduct, including and not limited to: (3)(5)
"8.1 Do not make pejorative reference to a person's ... sex, sexual preferences ... "
There can be little doubt that News Limited have acted inappropriately, firstly by acting unprofessionally when they thought no one was looking, and subsequently in their abuse of media power by bully a university student.
At no time did News Limited actually address the issues raised. (3)
It is difficult to see how the Herald Sun and The Australian will survive much longer without public confidence and respect.
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References
1 http://printgraphics.net.au/myfiles/Farrago_5_2012/files/assets/basic-ht...
2 http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/article-pits-hun-against-student-inter...
3 http://www.gendervie.com/showthread.php?tid=22&pid=37#pid37
4 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/stick-it-up-your-undergrad/story-e...
5 http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/code-of-conduct-professional-conduct-pol...