Slow News Day Hyenas

Amanda Beadman – Editor

A FEW weeks ago a young media advisor in a Government department sent an email to the wrong address. Simple mistake, and one that many people have made on occasion.

Consider if someone receives a wrongly addressed letter in the mail, most would readdress it and ensure that it gets to the correct recipient – particularly if that recipient contacted them urgently requesting that they do so and re-enforcing that the contents were private.

How unethical would it appear to be if an unintended recipient took the contents of that letter and broadcast it, well and truly out of context, for all to see? (In doing so they would also commit a Federal offence.)

Such an act might be understood if the two people were mortal enemies . . .perhaps, but it recently played out across the media without a thought for decency or respect for personal privacy.

In the media – information is used if it is deemed to be ‘in the public interest’ – but the contents of the mistakenly sent email appeared under a barrage of inflammatory headlines and were applied in a thwarted context alongside the Iemma Government’s ongoing woes.

All the contents of the email really implied was that the young staffer was doing her job.

Only the most naïve would think that major Government departments did not attempt to present themselves in a flattering light whenever possible. Doing so is not a crime, and it is not something new.

It’s a pity that a slow news week is enough justification for some journalists to act like ravenous hyenas over a misfired tidbit.