Media Guidelines in WA

Last Weekend the West Australian published the following paragraph written by Rob Broadfield;

“It is targeted at the tastes and sensibilities of Britain’s holidaying chavs – lads and ladettes from Essex or the like who flock to the Iberian Peninsula’s southern resort towns to do the same thing they do at home: get drunk, glass someone and have congress with a Shazza or a Cheryl behind the dustbins at a restaurant’s back door...”

Presumably we are all supposed to enjoy having a snigger and a sneer at those who originate from, or have chosen to live in Essex. 

Broadfield wanted a cheap laugh from his Australian readers.He got paid for this? Is he clever? He gets paid $5,000 for just speaking at an event. Is this because he has something worth listening to? Or because he is well connected? 

All that Rob Broadfield was doing was repeating a concept of Essex that was created by the media. An artificial construct created for money, that’s all. Did Broadfield give a thought to how he was fragmenting society by his wicked words? In 2016 it should not be acceptable to publish such nonsense any more than it would be if the group were aboriginal or black or homosexual or disabled.

Maybe it is time Australians realised that there is a big world out there and it’s a grown up world, where nations have understood that we don’t develop harmony and social cohesion by mocking and ridiculing our neighbours. 

The West Australian newspaper comes under the scrutiny of the Independent Media Council and the following guidelines were extracted from their code of conduct;

“Comment detrimental to a person should follow reasonably and fairly from the facts.”

...

“Reports should not refer to personal characteristics, including race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, sexual orientation, family relationships, religious belief, or physical or intellectual disability, or mental illness, unless they are relevant.”

Are there any facts to support Broadfield's description of the people from Essex?

I believe Broadfield failed to meet those guidelines, deliberately, cycnically and purely for profit.

Recently Russell Brand has made the point that the ruling classes control the ordinary people, the rank and file, the 99% of ordinary humans on this planet by fragmenting us into scapegoat groups. People like Broadfield, working for Rupert Murdoch, continues the outdated tradition of cultural stereotyping by the media. 

West Australians should be ashamed.