Radio Daze and Second Class Citizens

[hnpcc]

Some people should really not be allowed to sign legal documents. Specifically, the mother of this girl should not be allowed to sign legal documents.

I can not believe that that (a) got signed off on by the producers of the radio show; (b) got signed off on by the mother; and (c) went to air. Liveish.

At least Jackie O came across as having some compassion and empathy - a tad late, given that she appeared to be fine with having a 14 year old on a lie detector being asked questions about her drug and alcohol use and sexual activity on live radio by her mother.

Kyle Sandilands on the other hand... didn't.

And the mother? Comes across as deranged.

I seriously cannot believe the producers signed off on this. I have the feeling at least one of them is likely to be joining the job market very soon.

In completely unrelated news Victoria replaced one piece of discriminatory legislation with another. No longer do we discriminate against single women and lesbians seeking IVF! Now we just require all people seeking IVF to undergo a police check. This is of course to "protect the kiddies" - something which is, as far as I can see, unlikely to happen with this particular check (aka "complete bullshit"). What is interesting is the answer to question 17 on the information pamphlet:

The main concept underpinning much of the ART legislation is 'the best interests of the child'. There was a strong lobby group who believed that an important way to protect the best interests of the unborn child was to require that patients undergo these checks prior to receiving treatment.

So there's a "strong lobby group" who apparently thinks that IVF=pregnant - seriously, have they read the stats? 1/4 success rate if all goes well. If you have additional problems, or are older or quite a few other factors then the success rate is a lot lower than that.

I also have a strong suspicion that this lobby group may also believe that homosexual=paedophile, but of course I've no evidence for that. After all I don't know that the strong lobby group is religiously affiliated, or has a general tradition of discriminating against homosexuals and unwed mothers. Just a guess here. (Mind you if they really wanted to save children perhaps they should bar all leaders of religion from working with children. I mean, just going on track record here.)

What irritates me about this is that it is so completely useless. If they really wanted to protect the interests of the unborn child they could require police checks of all women (and their partners!) in the third trimester. This would of course be extremely invasive. However it would at least be "protecting" what would be likely to be an actual child.

But as that's not ever going to happen and we can't realistically require all people attempting to conceive to undergo police checks - let alone those who didn't mean to conceive - it looks like we've settled for discriminating against the one group who we know are trying to conceive. Some lobby groups just aren't happy unless they've got someone to discriminate against.

Of course if they actually, really wanted to protect children they could fund DHS appropriately so that complete fuckups like this one didn't happen due to under-staffing. But that's never going to happen - after all it's easier to be perceived as doing something and pandering to lobby groups to ensure votes and donations than it is to do something that would make an actual difference.

Comments

[vestalvagrant.livejournal.com]

I'm almost speechless about the mother of that girl. How DARE she publicly force her daughter to do a lie detector test regarding her sex life, ESPECIALLY when she KNOWS her daughter was raped. I want her to be charged with something. I want her daughter to be given a safe, loving place to live where she won't be exposed to emotional abuse. I wouldn't be surprised if the rapist was an acquaintance of the mother and she's been denying it happened.

[hnpcc]

It's certainly an... interesting situation. I'm very surprised that the producers let it go ahead, not least because one of the participants was underage. Yes, they had the mother's consent - but you really do have to wonder about the degree of coercion applied there. It really should never have gotten past the initial production meeting as far as I can see. It's one thing for consenting adults to be stupid and undergo lie detector tests, quite another for a 14 year old to be doing it, parental consent or no.

The mother does definitely come across as deranged. I initially wondered if it were a stunt - but if it was I can guarantee from having heard the later JackieO part of the segment that the hosts absolutely had no idea about it.

[vestalvagrant.livejournal.com]

There was a thought-provoking comment on the Crikey site from a man who's worked in commercial radio for 20 years. He said that firstly, someone under the age of 18 should not have been allowed to participate. Secondly, any segment with potentially sensitive material should be pre-recorded. Thirdly, the producer should have hit the cut-off button as soon as the revelation was made, and with the delay period it never would have gone to air.

The radio station has failed on so many accounts. But I don't think their legal failings come close to the mother's emotional failings.

[undergroundsea.livejournal.com]

:) Quite hideous really. I don't blame the DJs as much I blame the mother for putting her child in that situation and the people pushing the segment in the background who clearly had no duty of care to anyone. How they could have set something like that up without any background work and let it go to air live rather than pre-record.

The regrettable part of it all is that now this girl's relationship with her mother is even more messed up; and the recourse is to compensate the girl for the further damage she has sustained as a result of mass stupidity - probably right what the crazy mother would now be calling for now too.

But I don't want to blame the mother 100% because there's 20 other sane people who could have stepped in. They knew a car crash was about to happen when they proposed to interview a minor about her experience with drugs and sex. They would have primed up some people who they knew were a bit trashy and would give them some dirt. They were more than happy to see something trashy go to air. They might not have expected what they got, but don't tell me no-one had a 7 second delay button and could have cut to an ad.

[hnpcc]

They knew a car crash was about to happen when they proposed to interview a minor about her experience with drugs and sex.

If they didn't then they certainly should have, that's for sure. It'll be interesting to see the fall out at Austereo from that one.

The relationship with the mother is certainly going to be a problem - it doesn't sound like they have a great relationship to start with, and you can't see it getting better for a while. I really hope they take up the counselling.