AS someone who has worked in the media industry for some 32 years — in print, television and radio — there were two episodes this week that got me thinking more than usual about the relationship between the media and the community it serves.
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The first was the sacking of Carlton coach Mick Malthouse.
I make no bones about the fact I dislike the man and regard him as pompous and self-centred.
Malthouse’s treatment of journalists over the years has been disgraceful.
He seems to forget he holds the highly paid position that he does largely thanks to the coverage the media gives the sport he is involved in; even if that is something of a quid pro quo relationship.
The sport’s fans have the right to know what he is thinking and the media is the logical way to find that out.
If he doesn’t like a journalist’s question then he should just suck it up — rather than carrying on like a dropkick.
I have only met the man once — thankfully — and that was when my chief of staff asked me to cover a lecture he was giving, in some sort of titular role, at La Trobe University in Wodonga.
The university asked us to cover it and reporters were provided with tables with the highly visible label “media”.
The great man kept us waiting well past the starting time for the event — which may or may not have been his fault.
He was only a couple of minutes into the interview when he noticed myself and another colleague, who was working for another publication at the time, sitting in the room.
He asked — very aggressively — my colleague who he was and was he studying at the university.
When he replied he was with the media Malthouse waved an imperious arm to the door, indicating we were to leave.
I wasn’t about to be treated like that and told the little man that I was there at the university’s request.
He then backed off and said he would speak to the media afterwards and we were accompanied outside by the university’s now-mortified staff, where I later conducted a tense but cordial interview with him.
All he had to say at the time was, “Sorry fellas but I would like to speak to the students without the media here but I would be more than happy to spend some time with you afterwards” — a request we would have gladly acceded to.
The other issue this week was the story in The Border Mail on Ovens and Murray Football representative coach Brendan Fevola being captured on CCTV in Dean Street in Albury on Saturday morning at 2.34am, when he was set to lead his team against Peninsula in an important match at 1pm that day.
I reckon Fevola is a champion bloke who has done a lot for local footy and I love the way he stays on the field after a match to sign autographs for the kids; and he’s a lovable larrikin.
But I cannot believe some of the crap that has been levelled against The Border Mail for its coverage of the matter.
It is well known that professional sports people, and even amateurs, are expected to abstain from alcohol and get plenty of rest, especially before a big fixture.
The Ovens and Murray invests a large amount of money in its representative teams — which have not always set the world on fire in the past, especially for a league that claims it is number one in Victoria.
Fevola’s actions were not that of a leader and an ambassador and were a poor look for the league.
The local media invests a huge amount of resources in local footy, helping it to be as successful as it is.
So can someone tell me please on what planet the whole situation was not a genuine news item and why, instead, it was sensational tabloid journalism to report on it, as some have suggested?
