Stay On Your Flower with Daniel Burt talking Kyle Sandilands

Hey my darlings, Daniel Burt, writer, comedian and sex pest dropped into the Atheist Kibbutz deep in the heart of The People's Republic Of Moreland and we had a stouch about Kyle Sandilands.  Have a listen.....

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Read this ripper piece by Emily Hehir the woman who set up the Kyle Sandilands petiton on why she did and Michael Lallo's profile on Emily in The Age. 

Comments

[Clayton Jan]

This is a very thought-provoking discussion on this episode of Australian broadcasting history. To me, the issue was and remains about the use of broadcast media to issue a threat. Whether such a threat would be taken seriously is irrelevant if the intent was to intimidate. As such, the public outcry was justified.

In terms of whether it was akin to a public lynching, let's be fair: if Austereo or the “powers that be” had acted promptly and decisively to investigate this matter and take appropriate action, the issue would never have blown up as it did. Once Sandilands and Austereo were forced (after spending three weeks in silence) into issuing an embarrassing apology, the whole issue died down naturally.

The inferences underlying this whole debate reminds me of the beginnings of the union movement. Then, as now, people were indignant that those previously deemed to be powerless should make demands of those in authority. But after several clashes and a shift in thinking, the world got used to the idea of people being organised. Might this be the beginnings of a similar organisation of the public against public outrages?

Ironically, if the station had made active restitution such as donating to an anti-violence project early on, then it would have been cheaper for them than the estimated multimillion loss of revenue they suffered. Whenever something like this happens in the future, I suspect we will see a much faster and more decisive response from those involved.