Commercial radio - raping our airwaves?

Being fourteen wasn't particularly fun. In year eight I was fourteen. I stand by year eight being the single worst year in high school. Behaviour was atrocious all round, severe bullying was at its peak, and many people were seeking to cement the highest place possible in the unforgiving high school social ladder.

And no doubt there is also some crazy stuff going on with hormones (as scientists so often tell us in order to make excuses for teenage rattyness).

Now what does being fourteen have to do with anything? Well - anyone who has been connected to media sources in the last 24 hours will have noticed a bit of an uproar over a Kyle (urgh. big surprise) and Jackie-O radio segment aired on Wednesday.

I'm going to give you some "facts" (or at least, as fact as possible - having been reported by both ABC, and seemingly confirmed by listening to the radio segment in question) about this case, and then I am going to ask you to watch the YouTube "video" (it's actually just audio) below.

We have the Kyle and Jackie morning show. For those who are unaware I disdain Kyle Sandilands - just so you know where my personal bias lies.

We have a child aged fourteen come onto an "entertainment" show to be questioned about her sexual activity and drug use.

We have aforementioned child hooked up to a lie detector.

We have a mother who has granted permission to have her child on the show, granted permission to have the child hooked up to a lie detector, and has bought to the show a series of questions that she wishes to ask her daughter.



We what we are left with is a fourteen year old girl who has been raped, and pushed into publicly admitting it on air. Now lets make the assumption that this was not fabricated by the mother and daughter as a publicity stunt (and if it turns out later on that it is, I'm going to be even angrier than I am now).

Now - I'll let this out nice and early in the piece. I think that this entire segment in nearly every way is absolutely, and undeniably, disgusting.

Listen to the introduction to the segment, after having listened to the entire interview. Ms Jackie O - our seemingly mature and caring presenter, introduced the segment laughing while saying "she's [the girl in question] not happy".

And then all the girl can answer when asked "How are you?":

"I'm scared." And apparently the lie detector confirmed this.

"It wouldn't be fair on any child," is Jackie's response.

No. It wouldn't. Shame you didn't stop it right there.

This is a live radio segment, broadcast on a morning show - the prime time of radio - entirely devoted to questioning a minor about illegal activities she may have been a part of. Let's not forget that fourteen is under the age of sexual consent (I'm not 100% sure on the legalities surrounding this issue, so I may be wrong in assuming that the activity is against the law) and that she has already - apparently - admitted to smoking an illicit substance.

Thus, I think I can safely say that the idea of the segment to start with was in questionable, if not appalling taste. I believe that the broadcaster (2day FM) should be ashamed that this even got past an approval stage.

I also believe that the two presenters have a lot to answer for. Jackie-O redeemed herself slightly by being the "mature" voice after the revelation that this child had been raped (no doubt the producers would have been going nuts in the studio signaling them both to cut it...so we can't assume that she did this of her own accord). But I think Kyle's fantastic response was pure radio gold (oh please, please note the sarcasm):

Child: "Uh um, okay, I got raped when I was 12 years old!"
*silence*
Kyle (in his defense, somewhat uncertainly): "Right...and is that the uh...only experience you've had?"

That, my dear readers, is why I dislike Kyle Sandilands: "sweet, you got raped, that's kinda interesting, but really, we don't care about that, we just want to know, you know, if you've had sex?"

An apology is not good enough here. There needs to be accountability within the commercial radio business. There needs to be some responsibility taken

Many of you will remember the recent sketch aired on television show: the Chaser's War on Everything. Best summed up by the following news extract:

The 'Make a 'realistic' Wish Foundation' skit purported to be from a foundation which "helps thousands of kids to lower their extravagance and selfishness".

The skit signed off with the line: "Why go to any trouble when they're only going to die anyway?"

-http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/04/2589532.htm

This skit was slammed in the media, and the following day Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told the Chaser team, the following day, to "hang [their] heads in shame". The show was taken off air for two weeks, and as I understand it a member of the approval team was demoted for letting the skit go to air (apologies - I cannot recall the source).

Now this is a sketch that asked a very difficult and serious question, masked with very black comedy. We make donations to the Make-a-Wish foundation without second though - I entirely support the work they do, and gladly donate. What the Chaser team did - earning them a huge slap in the face from the Australian public - was ask the question "why do we donate to sick kids who have grown up in a very wealthy country, with a generally high standard of living?"

I think it's a very valid social observation, highly unnecessary and pretty distasteful, but definitely valid.

So why did I bring this up?

Well - it has some to my attention that there is a hideous inequality with the reaction to these two incidents.

We have here a radio station who has aired a segment that from the very word go, disregarded societal values, morals, and ethics, all in pursuit of listeners and, ultimately, more money from advertisers. In the process a young girl - not an actor (I hope...) - has had to reveal to the nation that she has experienced sexual assault at the devastating age of twelve.

2day FM should review its approval processes. Editors and producers who did approve the segment should be reprimanded severely, and I wouldn't say no to firing Kyle and Jackie O (but then, I would have liked that regardless of this incident, and sadly, I don't believe that this is enough for them to lose their jobs over).

I would love to see the broadcaster donate any profit raised from advertising during the show to go to organisations supporting rape victims. I would also like to see the two presenters donate their wages earned from the show to the same organisations. And I would love to see the same condemnation that our dear Prime Minister directed toward the Chaser boys to also be directed to Kyle, Jackie-O and 2day FM, because this story, in my humble teenage opinion, is far more disgusting and insulting than the Chasers team have ever been.

On perhaps a lighter note - it is fantastic that the girl in question is receiving counselling, and that 2day FM has offered to foot the bill. Hopefully it will shine a spot light onto the issue of rape - indeed rape involving people as young as twelve - and spark a national discussion. But at the expensive of a public confession, with possible untold psychological damage? That's a tough call to make.

There are so many more dimensions to this issue that I have barely touched upon, and I am aware of this. Please, feel free to comment any criticism, alternative views, additional information, or just an addition to the above commentary.

EDIT@ 7:15pm 31 July 2009
A reader has just bought the following article to my attention:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25860085-5012974,00.html

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd last night joined a chorus of community leaders speaking out against the "humiliation" and "abuse" of a 14-year-old girl during a controversial stunt on The Kyle And Jackie O Show.

I apologise for missing this originally. I did perform a search of the ABC news website (a source which I trust a little more highly than the Herald Sun :P) and did not find any mention of Rudd in regards to this issue.