Over the years, every opportunity to spin vitriol has been exploited, every development has been twisted and turned, and every possible technique has been deployed to misrepresent and smear. To demonstrate the sheer scale of this propagandistic activity, and its intensity, each individual Fairfax Media report has been collated and analysed. This body of research, undertaken by Cameron Harris, is presented in the following reports.
What is revealed, has been the Fairfax Media position for the best part of ten years. Its misreporting has been ruthless and relentless, exploiting Schapelle Corby’s mental illness and even the death of her father. It has even provided a platform for one of its own journalists to repeatedly advertise his own book, which spun the most offensive and abhorrent of fiction through the vehicle of Mr Corby: dead men cannot sue.
In 2013, the book was found to have flagrantly breached copyright law, by cruelly publishing Corby family photos next to the most appalling of fabrications. In 2014, the Supreme Court awarded substantial damages against the book, for multiple defamations against multiple parties. It was unceremoniously pulped by its publisher.
The information below demonstrates a clear and unambiguous agenda; a position which has spawned countless articles and reports, all undermining a victim who is currently gagged and unable to respond. It is equally self-evident that any person who found themselves in the firing line, courtesy of their support for Ms Corby or disagreement with the Fairfax generated fabrications, became a target for vilification themselves.
Cameron Harris’s analysis will continue, over time, to cover earlier months and years. However, it is hoped that sooner, rather than later, a third party will intervene, to address this problem and deal with those responsible.
It should be noted that, throughout this period, many of the articles discussed have been syndicated and repeated in both Australia and Indonesia, as well as New Zealand, and have had a significant impact upon developments. Not only have they had a serious effect upon public opinion, but they have been ruthlessly used to incite and provoke Indonesian reaction, frequently crossing the border between reporting the news, and driving events. They have repeatedly exposed the liberty, welfare and life of Schapelle Corby to increased risk, and have frequently damaged and harmed a number of other individuals.
Indirectly, they may also have had a detrimental impact upon the prospects of the Bali Nine, and other Australians imprisoned in Indonesia, including those on death row. There can be little doubt that some of the issues created and driven locally by Fairfax Media will come to mind when other cases are reviewed or considered for clemency and parole.
The ferocity of this reporting is unparalleled in recent history, exceeding even that demonstrated in the most partisan of political scenarios. There can be little doubt that no individual or family has ever, previously, been subjected to such a sustained assault of media vilification and abuse.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The following documentary film, Dead Men Can't Sue, demonstrates how the death of Schapelle Corby's father was ruthlessly exploited, as it opened the floodgates to unmitigated smears and fabrications. It examines how one Fairfax Media journalist pursued these stories, and how publishers and corporations presented them as fact, systematically influencing public opinion.
The film can be viewed as a whole, above, or alternatively, in its constituent parts (link).
A PARTIAL LIST OF THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH FAIRFAX MEDIA OUTPUT:
Eamonn Duff, Michael Bachelard, Michael Idato, Rick Feneley, Peter FitzSimons, Neil McMahon, Chris Zappone, Steve Dow, Paul Kalina, Gabrielle Dunlevy, Tessa van der Riet, James Robertson, Philip Dorling, Charles Waterstreet, Heath Aston, James Massola, Jack Waterford, Peter Munro, Darren Goodsir.
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