I found another post on Ms. Gillon in 'I See Red' blog, with a comment by Ms. Gillon's daughter, Paula Gillon. Please read it, it's the other, more credible side of the story that the biggest newspaper in this country didn't allow the readers to know. It reveals astonishing truths about the case, I didn't imagine the extent of distortion in the article.
It seems to me that if conspiracy theories are problems, the real problem lies in the commercial media who broadcast these programmes to tens of thousands of young people in the entire country without regards to its educational effects, for the sake of ratings and profit maximisation, not in a teacher who promotes critical thinking to her students in her classroom, by showing programmes about conspiracy theories.
Furthermore, Paula tells us the most striking element of this story; the writer of the article (Stephen Cook)'s "daughter is in my mother’s (Ms. Gillon's) class and it is her friend who made the complaint. " What an abuse of power, corruption. Journalists exist to reveal the abuse of power by others, not to abuse the power they have themselves. Not to slander a teacher they or their children's friend don't like, with all the misinformation. What an unfair society it is, that media personnels with unofficial, unsanctioned yet phenomenal power can damage reputation of anyone they don't like, or they don't agree with. Such misinformation, to the extent revealed by Paula, seriously undermines the factual credibility of journalism itself. I can detect the bias in articles. But it is almost impossible to see factual errors in articles when I don't personally know the people (which applies to most cases).
It is sad to see that a teacher with critical views and analyses, whom we should treasure more than anyone else, is socially punished in this way, by private power. Also, I'm reminded how the Internet is great, without the Internet I couldn't have examined the other side of the story and that article would have been the absolute authority...
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2 comments:
You're dead right here. I know Kirsty Gillon and to suggest most of her kids are stupid and don't understand the lessons is offensive enough, but to imply Kirsty is anti-Semitic and promotes conspiracy theories is a crock to be frank. She's an amazing teacher whose kids love her and the school are lucky to have her. As you can see from letters since and ratemyteacher, she has been really wronged by all this.
As you say, the real issue though is that the media i.e. Herald/Herald on Sunday have a monopoly basically. Sure we have a supposedly great free press environment here in theory, but while they can attack people freely, when there's a monopoly, it's open to abuse of power as you say. And that's exactly what happend with Kirsty in my view. Irresponsible people in a position without proper control over them took advantage and can then ruin people's reputation for no good reason. Something should be done. People should complain to the Human Rights Commission, their MP or whoever else so we have a fair and balanced press. Next time it might be your family is the way I look on it...
All the best.
anonymous: Thank you very much for your comment. Your perspective is the one that only those who know Kirsty can offer, and it is of great importance and benefit to this blog, me and everyone who reads my blog; because now, this place has become an alternative media that offers the genuine reality, not the created reality.
Freedom of the press only means that the government doesn't interfere with the press over its content; it doesn't guarantee that multiple views are heard. In other words, it's only a negative freedom (freedom from the government), and not a positive freedom (empowerment of people with alternative views that need to be heard). And obviously, freedom of the press doesn't mean that the press can disseminate whatever lies and smears they like.
I don't think the Herald has a systematic bias as bad as the likes of FOX News, but individual reporters possess a mighty sword in the form of a pen. And bias is always inevitable when the media is operated by a private company that benefits from the status quo. Those who benefit from the status quo aren't usually supportive of a teacher who encourages students to have a critical and inquisitive mind.
The media monopoly always poses great danger to the society, because the media is the power and the power corrupts.
I'm not familiar with the complaint procedure, but I can't agree more that something should be done. Maybe writing a letter to the Herald can be helpful...
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