The story so far: Kyle and Jackie had a radio show. They often did segments involving the public and the public’s real and honest feelings, reactions and stories. One day [29/07/09] they did a show where they asked a 14-year-old girl, with the presence of her mother, some very revealing and personal questions. On Air of course! In the end they messed it all up by being insensitive and unprofessional when the girl revealed a rape experience.
Now the tone of this blog may sound a little pretentious, or even judgmental, if you are in any way offended by it. I say too bad. I, unfortunately for my own intellect, read in today’s paper that Kyle Sandilands will be fired from the Australian Idol and possibly his radio show on Austereo's 2Day FM following the repercussions of the above mentioned incident. Personally I don't watch or listen to either - mainly because they're crap. But what did get my attention is that The Age in their report on this, used the comments of fans from the Idol website as a source of valuable reporting! I don't know what is more embarrassing for the Australian media, the fact that grammatically incompetent people can make it into the news:
Blogger Melissa wrote: "I think this whole thing has been blown out . I feel the mother is to blame she knew about and asked her daughter that question not Kyle. Get off his back and I will think twice about watching this year." The AGE (4/8/09) The AGE
Or, the fact that there are people who actually believe that Kyle and Jackie O aren’t possibly the worst Radio DJ’s in the country. Their stardom and popularity gives them a unique opportunity to instill some positive ideas but they have time and time again chosen the insensitive (and unfortunately popular) gags to up their ratings and fatten their wallets.
Mainly I think it is the consistent lacking in Entertainment News to provide any enlightenment or food for critical thought. I went to my usual ‘diner’ for such appetizing ideas - ABC’s Media Watch. Sure, there is a sarcastic tone of judgment from the show but just have a read at what the two Radio DJ’s have hosted in the past Media Watch. For a balanced news item it would have been a little more impressive if The Age had used a comment from this website:
Keep Kyle and Jackie O off the Air!
Why does he get paid so much money to be a jerk? Nothing he contributes to radio is ever positive; it always has a rude and negative slant to it. Which is why I stopped listening to them a long time ago! (Orange Girl, Media Watch website)
Finally a comment on the pathetic self-defense article by Kyle, he made an attempt to clarify the situation. Stating in his letter on The Punch that in hearing the 14-year-old girl confess to rape while hooked up to a lie detector on his show with Jackie O – stunned him. Seriously?
It stunned him so much so, that he was unable to (with a 7 second delay) cut the show from air and blame it on a technical fault. A technique they teach all hosts of radio shows in the first week. A technique which to a Radio host of so many years (excuse me here not sure of how many exactly but at least 10) just didn’t occur?! SERIOUSLY? I say pull the plug on the whole damn thing, sponsors get out, and radio station re-model your programming.
Lastly, The Age, up your damn standards and introduce some critical thinking to your readers, even those who read Entertainment News.
end.
