While Christine Nixon, the Victorian Police Commissioner, appeals for calm in the wake of the arrest of a man last Friday for alleged involvement in the lighting of a bushfire, officers are busily undermining her message. There can be no doubt that the source of most of the material about Brendan Sokaluk, the man charged, has come from police tips and briefings to friendly journalists.
This is not an isolated case. Whenever there is a high profile investigation, you can be certain that the police force involved will leak information for two reasons. First, it creates a climate of guilt around the person arrested, and second, it helps to create an image of a successful investigation.
In the Sokaluk case, police somehow felt the need to link an alleged arson charge with alleged possession of child pornography. The two matters are completely separate, but they help to further tarnish the image of Mr Sokaluk. Then there is the feeding to the media of information and details about Mr Sokaluk’s personality and background, once again done to ensure the media is able to paint Mr Sokaluk in the worst possible light and to imply that the police are removing evil from our streets.
The presumption of innocence is torn to shreds by the police. And of course the media is more than willing to play the game — as it has done before on other recent celebrated occasions, one of which was Mohammed Haneef.
The former Gold Coast doctor was charged in 2007 with a terrorism offence after a high-profile arrest. The Queensland and Federal Police propaganda machines went into overdrive, leaking damaging and, in many cases, misleading material about Haneef, his family and personal circumstances.
There was even a notorious front page story showing Haneef and his family standing in front of a Gold Coast apartment, with the story falsely alleging Haneef was planning to bomb the building. Fortunately, Haneef’s legal team lead by Stephen Keim SC and Peter Russo fought back and released to The Australian one of Haneef’s records of interview with the police, which put a very different light on the case.
It is not only in Australia that the unethical alliance between the police and media in high profile cases operates. In the UK, a Parliamentary Committee is looking at this very issue now. And as Keith Vaz, a Labour MP told the BBC on 18 January:
While it may not always be illegal for police to leak to the media it is certainly wrong and can be very damaging to an investigation or to an innocent individual — remember we are talking often about people who have not been charged with any crime or wrongdoing. Almost as important, it damages the reputation and integrity of the police themselves.
But it is not only the police who leak damaging — and sometimes untested and unsubstantiated — allegations in high profile cases. Government media machines are also happy to play this game, particularly if politicians play sheriff with tough talking rhetoric about how they will ensure the culprits are found and put away forever.
You may be critical and think up all sorts of conspiracy theories but at the end of the day this man lit fires that killed 21 people. That’s murder and the media, police and community have every right to be angry and demand answers from him.
Who can forget the greatest vandal in damaging accused person’s rights-former NSW premier Bob Carr who was always happy to spout damaging rubbish out a charged person to the media whilst standing beside the Police Commissioner. A giant bust several years ago of dozens of men accused of having child porn had Carr fronting the media spouting “we won’t let the perverts escape” and after 6 had commited suicide stated “well at least they aren’t abusing anymore!”. That was 6 un-tried innocent dead men with families and children.
This unholy alliance between scumbag pollies and the media was always bound to backfire. The NSW Attorney General thinks nothing of stating in the media that crime is down because of his strict anti-bail conditions. In other words ,even though these accused people in jail stlll haven’t faced a court they are guilty according to him without a trial. These tactics build over time and work-the mere allegation is now taken as proved. At the same time these polticians are on a permanent quest to undermine NSW’s superb and honest DPP because he won’t play their game.
And why did a man accused of child sex offences have to appear in court today handcuffed ? Not even the most dangerous accused appear in court this way.
Meanwhile-while these gung-ho police who think they are protecting children-while these disgusting politicians who are utterely ignorant of the Westminster system play their vile and cheap policitcs-according to DOCs 200,000 kids in NSW alone are abused through neglect, mental and physical, and sexually by someone in their home. And they are forgotten.
Speaking of the media… I picked up the Herald Sun today (Wednesday), and there was not one single mention of Sokaluk. Not on the front page, not in the bushfire stories, not in the editorial nor the letters section.
I’ve no idea what’s happened, because it was only yesterday that the Herald Sun was plastering his pixellated visage over the front page and talking about how much of an “oddball” he was.
The pyromaniac is also a witch.
Greg Barns is correct in his assessment. It cannot be denied that Sokaluk’s pesumption of innocence has been trashed by the media and some members of the public via the interne,t as was the experience of Haneef.
Legal history is studded with examples of high profile prosecutions which have resulted in acquital.Many of these cases however, have brought in their wake financial disaster,family breakdown,career destruction and suicide
. These considerations are of little consequence to some of the vigilantes in the media