Who is Tim Mathieson and why does he matter?
This is a part of a long piece published prominently in two of Australia’s “quality” newspapers, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, on Saturday:
“… who is the man behind the mask?
One answer is that he is a target for rumours that first surfaced before the 2007 election. Some might call it a smear campaign.
The rumours are mostly libellous and unsubstantiated: try to track down the most salacious and ”sources” evaporate.
The article then proceeds to rehash every “libellous”, “unsubstantiated”, “salacious” unsourced tale.
As the new Prime Minister’s partner, and our first First Man, Tim Mathieson deserves media coverage. He shouldn’t be off-limits, either as a subject of human interest or conflict-of-interest.
But when newspapers become receptacles for what they themselves describe as “mostly libellous and unsubstantiated” rumours, including references to our favourite term — “gay handbag” — you begin to wonder whether they can still lay claim to their self-proclaimed, and much treasured, tag of responsible and respectable.
What a disgrace.
“Who is Tim Mathieson and why does he matter?”
I have a better question: who are The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and why do we read them?
I don’t read them and haven’t for years. I’d rather pay crikey than read them for free on the intertubes, let alone buy their bloated paper versions.
And why is “gay handbag” your favourite term? Is it because you can use it in this particular context and achieve exactly the same effect as the Herald and the Age without being libellous and unsubstantiated and you can still tag yourselves “responsible and respectable”? Pathetic.
I hate that term handbag to describe partners, but if he is gay, who cares! That’s his business. And another first for Julia, a prime minister with a partner who is gay. Get over it!