A man from Sydney’s west has been arrested and charged for levelling threats at the ABC’s Stan Grant, who last week took leave as Q+A host following a torrent of racial abuse directed at him after his appearance on the ABC’s coronation coverage.
NSW Police arrested a 41-year-old man in Fairfield Heights on Wednesday evening, following investigations into a report filed with Sydney City Police Area Comm and just before midday on Tuesday alleging online threats made against Grant, police told Crikey in a statement.
“The man was taken to Fairfield Police Station where he was charged with use carriage to threaten serious harm and carriage service to menace/harass/offend,” a police spokesperson said. The man was granted bail and will appear in court next Wednesday.
Grant, a Wiradjuri, Gurrawin and Dharawal man, announced in his weekly column last Friday that he would step away from his role as Q+A host for an extended period, following a sustained conservative media campaign that included more than 150 mentions of Grant’s name in the pages of The Australian and in footage on Sky News over the preceding fortnight, according to a manual count carried out by Crikey.
Grant said that since appearing as a panel guest as part of the ABC’s coverage of the coronation of King Charles III, he had seen “people in the media lie and distort” his words, and had faced surging racial abuse on social media directed at both him and his wife.
In a statement, the ABC said it wouldn’t tolerate threats against its journalists or broader staff, and that all credible threats will be reported to police.
“Stan Grant and his family have endured much over the past few weeks and have shown incredible resilience and courage. The ABC stands behind them,” ABC director of news Justin Stevens said in a statement.
“Toxic public discourse has real-life consequences for people and we in the media, as well as people using social media platforms, need to do all we can to foster kinder and more constructive conversation.”
In his column, Grant took aim at ABC executives for withholding public support of the coverage or not taking steps to refute “the lies” written and spoken about him. He called the silence an “institutional failure”, before giving an honorary mention to Stevens, who Grant said had been a source of “support and comfort”.
Stevens, in an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne, said he regretted not coming out in defence of the broadcaster’s coverage and Grant “10 days” sooner. He panned the News Corp newspapers for their coverage of the event, which he said amounted to a “campaign” against the broadcaster.
News Corp executive chairman Michael Miller told The Australian on Tuesday that the ABC needed to stop “blaming others for its own internal problems”, as the ABC’s coronation coverage and Grant’s subsequent leave continue to offer a lightning rod to some sections of the media.
Coverage on Thursday escalated to include paparazzi images of Grant and his wife, ABC journalist Tracey Holmes, leaving a police station in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Images appeared on News Corp’s news.com.au as well as the Daily Mail.
In his final appearance on Q+A before taking eight weeks’ leave, Grant said the media should reflect on whether it is “honouring a world worth living in”.
“Too often, we are the poison in the bloodstream of our society. I fear the media does not have the love or the language to speak to the gentle spirits of our land,” Grant said.
“I’m not walking away for a while because of racism. We get that far too often. I’m not walking away because of social media hatred. I need a break from the media. I feel like I’m part of the problem. And I need to ask myself how or if we can do it better.”
News Corp judges a photo of Grant & his wife leaving a police station as newsworthy rather than reporting important stories relevant to our society. Surprise surprise.
It has been far too long since News Corp engaged in investigative journalism rather than publishing lazy, meaningless offerings.
Didn’t Sofronoff admonish Newscorp for the misuse of a photo just the other day?
Drumgold drinking a beer – attempting to lead its readers into thinking something untoward about an Australian having a beer?
His actions recall Drumknott, the Patrician’s chief Dark Clerk.
Being complicit, e.g. media describe such threats as ‘lone wolves’, but in fact influenced by confected and ramped up by same media rages at anything centrist.
It’s been known for many years by academic researchers and importantly, police, as ‘stochastic terrorism’, yet the same inc. police are never asked for analysis, but to simply report on any actual incident, with their own spin.
According to Nelson in Scientific American (5 Nov ’22):
‘How Stochastic Terrorism Uses Disgust to Incite Violence. Pundits are weaponizing disgust to fuel violence, and it’s affecting our humanity….
….Dehumanizing and vilifying a person or group of people can provoke what scholars and law enforcement officials call stochastic terrorism, in which ideologically driven hate speech increases the likelihood that people will violently and unpredictably attack the targets of vicious claims.
At its core, stochastic terrorism exploits one of our strongest and most complicated emotions: disgust.’
I am devastated to learn that Stran Grant is leaving Q&A and more to the point, he & his family have been abused & threatened by unrestrained racists in this country. I support his statements about the media, especially the Murdoch Media and its support & encouragement, directly & by means of flooding public opinion, of the extreme right here and elsewhere where it has undue influence. WHEN (AND HOW)ARE WE GOING TO STOP THIS MONSTROUS MEDIA MONOPLY SO TERRIBLY DISTORTING DECENCECY & DEMOCRACRY IN AUSTRALIA & elsewhere???
I feel ashamed that Australia is has, in effect, a continuing, viable “white Australia policy” that intimidates & persecutes citizens of colour, and I am angry that the notion of right to free expression is so irresponsibly interpreted to allow such public pronouncements of hate to continue.
Stan, I am so sorry you are going. Thank you deeply for your farewell statement on Q&A this week, it was inspirational. I truly hope you and your family will stay safe and strong and that your insight and intelligence will return to our ABC as soon as possible.
Well said. Excellent point about the White Australia Policy. I had never thought of it that way, but you are spot on.
A continuance of the White Australia Policy by other means even while, as Crikey noted the other day, Indians are set to outstrip Britons as our largest migrant population. Such a habit of mind will further bite us on the arse. Grant is doing his job even in leaving. He’s sounding the alarm loud and clear.
I hope Stan comes back and picks up he left off. Otherwise its a win for the scumbags and encouragement to go after another one. Last thing we need.
I wonder if Stan’s ability to walk in two worlds, exemplified in his professional success, leads some people to misunderstand him?
He is enormously successful in a career that is practiced in the dominant culture (which is not his) and is vastly more successful work-wise than most of us who are part of the dominant culture.
I can see how that might lead decent but oblivious people to misinterpret his concerns about racism in the media, especially when the dominant culture doesn’t cope well with people expressing emotional pain.
Stan Grant is an indigenous man.
A consummate, professional journalist.
The fuss over his comments on the Coronation are absolutely disgusting.
Racial abuse by old white men.
I totally share the same view as Stan Grant that the Queen of England meant nothing to me personally except as a woman of a family who have for centuries pillaged their colonies, killed and mistreated the people in those new lands and reaped enormous wealth from them.
In our present Australian modern community there are many others who share my feelings.
What have the royals ever done for Australia or the Indigenous people?
Has their ever been an apology ?
Financial help given for Indigenous people?
A thank you for our young soldiers lost in wars protecting England.
The Royals are just a family of parasites cli go g to their power and enormous wealth, much of it hidden – the faster we’re rid entirely of their prescience in Australia the faster we will understand that we are an independent nation.
A magnificently strong nation built from many rejects from far places and with our talented and mistreated Indigenous people – ready to face the future.
About time some of those old white bigoted people with senior ABC roles were replaced with a more representative Board.
Best wishes to Stan and his family from this old white lady, I wish them health, happiness and prosperity in the future.
Dare I suggest that it was we Australians in the most, not the royal family, “who have for centuries pillaged their colonies, killed and mistreated the people” in this country. And it’s we Australians who now occupy this colony, enjoy our possession of it, and exploit its resources for our own benefit, with far too little recognition of the plight of those we displaced. Putting the blame on poor old Charles and his predecessors is a bit inaccurate and hypocritical. Likewise, it’s our fault, not his, that we have Charles as our head of state.
That’s one reason why I switched off the ABC program and watched much more interesting events taking place elsewhere.
As a white Australian descended from no doubt brutal settler colonists, I echo Alison’s sentiments, and explicitly scapegoat (? I’m sure there’s a better word) that family of parasitic filth, but primarily their vicious and stupid army of bootlicking authoritarian followers.
I stand with Alison and every other decent Australian in condemning this pathetic waste of everyone’s energy and potential. Down with the bootlicking antagonists.