I agree with Helen Dale's overall argument that the media punishes strong and/or prominent women. This is not a new argument, but Dale puts it quite elegantly.

However, I could not help but notice that in one of the quotes from Les Murray's poem that features in Dale's poem is: "The jokes/Are snobbish Media jokes:/Chemidenko. The Oxley Moron". The 'Chemidenko' is clearly a reference to 'Helen Demidenko' - this being (and here I paraphrase Dale's author's bio) the award-winning 'Ukrainian' novelist who Dale pretended to be in a previous life and whose book (The Hand That Signed the Paper) provided literary justification for the Holocaust. The 'Oxley Moron' is, of course, Pauline Hanson.

Both 'Demidenko' and Hanson may have received more public scorn than their right-wing male counterparts. However, much of the scorn they received was at least deserved: these women were promoting xenophobic, divisive and deeply simplistic views. 'Demidenko'/Dale was also implicitly condoning the extermination of Jews.

'Demidenko'/Dale and Hanson are, for these reasons, certainly not comparable with McCann or Lindy Chamberlaine, who the media have mercilessly attacked for the simple reason that their daughters went missing.

This was almost bound to happen - without it there is no news story. The media is not interested in what is right or wrong but what makes news, especially with so-called 'human interest' stories.
If you have no religious faith you will be castigated. If you have religious faith you will be castigated. If you cry you are 'not coping' and if you do not cry you are 'unfeeling'. You are 'guilty' until proven 'innocent' - but don't expect the media to acknowledge the latter - you are no longer a news item.
Mummy McCann is a bad mummy because she was not watching over her daughter while she was asleep. No media items yet about how she must feel - or the stress the marriage is under.
The media needs a radical overhaul - the morals of some journalists stink.

thousands of children die every day from the crime that is poverty..they are not missing or kidnapped..but there for us to see.

GUNNING NSW FREE camping

At the end of the main street in Gunning, just before the bridge (on the left), there is a shady FREE camping and picnic area with toilets, water and BBQs, etc.

It is a beautiful area beside the very pretty, and well maintained and very clean creek, and it is 100% FREE
( vans, vehicles, tents and campers etc allowed)

WARNING ..Do not use the local Caravan Park at the showgrounds as it is very sub-standard with dirty toilets and showers and the Caretaker is very anti-social and very rude.
Regards
Fred & Rita Walker

Great article. The tabloid press again show just how pathetic we have become as they serve us up more awfulness which we as a public seem to consume like a soap opera. The despair and anguish of this family is just more fodder for the morons out there in suburbia. The hook in this story of course is that the McCanns are middle class doctors-not the fractured trailer park families that often feature in such stories.

Female, reasonably intelligent/attractive, strong opinions, self-contained. Yep, that'll do it - that's all it takes. That is enough to raise the ire of too many. And the degree of vindictiveness, spite, hatred, vitriol that will pour out will amaze you. I have not worked out this phenomena yet but there has been a long list of women that have attracted this and it has in many cases almost destroyed them. I saw first-hand some parts of Lindy Chamberlain's trial and realised quite early that she and her husband could not possibly have done what they were being accused of because of the manipulation and contrivement of the evidence to present it in a certain way, yet people I knew and respected who were with me and also able to see what was going on, were ignoring it to say publicly the most bizarre things about them. It caused me a major upheaval and reassessment of my life and a permanent suspicion of people's motives. It is a shame the police are allowed to hide behind the excuse of 'under investigation' for closing off any further enquiries. I see no reason for hiding available 'evidence'.