The ‘Sunrise’ Strippergate episode

Now for those of you outside Australia, ‘Sunrise’ is the top-rating morning TV program. Harmless fluff mostly. Recently however the show fell foul of the feminist legions as a result of a brief interchange between the show’s male and female personalities. A storm in a tea-cup if ever there was one. It was significant, however, in how it clearly demonstrated the modus operandi of many feminist journalists.

Anyway I’ll let you now read the linked pages below for details about what occurred, and how people felt about it.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/samantha-armytage-criticised-for-low-brow-segment-sunrise-apologises-for-offending-strippers/comments-e6frfmyi-1226807398641#comments (Mod: Be sure to read the many comments here)

http://www.mamamia.com.au/social/kochie-gives-sam-armytage-stripper-pole/

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/sunrise-host-david-koch-blows-up-over-demeaning-mamamia-post/story-e6frfmyi-1226807913187

http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2014/01/david-koch-hits-back-at-editorial-slamming-sexist-and-demeaning-segment.html

http://www.womensagenda.com.au/talking-about/editor-s-agenda/david-koch-samantha-armytage-channel-7-mamamia-the-media-maelstrom/201401233476

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-style/is-it-really-that-bad-to-say-someone-is-sexy/story-fn9076o9-1226810185203

You would have noticed that many of those most upset about what occurred, would have described the issue as one of a strong woman (the author of the Mamamia article) being castigated for having the courage to speak out about misogyny in the media.

In fact the howls of protest that followed the publication of the Mamamia article did not result so much from WHAT was said in the article, but rather HOW it was said and the way that the crew at Mamamia handled the issue generally – in particular:

  • the fact that the journalist hadn’t watched the ‘Sunrise’ episode before writing the article
  • the fact that Sunrise staff were not approached for comment prior to publication
  • the personal nature of criticism contained within the article (it was basically a hatchet job on the show’s male host, Kochie), and
  • the failure by Mamamia to initially post Kochie’s response on their web site (or even to admit that a response had been received)

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