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Cheeky Darkie and the media machine
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| Cheeky Darkie and the media machine |
| 10.05.03 (4:54 pm) [edit] |
New Zealand radio and television presenter Paul Holmes called United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan a ‘cheeky darkie’ on nation wide radio. What was he on?
Race and race relations is an issue that is generally quite carefully dealt with by the world and national media, so it is completely understandable that Holmes’ comments created such an uproar – particularly since they were directed at someone with such high political standing worldwide. Ever since the comment was made (three times) on Holmes’ radio programme, the New Zealand public and media have not stopped talking about it. Media organizations from television news to the Critic continue to discuss the topic in some depth. Although he was not censured by the Broadcasting Standards Commission for acting unlawfully, the public response did demonstrate how unacceptable the comments were.
The most significant outfall from this debarkle has been the pulling of sponsorship from his television show by Mitsubishi. However despite the uproar, Newstalk ZB rejected his offer to resign and he still appears on his TVNZ show. It seems that they intend to ride it out until, like all such media stories, it fades into the background and disappears.
The actions of, or more to the point, the non action of Holmes’ employers since the comments, reinforces the point that broadcasting organizations prefer personalities over substance and that as a brand, they have invested too much into him to simply let him go. He is already familiar to audiences and it would take too much time and money to replace him.
Arthur Kroker and Marilouise Kroker’s ‘Code Warriors’ (pg. 96 in reader) talks about ‘a culture that is split between digital and human flesh’. They discuss the abandonment of private identity and they way personality can ‘become media’. I wonder if this is what has happened in this case. Can Paul Holmes be considered as some kind of digital machine who has had too much work put into his creation and maintenance to bother upgrading? Do we now see him as a mere representation on our screens or radio, and is that why when he says something so blatantly racist and opinionated we are reminded that he is a ‘real’ or ‘human’ person?
Either way, I think that the public response to these comments was heartening in that it proves that we take notice of what is going on in the media and that we have power to affect large media corporations and advertisers decisions. In many ways he got away with saying what he did, however at least it reminds us that the media do not necessarily have the final say, and the public do still have some influence.
(Katie)
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posted by: DRAMA (reply)
post date: 10.05.03 (5:54 pm)
Oh dear...
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