<
https://theconversation.com/media-coverage-of-queen-elizabeths-death-began-well-but-quickly-descended-into-farce-190645>
"In Australia, as in Britain and the United States, professional mass media are
part of the Establishment. This status even has its own name: the fourth
estate. So at times like the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the pressure to
conform to political and social expectations is intense.
Those expectations include treating such a story as being of overwhelming
importance, and preferring to promote unity over divisiveness, respectfulness
over criticism, the status quo over radical change, politesse over frankness,
and sentimentality over hard-headedness.
It is a time when the fourth estate puts aside its fundamental role of holding
power to account so as not to risk being pilloried for betraying those
expectations.
The end result is what we have seen in abundance since Queen Elizabeth II died
on September 8 2022. If it looks like a reflection of Establishment interests,
that’s because it is.
But it is also, to an immeasurable but unmistakable extent, a reflection of
public expectations too.
Queen Elizabeth was the only head of state any Australian not in their
seventies has ever known. The esteem in which she was held has been obvious for
many years simply by virtue of the accepted political wisdom that the prospect
of Australians voting for a republic in her lifetime was nil.
It is only fair, then, that any critique of the coverage be set against the
background of those realities."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
