Courier Mail claims headlines didn’t intend to diminish life of transgender murder victim
The Courier Mail has said it had “no intention of diminishing” the life of transgender murder victim Mayang Prasetyo after it received a huge backlash to its headlines and coverage of the killing in yesterday’s paper.
The Queensland tabloid covered the murder of Prasetyo by her chef boyfriend Marcus Volke with the front page splash “Monster chef and the she male” and inside headline “Ladyboy and the butcher”, sparking an online Change.org petition which has now garnered more than 21,000 signatures and complaints to the Australian Press Council.
Today the News Corp paper acknowledged the backlash in a statement at the bottom of another article, saying: “Many believe that yesterday we presented Mayang’s story in a way that was disrespectful to her memory. The Courier-Mail had no intention of diminishing the value of Mayang’s life, or to add to the grief being felt by her family.”
Of course they didn’t. They were disrespectful, homophobic, bogan, prurient, racist, and cheap but they didn’t mean any harm. Hopefully they earn all the respect for this rag that is deserves.
They didn’t mean to diminish her life but they used an extremely offensive term. And where is he actual apology in the statement? All I see is “people for some reason think it was offensive. We didn’t mean it to. Oh well.”
Here’s a better statement Courier Mail: we unreservedly apologise for our grossly offensive headline in yesterday’s paper. We have taken action against those who were involved with the headline and have put into place measures that would stop such offensive material from appearing again.”
The level of silence on this matter from News Corp and The CM is astounding. They have been constantly tweeting and posting other items on FB but have not mentioned their abhorrent front page once.
And today, during Mental Health Awareness Week, they have a massive headline on the front page using the term ‘Psycho’!
Hate to imagine what tomorrow’s front page will show…
How dare tabloid newspapers behave in a tabloid manner!
a clinically insane person who killed his mother 10 years ago escaped his institution in perth yesterday.Id love to see the headline if it happened in Brisbane
Does selling papers mean so much that News Corp abandon every ounce of integrity to achieve it? One can only imagine the CM editorial team backslapping and high fiving on a job well done. Where’s your self respect News Corp?
Forget petitions. Does anyone who signs a petition actually read the paper? Unlikely.
If the page views are up, advertising dollars continue to flow in.
Stop reading and you’ll ensure their indecency costs them through advertising losses and ultimately job losses. That’ll bring about the necessary change.
It’s a business where only money matters. Hit ’em where it hurts. It’s really that simple.
never does an anonymous comments board fill up faster than when conservative media is seen to be acting inappropriately.
The fact you are from Queensland is no longer an excuse!
More lies from the publisher that lives by them. They did exactly what they intended to do and that was to feed the bogans who read it
Is the Courier Mail trying to dress up like the NT News? OMG Bogans in Queensland who would have thought?
I have been scrolling up and down trying to find the ratings report today but could not find it. Is there a better way of presenting each segment?
Hi Hilary,
The ratings report from today is here: https://mumbrella.com.au/insight-nearly-doubles-audience-marijuana-special-255432
Cheers,
Alex- editor, Mumbrella
A shameful act by a shameful “news” paper. How does anyone call themselves a journalist and continue to write for this disgusting publication.
Money grubbing bastards
Here’s a handy Chrome extension
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/murdoch-block/moepiacmhnmbiilhpojodnaopndhddpg
#sorrynotsorry
My Brisbane friends refer to The Courier Mail as The Curious Smell.
100% poor taste. And not the smartest sidebar positioning for “QLDs Best Food Secrets” either, perhaps?
I agree with
Bem
8 Oct 14
11:30 am
Here’s a better statement Courier Mail: we unreservedly apologise for our grossly offensive headline in yesterday’s paper. We have taken action against those who were involved with the headline and have put into place measures that would stop such offensive material from appearing again.”
Teamed up with the Wicked camper van crowd – a winning combo of cretins!
Is there a more obnoxious, sexist, racist, bigoted, biased, pig-ignorant and outright shameful media organisation in the western world than News Corp? Not that I know of. It’s an embarrassment and blot on the landscape.
Please, spare me all this sanctimonious politically-correct hand-wringing over a “poor taste” headline. I’ve seen far worse headlines and coverage from both News and Fairfax in 25 years in the media. Like Fairfax’s recent anti-Israeli cartoon featuring a hook nosed Jew bombing Gaza with a remote control.
The Mail was always going to cover this story ‘cos it has all the elements of a good local yarn, and they’re in the business of selling newspapers. Simple stuff.
Good to see the old subs from “The Truth” have found work.
Last week’s cover with the three muppets from the ridic senate enquiry (shown as monkeys) was way funnier!
And “Psycho Gigolo” is supposed to be a step in the right direction for the follow up coverage?
Chris Dore you’re nothing but an overpaid troll.
Pull your head out and stop wasting yours and everybody else’s time. This is pure brain rot. You must be so proud at the end of a day.
Oh, Chuck, I never heard a bad word about them when they were backing Kevin07.
Hard to imagine how CM could’ve been judged Newspaper of the Year if these are the editorial standards which the masthead is known for.
Give your readers a bit more credit CM – it may be a good story but spare them the bigoted, homophobic, cruel treatment you have seen fit to dish out
So, whats actually wrong with the headline.
It’s interesting the level of condemnation of the Courier Mail headlines, and rightfully so, but when the ABC allowed transphobic tweets to be seen during a Q and A broadcast with panellist Cate McGregor, the condemnation was less enthusiastic. Less than a decade ago the Sydney Morning Herald, a Fairfax newspaper, ran sensationalized anti-gay, anti-transgender content in a number of stories – few complained. During the first ever Mardi Gras in 1978, the SMH even published the names and addresses of those arrested in an attempt to publicly name and shame participants for being gay.
I actually found what the ABC did more offensive – 1) the ABC were not trying to sell a story, so there was no reason to broadcast those tweets which were moderated 2) the tweets were seen by a far bigger audience, not just readers in Queensland 3) The Courier Mail headlines did not condemn Mayang for transitioning, one of the ABC tweets seen claimed what Cate McGregor did was against God 4) The Courier Mail addressed Mayang as “she”, two of the tweets on the ABC referred to Cate McGregor as a “he”.
What Courier Mail did was wrong but I suspect transphobia is being used by some to simply attack News Limited, while transphobia by the ABC and Fairfax is swept under the carpet by those same people because to do so would mesh against their own political views.