I'm sure many of you have also been following the well-publicised Keli Lane case too and like me, formed an opinion of Keli and her family based on their media exposure. On the 15th of April 2011 I witnessed the sentencing of Keli at the Supreme court which completely changed my opinion after experiencing first-hand the true nature of the media.
(Banks, 2011)
This image frequently appears during a simple google search and has been regularly used by the media to emphasise Keli’s guilt regarding the murder of her baby girl Tegan and to compliment their biased stories, attempting to sway the opinion of the reader. These photographs are favoured over those demonstrating expressions of sadness or worry. I didn’t see this infamous ‘Mona Lisa smile’ on Keli in the courtroom, instead expressions of anxiety, sadness and worry appeared complimented by tears.
Here and outside the court when the cameras aren’t rolling, behind the scenes of the news lies the truth about how the media treat the subjects of their stories. Today, the purpose of the media is less about presenting the factors and more about making money through generating public interest in these ‘newsworthy’ stories. The newsworthiness of the Lane case is high in accordance to Jewke’s news values (2004) as it concerns violence, children and most of all individuality.
The coverage of the sentence of Keli was phenomenal, from the strange ‘Live Tweeting’ of Lisa Davies from the courtroom as can be seen in the following link:
to the crowd of media waiting outside the Supreme Court. I likened these reporters to a pack of wild animals; as soon as Keli’s parents, partner and legal team left the courthouse a frenzy of fighting occurred in order to get the best shot possible. The competing media representatives pushed and shoved, showing absolutely no respect for Ms. Lane’s family (or for eachother), all for a few brief seconds of news coverage and hope for a comment from one of them. Here is an example from Nine News (2011)
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx?videoid=5cca20c8-a982-41ec-9e3e-6f03aab5f084
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx?videoid=5cca20c8-a982-41ec-9e3e-6f03aab5f084
In this video you can see the desperation of the media to get a good shot, snapping the camera at the windows of the police truck and the reporters literally pushing each other out of the way to get to Lane’s parents (in particular, the extremely pushy reporter in the red jacket with way too much fake tan), her mother saying things like “please don’t nudge me like that” and “don’t touch me”.
A second video from Negus (2011) from TEN news shows the group waiting outside the Supreme Court, and the added feature of ‘dramatic’ music adds a bit of extra edge don’t you think? How unnecessary...
While I watch the news reports on television at night I never really appreciate what it must be like for those being followed by the media but after my first-hand experience, I really feel for them. Keli’s family should not receive such treatment, they are not the criminals here, and the emotion they must be feeling at the prospect of having a child imprisoned for the murder of their grandchild must be hard enough without being thrown into the spotlight.
References
Banks, A. (2011) 'Keli Lane sentenced for killing babe Tegan', 15 April, News.com.au
Jewkes,Y. (2004) Media and Crime 1st ed. London: Sage Publications.
Negus, G. (2011) 'Keli Lane Sentenced', 15 April, Ten News Online - YouTube
NineMSN News (2011) 'Lane sentenced to a maximum 18 years' jail', 15 April, NineMSN News Online, http://news.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx?videoid=5cca20c8-a982-41ec-9e3e-6f03aab5f084
