Salim Mehajer does not have a wholesome image with many people. He was the deputy mayor of a Sydney council and his wedding was an extravaganza somewhere between a scene from a Bollywood movie and a Royal coronation. He is constantly in the news - for all the wrong reasons. Recently he was arrested for allegedly punching a taxi driver.
He was taken to a police station and charged. When he left that police station a media pack was waiting. That scene was shown constantly on news channels and the public saw Mehajer literally having to fight his way to his car with microphones shoved in his face and reporters standing in front of him to block passage.
When he sat in the vehicle Channel 7 reporter Laura Banks forced her way into the gap between the door and the body of the car and shoved a microphone at Mehajer and demanded a comment. He was looking the other way when he tried to close the door, hitting Banks and bruising her arm. He was then charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
This week he appeared before magistrate Joanne Keogh to answer that charge, and Keogh was scathing. She found that the 31 year old property developer was " hunted " by a " frenzied media pack " who showed " appalling and predatory behaviour. " He was subjected to derisive comments and questions and Banks took the lead role, poking her microphone at Mehajer even though he asked to be left alone.
The magistrate found that Banks had been a " witness of little credit " when she spoke at a hearing into the assault, with the reporters evidence not standing up under cross examination. Ms Keogh found that Mejaher did not intend to assault Banks but was " reckless " when he closed the door without looking at her. She found the conviction proved, but imposed no penalty.
When we watch news broadcasts we constantly see this media aggression descend on ordinary people, some who have just learned of a bereavement. Often it is a running pursuit as they try to make an escape and often they are pinned in by surrounding news camera people and a horde of interrogators. It is a merciless hunt for a comment that will often feature in the nightly news.
Most people facing court action are advised by their legal team to avoid any comment because that police warning " that anything you say may be taken down and used against you " applies to what you may say to a reporter as well as the police. This relentless media pressure for a comment could easily prejudice the outcome of the impending court appearance.
The public have the right to silence and those reporters harassing witnesses can claim that they are simply " doing their job " and that is unfortunately correct. A reporter who does not aggressively gain news footage will quickly be replaced by someone who will !
Many of the public will get a quiet satisfaction in seeing Mehajer getting the peremptory grilling he dishes out to others, but this media hunt for compelling news stories is getting out of hand and we need a code of conduct to be imposed. Ordinary people have little in the way of defence against that onslaught !
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