On the weekend the ABC News reported on the excitement about Bill Henson being given permission by a primary school principal to trawl for photography models. The news then covered the various photo ops put on by Kevin and Malcolm telling us how disgusted they were. (Malcolm – who is the proud owner of some Hensons - having played the ‘free speech’ card last time the issue blew up).
Yet if you read David Marr’s article in which this dastardly deed is divulged what it does make crystal clear is that Henson goes to great lengths to try to ensure that there is fully considered, untroubled consent - from the models and their entire families and that throughout the numerous photo shoots the models feel entirely comfortable, and that if they don’t the process stops. If he agrees to do a show, the gallery owner must acknowledge that it may not go ahead if the photoshoot is not sucessful for this or any other reason.
As Marr points out, there are no ex-models coming out of the woodwork reporting their bad feelings about the experience. None of this means that one mightn’t object to what Henson does, or to the school principal allowing him to trawl for models in a school. They are difficult matters which would give any decent and sane person pause.
And as far as Kevin and Malcolm are concerned, pollies will be pollies and they will go in search of headlines. But for the ABC News to report the story in such a way as to leave out the most central fact - that Henson goes to great lengths to obtain what consent can be got - for the ABC News to cover the story in such a way that someone watching the story would most likely associate Henson with paedophilia?
It’s an outrage. The usual outrage.
And it just goes to show the emptiness of contemporary news values (now there’s an oxymoron if ever there was one). Though not a lie was told, a moment’s reflection on behalf of the journalists putting the story together would have led them to realise how completely it would mislead its viewers and defame Henson and the school principal involved.
