Writing his opinion piece in the Dominion Post today under the descriptor “curmudgeon”, columnist Karl du Fresne says it is hard to recall a time when the tone of public discourse was more vicious and abusive. He cites the attacks on former EMA boss Alasdair Thompson and ACT leader Don Brash, saying little attempt was made to address the substance of the issues they raised. “Far easier to shout them down with epithets”.
The veteran journalist is in my view conservative when he says the level rancour in public debate has been cracked up tenfold by the internet, and puerile abuse trumps civilised discourse every time.
Du Fresne says that anonymity gives courage to cowards, and newspapers learned decades ago that they attracted a higher standard of letter by having people sign their own names rather than hide behind pseudonyms. Unfortunately I don’t think we will ever achieve the same level of maturity with social media. For all its positive attributes, it’s a tailor-made tool for those with a mob mentality.
While UK politicians and other media unite in their attacks on the Murdoch media empire over the hacking scandal, a high court judge in New Zealand put “the media” on notice over their treatment of Petricevic and, in fact, any other accused outside court.