Anti-domestic violence group the Red Heart Campaign are calling for a boycott of Channel 7 in the wake of a pretty side-eye-worthy promo for tonight’s ‘Sunday Night‘ program.
The program is an “investigation” into the death of Queensland police officer Brett Forte, who died in the line of duty on May 29 after an altercation with armed gunman Rick Maddison.
The problem with ‘Sunday Night’s approach is that they’re selling it as “the woman who sparked it all speak[ing] for the first time“.
The woman who “sparked it all”. Really?
As the Red Heart Campaign says, what this angle does is – inexplicably – put the onus on Rick Maddison’s former partner for somehow causing the officer’s death.
It’s a massive, damaging leap for ‘Sunday Night’ to make in the name of engineering a piece of entertainment, and the Red Heart Campaign is right to call them out on it. The group’s Facebook post reads in full:
“SEVEN NETWORK BOYCOTT CALL!“The woman who sparked it all.” – Congratulations must go to the Seven Network for successfully pinning the murder of Toowoomba police officer Brett Forte on an innocent domestic violence survivor. Brett Forte died at the hands of a violent psychotic man called Rick Maddison. It was he – and only he – who lured the police officer to a quiet location to shoot him dead. Maddison’s former partner did not “spark” anything. She has nothing to do with the murder. Isn’t it enough that she endured extreme violence at the hands of Maddison without you deciding his heinous crime is all her fault? Perhaps it’s time for your producers, editors and journalists to do some training in domestic violence and the perils of blaming victims. We sincerely hope the rest of Australia joins us in switching off when this airs.”
It’s already grubby journalism to paint the death of a cop while he was just trying to do his job as some kind of action movie, complete with “shock twist”; it’s another level of irresponsibility altogether to play into the extraordinarily damaged cultural narrative that women who’re on the receiving end of domestic violence are responsible for their partners’ actions.
Come the fuck on, mates. Do better.
Source: Facebook.
Image: Sunday Night.
